It is a well know fact that the Headteachers within Claires Court have on occasion had their ‘lives’ auctioned to the highest bidder at the PTA Summer Ball; and my esteemed colleagues have then returned to the ranks whilst their ‘Headteacher for the Day’ has ruled the roost. To be frank, nothing as yet has gone wrong; the displaced headteacher has stayed close to the new incumbent, and made sure that only good things have happened as outcomes from their tenure.
For the first time in June 2015, the role of Academic Principal was also in the Auction room, and pleasingly (for my ego at least) it sold really well. The winning bid was for Nathan, aged 13 and three-quarters, and on Tuesday 29 September, Nathan was able to take up his role for the day. Nathan visited all three of our sites and all divisions; it was most noticeable that he felt most at home with the Year 9 girls, who captured him at lunchtime and squirrelled him into a Biology lesson for the afternoon. I must confirm that at no stage during my career have Year 9 girls, or indeed any other group of children captured me for an afternoon, so more power to them for their powers of persuasion.
The day commenced at Senior Boys, with Nathan (AP4D) acquiring a suitable ‘Voldemort’ style Gown to give him a sense of my normal ‘noble and dignified air’ (ahem), prior to travelling across Maidenhead to present to Mr Rowan at CCJB a case of Samsung tablets for his work with computing and digital literacy. AP4D then worked with Year 6 as they practiced their manoeuvres prior to acting as Open Day guides, before returning to SB to take part in a video morning with the team from Discovery Education. Pleasingly Discovery Education were content to video me asking of the AP4D his views on the role, as well as his use of digital technologies. I hope to post a clip of the interview once it has been processed by their crew.
We then ‘teleported’ via my iQ to College, where Year 5 girls awaited to share with the AP4D their practice for Harvest Festival for Thursday and of course Lunch. Meanwhile, I was sent back to SB with some female Discovery ambassadors so they could be interviewed, so I am less aware perhaps of the antics of my ‘doppelganger’. In my absence it appears AP4T was persuaded to award the Head of Sixth Form and his team substantial pay rises, and to command that a regular commemorative day off named in Nathan’s honour was to be founded.
The AP4D then encountered my brother Hugh, Administrative Principal at Claires Court, and both enjoyed a photocall. At the end of the day, I ‘chauffeured’ Nathan home to meet with his proud parents, who had not in their wildest hopes for Nathan seen him appointed as a headteacher at such a tender age. Actually, that’s why they bid for the ‘placement’ at the Summer Ball in the first place.
A short film of Nathan’s day can be found here – a mash-up from the real APs camera!
P.S. Sadly for the Head of Sixth Form, those salary changes were reversed the next morning, and AP4D’s annual holiday has been permanently rained off.
A Principled view 