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01/04/2015

The biggest challenge I face right now

I was recently asked what the biggest challenge I face right now is... and for me it is about time!

We are just finishing up our first school term. It is the first time I have had the chance to  be the Principal in the first term of a school year. My current dilemma is that in setting up the school year, I have also been "interrupted" by  ERO (Education Review office). They had a scheduled visit to review our school right in the middle of the term. While this was essentially very positive (however stressful), it also shifted my [leadership] focus away from the important start of year set ups, ate up valuable time with my staff, created extra stress on teachers that I had to 'manage', and set our timelines out by many weeks - into the following terms in many cases. 

I feel that the timing of this visit has impacted hugely on my momentum as a leader - even though there are so many great things to come out of this review! The review gave me feedforward into our school's future for sure - but I already had a list of things to tackle! now I feel the added pressure to attend to what ERO says is important to address first. I feel that this will also now be the BOT's key focus (as it rightly should!). But, as a first time principal, it has impacted significantly on my vision!

How do I make up this time, without adding to the workload of staff who already work very hard? 
My leadership team and I have carefully prioritised what should be addressed first - yet I still have many items on my agenda that I feel haven't been addressed.

I guess my biggest challenge isn't time... it is my own need to attend to too much too soon!

Any thoughts or comments on this?

I would love to hear your advice PLEASE!

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