For many, the school holidays mean sleep-ins, day trips, and a break from the alarm clock. For principals, they mean something a little more complicated: the strange sensation of a school running without you standing in the front office at 8am.
If you’re a principal staring down two or four weeks of “holiday” that don’t quite feel like one, you’re not alone. Here’s how to get through it, and maybe even enjoy it.
1. Accept that the to-do list never actually ends
Budgets, staffing for next term, that property issue that’s been dragging on since March, the ERO follow-up; the list doesn’t pause just because the gates are locked. The trick isn’t pretending it doesn’t exist. It’s deciding, deliberately, which three things actually need your attention these holidays and letting the rest wait.
2. Set an actual finishing time for admin days
If you’re planning to go into school for a few days to catch up, treat those days like a job with a clock-off time, not an open invitation to stay until dark. Bring a task list, work through it, and leave when you said you would. The building will still be there tomorrow.
3. Turn off the notifications, for real
Parent emails and staff messages don’t stop just because it’s the holidays, and if your phone buzzes every time one lands, you’ll never fully leave work mode. Set an out-of-office response that’s honest about when you’ll reply, and consider a genuine block on school email for at least one full week. Your board chair and deputy principal need to know how to reach you in an emergency; nobody else does.
4. Let your team actually run things
Delegation is hardest during the holidays, precisely because it’s tempting to think “it’s quiet, I may as well just handle it myself.” Resist that. If you’ve built a leadership team, the holidays are a low-stakes moment to let them make decisions without you hovering. It’s good for them, and it’s good for you.
5. Do something that has nothing to do with school
This sounds obvious, but ask any principal how often they actually manage it. Whether it’s a fishing trip, binge-watching something trashy, or simply not thinking about exam data for four days straight, protect time that belongs entirely to you. Burnout doesn’t wait for a convenient moment to show up, and the holidays are meant to be a genuine reset, not just a quieter version of term time.
6. Talk to other principals
One of the best-kept secrets of school leadership is that every other principal in the country is dealing with some version of the same thing right now. A coffee, a phone call, or a quick message to a colleague in a neighbouring school can do more for your headspace than another hour spent alone with a spreadsheet.
The school holidays won’t ever be a true holiday for a principal. There’s simply too much riding on the building, the staff, and the students you’re responsible for. But with a bit of boundary-setting, they can be a genuine break rather than just a quieter, lonelier version of term time. The next term will come around fast enough. Give yourself permission to actually rest first.
