Part 1: Leadership learning from opening a new school
Introduction
It began with a phonecall
When I received the phone call from Rory O’Connor to say that my application for the role of foundation principal of the new school to be built in Churton Park, Wellington, had been successful, I calmly thanked him and said I would be in touch once my law-qualified husband had read through the documentation. However, once I got off the phone, I was overwhelmed with excitement (of course I was going to accept it, never mind the documentation or what my husband advised me!). But I was also left shaking my head in disbelief: how on earth did I get the job? And what an honour! I had received leadership honours before, but this faith put into my leadership capability was beyond my wildest hopes and dreams. Even today, I still shake my head in disbelief when I think about the opportunity I was offered. Why me?!
However, I have always been deeply confident in my ability as a learner – that I will develop the capability that I need for any challenge I face when it is needed. I had no idea how to start a new school. How could I? I had never done it before, neither had I read any books or watched YouTube clips about how to do it (were there any?). But then, I had never done a doctorate while working full time as a first-time principal before and I managed that and survived!
In fact, there was surprisingly little information available about starting a new school in May 2011 when I took up the position to get the school ready for opening in 2012. And this was a very different school and community from the one I was currently leading. It was the first new school to be built in Wellington for 25 – 30 years or so. So, it was to be a new experience all around. However, I did possess this deep confidence that I would be able to work it out as I went along. This did not mean that I did not frequently experience imposter syndrome, wondering what on earth I was doing in Churton Park, Wellington opening a school. But we made it through, and over this series of articles, I am going to unpack some experiences and share a few leadership learnings that I feel might be useful generally for leaders, not just for those who have been given the privilege of opening a new school.
A little bit of history
Amesbury School was conceived in response to rapid growth in the suburb of Churton Park, Wellington. The existing Churton Park School had been built in the 1970s for 300 or so students and was now bursting at the seams with over 500 students. A piece of land was purchased for the new school and the discussion then centred around whether a super school would be built on the new land with Churton Park School moving to the new site. However, the ministry realised that the school would quickly become the biggest primary school in New Zealand and recommended to the Minister of Education that a second school be built on the new site instead, relieving the pressure on Churton Park School and ready to serve the new land developments that would be taking place towards the north of Churton Park.
A ministerially appointed Establishment Board of Trustees (EBOT) was chosen from nominations by Churton Park community groups and the birthing of Amesbury School began. The EBOT, made up of Rory O’Connor (Chair), David Waters (Deputy Chair), Wendy Welsh, Alison Pask and Roger Ellis, and the Ministry of Education representatives became involved in a process of appointing a consortium to design and build the school. Maycroft Construction won the bid. Another major job of the EBOT was to consult with the community about the vision that would guide the development of the school and the values that would underpin the operation of the school.
In briefing papers released under the Official Information Act, it was made clear by the ministry that:
As with all new school initiatives, the ministry will seek to ensure that they utilize opportunities relating to:
Curriculum development
Improved pedagogy
21st Century learning environments
Environmentally sustainable design
Special education needs
Ka Hikitia
This was expected to be a school that would explore what education can look like in the 21st Century. The Board embraced this objective, and, along with the vision and values developed through community consultation, developed two further principles: the first one related to celebrating our bicultural heritage as New Zealanders and the multicultural nature of Churton Park and the second one, to a focus on environmental sustainability.
The next major task on the EBOT’s agenda was to appoint the principal who would bring the vision for 21st century teaching and learning to life on a day-by-day basis. They appointed Dr Lesley Murrihy. That’s me. I am very aware of the risk the EBOT took in appointing me. Yes, I have a doctorate in education and I have received some leadership honours, something that would probably make my CV stand out among the CVs of some other principals. However, in many other ways, on the surface I did not look like a good fit. I have eight very talented, capable and well-rounded children, but they have never been to school (and I had eight!). They were educated at home by my husband and myself. At the time of application, I had been a principal for nearly ten years, but it was of a small, semi-rural decile 1 school (very low socio-economic) with largely Maori students, and Amesbury School would be an urban, decile 10 school with a large multi-cultural roll, but few Maori. At my first public outing as foundation principal designate, having been put through my pedigree by a local principal, I was finally asked by that principal, “Well then why did you get the job?”
I am sure there were moments when some members of the EBOT became anxious and asked themselves a similar question. Some of my “differences” allowed a lot of scope for naysayers to latch onto and cast doubt on the efficacy of the new school. However, I was confident that, given opportunities to get up close to people, I had the passion, capability, experience and ability to look outside the square to give Amesbury School a good start, and I was a good learner.
A bit of a bumpy ride….
Though the need for a new school was initiated by the existing school and community, human nature is such that the development of the new school was experienced as very challenging and threatening for some people in the wider Churton Park community. Not only that, but Amesbury School was the first completely new school to be built in Wellington for nearly three decades. This created quite a challenge to the thinking of many people, some of whom were struggling with leaky, earthquake prone buildings, precariously positioned on the top and sides of steep hills. We were the new kid on the block with all the shiny, new, exciting toys and a piece of flat ground on which to build our school. The politics of it was fraught and we had to contend with a great deal of misinformation about our school and, perhaps, a little jealousy.
