Tales from the Head’s Office #6
Having retired as a primary head teacher & following the suggestion
of my dear friend Paula this post is part of an occasional series about the highs & lows of my headship career. It spanned 13 years & included 3 schools. I hope you enjoy my tales!
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Mr. Men
This is my Mr.Men diary. I’m very sad about it. You see because it is an academic diary, it has nearly finished its job of keeping me up-to-date this year. The Mr. Men have been a big part of my career as a headteacher!
The ‘My Mr Men Library’ sat very proudly in my office where the children would love to come in & choose a book to read. I always knew when we had been visited because the books were out of order & the words were wiggly down the side!
My reason for having the full set was that I used them occasionally for assemblies. They were the right length to read & always (well almost always) had a good moral. The children liked me to use different voices. I always used Mr.Noisy when the new children came for a visit before we broke up for the summer. They jumped when he went into each of the shops but they knew about being quiet in assembly!
The only time they let me down was when we had an inspection & I had forgotten I was doing assembly, grabbed a book & started to read. Usually you could gather the moral as you read but for the life of me I couldn’t get it with Mr.Chatty. What was I going to say at the end? What was this book telling us? I think I blagged my way out of it by saying we must never be rude by chatting but it was very weak & the inspector knew it!
The Mr Men became my signature.If asked to tell a visitor about me, the children would say she likes the Mr.Men.
How would your children remember their head teacher. Are they someone who is a bit silly?
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The boys have a new headteacher, she has only been in the job a term, but we are already seeing changes. I dont like Mr Men though!!
Glad the new head is working well. What about Little Miss?
Sounds like a brilliant idea and such fun having Mr Men books. I always loved reading them to all my children and when they were old enough, they read them themselves.
On the subject of diairies, I found a load of mine from when the children were little. All they had in them was the times they’d gone to bed and woken up and how many hours sleep we’d had! (Not enough)
Even though I’m retired, there still seems to be stuff to pop in! Thanks for visiting!
I’ve just noticed that your diary is a 09/10 one – are you still stuck in the academic year? I live my work life by the academic year (being in education too) an my work diary is generally a Sept/Aug one.
Wish you were my headteacher! Mine was good. I did love him and all who were there with me still talk reminicently of him, he was firm but fair and thats how we all liked it.
That’s the key I think, the balance that children see. Thanks for popping by!
Great story 😀 Love the dinky diary 😉
Can you find me another one as funny?
Lovely! At my boys’ primary school, the headmaster or principal as they call them here was called Papa Bear. A lovely, lovely gentle soul and a real gem who did amazing things for the school and community. He retired a couple of years ago and the school changed when the new head took over, but I’m so thankful for the years he guided my children’s education.
It is wonderful when childrenhave a good memory of school!
I wish I’d seen you in your assemblies… I bet you were a fab head. My children are also very lucky, their headmistress is really good. She’s young, wears impossibly high heels and she talks in a strong Northern accent. She’s always smiling and (i find her) very approachable. That said, the children are still pretty scared of her – which I appreciate – I need some bargaining power! Px
Is it still Mrs Race? I didn’t think her accent’s that strong, probably the same as mine – and the shoes too!
I like to think that there was an element of nervousness with the children rather than being scared. There were some who seemed to spend a great deal of time in my office!
I love this, I can just picture you reading the stories. I love Mr Men too. Not sure what I could say about my sons Headmaster, if I asked him he just says ‘you go there if you are naughty’ and he is terrified of being sent to the office. He never has been so it remains a frightening story that works on him. Oh well! Jen.
HTs have to have that balance I think!
What a lovely story. I hope my children have a headteacher like you when they start school
That’s such a lovely thing to say! Thank you!