A PRIMARY school head teacher has written an instruction manual on leadership with some “frank and unvarnished” insights into his work.
Simon Botten is the executive head teacher of Blackhorse Primary School and Emersons Green Primary School.
He became head of Blackhorse in 2011 and executive head of both schools in 2022, when they formed a formal partnership.
Mr Botten says he was asked to write a “warts and all” guide to school improvement due to the success of his head teacher’s blog, which is one of the most popular of its kind in the country.
The book, called ‘Headteachering’, will be published in October by Bloomsbury.
Simon said the work is different to other leadership books because of the “frank and unvarnished stories” from his 18 years as a head which introduce each chapter.
They range from a pupil swearing during his first ever assembly as a head to being sent love letters by a parent.
Mr Botten also writes of how he guided Blackhorse “from being one of the least popular and least successful schools in the county, to one of the most oversubscribed and successful schools that it is today”.
He also writes about the partnership with Emersons Green Primary School.
Mr Botten said: “Most school leadership books give a very sanitised version of school improvement, where all mistakes and missteps are edited out.
“In ‘Headteachering’, I wanted to show that success is not a straight line, and all school leaders must face uncertainty and disappointments along the way.
“Having supported other school leaders across the country on their improvement journey for the last 15 years, I also wanted to share practical steps which leaders take to create great schools.”
The book also contains 16 case studies from other successful school leaders, who offer their own advice “in a similarly unvarnished style”.
Blackhorse has recently introduced a complete ban on smartphones. In July’s Voice, Mr Botten said the ban has been introduced because school leaders had “become extremely concerned about the impact these devices are having on children’s mental health and well-being”.
He said the ban was backed by 88% of parents, some of whom wanted support to help them delay buying smartphones for their children.
The book will be launched at a special event at Blackhorse Primary school on October 9.
Voice readers can get a 25% discount by using the code ‘BOTTEN25’ on the Bloomsbury website between that date and December 11.