We began with a significant problem as probably all new schools do, “How do you get a whole community of people to join you on an uncertain journey, when what you are offering is very different from what they are used to, and they are perfectly happy with what they currently have?” Research into school effectiveness is very clear, home-school ties are an essential support to quality education. In fact, many writers argue that this relationship is one of the most powerful forces in education. However, our challenge was not initially one of opening up a space for parents to become more involved in their child’s learning, we were asking them to give up what they saw as a “certain” education to join us on an “unknown and, potentially, uncertain” journey.
Through consultation, a school zone for Amesbury School was determined by the Ministry. People who were living in that zone had the opportunity to move from the school they were in and enrol at Amesbury School. However, once they were enrolled at our school, they gave up the automatic right to go back. We were aware that this was a big ask. Eighty-one students and their families took the plunge and began with us on day one. We honoured them for being the bungee jumpers! However, it was not a smooth ride (though, to be honest, with hindsight, it could have been worse). Having taken the plunge, some parents became anxious and concerned when what they were experiencing at Amesbury School did not feel like or look like what they had experienced in their own schooling or in their children’s previous schools. Considerable anxiety for some was also caused by the negative talk and misinformation they were being confronted with out in the community and by one or two parents from within the school. These are very conscientious parents who are concerned to not only do, but to be seen to be doing, the right things for their children. They found it quite challenging when people who did not attend our school asked them why they would risk sending their children to “that experimental school.” Had they done the right thing for their children? From day one, we became involved in a journey of winning and continually winning our school community.
For further early Amesbury School history follow these links:
Assuming good intent
We faced many challenges and learned many things in those early years of Amesbury School, and I will share these with you over subsequent articles. But one thing we have learned that is timeless is that all conflict is most effectively addressed when we assume the good intent of the other. When faced with unfair negative feedback or criticism, we would allow ourselves a moment to complain, whinge and be defensive and then we would move on and try to see the issue from the perspectives of the parent/complainant and we would begin to see that, no matter how misguided, there was an issue to be addressed and we could create a plan to address it.
Below is a conversation that took place among teachers in our first year of operation that illustrates this approach:
Did you hear about the text that went around today?
Yes, I am really shocked by it. I’m flabbergasted. I can’t believe that they would say that. Don’t people have anything better to do?! People in this community obviously have too much time on their hands.
Yeah, I can’t believe it is something they would even bother to text about. What I don’t understand is why they can’t give us a break? I mean we are doing such cool stuff with their kids.
Yeah. We never did anything interesting like this at my last school. In fact, I have never done such interesting programmes in the whole time I have been a teacher. School is way more interesting here and yet…
We’ve only been going a couple of weeks. Don’t they know what it is like starting everything from scratch. I mean every single thing. Every structure, every piece of documentation, every facet of culture, every process and procedure has to be created from scratch.
Yes, it’s huge. There is no automaticity, nothing that is cultural or traditional. Every single thing we do takes massive creative energy. How come they don’t realise this and show us a little grace? Gee, we are doing the best that we can.
I guess you can’t know what this situation is like unless you have done it yourself. Nobody I talk to really knows what it is like. But you know….a little trust would go a long way actually. Why can’t they just trust us? We are good teachers with good reputations – otherwise why would the establishment board have appointed us.
Yes, but when you think about it the problem is they really don’t even know us. Why should they trust us? What have they got to base their trust of us on?
That’s a fair point. It would be nice if they did, though.
Sure would. But I guess you’re right. They don’t know us. We have got no history with them, nothing in the bank, so they have no reason to….
When you think about it – everything is new for them, too. No wonder they are anxious and concerned.
Yes, it is all new for us but at least we have control over what is happening. They don’t really have any control.
OK, so going back to the content of the text….what do you think? Is there any response required from us, should we talk to the people involved about how unhelpful it is, or should we just let it run its course and carry on?
Ignore it.
Yip, let it go.
I think I agree. But let’s put something general on the BLOG that explains why we did that particular programme and what we were hoping to achieve. That might help alleviate the concern.
Did you notice the pattern? Initial defensiveness, complaining and blame (“too much time on their hands”, for example) followed by a reframing of the issue and trying to see it from the others’ points of view, which resulted in greater understanding and then a commitment to an action to help.
We realised that it was immaterial whether good intent was intended or not, but that if we acted as though there was good intent, then the outcome would always be better. We were more likely to enter the conversation or begin writing the email with a positive attitude and our hearts in the right place, and often the conflict would simply resolve itself. Sometimes people just wanted to be heard and didn’t want anything more done about it. Sometimes, we would realise that we had allowed the initial moment of defensiveness to carry on for too long and we would have to cut it off and very deliberately move into the understanding phase.
So, leadership learning one – always assume good intent.
The next article will look at what we learned about “winning the school community”.