Unpopular primary head

[Breatout]

Has anyone had children at a school with an unpopular head? My DC are at a school which has changed dramatically under the current head. They seem to not like the parents and lots of parents have pulled their children out over last few years citing not liking the head and we have seen it go from 7 classes to 6 classes to 5 classes in the space of 4 years and teachers have had to start teaching mixed age classes (this seems to work well with teachers who are used to it but in this instance has led to a repeat in topics and teachers being stressed by new set up.) popular teachers and TA’s have had to be made redundant and parents knew how upset the teachers they were which led to more unsettling feelings amongst parents. Most parents seem to feel that the head is unfriendly and invisible, and the governors know this feeling as parents have let them know but don’t seem willing to act - I suspect they can’t on the basis of unpopularity and falling numbers but don’t know much about a governors role.
prospective local parents say they are not picking the school after unfriendly tours and lack of enthusiasm from head and are choosing to travel a bit further.
the governors have said to parents that the head is good at paperwork and managing staff but is that enough in a school at heart of local community? The old head used to engage with the community and was so popular and it was oversubscribed.
anyone else had similar at a school their DC went to. I feel my DC are now missing out now and we should move them but they are happy.

@TizerorFizz thank you for such an amazingly well informed post. I think that I just need to make a decision about whether to suck it up or remove DC - there are so many issues but they are not going to be resolved with current head and chair working as a double act. And in some ways I feel awful for being cross about chair as it is an enormous, voluntary responsibility and one which I have never put my hand up for so who am I to complain. And therein lies the problem at the heart of the system- volunteer parents in charge of some of the big decisions at schools. And hardly elected when no one else puts themselves up for the role - it’s a ‘me or no-one’ situation then!

Frankly, a HTs job is not to keep parents happy. I am chair at a naice middle class village primary and some of our parents are the most over entitled wankers, who routinely call one of our teachers a fat bitch and the only way we could keep them happy is to let their kids do what they damn well please. We have falling rolls in our county too, and even the most desirable primaries are now reducing class sizes. I am concerned as a governor about falling rolls, but we are well rid of some families.

Whilst staff relations with a HT are important, it is the HTs job to ensure high quality teaching. If a previous head had been in post a long time with low staff turnover, it may be the case that everyone was too cosy and complacent. We have certainly seen some shocking teacher and HT applications from candidates at very well regarded schools.

i wouldn’t rely on gossip to evaluate a HT. It sounds like some parents don’t like being told what’s what. I wouldn’t look askance at a HT commenting about an inappropriate social media post, especially if it was being rude/unkind/derogatory about staff, and would consider that to be an operational matter outwith of Governor remit. How much of this issue is parents struggling to adjust to being told what to do, and that the previous regime wasn’t good enough?

Also - Ofsted would clobber them if the curriculum was maths and English and not much else. Ofsted are all about the curriculum currently!

This is interesting. Are you based in the south west at all?

@DazzlePaintedBattlePants on my goodness how rude of parents to call the teacher names - worse than kids in playground. They sound awful.
the social media post had nothing about teachers or naming the school, it was about her worries for her child as a dyslexic,
entirely inappropriate to be calling out the parent about her personal posts, we have free speech in this country!

@Seriously79 have sent you a DM!

In that case, fair enough, the HT was out of line. There are indeed many poor HTs and governing boards out there and I don’t mean to imply that parents have nothing to be concerned about. But it’s rarely straightforward, and it is extremely difficult to get any kind of teacher right now, let alone a good one or a half decent HT. The current HT may be the best of a bad lot!

Parents writing to the council/school will achieve very little. You either need to make a formal complaint, following the school’ s policy, become a governor yourself, or move schools. But as others said, how much if this is actually detrimental to your children’s education and not just parents getting bent out of shape because of change? A school being at the centre of the community generally means that someone is putting in lots of effort over and above what is expected. It’s lovely to have but in the current climate I’m not surprised if schools just don’t have the capacity.

