You know what? Our Administrative Staff who work in schools are an incredible bunch and this week is a massive shout out to them all. A thank you. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for being the first person that school visitors meet and for putting on a smile when they do.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been lucky to be back in schools doing what I love and I have had a large number of Admin Staff join in the sessions. What a joy they have been to work with, thank you. We often think about our work from a teacher or leader perspective and yet our Admin Staff are very much on the front line of difficult interactions. In fact, many times they cop a whole lot more than those of us tucked away in classrooms. This work needs to be recognised and congratulated.
Some of the stories that have been shared with me over the last month or so have included
- fielding hundreds of calls from unhappy parents in a week, sometimes a day.
- administering first aid to injured kids – scratched knees, bleeding noses and worse, ice packs, vomit bags, dry underwear, dry uniforms
- helping teachers locate the various bits of information they are looking for
- ensuring that all of the school communications are going out to the right people at the right time
- being confronted by intimidating and aggressive students and parents
- liaising with outside contractors and ‘visitors’ including the police and paramedics
Our Admin Staff also have their own jobs to do. So this week let’s take a minute – I am sure most of us think it – and thank our people with words of appreciation and gratitude. Like you, I have seen an Admin Staff member talk a parent down, a student down and still manage to pick up the phone and answer with a smile. Resilience and grit. Our Admin Staff are also leaders of school culture and language. In many ways they are tasked with helping our community members to live our school values on a more regular basis because they have the most contact with parents.
So to our Admin Staff, thank you. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for the extra steps you take to help our schools run smoothly, to help our parents and our students as they navigate the challenges of life. For doing it with a smile. Thank you
Check out other articles Cassie has written here.