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I was on such a roll… Last night I had an idea… But as I sit here tonight I am drawing a blank.  So tonight I am just going to take some time to reflect on the year so far.

2015… for me it was a much needed fresh start, we all have those years.  Lots going on.  Putting yourself out there and taking risks.  Getting burnt.  Developing your practice in new and sometimes uncomfortable ways.  2014 was that year for me and somehow it seems to have spilled over into the new year.

But I am approaching it with a growth mindset.  I have been challenged with leading the Junior school after an amazing few years setting up team teaching and digital pedagogy in the Senior Syndicate.  It was the best time in my career but it wasn't finished so I couldn't help but feel I was losing my baby.

I have been on a professional learning journey that has taken me so much further than I ever expected and the scary and exciting thing is there is so much more.  This year I am going to set some goals.  Some big ones.  I am going to attend the Aspiring Principals course, I am going to get into senior leadership and I am going to run a marathon.  

For people who know me well none of this will probably come as a surprise, but it is scary to write them down.  The scariest part of writing that last paragraph was that at least one of those goals aren’t decided by me.  I can do my best but at the end of the day the success or failure of those goals fall to someone else's decision.

Maybe that’s how students feel.  They give their best effort with a piece of work and for whatever reason, maybe we as teachers expected more or we missed that moment to celebrate the work with a student.  And that must feel horrible.  

According to the Incredible Years programme the magic ratio of positive to negative interactions is around 80/20 or higher.  I believe this applies to students, colleagues, parents… Everyone.  

So this is where 20 minutes into the 28 minutes of writing, I try to pull this post together with some clear message.  I guess what I am saying is that at this time of the year where we are setting goals for the year,  school charters are going in,  teachers are meeting parents and talking about what will be happening,  we need to stop and think about what kind of year we want.  

I want a year were the people around me are happy and fulfilled.  Students, staff, parents, all of them. I know that our school has some work to do this year… I know I have some work to do this year.  It will be tough and without the support of those around me and the 80/20 ratio of positive interactions then the team could fall apart.  The team in my class,  the teaching team.  

So my big goal this year is not any of those mentioned before… It is to make sure that I do my part in having positive interactions with everyone so that as a team we are able to make the progress we want to this year.

That was my rant tonight,  hope I held it together after a long day in the sun at swimming sports.