So I’m sat here with my heart in my mouth and tears in my eyes.

So I'm sat here with my heart in my mouth and tears in my eyes. We published our #LIFEworkbalance survey late last night (not very LIFE/work balance, I know, but Ed and I wanted to get it done for you guys). I've just put a post on social media about it and the responses have started trickling through already. I think I know what I'm expecting the results to be and I know what the questions are, I've been through all of them... but to actually have it confirmed and see a response from a Senior Leader to the question, 'How happy do you feel your staff are from 1 to 10?' and seeing the result as 1 (the worst) is truly heartbreaking, and as I write this there are only 6 responses in.

We're calling on ALL school staff to fill out this survey as we want to have a large sample size to prove it's true and we want to publish it to make sure we get the attention of the people at the top. Please, PLEASE play your part in taking 15 minutes to answer the questions and then share it with everyone you know who works in school. I know sometimes when people talk about LIFE/work balance in schools it ends up as Head Teacher or SLT bashing, but that's really not we're looking for. We have specific questions for Head Teachers and SLT to find out about their LIFE/work balance too and the pressure they are feeling from above. If you're reading this and you're SLT or a Head Teacher, we want your valued experiences too!

This week, me, Ed, Sian and Josh attended an educational event and they talked about LIFE/work balance. I personally wasn't sure that the true picture had been grasped and these are people who think they are helping teachers address it - so let's make sure they have the REAL picture so they can make a bigger difference.

We've welcomed Kate and Catherine into the team this week and we held an assessment day for the production team yesterday. It's full steam ahead for us with inductions from now until July!

So last week, I had some replies to my emails that in a nutshell, said that if I cared about the LIFE/work balance of teachers, I wouldn't send emails on a Sunday. I was a bit struck as I don't read my emails unless I want to but as you know, I take feedback seriously and I really do consider it. So, I put it out to poll on Facebook and I need you to give your opinion before the poll ends in a few days. Are you happy receiving emails from me on a Sunday or should I be sending them to you on a different day? Any personal responses to this (replying to this email, etc) welcomed.