Leadership Creed

 

Our Leadership Creed explains how we think of leadership at The Dell. This applies to adults and children.

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Why
WE are the teachers of 420 children at The Dell. The quality and impact of what and how WE teach them directly determines their life chances. In some cases WE are the main influencing factor in their long term destiny and short term wellbeing and safety. 

 

Who
Every adult who is employed at The Dell is a ‘teacher’ because children learn from everything they see, hear, perceive and interpret. 

 

Every adult who is employed at The Dell is a leader because leaders lead change, support others and make things better. They notice aspects that aren’t as strong and look for ways to improve them. Our school doesn’t work on ‘permissions’ so if someone sees a need they will address it. If they see an opportunity and it serves the best interests of the children, and is safe and legal, they are empowered to say ‘yes’ themselves.

Some leaders lead bigger teams, some lead smaller teams: everyone leads children and is accountable to themselves.

 

Decisions are made by leaders at all levels, not solely the headteacher. The headteacher holds ultimate accountability for the school and the achievements of each individual but the school is as good as the team and not the headteacher.

 

What
We understand that we are preparing children today with the skills, attitudes & capabilities they’ll need tomorrow. But because ‘tomorrow’ changes constantly, we realise that our work today cannot be cast in stone and be rigid. It too will change constantly. The way we implement systems, policies and expectations reflects this.

 

Our school leadership culture is intrinsically linked to our organisation and evolved from within by us. It can’t be imposed or directed from outside.

 

Where
Learning takes place everywhere indoors, outdoors, on-site and away from the school. We understand that learning is what happens in your head, and that the place you’re in at the time is relevant only in terms of how easy and effective that learning was.

Leadership happens everywhere.

 

When
Leadership is about an attitude. It is not exclusive to a title or allocated to a time.

 

How
We are committed to being only positive about working at The Dell and supportive towards each other. We accept that if we fall out of love with teaching and working at The Dell, there are other jobs we could do elsewhere. In this case the school will work hard to support colleagues in this change and that this is a sincere, authentic offer and in no way a threat.

 

Our school is ‘all about learning’, and this shapes everything we do and how we think. Everything is a learning opportunity; success, error, misunderstanding, altercation, complaint. We’re not defensive (but we are human) and we’re committed to doing it ‘even better next time’.

 

While we provide a supportive and coaching learning culture alongside ongoing training for staff, we believe leadership comes from an understanding of the difference we can make, WHY we do the job we do and the trust and freedom to do it. We do not prescribe a leadership style, only an expectation of each adult who works here to do and be their absolute best.