I did not expect to start thinking about schools this early. My child is still small, but parenthood has already changed how I look at classrooms, leadership and what we quietly expect children to endure.
For years, the dominant question has been: will this school help a child succeed? I now wonder whether that question is too narrow. Does the school listen? Does a child feel known? Are mistakes safe? Can children make choices and contribute to the life of the school?
“Working alongside school leaders has shown me that culture is built in ordinary moments: how a morning assembly is led, whose ideas enter a meeting, what happens after a child misses school, and whether a teacher feels supported enough to try again.”
Leadership is not something children encounter only when they grow up. They experience it now, through the adults and systems around them—and through every opportunity they receive to lead themselves.
