Being a Head of Year is one of the most rewarding yet challenging roles within a school. How can you succeed as a head of year? You are often the first port of contact when things are going wrong and have a great deal of influence over a student’s overall experience of school. You are able to make student’s time at school the most memorable years of their lives, or your actions could have wide reaching consequences. Meaning, the pressure to get it right is ever present.
1. Build positive relationships
At the heart of succeeding as a head of year is an ability to build positive relationships with pupils, staff and parent. These relationships will allow you to provide guidance, set your vision and provide challenge. Building up positive relationships is more than smiling at everybody and saying hello; much of your work as a head of year will be building up key relationships through listening to the worries of others, giving people your time and showing that you care about their issues.
2. Captain your ship
As a head of year, you are the captain of a ship, without all of the other members of a team you cannot sail. Without you, the ship would be without direction and struggle to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Your task as a leader is to balance the needs of your students and their teachers.
The reason the ship analogy is so apt for being a head of year is simple, a whole year group is difficult to manage as one person, you must make full use of your team. Delegation is key to succeeding as a head of year.
3. Lead with humility
As a head of year you hold a highly privileged role within the lives of countless numbers of children and staff. In this scenario it is easy to see why some would start to see themselves as the front man in a band or the professional athlete with their supporting team in tow. This can only cause you problems… You will get things wrong!
Be willing to hold your hands up and accept that mistakes have been made when they have. Apologise where necessary but then learn from these mistakes.
4. Be consistent
Being consistent is key to your success. Inconsistency causes confusion and leads to accusations of favouritism, indecisiveness and injustice. It destroys trust, community spirit and a positive school climate. In the privileged position of a head of year, you must make sure that rewards and sanctions are applied fairly and consistently in order to drive improvements within your year group.
5. Develop your resilience
Be under no illusion, being a head of year can be tough. As a great head of year, you have set yourself aspirational targets and at times and you will feel as though they are unachievable. You will need to be able to push on when times are tough and you feel like no progress is being made. The hard truth of being a head of year is that so much of what goes on in school is beyond your control while you may feel that you are left picking up the pieces.
Leading a group of students and staff towards a common set of goals is challenging and there will be times when even the greatest head of year finds it difficult to plot a course forward.
Keep moving forward, be ready to adapt and keep relationships at the heart of your work.
Found this post interesting? You might be interested in my book, ‘The Head of Year’s Handbook: Driving Student Well-being and Engagement‘.
You can find out more by visiting the Critical Publishing Ltd. website.