Voicing Education

Consciously Educating

What’s life like being a ‘young’ headteacher?

Women Leaders / by

In this second conversation as part of the Women Leaders series,  I sit down with the headteacher at my current school – Laura Pearce.

Laura has been a headteacher for five years but received the title of headteacher at age of 28.  Being young and dynamic, enabled Laura to make some tough decisions which resulted in success, proving that age simply is nothing but a number.

VIEW TRANSCRIPT

I wanted a team that was very united, that I could feed off them as much as they could feed off me.

Laura Pearce

Headteacher

Since 2016, Laura Pearce has been a leader in her current school, part of the Enfield Learning Trust. The original Infant school and Junior school were merged to form a large five-form entry primary school in the heart of a highly diverse area of London. The school is one of the largest in the country. 

Laura, originally from the Midlands, moved to London where her career rapidly progressed in just a few years. With more than ten years of education experience, she also worked in the role as Executive Headteacher, leading her school alongside a new one form entry primary in its initial stages of becoming a school. 

She has provided training within the Trust to other leaders as well as on behalf of Enfield Local Authority, specifically focusing on Leading Wellbeing. The school she is currently leading has recently been awarded the Sandwell Chartermark for wellbeing which adds to other awards during her years in leadership.

    Learning points:

    • 20:39 – On confidence in your own ability
    • 24:17 – On wellbeing
    • 26:01 – On support and help

    Resources

    The Key – How to prioritise staff wellbeing (Laura Pearce)

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    NOTE: This podcast was transcribed by Otter. Apologies in advance for any typos or errors.

    Kathleen Cushnie  0:26  

    What’s life like being a young head teacher? In this conversation, I’m speaking with Laura, the headteacher where I currently work. Since 2016, Laura has been the head teacher in our current school in a highly diverse area in London. Originally an infant and junior school, the two schools were merged to form a large five form entry primary, making it one of the largest in the country with more than 10 years of education experience.

    Laura has also worked in the role of an Executive  Headteacher leading the school alongside a new one form entry primary in its initial stages of becoming a school. She has also provided training within the Enfield Learning Trust to other leaders, as well as on behalf of the Enfield local authority, specifically focusing on leading wellbeing. 

    Hi, Laura.  I’m so pleased that you’ve taken some time out of the busy day for us to have a conversation. So as I’ve said before, Laura is my head teacher. So we work together on a headship team. And basically, we’re just going to have a discussion about her journey into headship, and what it’s been like for her, and she’ll just be listening to two leaders having a good old chat at the end of a school day. So Laura, can you start off by telling us just a brief description of who you are as a leader?

     

    Laura Pearce  2:22  

    So I’m quite a young head. So I think I would be described as so my journey into leadership was quite rapid. And I became a head teacher at the age of 28. So yeah, so I was quite young at the time, very enthusiastic, very passionate about the job, all great qualities, but had no idea quite the hill that I was climbing at the time, in hindsight, you know, fantastic experience. But yeah, so that’s kind of how I landed here, really, I started my career in my 20s. And as I said, then went through at about 28 and got to headship was an AHT and a deputy, but quite rapidly got to that point, really. I believe I was the youngest headteacher in the country at the time. I’m a little bit older now; I’m not too much older, but a little bit older. So I was the youngest at the time, I think. But I didn’t mind that to be honest.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  3:21  

    No, I don’t think it should make a difference. So speaking of being the youngest head teacher, how has that would you say impacted your leadership style?

     

    Laura Pearce  3:33  

    I think it’s probably made me very open minded about what leaders should be really. So in terms of what everybody can bring to leadership. So I know, historically, in a school setting, perhaps it was always presumed that you should do your years before you got to be a leader. And that, you know, you required a certain amount of time before you got to be in a position. And I think, I definitely don’t believe that I think everybody possesses different qualities naturally, and that they are able to be a leader at whatever point. And I certainly think experience is very valuable. And you get that along the way. But then as I said, when I initially became a headteacher, I think the kind of youth drive that you have the time and probably the energy is also you know, really fantastic to have in the role. So it made me really value everybody, I think.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  4:31  

    Yeah, that’s…that’s real – a strong point, actually. Because obviously, I was there with you along your journey. And I would say the sheer drive that you had, and energy, with the passion was, I think, an added bonus as to being a young head teacher because it was, you know, I’m going to use the word it was gruelling, it was it was tough. There was a lot of work to do, a lot of things to overcome and in terms of talking about the obstacles, I think as a young head teacher, can you just explain some of the obstacles that you’ve had to overcome?