@DazzlePaintedBattlePants totally agree with much of what you said. BUT - the HT arrived at the school to a huge, unpaid voluntary workforce (this is what I meant by heart of community). The first thing she did was get rid of the volunteers who kept up the garden and allotment and nature area. It was because she didn’t want to do any outdoor learning. The PTA had raised 11k for these areas and they went to rack and ruin and were fenced off with police enquiry type tape which looked shoddy. The children weren’t allowed in the outdoor setting area and the little nature pond area was permanently padlocked. My year 3 child has never visited the little pond.
She also didn’t want the WI members to help with reading at school. They felt very hurt. A parent ran a library club talking to children about books at lunchtime and helping them choose ones they might enjoy - she got rid of this and the line sh barely gets used now. The local shop donated a magazine weekly that she wanted for the library and she never went in to thank them. They stopped supporting the school in the end as they felt she had been so rude. There used to be two or three parents or retired people that would help in class -
pr with photocopying, pencil sharpening etc. This was stopped too.
the head is invisible to parents - you might see her on the gate once every two weeks and never at any other time. She never goes to the Year 6 leavers picnic after school
for an hour on the last day of term )the other teachers who go seem to really enjoy it!) in a small village school this stuff matters - a head is a leader and they set the tone for the school. And what was once a hoot and friendly envrironment has become one where the parents are scared of the head who doesn’t seem to like parents or children particularly. Which I would argue are fairly crucial to not only
enjoying the job but being good at it!

Hoot?! Should read happy

Hm. Teacher here.
Wow, so much gossip and unprofessionalism in your governing body. That needs addressing.
HTs are among the most pressurised professionals out there; I'd suggest that, in a single form entry school, which will have less money and staff than a 2 or 3 form entry, the HT won't be able delegate many of the priority tasks in order to spend time on community cohesion type outreach.
The management of a school is a gargantuan task and often a very, very thankless one. Parents don't see the endless, lonely hours of fulfilling the statutory functions of school leadership, the things without which a school would not be operational. When I started teaching, 25 years ago, many schools still had 'charismatic' heads who lived up to the 'community cornerstone' archetype, involved with church, PTA, volunteers, local sports groups, organising events, always in the playground etc. In a small school without a ft non-teaching deputy or assistant head with which to share the grunt work, there just isn't the time. The administrative duties of a HT are ridiculously time consuming, especially if she's not delegating to other staff.
My school has been through similar, and I recognise what you say about the teachers who have stayed seem OK with the new HT. They most likely are. And that's saying something. At my school, the teachers who took redundancy during our recent restructuring process were those who, however lovely and experienced, had personal reservations about the newish HT, and had remained loyal to the old HT's way of doing things. Those of us who stayed could see the value in doing things differently and were happy to roll with the changes. We are not there under duress, but know how to get with the programme -schools do not exist in isolation, but are subject to statutory frameworks for delivering the best possible education to children. In my experience, both staff and parents can be susceptible to not liking being told what to do, as Dazzle mentioned.
I am actually with the HT on the subject of the parent posting on Insta about their concerns about provision for their dyslexic child. Surely it is so much better to follow the normal channels of communication in these cases; her DD isn't going to gain anything apart from a few sad-face emojis and "U OK, hun?"s from such a post, whereas arranging a meeting with the school's SENDCO, and perhaps making enquiries with the LA, would actually be productive. Her post is casting aspersions on the school's capacity to meet her daughter's needs, seemingly before all regular avenues have been explored. She doesn't need to name the school, people who know her will know. And all it takes is a "Sent u a DM" if someone wants to know. I've a child with SEN and hell would freeze over before I took to posting about whether DC's needs are being met on SM. Seems futile and attention seeking. One of our pupils made an Insta post with a very subtle comment about unnamed teacher at unnamed school; of course everyone knows who it is referring to, it is wilfully obtuse to suggest otherwise.

