Our Stories

Christmas is a time to reflect

Like many of you, this time of year prompts a deeper level of reflectiveness and never more so with ever constant demands of the pandemic. We keep talking about how Covid-19 has been exceptionally taxing, as just as we thought we had begun to take back control of our lives, it’s amazing how quickly this is reversed, and our freedoms potentially taken away. The level of anxiety and fatigue created by Covid-19 for all of those in the education community significant and as teachers, pupils, support staff and school leaders reach the end of the term for a well-deserved rest, we hope they are healthy and able to share this precious time of year with their loved ones.

This image by Helen Bevan, Chief Transformation Officer at NHS Horizons encapsulates our fatigue in such a simple way.  I wonder how this resonates with you.

We have recently been mulling over the year and have been struck by the importance of the nature of the individuals you surround yourself with. It goes without saying that these people need to have knowledge to meet the demands of the task ahead but more importantly it’s their humbleness, integrity and honesty that makes you want to journey with them.

Furthermore, we have talked a lot about ensuring you celebrate the positives in your work. It’s easy to focus on the things that have gone badly, or the challenges we have had to overcome, but how much of your time is spent celebrating what you have achieved individually or with your team.

At Inspiring Leaders, we encourage you to reflect up this with those around you. Celebrate your work, your people, your pupils, and your impact – you are all doing such wonderful work in our schools/MATs.

We wish you a wonderful, restful, healthy Christmas and encourage you to be kind to yourselves.