     

    Laura Pearce  5:08  

    Yes, so the school where I became the head teacher, which is where I, you know, remain, it was difficult, it was in a difficult place, it was actually two schools at the time, an infant and a junior school , it’s obviously, you know, we’ve merged it to become a primary now. But it was in a very difficult place, it was very divided, it was, it didn’t really have one vision. And that had its benefits for me, because I was able to change a lot of things, create a new vision, created a fantastic team that had the drive and vision that, you know, I wanted, and that we could all kind of carry forward.

    But, you know, it meant that I had to make some really difficult and unpopular decisions at the time, which, you know, was difficult as, as being so young, perhaps your skin isn’t quite as thick at the time. And, you know, it was difficult, and I had to make those decisions, knowing that the end goal was for the children really, and that be really confident in how I could provide the very best education for them. And I was, I was really confident that that’s what I wanted to achieve. And it was about making those decisions and bringing everybody on board with me. And it was also, with that, it was trying to gain everybody’s respect along the way. So you know, for a lot of people, I was young, I was new, I wanted to make changes. And really, I had to kind of have that thick skin and roll with it before kind of you could see the blossoming if those changes if you’d like, and the minute that that started to happen, and the minute that people began to feel valued, and felt that they kind of fed into that vision was actually when it all started changing.

    And, you know, I kind of felt that people were sort of like, oh, okay, yeah, all right, she’s done that, okay, like tick. All right, we’ll go on to the next thing. And then slowly and gradually, people responded really positively and wanted to be here and I would hope liked the leadership that I’d created, you know, both obviously, my own leadership, but also the team around me and what we were trying to do, really.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  7:26  

    That’s a good point that you made, actually just breaking it down into steps. So once you got to one stage, and then they saw (in terms of the staff) that that was successful, then you could build on that. So going back to what you said, in terms of the challenge, would you say…what was it that got you through those challenging days?

     

    Laura Pearce  7:47  

    I think, really my love for teaching, and my kind of passion for wanting the school to be the very best for the children. And I always felt that it had such potential. And I felt that there were people here with great potential. And it, and it really was a bit of a blank canvas, actually, and I think sometimes head teachers can be a bit nervous about stepping into that role, you know, everybody looks for a good or outstanding school. And I’m not sure that if I’d have stepped into a good or outstanding school initially, that I would necessarily be where I am.

    Now, in terms of my own leadership, I certainly wouldn’t have had the experiences that I have, have had. So for me, I found that that was the best place to start, I really formed kind of what my vision was, and was able just to carry it through, I didn’t have obstacles in terms of the community in that sense, because the school was a bit directionless at the time, so I was able to go in the direction I wanted. I think that, that other people would face that barrier, I think somewhere else, particularly if you were going to an outstanding school, for example. So I didn’t really face that barrier. I guess in terms of externally, I did face the barrier with my age in terms of being accepted. You know, it was a bit weird at the time when I became a head, it’s a very different picture now.

    But when I became a head, you know, only a short time ago, I really was the youngest by a mile. And I find that quite daunting. I’m sure they… I’m sure they were all very accepting. But for me, perhaps from my personal point of view, I did find that quite daunting. But I think just confidence kind of shone through and I’m really understanding that you can’t change everything overnight. So that really picking priorities. And I can’t stress enough about creating the right leadership team because it’s not a one man job.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  9:44  

    Yeah. Now that’s I think we have to kind of unpick, it’s not a man, one job, one man job, I should say. It takes a team in order to lead. So can you talk about how you built your team because I think it’s really important that we kind of dissect that, because it’s not an easy thing to do. Yeah. So how did you go about that? 

