Jen Willis

I cried in our staff meeting tonight. Not for attention. Not to make a point (and I'm not doing that on here). But because I finally said out loud what so many of us are feeling - that this is the toughest time in education I’ve ever known and I need my colleagues’ help to get through it (so I can keep helping them too). I love my job, our community and the people I work with. I'm lucky because I really do. But the intense pressure and relentlessness… the growing SEN needs… the feisty world we live in... the funding cuts that force us to dismantle the very things we all know make a difference - it all takes its toll. It hurts. It keeps you awake at night. After 15 years as a head in two very different places, I’ve never felt pressure like this. I want to do more for our families, more for the children who need us most, more to support my brilliant colleagues who are running on empty. Their tears break me and I’m running out of wise words and clever solutions - and we’re not even in the Ofsted window yet. The daft thing? School is in a great place. We’re playing like we’re pushing for a Champions League spot while living in a relegation battle. It’s confusing and so bloody exhausting. So yes, I cried. And I’m glad I did. Because my colleagues were there for me - and vulnerability brought us closer and made me feel stronger, not weaker. If you’re feeling it too, please talk to someone at school. Make space for each other. Create safety. Create belonging. Make it deliberate. Things will improve. They have to. Until then, let’s be kind - to ourselves and to each other.