8.00-9.00 Met with Donald McGillivary and David Scott who represent the Association of Headteachers Scotland. Went through a varied agenda – most action points had been covered from the previous meeting. We looked at the proposals for development planning and I was delighted that two of our most experienced headteachers were generally in favour of the general direction we hope to take.

10-2.00 Departmental Management Team meeting. This was an extended meeting as we considered how well we manage change as a group. We all agreed that we need to improve upon our ability to: give direction; consider the impact of the change process on individuals; and be more aware of the the process of change management. One of the the things we looked at was the potential of developing a statement of intent to support our aims and visions which are included in our service improvement plan. Someone raised a concern about “another document” but I've found statements of intent to be incredibly helpful in providing a context for the change process. A statement of intent sets out to provide a narrative description of what it is you inend to do. It pulls together the aims and visions into a inter-connected whole which allows the reader to understand what it is you attempting to achieve. A statement of intent should avoid jargon and should be intelligible to anyone. You know you’ve got it right when teachers or pupils come up to you and quote a section of the statement of intent – of course – it can cut both ways!

2.-4.00 School Liaison Group – This is our strategic meeting as managers and education officers. We had a very productive discussion on the draft development guidelines and folk have agreed to take on bits of work to give it a better shape and form. But do they have to give me such a hard time. It was good to have an ally in the meeting in the form of Mr Ted. We also looked at the task management tracker (TMT!!) which will enable us to track progress.

4.00-5.00 Tidied up my desk and left for home early. Today has been pretty intense but I feel it’s been worthwhile – you can’t ask for anything more. Parents night tonight at Earlston High School – it’s funny to be on the other side of the desk.