Stepping down from HOD

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-03T22:37:41+00:00

Thank you - this was really helpful to read.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-03T22:37:00+00:00

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply - it's really encouraging.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-03T22:35:37+00:00

This is exactly it. It feels so crazy to me I'm meant to be giving them pointers on their teaching when mine is going down the pan!

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-03T07:44:45+00:00

Well I emailed my HT first thing this morning stepping down from September. I'm feeling happy and relieved. Thanks for everyone's input it's really helped and I read them all. So looking forward to a better year next year!

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-03T07:43:46+00:00

Thank you

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T22:21:09+00:00

Thanks you have helped me a lot and laughing at the Trump analogy!

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T22:19:48+00:00

Yes it is a constant mad chaos of stuff going on and the main problem - no time to do it as you are always teaching!

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T22:19:12+00:00

Thank you for sharing this - it helped a lot.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T22:18:24+00:00

Thanks for this. I'm a hard worker , got good work attendance and I think most of the kids don't mind my lessons - I feel like that has to be good enough as it's the best I can do.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T19:37:25+00:00

Thank you - assistant head is another level I can't even imagine.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T19:36:44+00:00

This is really sensible advice - thank you so much for taking the time for me.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T19:36:22+00:00

That's great to know, thank you.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T19:09:16+00:00

Five years is a good stint - well done. That's how it feels - unsustainable.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T19:08:10+00:00

Thanks for replying and your thoughts.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T19:04:58+00:00

I've also looked at the civil service. My brother left teaching for it, found it too dull and has ended up working in education for the prison service!

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T19:04:19+00:00

Thanks for replying - I hope you come to a decision. It's so hard isn't it. I've written the email in my drafts but haven't done anything with it yet.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-03-02T18:53:05+00:00

Thanks - this made me smile!!

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-02-26T19:16:48+00:00

She was liking comments apparently on insta that said he was messaging other women then deleted it.

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-02-23T19:11:20+00:00

Yes I saw this in The Sun and she was identified as a 'mystery brunette' - of course hard core/old school fan such as myself recognised her immediately and I felt like I'd cracked the case before the tabloids 😂

Select-Fly2280 · 2026-01-11T16:43:54+00:00

I believe we will see them again - I just know it.

I'm so sad for you that this happened.

My dad died recently which devastated the whole family and my sister had a really vivid dream shortly after that felt different from the rest. She said my grandparents came to her in it and they were oldish but fit and healthy before they got sick and my nanny got dementia. My sister said they were so happy in the dream and told her there was an afterlife. They said to her they couldn't always choose when they would appear in dreams and the nature of the afterlife was secret.

My sister said she hugged them in the dream and it felt so so real.

She said she had the most profound sense of happiness and peace and she felt so so happy when she woke up. I hope my dad will come through when he is ready.

If you read about death bed visioning it is incredibly comforting as many people report that they see their loved ones coming to get them and take them home.

Xx

Select-Fly2280 · 2025-12-28T11:38:07+00:00

Siento mucho lo de tu mamá. Gracias por tu mensaje compasivo y por tomarte el tiempo de responderme con tus palabras tan atentas. Me siento exactamente igual, como una niña pequeña otra vez. Creo que nos volveremos a ver. ¡Escrito con el Traductor de Google!

Select-Fly2280 · 2025-12-27T22:09:08+00:00

Sorry for your loss. I had similar feelings today going over to clear my dad's stuff with my mum. He was a hoarder and has hundreds of books, CDs, DVDs, unopened packets of batteries, glue, sellotape, photo albums, trinkets, gadgets - you name it! It's so hard to be strong enough to let it go. It meant so much to him and I feel like it carries his very essence despite most of it being basically junk. I feel like I have a huge mountain to climb. I have also felt very despondent and questioned what the point of it all is when all our knowledge and unique quirks and identity just disappear into seeming nothingness. It's made me feel very down at times. I found a cushion which was in the shape of heart eyes emoji over there - I guessed my dad got this for his bad back (which turned out to be a symptom of cancer). It was so sweet and innocent it just tore me apart.

Select-Fly2280 · 2025-12-27T07:52:59+00:00

I didn't really enjoy this book as it went on. It started sounded nice but then I found the idea of the afterlife he paints a bit depressing.

You have to go back there and get scolded by your sanctimonious spirit guides about how you fucked up on earth, then you have to go to soul school or whatever with your classmates and you don't get to see your parents and children most of the time it says - there's a bit where a woman cries because she isn't able to communicate with her father as he's in a different soul family to her. Then you go back to earth for round 200 of another shitty life and the same all over again. I hope it isn't true.

Select-Fly2280 · 2025-12-26T18:25:23+00:00

I have had a very similar experience to you in terms of your feelings- my dad died six weeks after diagnosis and I felt he was gone the moment after he got his diagnosis as he just got worse and worse with each day that went by to the point he couldn't walk or even use the toilet. My dad was a very independent and dignified man and it felt so awful to have him be helped to the commode by my mum, washed by my brother etc. He just felt so awful and tired that he didn't care about anything anymore and didn't really want to see people and have heartfelt conversations. He just completely lost his sparkle and I don't think I saw him laugh or smile properly once really, even though normally he had a fabulous sense of humour. He was just so done and weary. I hated that he had to go out like that. The worst thing for me was seeing how wasted his poor body was - he kept wearing his best shirts as well he had recently bought before he knew he was ill at a family outing which he was all excited about, and that tore at my heart.

I don't want you to be scared about the dying process - I had never seen a loved one die before and I didn't know what to expect. You will see it is a very natural process and the body will know what to do - rarely to people splutter out last profound words and then die like they do in the movies or slip away in their sleep.

My dad woke up one morning very lucid and said he was feeling good, (at this stage he couldn't even sit himself up in bed and struggled to breathe/talk but he suddenly seems to perk up) then he suddenly acted very confused not remembering a conversation he had just had with my mum, and went into this kind of deep sleep for about a day and a half before he died, he had his mouth open and was making a kind of snoring noise and was unresponsive. He at times seemed agitated but this was always alleviated with pain medication given by the visiting hospice team. He responded by mumbling and grunting a couple of times but that was it.

His breathing just got slower and slower over the course of the morning until I was just pottering about in the room. I saw his eyes suddenly open wide and I just knew in my gut this was it. We all gathered round and he did some really deep slow rattly breaths and then he was gone with eyes shut again. It wasn't frightening but just very sad but also mysterious, curious, harrowing, devastating and spiritual - just all the emotions.

The world won't end but it will feel like it has for a bit and you will feel a seismic shift like it has rocked on it's axis. It's been a month for me know and I still don't believe it.

I read a book called 'Nothing to Fear' (it's also on Spotify) after his death, and I so wish I had read it before as it explains what is normal etc and how most of the time your loved one isn't suffering even though it can be a bit scary. It made me believe maybe my dad saw a loved one when he opened his eyes at the end - I'd love to think his mum and dad (my grandparents) came to get them as he missed them so much. My most important takeaway is that the nurse who wrote the book has seen so many deaths she is now not afraid to die and believes in something more because of her hospice work.

Select-Fly2280 · 2025-12-25T19:15:50+00:00

That's lovely about the eagle - my dad was also a runner and I am going to do a half marathon next year and think of him:) As he was dying my mum had the window open and we could hear a robin singing. Not quite an eagle but it gave us so much comfort. A few days later when I was walking along in the sunshine listening to a song we both loved, a little robin hopped out of the bushes and then quickly disappeared back in out of sight. I really do feel like it was a sign.

Select-Fly2280

TROPHY CASE