Y1. Protect Your Sleep toolkit
Toolkit
Sleep is a leadership resource, not a luxury. This toolkit helps you take an honest look at how well you rest, what gets in the way, and how to build routines that protect your energy and presence. The aim is not perfection but intentional, small and consistent habits that allow you to show up at your best.
| Identify your current pattern |
| Record your bedtime, wake time, and sleep quality over a typical week. Notice patterns such as when do you sleep best, and what seems to interfere? |
| Spot your triggers |
| What causes your sleep to break down? Late-night work, caffeine, stress, or screens? Recognising triggers is the first step in protecting against them. |
| Audit your environment |
| Look at your space as if it were someone else’s. Is it calm, dark, and cool? Are there distractions that signal your brain to stay awake? A good night often starts with the room, not the clock. |
| Define your cut-off point |
| Decide what time work ends each day and stick to it. Protect an hour for winding down by reading, walking, or doing something that helps your body and mind switch off. |
| Build your routine |
| Create a sequence that tells your body it’s time to rest. It might include a shower, stretching, journaling, or listening to calm music. Keep it short, repeatable, and free of screens. |
| Model healthy habits |
| Be intentional about the example you set. Avoid sending late-night emails and talk openly with your team about the importance of rest. When leaders rest well, others feel permission to do the same. |
| Review and reset |
| At the end of each term, reflect on how your sleep patterns have supported or hindered your leadership. Adjust routines as your demands shift. |
| Reflection Prompts |
| How much control do I currently have over my sleep? What are the habits that most disrupt my rest? How different is my leadership when I’m well-rested compared to when I’m tired? What one change this week would make the most significant difference to my energy and focus? |
Y1. Protect Your Sleep: example toolkit
Role: Assistant Headteacher
| Identify your current pattern |
| I will track bedtime, wake time, and sleep quality for two weeks. I sleep best when I stop work before 9pm and struggle when emails continue late. After events and long SLT meetings my sleep dips. This gives me a clear starting point. |
| Spot your triggers |
| My triggers are late-night screens, unfinished thoughts, and afternoon caffeine. I will close the laptop by 9pm, keep my phone out of the bedroom, switch to herbal tea after lunch, and journal briefly to clear my head. |
| Audit your environment |
| I will remove work from the bedroom, use softer light, cool the room slightly, and add a blackout blind. The space will cue rest, not work. |
| Define your cut-off point |
| Work ends at 8.30pm. I will schedule late emails for morning send and protect 30 minutes for winding down with a book or a short walk. |
| Build your routine |
| My sequence is shower, herbal tea, journal, dim lights, read for 15 minutes, then sleep. On stressful days I will swap reading for a short breathing exercise. |
| Model healthy habits |
| I will talk openly about rest, remove expectations of immediate replies, and clarify that non-urgent communications can wait. |
| Review and reset |
| At half term I will review my notes and adjust. I already feel more focused and less irritable, and I will keep one day at the weekend as school-free as possible. |
| Intended Impact |
| Treating sleep as strategic improves my calm and presence and sets a healthy norm for others. |