Having started my introduction, I am not finished (this will come as no surprise to any colleagues who know me!)…we are a bunch of disruptive thinkers and you should expect to be challenged. I am not sure any other organisation is so bold in its assertions but you need to know what you are applying for but then again we know you may get to work in a truly special place and enjoy the privilege of working with our staff and children. Yes, I am biased, but I love it. I was asked how I feel about the trust and I answered by saying every fibre of my entire being is inextricably linked to the heartbeat of the trust, every school, every member of staff and every child. I am fully emotionally invested in achieving our vision of changing lives through learning that reaches any child in any class, anywhere.

To do that I am focused on you and helping you become successful.

The key question you need to ask is whether you are made to feel that you are applying to make a difference in a trust that will focus on your growth and development. I asked one such colleague if they felt the Head Teacher had convinced them that they were genuinely interested in them as opposed to slipping in to fulfilling a job within an organisation that quickly forgot about them once the excitement of the new recruit had waned. The treadmill role.

To emphasise this further I asked… “Is the Head interested in you and why they are interviewing you? How will they help you maximise what you can offer? What is it they think you are bringing that adds to their children’s experience and how are they going to build and develop that impact? Are you merely there to fill a vacancy or to contribute to the long-term success of the children? Of course, they are going to say they want you to contribute long term. At that point, ask them how they see that happening. Ask them what their vision is and how you fit within it. How are your valuable skills recognised and how do they see all you can grow to become as part of that vision.

Why use this counterintuitive example? Simple. We do not recruit to fill a hole. We are West Lakes. We “Change Lives Through Learning.” You are important to that mission. You will, every day, be important to that mission.

As a lifelong Liverpool supporter, (my Nan knitted my first LFC hat when I was 7, complete with bobble!) one of my favourite stories about the legend that is Bill Shankly. It tells of an interview where he said he would never seek to recruit players from other [then] First Division teams like Manchester United etc., because to do so implied they were better than Liverpool and that Liverpool needed their players to make them better. He would look further afield and differently to recruit talent that would add fresh ideas and excitement, blend with, challenge the existing skills and then nurture that talent for their personal good and therefore the good of the club. I hope you can see the parallel.

I hope you are talent, joining a talented team that has you in mind, thinks about you and how it can develop you so that you are able to change lives through learning like it was you who invented it.

I do not always get it right but I try to make you feel that you are the most important person and that the team cannot do without you, that your development is crucial to the success of the children and therefore the trust. You should feel like that every day, we should make you feel like that every day, because it is true.

This is West lakes. We are West Lakes. There is nowhere like it.