Headteacher is leaving - staff not told before it was announced

[BambooTiger]

If you work in a school and your headteacher announced they were leaving, would you expect as a member of staff to be told before students and parents or would you expect to find out at the same time as them?

Our headteacher has just announced that he is leaving in two weeks time and I found out from my niece in Y11 who attends the school that I work at.

The head emailed the announcement to students/parents/staff at the same time.

After I leave work on Friday I don’t check my work email until Sunday which is why my niece knew before me.

Depends. I’d expect SLT to know. Other than that there’s not really any reason why the rest of the staff couldn’t find out alongside the rest of the school community. However, I’ve worked in some schools (smaller) where the head would have given the rest of the staff the news maybe the morning before they announced to the rest of the school community.

It's very unusual for a senior member of school staff to leave with such short notice. I'd suggest something has happened that was unexpected and so the normal communication process hasn't been followed.

I agree with this.

I third this.

In my teaching jobs we've known people were going for interviews and generally found out soon after the person's family found out they had the new job. These were fairly small schools and services, and we were close knit staff teams.
In other, bigger, schools it may well be that this situation happens. I would have thought the staff would have been told at a briefing before a comms to families though.

When I was Chair of Govs and the headteacher retired, only the governing body and SLT knew straight away.

She worked 3 months notice but announced she'd be leaving at an assembly, 2 weeks before she left.

I can't remember if the staff found out on the same day as the kids and parents, but it doesn't mean there's anything odd or that they aren't working their notice period.

Head teachers' notice period is usually two TERMS. So there's either been an incident, or he's spectacularly good at keeping a secret for close on six months.

In a small school I'd absolutely expect to hear before parents did, and it would be normal to hear it in person, not via email.. I don't know how things work in large high schools though.

Two weeks is very short notice so I imagine he's been told to leave or had a life limiting illness/something pretty shit going on at home.

I fourth this

It's also very unusual for a headteacher (in a state school) to leave in the middle of a term.

Thanks all.

I posted because I think that staff should be told before the rest of the school community, even if it is just a few hours earlier.

I don’t think I should have found out from a student that our Head is leaving.

I imagine he has given his full notice and we are only being told now as communication is not their strongest point. They work on a very much need to know basis about everything which actually makes things worse as rumours fly around and it creates an even more stressful environment for staff.

This

I agree something must have happened, otherwise I'd imagine you would have noticed if there had been a recruitment process for a successor? Unless it is part of a big MAT where the hiring/promotion process might take place more centrally but still I would be surprised too

I suppose they think it best to tell everyone at the same time, so that word doesn't get out through rumour and gossip. OP says her niece attends the school she works at. Suppose OP knew Head was leaving and told niece, niece tells her friends, friends tell their parents, parents start demanding to know why they heard it from their kids rather than directly from the school....

It is a MAT and another member of SLT is now acting Head.

Why are people assuming the HT is leaving at short notice?

It's quite common to not announce until a couple of weeks before departure.

Or the opposite: he's just won the Euromillions jackpot!

Rule 45...

In my experience that is very unusual, if only because recruiting for a new head is a tricky process and most heads would want handover to be as smooth as possible so would want the governing body to start the process asap, and as soon as the advert is out the entire school community would be aware.

When our previous head left, she decided the best time to announce it was shortly before the children were coming in one morning on a non-curriculum day, when we were all running round like headless chickens getting everything ready for the day. We all had to gather in the staffroom to be told she was going to retire. Timing, communication and common sense were never her strong points.

Our head told us six months before and the parents three months before. However, it was obvious that some people started slacking off soon after it was announced and many more have been applying for other jobs, so I can understand why some heads wouldn't say earlier. That said, they should at least give the same notice as is expected from other staff.

Sounds like the MAT has brought one of their own staff in from another school and the Head has been pushed out. Hence no outside job advert placed and all the secrecy.

They new acting Head and the outgoing Head are both longstanding staff from the original schools to join the MAT.

Other experienced staff have been pushed out like you describe though. This was unfortunate as they were great for the students but their face didn’t fit the MAT.

Our head was made to leave after running the school and students grades into the ground for 7years.
Everyone found out at the same time.

So sad he went on to be head at another.

Perhaps that’s why it was all announced so late ie he was made to go

What’s MAT