Headship application- only 2 sides of A4!

[captainflash]

Hi all, any advice gladly welcomed.

I’m in the process of looking at moving into headship and an opportunity has come up locally at a lovely school. It suits my work ethics and educational philosophy well. I managed to sneak a visit in with the chair of governors before the schools closed and really liked it. The chair of governors has contacted me via email to say the recruitment process is still going ahead and they will just have to be creative with the interview days!

My main problem is how to write the personal statement so it is no more than 2 sides of A4. The application pack is very strict on that. However, the person spec itself runs into 4 sides of A4! How on earth am I supposed to condense all my experience and match the person spec??!!

Help!

Use very small font!

Do a very detailed covering letter!

Don’t try to fit in everything on the spec. Focus on what is really important to you, and on what you really want them to know. All of the rest of it will come out through the interview panel (however that ends up looking!)

All you need is enough to get you to the interview stage. Once you’re being interviewed, nobody will be interested in your cover letter.

I would do precise, factual snippets of your achievements and educational philosophy, with links to the person spec where appropriate. Some of the points in the person spec will go without saying/be covered by your CV (eg if they say a Masters as being desirable, no need to repeat that you have this in your cover letter). Otherwise; pull out your key achievements and match these to the spec.

In addition to the excellent advice so far, look for opportunities to meet several spec points in one brief point. Eg (random example) can you cover team working, problem solving and strategic thinking in one example? Also edit edit edit. Write everything you want to say, then strip out everything that repeats, uses too many words, or waffles. Anything that isn't completely relevant or you're not completely confident about can go too. If you feel comfortable after this, get someone else to read it and make sure it still makes sense and conveys what you need to get across. Good luck.

Thank you for all the advice. I will start giving it a very ruthless edit this week and see what I can move to a generous cover letter too.
Thanks all

I’d have said the personal statement and the covering letter were the same thing in this context. Have a look at executive summary - there used to be a guide on TES.