profile: paul green, headteacher

It's Monday morning and I have just walked into school. The door opens and Breakfast Club is in full swing.  Rosie has just dropped her rice crispies on the floor and Terry is wailing because his hamster died last night.  ' The boiler's on the blink again', greets me as I turn the corner to face an agitated caretaker.  The phone rings as I walk past the office and a voice rings out, That'll be Helen, she's sick today so we'll need a supply for class 2.  Oh and did you remember that you have a meeting with Action family and the education welfare officer about their attendance?'

I take it all in my stride and calmly take my jacket off before I make a cup of tea and gently ease my way into a normal day at the office.

I survey the row of hats that I will have to wear today and choose the personnel manager one before I go up to classes to make sure that all my staff are happy and comfortable.  Having done that I may have a chance to wear my teaching hat before I have to find my safety helmet and meet with my buildings manager.  Surely Mr Benn didn't have to change this many times as he wandered around the costume shop all those years ago on television.  

Teaching is a great opportunity to be everything to everybody.  

I end the day with a chance to reflect with my colleagues in an oasis of calm, the staff room.  I can be anything I want to be when I walk through that door, a doctor supporting a pupil with asthma, a detective searching out that elusive packed lunch box or unnamed school jumper, a premiership football manager as my school team clinches the winning goal, a caring surrogate parent as I console a bereaved pupil, a scientist as I demonstrate an electrical circuit experiment or a politician as I help to resolve a dispute between two pupils.

...or I could just be a teacher!!

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Paul Green
Headteacher
Featherby Junior School, Gillingham, Kent