     

    Laura Pearce  10:07  

    I mean, I think I’ve got a great team. And I’m not just saying that because I’m talking to you Kathleen. I think, I think being kind of a head teacher is not about doing it all. It’s very much about finding the right people with the right skills. And knowing that at times, they will be better at doing it than you will. But it’s very much about putting the right people in the right place. And so you might have that I keep talking about this vision. And I think that’s really important, you might know where you want the school to be and what you want to achieve. But that doesn’t necessarily mean say, you can do it all alone. So you have to find the right people and nurture the right people in order to create that really effective team. And so for me, I totally restructured everything from top to bottom, really, so my senior leadership team, the middle leaders, and really thought about what was going to be the most effective. And I obviously, you know, I work in a big school with you, Kathleen. And it, I had to think very carefully about the structure because of that. So the communication of all the leaders, how was that going to feed back to me without it being solely reliant on me. So I wanted a team that was very united, that I could really, they, they had passion, and I could feed off them as much as they could feed off me. And I think that’s what we did create actually remained as that.

    And we often refer to ourselves, so there’s myself and three deputies. And we often refer to ourselves as kind of a corner each of a square, because we all feed something different into our leadership. And together, it really works. And I think that’s when you know, you’ve got something great, really.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  11:58  

    Brilliant! And as a part of that square, I would totally agree with you, I think, for us, or from my perspective, I would say it’s the passion, and being kind of, able to talk through the ideas and everything that we have. And you know, because you, you listen, you listen to us talk through our ideas and everything. And we all know where we want to go. And it’s just it just works; it definitely works.

     

    Laura Pearce  12:27  

    And I think sometimes as well, when you’re in a good place in a school, you know, when we all started, we all had our passions and our agendas, but we couldn’t necessarily put those into action initially, because they weren’t the priority for the school. But now, I think it is about sometimes letting go a little bit. I think over time, I have let go. And that comes with trusting your leaders as well. But I think it’s important that you do let go and you kind of listen to those ideas. And oh, yeah, okay, let’s yeah, let’s go off on that tangent and do that you’re really passionate about that, you know, I’m going to trust that actually, you can do that really well. Like, that’s something that’s great, that would be great for the school. It might not necessarily have been in my vision initially. But yeah, you have to be a bit flexible with that, and really get the best out of everybody.

    And I think as well know each other. I mean, we laugh often, you know, we know each other’s personalities now, and there’ll be times where, you know, you might come to me and say, I think we should do this. And I think, you know, why would we do that? But actually and you know, after a conversation very often it will be okay, then yeah, you know, that sounds great actually, I’m not always fixed. I don’t think you might feel differently. But I don’t think I’m always necessarily really fixed, you know, to not to not make that those kinds of decisions.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  13:55  

    No, I’d agree with you. And I think that’s the benefit of being open and approachable. Because having those conversations you may get, like, for example, if I had an idea, I may go in with one idea, and it comes out slightly different or the idea’s grown. And I think that’s really important about having those conversations and feeling that you can contribute to ideas and the vision. So, in terms of today, where you are in your leadership, how would you say the experiences that you’ve encountered have impacted you as a leader?

     

    Laura Pearce  14:31  

    So I think that I’ve obviously become more confident as a leader in the decisions that I’ve made. You know, initially when you’re making the decisions with all the will in the world, there is still a slight element of I really hope this works. But I think I’ve become more confident with you know, that experience and I’ve had the benefit of experiencing a lot now because of the size of the school and where we were. I think I’ve had a lot of experience to inform the decisions that I make. I’ve never, I’ve not always made the right decision, either. So they’ve been, you know, some decisions that I’ve made that, you know, I wouldn’t again, or we, you know, we perhaps, would do things a little bit differently, or the priorities would be different. But I think that’s all useful learning as well, I don’t think you should ever come into leadership and think I’m gonna get this right all the time, because you won’t, primarily because leadership is really reliant upon personal communication, and, and people.

