But I Smile Anyway…

Staff Meetings…

The words alone are enough to strike terror into any teacher…

Why?

Because you never know what they’re gonna hold!

They are a necessary evil, of course.

A way to share news that will be affecting the school;

1. Upcoming events – charity days, or activity days for the kids (Jeez! Do we really have to dress up?!)
2. Policy updates – every subject has it’s policy alongside all the other aspects of school, like safety, ICT usage, Staff protocol… And there are regular updates!
3. Staffing changes – Leavers – always one that draws shock amongst at least half of the staff as not everyone is privy to information that someone may be thinking of leaving, prior to the announcement, then there are the less shocking, like the ‘about to pop’ teacher, who we hope to see again the following year (and in between. bringing bubba in to school with them so we can have cuddles!!)
4. Staffing changes – Movement – another one that can be a little bit of a shock. Staff can get moved around, but that is usually on a yearly basis, depending of others leaving the school. But there can be the movement created from a ‘shock’ leaver too… and again the person involved usually knows but often the rest of the staff is in the dark until said announcement!
5. Training – that can strike terror into a teacher too… often you are sat for one and a half hours listening to someone that is reiterating a lot you already know. Mentally you are sat there, visualising a new display, or mentally counting how many books you could have marked in that time! But you do get the odd gems that you wish could have gone on for a little longer!
6. Training Feedback – often individual colleagues go on training courses, and then they feedback what is worthwhile the rest of the staff knowing during the staff meetings. (Saves 30 faces getting bored for a whole day, and the school paying for the pleasure!)
7. Tellings off – Yes that happens to teacher too! In a staff meeting it would usually be a collective one, not anything pinpointing at an individual, usually Heads aren’t that cruel! These are more likely to be complaints about how the Art or Science resource cupboard is kept, or a ‘pull your socks up’ with regards to certain marking strategies.
8. ‘Those‘ announcements – you know, about imminent inspections, and key visitors!
9. Performance Discussions – regarding the classes, schools as a whole, upcoming national assessments, and reminding us we need to book in our observations for the assessment of our own performances! (No need to remind you how nervous I was about mine a few weeks back!)
10. Any Other Business – Or AOB for short. This could be a mishmash of anything, from, parent complaints to a lovely letter  someone has sent in. Some of the above may be classed as AOB… so you have to sit tight to find out what the inside info is!
11. And finally, Fun stuff! – Yes honestly, we do have fun sometimes! My head is great, and for one of our staff meetings, we actually went to the Panic Rooms to have a team building hour, solving riddles in teams in order to get out of the rooms we were locked in! Or we may be arranging an evening out, because all teachers need an outlet!!!!

We have ours tonight… aside from the training that is planned.. that ominous AOB is at the bottom of the agenda… (Any Other Business) That is the one that can hold the gems/nightmare announcements!)

Have a great day Peeps!