Heads of Department Retreat

Last weekend academic and senior leaders from Cranbrook School attended the Heads of Department Retreat at Q Station, Manly, which focused on Leadership and Wellbeing.

The first session built on the keynote speeches ‘High Performance RESET’ and ‘Inside Job’ that performance strategist Andrew May delivered to Cranbrook teachers in Terms 1 and 2. Taking a coaching approach, Andrew challenged this group of leaders to take practical steps to improve their wellbeing, providing the necessary tools to support them commit to positive change. This included  exploring the 5 Leadership Capacity building blocks, implementing the Better Week into their busy schedules and kickstarting a 21 Day Energy Challenge to revitalise the body and brain with micro habits.

The retreat concluded with a session on ‘Handling Difficult Conversations’, which explored strategies for navigating these conversations as effectively and compassionately as possible. This informative and interactive session, facilitated by Brett Rolfe, underscored the importance of flexibility and respect, and gave leaders the opportunity to practise applying a framework for taking a collaborative approach to difficult conversations through roleplay.  

The retreat was also a valuable opportunity to strengthen the relationships between this group of leaders, providing time for in-depth conversations about teaching and learning.

Hannah Thomas
Director of Professional Learning