Dear colleagues,

Welcome to Heads Up after what must have been an incredible week for many of you with a range of emotions.  I take my hat off to everyone, whether their schools have yet to increase their on site offer or not.  We know how hard all of you have been working to look after the children who have been coming to your schools since lockdown started, to keep in touch and provide learning resource for those who couldn’t and to put plans in place for the safe reopening of your schools to more pupils.  The word used in the Education SLT was ‘Herculean’. 

What we have been acutely aware of is that this is a task the like of which head teachers have never had to face before.  The level of stress, with so much at stake in balancing the health and wellbeing of your staff and pupils, the need to play a critical part in controlling the virus and our commitment to educate and support our young people, is immense.

We are also acutely aware of how supportive a head teacher is to staff as well as children. It is a responsibility that I know you take on willingly; but I would make one plea and that is to remember to take time to look after yourselves too.

We have prepared a poster and an interactive PDF which will signpost you to a range of services that can help if you are ever in need of support. Please keep and use these resources. There is still a long way to go and the pressure will sometimes feel immense, but it isn’t a burden that you should carry alone.

The term ‘Herculean’ might also be used around some of my team so I am also going to take this opportunity to credit some of their work which has been absolutely incredible and something that we, in Warwickshire, can also be really proud of.

Having been among those putting in extraordinary hours to go through your risk assessments, the team of school improvement officers then turned their focus on searching out all the links they could find to give you a database of organisations that you can turn to for help.  You will see that that was no small feat.  It is a small team but what it lacks in numbers, it makes up for with an extraordinary dedication, tenacity and commitment to providing a service to you that still, 15 months after joining Warwickshire, never ceases to impress me.

But this introduction needs to be all about you so I shall sign off by saying that I hope you get some downtime this weekend. There remains a lot to be done but we have made immense progress and, as I have said, you have all played a major part in that. So thank you.

With best wishes, 

Ian Budd

Assistant Director for Education Services