Newly Appointed Deputy Principals Mentor Zoom Meeting

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Deputies,

I hope you are not finding your first few weeks in your new position too stressful in this most difficult year. As you may be aware NAPD (National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals) organises group mentoring for newly appointed deputies every year. In previous years the format consisted of a plenary session at which there was a brief input from experienced school leaders on some aspect of the Deputy Principal’s role and then an opportunity for each group to have an initial meeting with their mentor.  This initial meeting was followed by three or four session throughout the school year at a venue within a reasonable proximity of the mentees. The mentors are all experienced Deputy Principals and have been involved in mentoring for a number of years.

 

Clearly such an approach is not possible this year, so we have decided to offer mentoring online using Zoom. The first session involving all mentors and mentees will take place on Wednesday September 30th at 4pm. This session, which we are scheduling to last no more than an hour, will involve a brief overview of mentoring, a short presentation by a very experienced Deputy of one school’s story of dealing with Covid-19 and, using the breakout facility in Zoom, an opportunity for the new deputies to meet with their mentors, share experiences and set the dates for further meetings.

 

I realise that Zoom meetings have their limitations, but we will try to keep the groups reasonably small so that everyone gets a chance to be involved. It may be possible later in the year to get back to corporeal ones and for that reason we will have regard to geography in drawing up the groups.

 

This initiative is open to all new Deputy Principals and there is no charge involved.

 

Please let me know as soon as possible but, in any case, no later than 23rd September if you wish to be involved. You can contact me at mp.mccann4@gmail.com. When confirming your participation please specify the e mail address you wish to use for the meeting invitation.

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me at my e mail above.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Michael McCann

(NAPD Director of Mentoring)