I absolutely loved working alongside William Jaworski (Billy to his friends and colleagues). I first met Billy in 2017, when I had stepped into an interim executive headship in a two-form city school. The substantive headteacher had resigned, and I was asked to step into the breach until a new head could be appointed.
The school was a mess to be honest. The staff had suffered from a chronic lack of professional development, and there was a high number of children with very specific needs – both SEND and SEMH. About a third of the children were under the care of social workers due to safeguarding concerns.
The mix of a high amount of need and poorly equipped staff was disastrous. The inherited leadership team, spent most of their time chasing children around the school or restraining them. Most of the teaching staff were not equipped to deal with poor behaviour.
To be honest, the first term at this school really stretched me to the limit, despite the fact that I had previously led another school out of a potential ‘special measures’. I had simply never dealt with that level of pupil need before. And in addition to managing behaviour, there was so much else to do – developing curriculum, pedagogy, safeguarding, governance and much more.
Then along came Billy. He had just completed his NPQH and had done a placement in my CEO’s school. He initially joined me two days a week in Autumn 2, until he then started as a full time headteacher from January 2018.
Having a second effective leader in the school was a game changer. Although the challenge was still seriously high, the additional capacity allowed us to quickly stabilise and repair the school. We established a vision and worked hard at improving the culture. We shared and collaborated on priorities, supporting one another and together put in place the training, systems and routines that the school was sadly lacking.
Billy and I worked together for almost two years at that school until the school had achieved a ‘Good’ judgement from OFSTED. Over that time, Billy really flourished as a leader, learning his craft the hard way – from being in a challenging environment day after day.
I have subsequently enjoyed supporting Billy as he moved into his second headship in a special measures school. That school too, has now been reinspected and judged as being a strongly ‘good’ school.
Currently Billy has a ‘Strategic Advisor’ role in his trust – essentially a school improvement trust lead, and I am sure that he is doing a brilliant job.
Are you leading a school in difficult circumstances, and would benefit from an experienced leader to walk alongside you to support you in your leadership journey? Please contact me, - I've love to hear from you.
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