What should I look out for when I visit the school?
The first thing to look out for is what the head is like. In a small school, like a primary school, the head makes a lot of difference. Their particular interests will set the whole tone of the school. You don't have to like the head, but you do have to respect them. If you don't, if the head can't command your respect then they won't be running the school well. If they can command your respect then you've got to be happy with the way they're running the school, and their attitudes to academic work or whole child development or the way children are taught will inform the way that the whole school is run. You've got to be comfortable with that. The next thing to look at is the children, because you understand children. You will be able to interpret the way they're looking and feeling and acting, as to whether they are happy, as to whether they are engaged, and as to whether they are excited by what's going on around them. Look at the way they behave and the way the place is kept, and make sure it's something you feel comfortable with. Then, because you are going to be spending the next six or seven years in that company, take a look at the parents. Stand outside the school when they arrive in the morning or when they disappear in the evening and say, is that the lot of people that I want my child spending time with, and I want myself spending time with, over the next six or seven years?
