Catherine Davis

Why thank you ma’am!

We will forgive you.

I’m not surprised. This is a must read.

Sorry, ‘The Cuckoo’s Lea’.

I am adoring @drmjwarren.bsky.social A Cuckoo’s Lea. It is poetic, eloquent and magical in equal measure. There is nothing like being blessed by a ‘benediction of owls’.

He looks like the cat that got the cream!

They were over my garden last night. I was pleased to see them!

I’m pretty sure every woman leader has had a cry at work. We are human. When our work matters, and we care about it, we feel it.

#imwithrachel

Why are female secondary heads £6K worse off than men? The gender pay gap for secondary headteachers is widening. Ten years ago there wasn’t a gap at all. What’s going on? Ellen Peirson-Hagger analyses the data

"the average female secondary head could end up as much as £40,355 worse off than a man across the course of her headship"

Excellent and important analysis here from @ellencph.bsky.social
www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

I watched it during half term. Such a heartwarming film!

The increased pay award and increase in funding to schools is welcome. The requirement that schools make further ‘efficiencies’ AKA cuts, to cover shortfall is not. And as for exhortation to increase productivity - pretty tricky when you are already maxed out and exhausted….

Happy Easter to you all! X

"Name?"
"Mark Carney."
"Full name?"

I have been a school leader for 19 years and even I am losing sleep over budgets this year. A big virtual hug of support to all those grappling with the impossible gap between funding and costs this year. I feel your pain.

Defender of free speech Vance is going to give Trump such a telling off when he reads this!

This is an important issue to raise,@schoolsweek.bsky.social - thank you, it’s utterly draining and demoralising. Much harder to hold the umbrella for staff when under attack in aggressive, personal and abusive ways with little recourse. Some of it utterly vile. 😞
schoolsweek.co.uk/calls-for-sc...

The chilly scene near a pond or small lake as a wind blows the surface of the water to ripples and makes the catkins dance

“In the first week of March the wind blows hard, swaying the reeds and bushes and bending the big trees beyond the lake to its cold breath.”

The first page of ‘What to Look for in Spring”
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL Grant Watson

👏🇺🇦🇬🇧🤝

NEU surveyed schools and found 92% of secondaries in Essex will be unable to make budget that is balanced next year. That's not going to include those who may be able to but need to make drastic cuts to staffing and the offer to students.

I would like to see how the ESFA/DfE have modelled a balanced budget in 2025/6 in a large 11-18 rural school on minimum per pupil funding without damaging core provision and high standards.

Far too many schools. Particularly those on minimum per pupil funding👇

This is Winston Churchill visiting the White House during World War II.

Funny how he isn’t wearing a suit either. Almost like he was a wartime leader defending his country from being slaughtered and wiped out by an authoritarian aggressor.

After last night’s terrible spectacle there are no words but only this image: cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_ful...

Agreed. The first two particularly. I know of a few headteachers who are talking about stepping down and have cited both of these factors as reasons for doing so.

All these men sitting around carving up the world is very tiresome. Where's the other 50% of the population? 😒

This poor headteacher.

Yes. It creates a constant, underlying sense of anxiety. I think it is also that we have little control of what is happening.

Me too. It is like living in a hideous soap opera.

This is a really useful article on dealing with and preventing complaints.

A statement from one of the Von Trapp family. I adore this musical but we mustn’t forget the darker message. There is a danger history will repeat itself. #trump #musk #democracy