@EveSix thank you so much for your post,
i can see there is so much for me to learn about the realities behind the scenes.
the only thing I would say is that this HT has a full time school business manager despite the fact that the school now only has about 120 pupils (plus a full time school admin staff.) meanwhile there is almost no TA time as so many have been made redundant. I am probably being
short sighted but it feels like this business manager would be doing a lot of the finance type things?
also the year after the new head arrived she went part time for two years so she could do a course that she had been really wanting to do which wasn’t to do with being a HT. I think parents felt a bit let down by this as it felt like she had only
kist arrived and started to make changes and then was away three days a week (and not seen for 2 days a week.)
in terms of community outreach - it wasn’t work she had to do. It was all in place. People giving up hours of their time to support school in a time of dropping budgets. And she got rid of it all and therefore created so much more work that was being done by volunteers. And is now being done by no one as the budgets are so struggling as she has lost a
third of the pupils (many half way through their primary eduction to other local state schools with parents stating her as the reason.)
I want my children to stay at the school but I feel so sad at how she has
changed it so much. A bit like the current National political mess, bad leadership really can have a severe impact on things.
another thing I worry about which you could help on is that the teachers who have stayed (too close to retirement to want to move on IMO) never get moved around. They teach the same class year after year now. Is that seen as good practice?
thanks so much for your help it is making me feel much more compassionate towards the issues faced by head teachers

There isn’t really good practice regarding who teaches which class. However KS1 and YR normally stay put. Ditto KS2. Within these stages there can be change if it’s desirable. Sometimes it’s not. As you have blended year groups, staff who have worked hard on the curriculum for different ages and attainment might need to stay put. Otherwise it’s even more work.

I would be concerned about maintaining a garden area. I’ve seen countless parents want this sort of thing, but they can be a distraction and liability after the enthusiasm wains. A visit to a wildlife centre can be just as good. I’m more in favour of an outside classroom on mown grass if I had to choose. Maybe the PTA could fund improvements?

As for the head going part time! Did she do a Masters? In what? I think she’s got an eye to moving on. I cannot think of a school that would have agreed to this if it wasn’t about education.This is why she cut back on all the extras. Other staff might well have felt put upon. Yes, full time admin x 2 is excessive in a 120 child school. You can see staffing ratios at other schools. I would dispute the no TA position. YR and other years must have them.

I do think the previous incarnation of the school was a bit dated but most heads do enough community engagement to keep everyone happy. The parents and community are very much part of the school’s remit. Parents, in particular, are partners and should be treated with respect. Some won’t deserve it and a few are awful. I’ve seen awful and heads can have a tough time with a minority. But explain decisions, send home good newsletters, and difficult decisions are mostly accepted.

I think a lot of heads are not wanting loads of parents/retirees in school these days. What with CRB and other concerns, it can feel overwhelming when compared to the gain. Most prefer parental help when they need it, eg on school trips.

It’s difficult to get and keep governors. They are offered non compulsory training. Some won’t do it and are only there to bring cakes in! Others really do understand the data and their role in school improvement. Unfortunately one or two good governors won’t cut through. It needs a majority. That’s very difficult to come by unless decent people come forward. Often parents are motivated though. Yours seem ineffective. I hope the school settles down. And I’m absolutely 100% behind quality first teaching. The rebalancing needs explaining and why certain elements have been dropped regarding ethos.

Agree with Tizer re volunteers being more hassle than they are worth. Good practice for volunteers is a role description, dbs check and safeguarding training at the least. And it’s a very nice having Grannie in to read but if they don’t have the first clue about phonics how does that help? We also had a huge problem with volunteers gossiping about stuff that happened at school, particularly around SEND children lashing out. It wasn’t fun, and as they are volunteers you can’t really sanction them.

i also agree that good communication is essential. Low level grumbling from parents and staff can be at least as toxic for a school community as outright hostility, as people refuse to get on board with change but won’t accept that’s just the way it is.

I wouldn’t expect a head to be available every day in school, not least because many small primaries share a head these days and they will split their time across schools. You need to trust your own evidence and childrens’ happiness/progress and not village gossip, which is rarely accurate but the school can’t rebut. I’ve seen more than one school severely impacted because a select group of parents took against the head, just because they didn’t like the cut of their jib.

