The school holiday is more than a pause between terms.

For school leaders, it can be one of the most valuable periods of the academic year, a time to step away from the daily rush, reflect on what happened, identify what needs to improve, and prepare intentionally for what comes next.

While students and teachers recharge, school leaders have an opportunity to work on the school rather than constantly working in it.

Here are 15 ways to make the most of the holiday.

1. Review the Previous Term

Start with a simple question: What worked, and what didn't?

Review academic performance, attendance, discipline, teacher engagement, parent communication, finances, and school operations. Celebrate what went well, but pay particular attention to recurring challenges.

A good review should lead to action, not simply a report.

2. Analyze Your School Data

Your school generates valuable information every term. Grades, attendance records, assessment results, behaviour reports, and engagement data can reveal patterns that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Look beyond individual results.

Ask: Which subjects need attention? Which students may need additional support? Where are attendance problems concentrated? Are there patterns across classes or year groups?

The goal is to turn school data into better decisions.

3. Review Teacher Performance and Support Needs

Teacher evaluation should not only happen when performance reviews are due.

Use the holiday to reflect on instructional strengths and areas where teachers may need additional support. Consider classroom observations, student outcomes, lesson planning, and professional goals.

The question shouldn't simply be, "Who performed well?"

It should also be, "What does each teacher need to become more effective?"



4. Plan Professional Development

Once support needs are clear, plan professional development around them.

Instead of choosing training simply because it is available, identify the specific instructional challenges your teachers are facing. This becomes easier if you already use Edves’ Pedagogy with AI. 

Professional development becomes more valuable when it is connected to real classroom needs and followed by opportunities to apply what was learned.

5. Update Your School Policies

The holiday provides breathing room to review policies that may have become outdated.

Look at policies covering attendance, assessment, communication, safeguarding, technology use, behaviour, and staff responsibilities.

Ask whether each policy still reflects how your school actually operates and whether it is clear enough for staff, students, and parents to follow.

6. Review Parent and Student Feedback

Your community sees the school from a different perspective.

Review feedback from parents and students, including complaints, surveys, conversations, and recurring concerns.

Don't focus only on negative feedback. Positive feedback can reveal what families value most and what your school should continue doing well.

Listening is not simply a customer-service exercise. It is a school-improvement strategy.

7. Audit Your Digital Tools

Technology should make school operations simpler, not more complicated.

Review the platforms and tools your school currently uses. Are they being used effectively? Are staff switching between too many systems? Is important information difficult to access? Are there processes that could be better connected?



A technology audit can help schools identify where digital tools create value and cut down stress.

8. Identify Processes That Can Be Automated

Not every task requires manual effort.

Consider repetitive processes such as attendance tracking, result computation, assessment, reporting, fee management, communication, and administrative record-keeping.

Where appropriate, automation can reduce administrative workload and give teachers and school leaders more time to focus on teaching, learning, and people.

The objective isn't to automate everything. It is to remove unnecessary friction.

9. Review Your Communication Strategy

How does information move between your school, teachers, parents, and students?

Review the channels you use and identify where communication breaks down.

A strong communication strategy should make it easy for the right people to receive the right information at the right time, without overwhelming them with unnecessary messages.

10. Set Academic Priorities for the New Term

Avoid beginning the new term with a long list of disconnected goals. Identify the two or three academic priorities that matter most.

The focus could be improving literacy outcomes, strengthening mathematics performance, increasing student engagement, or improving assessment practices.

Clear priorities help everyone understand what deserves attention.

11. Prepare Lesson-Planning Expectations

Good teaching starts with planning. Before the new term begins, clarify expectations around lesson planning, learning objectives, assessment, and instructional resources.

Where possible, give teachers the tools and guidance they need before they return so that valuable instructional time isn't lost figuring things out during the first weeks of term.

12. Review Student Engagement Strategies

Academic performance and student engagement are closely connected.

Think about how your school creates opportunities for students to participate, collaborate, ask questions, and take ownership of their learning.

Review what worked during the previous term and consider what could make learning more engaging in the next one.

13. Strengthen Safeguarding Processes

Safeguarding should never be an afterthought.

Use the quieter period to review reporting procedures, staff responsibilities, emergency protocols, and other measures designed to protect students.

Ensure that staff understand not only the policies but also what they are expected to do when concerns arise.

14. Set Clear Goals for the New Term

Turn reflection into measurable action.

Set goals for the school, departments, and leadership team. Where possible, define what success will look like and how progress will be measured.

A goal such as "improve student performance" is difficult to act on.

A goal such as "increase the proportion of students meeting the agreed proficiency benchmark in mathematics" provides a clearer direction.

15. Give Yourself Time to Rest and Reset

This may be the most important one. School leadership can be demanding. Constantly planning, solving problems, and making decisions without sufficient recovery can affect the quality of leadership itself.

Rest is not wasted time.

Take the opportunity to disconnect, reflect, and return with renewed energy.

A better-prepared school begins with a PREPARED leader.

The Holiday Is a Chance to Prepare, Not Just Pause

A productive holiday isn't necessarily about doing more. It is about using the available space to think, plan, and prepare for all-round improvement.

The strongest schools do not wait for the first day of a new term to start improving. They use the quieter moments to examine what happened, learn from their data, support their people, and prepare for what comes next.

And increasingly, technology can help school leaders do this more effectively by bringing the information, processes, and tools they need into one connected environment.

The new term is coming. The question is, will your school simply resume or return better prepared?

This is the final part of the EDVES Holiday Productivity Series.