Vicky Marsh is a regional director at The Pioneer Academy within its education team, a role she has held since September 2021.

She has always worked in education, having studied a PGCE in London and gone on to become a classroom teacher, an assistant headteacher within four years of graduating, and a headteacher in 2011.

She turned the school she was headteacher of into a single academy trust, and then a two-school trust that she ran as CEO, before moving to a local authority to work as a head of school improvement, inclusion and attendance services.

Wanting to get back on the front line of schools more, she then took up her current role with Pioneer Academy. Below, she talks to Tes about what the job entails in a typical week.

School visits

I’m one of four regional directors in our trust and I’m unique in that my region is split across our trust, as I generally work with our newest schools or those that have been in difficulty, so I am not based in just one area.

I have five schools I work with on a weekly basis, based on level of need - so for one school I am there for one and a half days a week, another just half a day.

It’s flexible, though, so if I’m needed in schools for a specific meeting, or a teaching and learning review, or a specialist visit I can be there for longer. I like to have a set pattern when I can, however, and usually try to start and end my week by visiting the school that needs me the most.

Supporting leaders

Once I’m in the schools it’s about working on the ground as an operational leader with the headteachers and their teams. What I do is look at the school improvement journey, look at the plans in place, assess and evaluate, and base my work on that.

So that might be supporting the headteacher and their workload by being on the ground and adding capacity for them and their teams, or doing training, support and helping with development programmes.

It’s also about ensuring that schools are compliant in terms of following the trust’s vision and expectations.

Team meetings

Each week we have a trust meeting with the regional directors, the CEO and director of education to discuss our schools, areas of need, areas of development and so on, and then I’m deployed based on some of those discussions.

The meetings last one to two hours and alternate between being online one week and in person the next.

Having it at a set time means I always know where I will be, which is helpful for having a structure and it’s good to check in with colleagues as I travel a lot and that can be quite isolating.

Emails and admin

Generally, I am an early bird, so get into schools early and use that time to catch up on emails, fire off new ones and organise meetings.

I usually have one afternoon a week when I carve out time to write up my reports or backfill on other areas I cover across the trust, such as inclusion and attendance, which draws on my experience from my previous local authority role.

If I have specific projects on, I also make time by maybe doing one fewer school visit a week, so there is flexibility there if I need it.

WhatsApp groups

A big part of my role is empowering headteachers to become confident to act independently. When they join, I will be there to support them, but over time, I mentor them so they can take things on without me and that support can lessen - but we are always there if needed.

We have a headteachers’ WhatsApp group, where people can contact me, and we do quick check-ins via the group at the start or the end of the week - even if it’s just to say “have a great weekend”. It means there is a collaborative and open approach to communications.

I try to ensure my calendar is always up to date each week so headteachers know where I am and when I might be available, or not, for any calls.

Downtime

I go to the theatre a lot outside work and that’s a great way to unwind and just sit and relax. I also walk a lot or go to the gym.

None of my family works in education and that’s quite nice because it means I don’t have to talk about work all the time as they don’t really understand what I do!

Vicki Marsh was talking to Dan Worth

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