With everything that goes on in schools, and particularly over the last year, it’s not very often that as a school leader you get the chance to sit back, take stock, and celebrate what has been achieved.

This is why NAHT is delighted to support the inaugural ‘National School Business Leader (SBL) Day’ on 11 June 2021 – a chance to stop, recognise and celebrate the incredible contributions that school business leaders make to their schools and the wider community.

We know from our members, just how vital a role that school business leaders play in their schools and as part of their senior leadership teams. Whether that be working to balance the books or managing the school estate - these professionals are always there.

If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s the power of teamwork; of the collective will to get things done to ensure that children and young people can still get the educational experience they deserve.

And school business leaders have been a critical part of that - getting on with their work, often behind the scenes, helping to make sure schools can deliver all that has been asked of them and more. The challenges they have faced have been immense. More often than not it was school business leaders and their teams who had to grapple with the disaster that was the government’s free school meal voucher scheme and deal with the arduous processing of trying to claim back a fraction of the costs that schools have been incurring. And it has been school business leaders and their teams who have worked to ensure appropriate supply cover when staff members have been forced to isolate.

And this power of the collective, of the critical role of all leaders, is the case within NAHT itself.

With over 34,000 members in every phase and sector of education, and covering all types of leadership roles, we are the largest association for school leaders in the UK.

And our school business leader members are a core part of that - embedded throughout our democratic structures we have elected school business leaders on our National Executive and a dedicated School Business Leaders Council, as well as business leaders in our branches, regions and equality networks. Collectively, they help steer our work and enable us to focus on what matters for members – and for the pupils they serve. Because regardless of phase, location or role, what’s evident from our members is the passion for leading and for creating a better system for pupils.

School leadership is an incredibly rewarding and inspiring job. However, it can also be an extremely difficult one – probably never more evident than over the last year - and so it’s important to have something or someone there, to pick you up when you’re down, and to spur you on to better things.

And that is what NAHT does – support you in times of difficulty, to help you grow and develop in your career, or to campaign on the issues that matter. Not only that but you gain access to an incredible network of like-minded professionals, peers, and in many cases friends.

There have been numerous times in my 25-year career as a head teacher when I have found the support of NAHT to be invaluable; whether that be guidance provided from our central and regional teams on relatively ‘minor’ issues around parental complaints, through to more extensive support from the legal team, following a challenge from a parent. That’s not to mention the incredible support of colleagues in my local branch with whom I have been able to discuss the issues and challenges I have faced and received replies that are practical and reassuring. As a school leader, the supportive network of the whole NAHT community (locally and nationally) has enabled me to do my job even better and has helped me to manage those times of pressure that all school leaders go through.

I, therefore, wholeheartedly believe in the importance of joining a union, and the importance of being involved in the union you are part of. My NAHT membership has been fundamental to my life as a school leader – and that’s why I am delighted to have taken up the presidential role for the forthcoming year.

For me, one of my main areas of focus in my presidential year will be to promote the importance of the well-being and good mental health of school leaders. School leadership at all levels is both an immensely rewarding but at the same time a very demanding job.  Encouraging school leaders to look after themselves and promoting the importance of the well-being of school leaders to all those connected with education, will be a key mission for me.

As we hopefully begin to see an end to the pandemic, I will look to support school leaders as they cope with the new challenges (both academic and pastoral) around supporting the young people in their care who have lost out on learning due to the pandemic; and in their dealing with the emotional toll the pandemic has taken on the staff they lead, along with themselves, during such an unprecedented 15 months of challenge.

I look forward in the year ahead to meeting as many members as possible, both online and hopefully also face-to-face, listening to their views, seeking their opinions and, above all, doing all I can to make the quality of their working lives better, both in the short and long term.

Tim Bowen is NAHT president for 2021/22. 

National School Business Leaders Day takes place on Friday 11 June 2021 and celebrates the incredible contribution School Business Leaders make to their schools and communities.