Heathfield is proud of our vibrant, friendly and pro-active workforce. Visitors to our college repeatedly comment on our positive staffroom culture. We believe that happy staff make happy students, and therefore invest time and resources to make this ambition a reality.
This is achieved through a two-pronged approach:
- As part of our overarching goals, there is an ongoing commitment to ensure we routinely review working practices and available research to ensure that staff effectiveness and enjoyment in their role enables the greatest impact on students.
- Coherent Well-Being packages which mirror those available for students and parents ensure healthy approaches and an ongoing dialogue about wellbeing across the whole community.
Working practices and structures
We ensure we remain focused on the things that will make a difference, “Keeping the Main Thing, the Main Thing” regularly reviewing the aspects of our practise that we can remove or do differently to benefit our students and staff. Our policies and practises under regular review include;
- Data Management
- Feedback and marking
- Curriculum planning and resources
- Behaviour management
- Communications
- Workload and wellbeing
- Calendar and events
And are regularly streamlined and reviewed for efficacy.
Through informal and formal structures for discussion and feedback, we seek to reduce and remove aspects of College life that impede or prevent effective working. This takes the form of termly staff voice, regular line management agenda items as well as short focused feedback on particular issues in staff briefings.
We give time to staff to focus quality teaching and learning. This is achieved through timetabled Collaboration Teams who engage with research to develop their practise and CPL together, we also devote almost all CPL time to either Teaching and Learning input from our staff-led Research and Pedagogy Team or to departments to develop subject specific pedagogy.
The Wellbeing Package
This is underpinned by themes which have been identified as supporting a person’s wellbeing. These themes run through student, parent and staff input to ensure a cohesive approach and common language. We have established 12 well-being steps and staff have access to resources to support in these areas, as well as access to a reputable and external Employee assistance programme, through Health Assured. These resources ensure that our staff can access a range of ideas and tips on how to look after themselves. As a college we feel that ‘looking after ourselves is essential not optional’. These well-being steps range from suggestions and support on eating the right food, to showing gratitude and kindness to mindfulness.
Finally, we also have an established staff association at the college who work to promote the voice of the staffroom, running social events both in and outside the College. There is a healthy network of informal support within and across departments. Formal and informal feedback tells us this is extended to all ages of staff and across all lengths of service. This echoes the approach to our students; “no one is left behind”.
Whatever we do at Heathfield, we do it together.