'An Accidental Headship' is a warts and all account of a life spent in education, both as a pupil and a leader. From a lively three-year-old with an eye for adventure to a battle weary fifty-plus-year-old looking for new purpose, these memoirs chart the journey through education that Helen never intended to take. Whether you loved school or loathed it, you will find Helen's memoirs easy to relate to. They will make you shake your head in disbelief but also make you smile - a lot. Spanning five decades, several continents and literally thousands of teens' lives, you will be taken on a journey unlike any you will have read about before. You will never look at schools in quite the same way again.

Helen Glass was born in the 1960s, and the spirit of that time can be felt throughout her memoirs. From early steps in education attending a Steiner nursery school through to the rigid formality and structure of multi-academy trusts where she worked as a director, Helen often found herself pushing up against authority. Being a teacher was absolutely not in the plan, and yet thirty years spent in education saw Helen move from a classroom teacher to two very successful headships and three director posts. Leadership during the pandemic brought new and unexpected challenges and the need for a change. Helen is married with two grown up daughters, three grown up step children and lives back in Gloucestershire where she was brought up. Following her retirement in 2021, she now volunteers at a hedgehog rescue centre, is a trained appropriate adult, reads avidly and tries to tire out her beloved spaniels, Frida and Fern.