    So you have to adapt yourself. And that includes when, you know, you’re not having a very good day, or you’ve had limited sleep, you know, you still have to kind of communicate and do that, and, and, you know, sometimes be a bit superhuman. So some days, you’re better at it than others. And so I think I’ve kind of learned that as well. And to give myself a bit of a break as well, that you can’t do everything overnight, like I said, and you know, and actually, you should walk away and give yourself a pat on the back at times. Because if things are going well, then that is great really.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  16:09  

    Yeah. Brilliant. So basically your own cheerleader, would you say?

     

    Laura Pearce  16:12  

    I think so. And also, you know, I like to cheer on the team as well, we were very, you know, we were very positive. We’re a positive senior leadership team. And, you know, I like it when we, when we all do things well, like, it’s never, you know, particularly when we had our Ofsted and, and it went really well. I genuinely, genuinely felt that it was a whole school achievement. It was not my achievement, I would not have been anywhere without the hard work of the entire school, really. And it was just that very hard work. So I think that’s really important. You know, you might be the leader that you know, but you’re leading people, so they have their part to play as well. So yeah.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  17:00  

    Yeah, absolutely. So being the youngest head teacher at the time, how did that happen? Like for… so people gonna say, yeah, she was young; she was 28. But how did that happen? 28 is pretty young Laura.

     

    Laura Pearce  17:15  

    I think no one else wanted the job. I think, um, I did fall into it, it wasn’t really my plan at the time. I would have eventually made it there, I think because I had such drive to get there. But it certainly wasn’t my plan at the time. And I think it was about being in the right place. So we’ll call it the right place. Now, in the right place at the right time, it was a school that was just prime for somebody that didn’t require a lot of sleep to come in. And, you know, really be so super enthusiastic about what to do. And I had supportive people around, you know, I had a mentor.

    And, you know, I had freedom as well, actually, I had freedom financially, we, you know, the school was in a good place. So we had, we have freedom for that. And I was able to make a lot of really great decisions because of that. So it happened, you know, I made my way from a teacher, I worked in the Midlands, I came down to London, and it was in London that I rapidly progressed. And I think as I started this in saying, I think those opportunities might predominantly be in schools where they’re not good or outstanding, where, you know, you can make an impact. And I would really encourage people to do that. Why wouldn’t you want to go somewhere where you can fully take ownership of that leadership? I think, you know, that, for me, was fantastic.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  18:44  

    Yeah, definitely. There’s…there was so much to do, and the excitement of what we could create from where we were really…

     

    Laura Pearce  18:53  

    …definitely, I think, even when we were at the point when we very first started, and the four of us kind of sat down when we’d kind of made our team. And we sat down and we were still in requires improvement at the time. You know, and things weren’t great. You know, there was a lot to be done. But we sat there and the vision was outstanding. It’s never been to get to good. It’s always been to get to the very, very best, which is outstanding. And I think that’s really important.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  19:22  

    Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. So on that journey, then Laura, what was the toughest lesson that you’ve experienced that has enabled personal growth?

     

    Laura Pearce  19:31  

    I think probably that not everybody likes you.  I think that you’re going to make unpopular decisions. And that’s just going to be how it is. Not everybody can like you, not everybody is going to agree with you and not everybody’s going to be happy about the decisions that you make. But if you understand that it’s your role, and that you’re doing it with the best intention, knowing what you want the outcome to be and you do it in the right way. So you know that you are listening to people, you are informed about what decisions you’re going to make. And then you can accept that, I think, but it is a hard lesson. It is definitely a hard lesson. 

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  20:12  

    Yeah, it’s definitely, especially if, for example, you are a people pleaser, or you just like to feel good all the time. Because, yeah, there’s some tough decisions that were made. But you know, it’s all for the children. So what advice then thinking about the tough decisions that you’ve made, knowing what you’ve had to go through? If you were to go back to someone, someone young, for example, that was about to take on new leadership? What advice would you give them?

