Ofsted anxiety anyone?

I remember the stab in the pit of my stomach whenever we had the call. Even if I felt confident, the dreaded call still gave me the feeling of anxiety.

I never wanted all of the hard work to be brushed aside. I wanted staff to get the recognition they deserved… for all the long days, for the missed dinners because of supporting a child, for the tears or frustration after a tough cross-examination, for showing up each and every day no matter what happened the day before.

I remember years ago, I was on week two of a full inspection, trying to juggle the day job along with responding to various requests from Ofsted and I was feeling STRESSED!

I was sat at my computer, typing up a response when my Director came in and asked how I was. I kept typing while I was explaining a list of things that were going wrong and then started going through a longer list of things I still needed to do. He said “stop”. I kept typing. So he said it again. I stopped and turned around. He looked at me with kindness and said “you’re going down a rabbit hole”.

In that moment, I started laughing and realised I had just jumped down a hole and started digging, feeling like I was digging deeper with no way out so I kept digging harder and faster. He pulled me back from my rabbit hole and laughed with me. I took a deep breath and we got what was needed done. I will forever remember that moment because it reminds me how quickly something like the anxiety of Ofsted can overwhelm you and how thankful I am to have had someone who was calm and kind working alongside me.

Kindness matters….to ourselves and to others. We need to first be kind to ourselves, things like Ofsted can bring on a lot of worry, anxiety, and stress.

They can put us under even greater pressure than we were feeling until the call. Still, take that tea break…you need it. Still, sit down and eat lunch…you need it. Still do the little things that replenish you throughout the days and weeks….you need it. And then we can be kind to others. If you see someone going down the rabbit hole or sitting in a whirlwind of overwhelm, reach out a hand.

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