I look forward to the new year, 2018, and what it might bring. For me it is a bit of a new beginning in that I moved into my new home in November/December and therefore 2018 marks my first year in my new surroundings, a home of my own as opposed to rented or company provided accommodation.
So with a new year approaching it is time to set out some pledges for the year ahead.
Family Memories
This year I am going to start with wellbeing as opposed to work targets. I want to make more memories with family during 2018 including possibly taking a holiday or at least short breaks together. I haven’t had what I would consider a proper holiday now in over 10 years so it would be nice to sort something during 2018 however I am aware that this is dependent on finances and the fact I have recently purchased a new home may mean this isn’t possible. At the very least we need to make the most of our surroundings for family weekend getaways. I want to be able to look back and be able to easily identify family memories from each of the months of 2018.
Fitness
Fitness continues to be an area I don’t make any real progress on. I am worried that I may once again plan to undertake fitness measures however fail to make progress. I do not want to be sat here in a year writing the same old thing in relation to fitness. The challenge is finding something which I am happy to do and which I can sustain. Looking online various sites suggest a minimum requirement of 150 mins of exercise per week which based on 5 days on and 2 days off seems to suggest 30 minutes per day. My thinking therefore for this year is to achieve 30 mins of brisk walking per day. I will of course review this in January to see if I can increase this target as compared to various others who run kilometres per day my target doesn’t feel that challenging or inspirational. That said, the target is for me and you need to start somewhere!
Reading
Reading is an area which I made significant progress on during 2017. My hope is that I will be able to continue this into 2018. I think a continued plan of 1 book per month, or 12 per year seems as reasonable expectation. At this point I have already purchased 12 books for 2017. I will be sharing the titles and my intentions shortly.
Professional Development
In terms of my own personal development, I have taken the CISA and CISSP IT exams in December in 2016 and 2017 respectively. I want to continue challenging myself to undertake professional qualifications however at this time I am unsure as to which qualification would be best to pursue next. I am also conscious of the additional workload such qualifications result in. As such this is something I would like to consider in 2018 assuming I can both identify a suitable qualification and also identify sufficient time, including potentially ceasing or reducing other activities to allow myself to take this on. If I was going for something I think the CRISC exam may be the one I would choose.
Work
From a work perspective the thing which is likely to take up my time as Director of IT during 2018 is going to be the new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) being introduced in May 2018 along with a number of related IT security changes we will be making. As such a target for the year will be to have successfully introduced the planned changes as well as having established compliance with the required GDPR regulations. Another target area for me in 2018 will be to streamline the available school data such that it is easier to interpret and make use of.
As a manager I would like to continue to work with and develop the excellent team of staff I have at school. There are already a few challenge ahead in 2018, however these are not something I can share here. My hope is that in 2018 we can address and weather these challenges before going on to grow and develop as a team. My hope is that our whole school satisfaction survey for 2018 will be as positive as the 2016 and 2017 surveys have been. The positive outcomes achieved to date are the result of the excellent team which the school has working in IT Services.
From a teaching point of view I will be continuing to work with Lower 6 pupils on a digital citizenship programme. I would like to make this programme as useful and interesting for students as possible, and achieve a programme of study which I am happy with.
Reflection
In 2018 I hope to continue the process of keeping a journal however with a greater level of regularity. I also plan to conduct a monthly review so that I can better capture the achievements of each month while they are still fresh in my memory as opposed to trying to remember at the end of the year.
2018, new challenges and opportunities
2018 marks a new year filled with new opportunities and new challenges. We cannot predict the future however I hope that my resolutions at least set me up with a path or direction through the year ahead. I suspect the path will change and develop as the year progresses, and as I need to respond to challenges and even failures. In failures, I accept that these will occur however I hope to take them as either “First attempt in learning” or as “not yet” moments. I hope that at the end of 2018 I can look back with fond memories of the year, and with positive outcomes achieved in the face of challenges.
And so a new year begins!! Happy new year to all!!
Technology and Learning