The best job in the world… you bet it was!
I am sitting in the BBC suite in Port of Spain, Trinidad, between Sir Ian Botham and David Gower. It’s lunchtime and we are mid-commentary on the England cricket match. England is, of course, well in the lead, we are eating cucumber sandwiches and drinking beer... That was always the dream, (in fact it still is) but real life took charge when I was still in my teens and relentlessly steered me in the direction of teaching, not entirely my calling at that time, more an easy door to open.
Before I could blink, I was a Prep School teacher, and before I could blink for a second time, a Headmaster! How could that be? I was barely a grown-up, still ready to kick a football in the playground at break time, still moaning about the corned beef and cabbage pie, still struggling to find a tie to match my shirt. Perhaps, I wondered, my naivety was the secret of my success; no one had noticed that I had sneaked as a sixth-former into the Headmaster’s office, sat down at the big desk and stayed there!
And yet, my responsibilities appeared endless and there seemed to be no one to turn to except myself. However much I tried to deflect decisions, allocate responsibilities or just hide under the covers, it all ended up at my door. My first headship was in a cathedral boarding school and so I was at the mercy of matrons, choristers, clergy and laundry. I unblocked toilets, organised birthday parties, consoled crying staff, made pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, changed wet beds in the middle of the night and played a million games of table tennis with the boarders, cheerfully losing every match. Oh, and I taught.
My family eventually put its disenchanted foot down and I moved to a day school, where the pressures would not dominate their every waking hour as well as mine! My new school was an empty shell of a building, with a team of builders and only one member of staff (me) and only one pupil (my son). Within four months, I would need a fully staffed, fully equipped, fully curriculum-ed, fully functioning school – and a few more pupils. My first appointment was a Deputy Head - life-saving Linda - who funnelled my scattergun ideas into a plan, and then executed the plan, almost to perfection. We began the first term with one hundred pupils, seventy chairs, eight trusting and trusted staff and a bucketful of enthusiasm. Job done!
In these fiscally-challenged times, leadership of a Prep School demands new skills which must be learned at the chalk-face. We must manage our costs and income with the expertise of George Osborne, but with more obvious success. We must be salesmen, counsellors, social workers, travel agents, Glee experts, IT specialists and doctors. Marketeers, plumbers, dieticians, comedians, marriage guidance experts and suppliers of hair bobbles.
So what have I left out? I am no longer a Head, but am now involved in the recruitment of Heads and so the question is: What special quality belongs to the best candidate? I know the answer, I know exactly what I am looking for. I need all of the above, but I especially need an inspiring, visionary leader. And that’s quite hard to find.
Mike Abraham, Recruitment Director at TES Prime
