Bryan Slater Director of Education	Distribution
	Headteachers of all Norfolk Schools

The attached document is provided for your information:

ACTION	Title	Headteacher Well-Being Support Officer
	Summary of contents	Letter
	Associated documents	None
	Date	7^th May 2004
	Summary of action required	To note and take action as appropriate
	To be completed by	21.05.2004
	LEA Contact	Julia Hurlbut	(	01263 713832
	E-mail address	julia.hurlbut@norfolk.gov.uk
	Norfolk Self Review reference	2. How effective is the school in developing pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development? 7. How well is the school led and managed? 8. How well does the school use its resources?
	Document reference	MI 99/04

Dear Colleague,

Headteacher Well-Being Support Officer

I am writing to introduce myself as the latest recruit to the Norfolk Well Being Team, appointed to promote and support the well-being of the county’s school leaders. My job purpose it to:

· Provide support for all Norfolk headteachers during times of personal crisis e.g. illness, bereavement, family problems etc;

· Provide support by offering an entirely confidential and non-judgemental opportunity to talk through a difficult professional situation before it becomes a crisis and a potential cause of stress; and

· Contribute to the future development of the Norfolk Well-being programme, with particular reference to headteachers

Last year, in a series of meetings held across the county, over 130 headteachers met with members of the Well-Being team to pool ideas to help promote their own well-being. The suggestions form the basis of a report, collated by David Saunders, entitled ‘Promoting Headteacher Well-Being in Norfolk Schools’. One early outcome has been my appointment to take these suggestions forward with the different department heads and other interested groups.

I have been a primary headteacher for 11 years: in Leicestershire in a VA school of 230 NOR and, until Easter, at Kelling where I was a teaching head.

During this time I have seen the demands of headship grow as accountability is laid at our doors. Leading and managing a school is a challenging, and sometimes lonely, job and heads need to develop a set of coping strategies to maintain both their own and the institution’s well-being.

Norfolk County Council, with support from the teachers’ charity ‘Teacher Support Network’ and the HSE first launched the Well-Being project, in May 1999. It promotes the well-being of all Norfolk Education employees and now represents over 14,000 people. This unique project soon attracted national interest and led to the setting up of the National Well-Being Project run by the ‘Teacher Support Network’ and involving 30 LEAs. Once again Norfolk leads the way by creating a post specifically for headteacher support.

I am looking forward to meeting many of you later this term at the headteacher meetings with Dr. Slater. In the meantime I am liasing closely with all headteacher interest groups as we seek to develop the role to maximise support for you.

If you have any suggestions or would welcome some entirely confidential and non-judgemental support, please contact me on 01263-713832 or via the Well-Being office on 01603 222326.

Yours faithfully

Julia Hurlbut

Headteacher Well-Being Support Officer