But of course it is not for competence in small practical matters that heads are employed. Big decisions and original thinking must be their forte.
Bob Jelley, head of St Giles junior school in Warwickshire, showed the way at the end of last term when his school’s annual sports day fell on the hottest day of the recent heat wave. Rather than cancel, Mr Jelley scooted off to the local discount shop on the morning of the big day and bought up their stock of garden gazebos.
When parents and children arrived, a wonderful tented village was waiting to give shelter from the midday sun. A profligate use of school funds? Not really. By the end of the afternoon, the entrepreneurial Mr Jelley had managed to flog off the gazebos to the audience, thus recouping all his costs.
