Getting Started

Your First Half Term as Head of Year: A Week by Week Guide

A practical week by week guide for your first half term as Head of Year. Eight weeks of priorities, systems, and honest advice with links to templates you can use from day one.

Eight weeks of priorities, systems, and what to actually focus on when everything feels urgent.

Before Week 1: The prep that changes everything Do this in the last week of summer, even just a couple of hours.

Most new Heads of Year walk in on day one with enthusiasm and not much else.

The ones who hit the ground well spend a small amount of time beforehand getting the foundations in place.

Get the data before you start.

Ask your predecessor or SLT link for the year group's attendance figures, behaviour data, SEND register, and PP list.

You don't need to analyse it all yet.

Just have it.

Knowing which students are persistent absentees before you meet them changes how you approach the first week.

Read the handover notes properly.

And read between the lines.

If the previous HOY describes a student as "complex," that usually means something specific that they couldn't put in writing.

Ask them directly if you can.

Set up your systems.

Get your diary ready.

Set up a parent contact log so you're tracking from day one, not trying to reconstruct it in October.

Open a student concern log.

These feel like admin.