Headmaster's Blog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.

 

Never written a ???blog??? before! Apparently a blog is ???a contraction of the term "web log^??? is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events???

 

Just been to a conference for Headteachers of Special Schools in Wales at the Quay in Deganwy. It is an ideal setting for any conference and our meeting room had stunning views along the River Conwy. Our conference is an annual event and it is very well supported with over 75% of headteachers throughout Wales attending. It was our turn in the North to organise this year so we can relax in the comfort of the Hilton in Cardiff next May!

 

Our main speaker was Trystan Williams from Springfield School in Wiltshire. Trystan is a Welsh speaker from Bangor who had a sister at Ysgol Pendalar. As Headteacher of a very successful special school he gave interesting talks about running his school and is very effective at getting his message across.

 

A very important part of any conference is the time allocated for ???networking???. It sounds like hard work but it is a time to get to know our colleagues in the deep south, very often in the comfort of a lounge bar!

 

At every conference I have been to it has been interesting to note that all of the headteachers throughout Wales have common complaints against their LEA???s and the Welsh Assembly Government. But from what I could gather, schools in the south are better resourced in terms of staff and services and have surpluses in their budgets at the end of March. I wish! We are in a ludicrous situation at Pendalar where we have prospective pupils who want to come here in September but the 1:1 assistant who has been with the child throughout his/ her time in mainstream school won???t be transferring with them, apparently because we ???have the expertise to deal with them here???.!! So at the minute we will have 7 or 8 more pupils but no more staff. Hope this situation can be sorted at the next finance meeting.

 

It was interesting also to see that 3 out of the 11 special school heads in North Wales/Powys are retiring within the next 6 months and another 4 of us are in our mid 50???s (yes really I am!!) and can retire when we want to! We have expressed our concern at this situation because many of the deputies or assistant heads do not want to make that step to being headteachers in this day and age. We have decided to address the situation by organising a deputies/assistant heads conference which was held in October 2009 and we hope this will become an annual event where these senior managers are made aware of the leadership skills (and tricks) needed to survive in headship these days.

 

We???ve had another conference this week which was much more important, that is a Careers Convention for our secondary aged pupils. Many colleges and sheltered workplaces attended and parents were given the opportunity to discuss their childrens??? future at what can be a very stressful time for families.

 

It was my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Caernarfon to open the convention. Councillor Hywel Roberts has been a very good friend to the school during his term of office (just think 2 weeks ago he was showing the Queen around the castle!). He has fulfilled his role as mayor with dignity and common sense and we wish his successor Councillor Huw Edwards well in his term of office.

 

Till the next time.