     

    Laura Pearce  20:39  

    I think you should listen to those around you. I think you need to hear what people have to say when you’re making decisions. But I think ultimately, you need to be really aware about what the goal is that you want, and confidence in your own ability. I think that if you have that, and you will then kind of get respect for the decisions that you make. Albeit, they might not be the most popular but I think for even now, when I’m making decisions that, you know, sometimes people won’t like, I think they’re accepted. Because, you know, there are other decisions that people do like, or they think, Okay, well, I can see why I might not like it, but I can see why. So I think I would just say about having confidence, really, and really honing that drive and passion into something great. Because I think that’s what we did. And I genuinely feel so privileged to be in the position that I’m in. And I think we’re making such a difference to children’s lives. And I feel, you know, that that is fantastic. I’m really, really proud to be the leader that I am. And I really wouldn’t want to do any other job.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  21:50  

    Yeah. Now, I agree. I think you’re a great leader, Laura. And I have watched the change in your leadership. And it’s been nice to see – to unfold. 

     

    Laura Pearce  22:01  

    Yeah, I definitely think I have changed. I think I probably appeared like I knew it all. Or, you know, I thought I knew it all at the beginning. And I think I’ve probably softened a little bit. But ironically, probably I’m more confident in knowing what I know now than I was then. Yeah, I definitely think I have evolved. And I think you should evolve as a leader, I think you should ever stay the same. And I think who you’re working with makes you evolve and be a different leader as well. You know, some people need more direction, some people need that kind of chatting through the decisions, you know, you have to be a different leader to different people.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  22:43  

    I like that that’s abs…Do you know that I think that’s one of the best takeaways, you have to be a different leader for different people. So being able to adapt to the situations around. (Definitely!) Yeah, brilliant. Brilliant. And so thinking about you then and as a person. So you’ve recently just come back from maternity leave, would you say like, you know, having a baby now has changed your approach to leadership at all or…?

     

    Laura Pearce  23:10  

    I don’t think so. I mean, other than I’m probably a little bit more tired. I think I still have that drive and passion, I really missed it when I was on maternity leave. I mean, I love my baby, but I really did miss it. I get something from doing this job and being a leader, but I just think it’s just so precious. And I, I feel like the role is something that I’ve really aspired to do. And and I you know, I like to think that I’m good at it. And I think it makes a difference. And and I think being, you know, being a parent, perhaps makes you if anything, value your role more if you’re working with children, because I think you really see, you know, how you can have a direct impact on that. I always felt we were anyway. But I think when you have a child, maybe you do sense that a little bit more.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  24:07  

    Okay, brilliant, great answer. So as a mum and a head teacher two very intense roles, how do you maintain you?

     

    Laura Pearce  24:17  

    So as we know, Kathleen, I’m very big on well being. And I really, really promote this within the school and have done for a fair few years. I think it’s really vital that people look after themselves that you know, you know, that you’re you know your worth and that you really value yourself. You can’t do your job well, unless you are well. So, for me, I guess it’s having that work life balance. It’s keeping on top of things, it’s prioritising. It’s knowing that I probably will never get to the bottom of my to do list, but that things keep changing to be on the top of it and that is fine. And I think the acceptance, and this is kind of my mantra: is the acceptance that it will get done, things just do happen. And that, you know, you don’t have to spend the time and energy worrying, because that’s actually just taking you away from doing it. So it’s better to kind of get those things done. And it will you will achieve really.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  25:22  

    High five to that! It’s definitely the acceptance of knowing that you’re never going to get everything done. And it’s okay, I think we’ll get there. 

     

    Laura Pearce  25:29  

    I think that’s teaching in general, I don’t think so, since I’ve started I’ve ever got to the bottom of a to-do-list. Because if you’re, if you’re a perfectionist, and you’re striving for, you know, kind of the best, then the job is endless. So…

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  25:43  

    …and what is the best? It’s changing every day! Absolutely, depending on who’s looking and through what lens? So, now let’s thinking about the next stage, then, over the years, what resources or support have you drawn on to help you?

