The school business leadership community is feeling the strain. Excessive workload has long been a driver of attrition within workplaces, and research in our sector backs this up. The NAHT report of January 2022 on school business leadership cited ever growing workloads, balancing the books and keeping pace with constantly changing Government guidance as the main pressure points on SBL’s NAHT School Business Leadership in Crisis?
Worrying about shrinking budgets, alongside growing energy and supply costs, is giving many school leaders a headache. While core costs might just about be covered, the idea of ring-fencing funds for enrichment activities or infrastructure improvements is an increasing challenge. Moving forward, it’s more important than ever for schools to adopt a strategic approach to income generation: if you’re able to express the needs of your school coherently and mobilise the support of your communities then you’ll be in a much stronger position.
It is suggested that primary school children probably spend up to a fifth of their time at school on the playground; socialising, having fun, interacting with one another and, of course, burning off a little excess energy. I read with interest the Charter for Play (1) , published by Play England in which they defined play as ‘what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way, and for their own reasons.’