Glad to offer my perspective. I've been lucky to work with lots of different heads, a couple of whom were perhaps 'misunderstood' by the communities they served but nevertheless worked hard for the children and staff.
Lots of schools your DC's size will have a ft or 0.8 business manager plus a 'front of house' office manager. The financial aspects of school management are rarely, and should not be, managed by a HT, you're quite right. The HT will be focused on curriculum management, teaching and learning as well as assessment, monitoring and accountability. These are all massive undertakings, especially in the light of recent DfE and Ofsted directives. Many HTs are also the DSL (designated safeguarding lead) for their schools, and that can be very time consuming too, and definitely something parents would ever know anything about.

With regards to the course, she did not sanction this herself; her bosses, the governing body, must have felt it was warranted and signed off. Our last but one head made accepting the HT post conditional on a similar arrangement; I'll spend the first year putting new systems in place, and then I want to undertake X CPD, going PT for X time.

Keeping staff in the same year group has lots of advantages. Of course it's fun to try out new year groups from time to time, but LA schools I've worked in have often been advised during annual reviews to keep staff in same year groups; it ensures consistency and people generally get better at doing something if they do it a few times over. I have some favourite year groups, and it is lovely when you start a new academic year feeling like you've totally got it in the bag, and won't have to reinvent the wheel, but can focus on fine-tuning and really drilling down to find ways of making learning come alive for individual pupils.

Finally, the sad loss of the enthusiastic body of volunteers is regrettable. It seems such a no-brainer, right? However, all visitors to schools must be organised and managed by someone. Even if it is overseen by the chair of the PTA, it needs to be overseen to some extent by school staff, checking DBS if applicable, insurance cover for casual visitors who do not necessarily have their own insurance for carrying out work in a school, risk assessment for visitors to the site, unlocking and locking up arrangements, it is endless. As a class teacher, I get so many lovely offers from amazing people and groups offering great things, but the organisation required to get it up and running, if you're going to cross all the t's and for all the i's can be very time consuming.

If your DC are happy, focus on that and get behind your school leadership. You sound like you're open to the possibility of a good outcome.

@EveSix thank you so much for such a helpful post. Have you ever worked in a rural village school? I do think that the ‘new’ style of leadership can seem particularly abrasive in small communities where previous heads have involved the community massively in providing a rich and stimulating offering. My gut instinct is that however difficult it is to manage volunteers, the positives outweigh the difficulties because the children gain so much. But I suppose whilst I can try my hardest to see things from the head’s point of view I am only ever going to be a parent and look at the loss of 1/3 of pupils, the loss of lovely clubs, the curtailing of a lovely set of volunteers as a negative.
I think I just need to see the last 3 years out as quietly as possible and look forward to the amazing offering of the secondary school.

If Ofsted are happy there's not much more to say. The school shrinkage may lead to closure amalgamation. Parent governors do talk. One old head told parents if they're not happy then push off.

We did pull our DS out as did a friend same year for a private school that took year 6 head was not happy.

Fast forward a couple of years he was sacked moved to Dubai had a romp with another woman left his wife. Wrote a novel. And I always thought him a quiet religious man 🤣🤣

@justasking111
wow! That is a great story. Glad your DC were happy in the end.
when parents email to say they are taking their children out our head doesn’t even acknowledge it (so similar to a push off!!) and they never hear from her even if they are still there for a final term.
She also tells countless small lies to parents which really upsets me.

The Head and Givernirs must see the budget fall as they lose children. That will be hard work balancing the budget. I’m surprised they don’t have a recruitment drive. Sometimes heads feel they don’t need to say anything to outgoing parents. I moved DX2 and no one spoke to me if her. Similar issues. Invisible head. Not good enough etc. New head came in as she retired and they did improve eventually. Heads can be manipulative and eventually this will be a very difficult school to manage.