     

    Laura Pearce  26:01  

    So I think, you know, the kind of wider community in terms of we work within a trust, and I’ve got, you know, friends who are head teachers within that trust, and I think sometimes you can lean on those people, if they’re going through the same experiences. And sometimes you just want somebody to say, Oh, yeah, that happened to me. And I dealt with it like this, you know, and often, it’s not necessarily the procedures that you don’t know, but it’s the whole feelings around situations and kind of managing that. So I’ve drawn very much on that. And as I said, When I started, I had a mentor, who now kind of, you know, heads up the trust, and the benefit of their experience and knowledge really impacted me. And that was fantastic. So she, you know, she was a fantastic leader, and that really benefited me. And so I think as well, just having everybody around you creating your team around you that you can really rely on and trust are so important. You know, if you’re having an off day, you need to be able to say to somebody, I have an off day today, you know, I’m tired. Right? But and that’s fine. Like and you know, you kind of support each other really.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  27:23  

    Because leaders are human right? I don’t know why we think that, you know…

     

    Laura Pearce  27:29  

    …definitely. And I think there is a fine line between professionalism. And oversharing, I was very much on the… when I started the super professional, I didn’t share anything with anybody. As time has gone on, certainly the senior leadership team, you know, you, you do share more. And on a wider scale of things, you know, you share a little bit more in terms of your family background, for example. You don’t need to, it’s entirely up to you. But I think I’ve softened probably over the years. I found that difficult. I didn’t want to do that because I didn’t want to muddy the waters when I was making difficult decisions. And I didn’t want people to necessarily think I was their friend, and then would make a decision they didn’t like so I found it better to have half that distance and step back a bit. But I’m happy now with the balance that I have, I think.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  28:29  

    Brilliant. Yeah, just making sure that there’s no blurred lines. Yeah, definitely. So you’ve got to keep the professional line there. Okay, so we’ve come to the end. So I’m going to ask you three deep dive statements and a random question. So you just answer as honestly as you can, but quick. So what I love about my role is…

     

    Laura Pearce  28:49  

    What I love about my role is that I get to come every day to something that I passionately love. And it is different every single day.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  29:00  

    If I could change one thing in education, it would be…. 

     

    Laura Pearce  29:03  

    …that everything keeps changing. 

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  29:05  

    Whoo, I like that. If I could change one thing in education, it would be that everything keeps changing. Interesting! What do you mean by that? I have to ask.

     

    Laura Pearce  29:17  

    I just feel that sometimes you’re just paddling to catch up, particularly in the latter years, you know, new curriculum changes, new standards and testing and, you know, just new Ofsted framework every year. There’s something new to wrap your head around, and it’s very difficult to embed when the goalposts keep changing. Yeah, I agree. I’m not saying these changes aren’t for the better, but they are changes nonetheless. 

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  29:45  

    So yeah, yeah. And last one then leadership is…

     

    Laura Pearce  29:51  

    …having a vision and being able to inspire people to create that vision. Bringing them along with you.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  30:01  

    Brilliant: journey. Everyone’s on the bus. And the question…So this is a random question. You have woken up late and can only dress yourself with three words. Which ones do you grab for a successful day? 

     

    Laura Pearce  30:15  

    Positivity, passion, and humour. 

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  30:22  

    Brilliant definitely agree with the humour. All of them actually. But you know we both like to have a laugh. Yeah, not on school time…because it’s not quite professional. Brilliant Laura. Thanks for coming on. It’s been great talking to you.

     

    Laura Pearce  30:44  

    Thank you so much for having me. I’ve loved it.

     

    Kathleen Cushnie  30:47  

    Thanks. Take care. Bye. 

     

    Thank you so much for listening. I hope you were inspired and gained some insights, which can help you as you progress on your journey. 

     

    Do share your key takeaways on social media and let people know what resonated with you. Remember to tag me, I’d love to see your thoughts and subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already. Thank you for being here. Until our next episode, be safe, be well, but most importantly, keep growing. Remember, there is power in your voice and it all starts with a conversation.

     

    Transcribed by https://otter.ai