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Working with Me as The Teacher Promotion Coach (non-principal!)

If you're an aspiring school leader you may be wondering how I can help you if I'm not a principal.

Truthfully - teachers don't work with me because I'm a principal. As an independent mentor, I think that's my superpower!

Teachers work with me because they know me from my social media presence and they've seen firsthand the helpful information that I share online to help teachers.

Teachers work with me - because I make things easy for them to shift their mindset from working IN their JOB t…

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Your leadership network might sound like...

  • Hey all, I have a question about an issue that I'm having with a student in school. Does anyone have expertise working with pupils with Downs Syndrome?

  • Hi Sarah - would you have 20 mins after 4 pm? - I have a question I'd like to ask you about resources for developing receptive language skills.

  • I've just finished a Masters in SEN - let me know if I can be of any assistance to you.

  • Hi Mary - I'll be applying for principal roles in the future and I'm looking for a mentor - would you be able to guide…

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7 Templates You Need in Your School

  • A template with actions to undertake when a new student enters your class.

  • A template to outline the steps for organising school trips

  • A letter template for quick notes home.

  • A template with methodologies you’ve tried – when helping students with SEN

  • A template to help new teachers get to know the school quickly and independently

  • A template that outlines when special learning weeks (e.g. Maths Week etc) will happen each school year.

  • A template with ideas that you could post to your LinkedIn or social …

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AP2 roles - are they worth it?

After reading lots of teachers talk about teacher burnout - I’m sharing my thoughts on applying for AP2 roles.

When making changes to your life - always weigh up the pros and cons. Know what you have to give and plan in advance what you are WILLING TO GIVE.

My energy is a positive and loving one here - I’ve made decisions in the past and regretted them in the end - but coaching has greatly helped me to understand my decision-making processes and treat myself and others with greater compassion. It’…

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Evidence of LAOS

What Are The Most Challenging LAOS Topics?

The main concerns in interviews that my clients have are...

  • How to answer the conflict question.
  • How to answer the challenging situation question.
  • The fact that they feel that their competition ‘is high’ for the role
  • How to answer the ‘vision’ question.

School principals can avail of coaching to help them plan their vision, to help them strengthen team dynamics, to help them reflect on how they responded to incidents of conflict or discuss challenging situations. Isn’t that cool?

Most …

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Time Management Tips For Interviews

Let’s talk about tips for ➡Time Management⬅.

It’s one of my FAVOURITE topics to help clients with - because there are loads of ways they save time and they don’t notice it.

In this interview question, you need to tell them all the ways that you manage your time.

Examples here might be: 

  • Your calendar/diary/wall planner - ensures that you have records of things you need to do. If you manage your diary correctly – you won’t miss important events etc. Is this something you do?
  • You may forwar…

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How do I answer what is your vision for the school/post of responsibility? 

My clients often find this question tricky! Why? Because they haven't taken the time to dream about the changes they could make. A great way to think about it is - If you had a magic wand and you could make changes - what would they be?

Here are some further tips: 

  • Be authentic – Think about what difference you would love to make in the school. Reflect: How would the school be different in 5 years’ time? What opportunities might the staff, pupils and community have? How would they be acting?…

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Top Tips for teachers applying for DEIS schools

Top Tips for teachers applying for DEIS schools

Here are some pieces of advice I received from teachers working in DEIS schools at both Primary and Post Primary levels. Working in a DEIS school requires certain qualities and awareness and sometimes teachers struggle with the challenge of classroom management or understanding where some pupils are coming from. You can learn lots more about how to make a good impression in your job application and if you’re well suited to the DEIS Setting in my Masterclass called ‘Insider Tips from DEIS Teacher…

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Looking at Our School The Leadership and Management Domains - Skills Development

Looking at Our School 2016: The Leadership and Management Domains - Skills Development

The ‘Looking at Our School 2016: A Quality Framework for Primary Schools’ outlines 4 domains as guides for teachers to step into management roles. 

These 4 Domains are:

1.    Leading Teaching and Learning

2.    Managing the Organisation

3.    Leading School Development and

4.    Developing Leadership Capacity

While I have already written blog posts for each individual blog post (linked below) today’s blog focuses on the skills development necessary for stepping up to the next level in your career.

I ha…

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Looking at our School 2016

Looking at our School 2016- A Quality Framework - A Practical Guide for Teachers

The Looking at our School 2016 guide (available here ), is an essential tool to help you gauge your effectiveness as a teacher. In this blog post, I aim to give you a brief run down of what an effective or highly effective teacher looks, sounds and acts like. I have added some of the statements below with the key information on what makes for a highly effective outcome.

Learner outcomes

  • Motivation: If pupils enjoy their learning, are motivated to learn, and expect to achieve as learners as they wo…

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