Along the Sunshine Coast Trail lie many cabins that allow adventurers to settle in overnight when hiking. They are available year-round. Maintained by volunteers, these cabins are always a welcome sight at the end of a long journey; they are well-built shelters, warm if you can get the pellet stove lit, and a cozy place to sleep before beginning the next steps in the journey.

This past winter break, I had the opportunity to snowshoe up to Walt Hill, one of these cabins. It isn’t an easy adventure. It requires careful planning and execution, and it's not for the faint of heart; or for the unplanned. My travel companions and I thought carefully about the weight we would carry, our snowshoes and poles, headlamps and hot-pockets, food we would bring, pellets for the stove, and the importance of exceptional care when it comes to timing our arrival.

We knew the snow would be deep and the travel long. And it mattered that we arrived before dark. Breaking trail in daylight is challenging enough; attempting to do so in pitch-black darkness would have been unsafe and exhausting. Preparation, pacing, and collective responsibility were essential, not to rush the journey, but to ensure the overnight was a positive experience. This is also the thinking I have for the January re-entry to schools.

January is often framed as a reset; new year, new me, a fresh start, a clean slate. But for Principals and Vice-Principals across our province, January is more akin to a re-entry. We are not beginning anew; we are stepping back onto a trail already well underway. We carry the burden of the work that has been started: continuing to understand and support complex student needs, staffing pressures, family expectations, and the growing reality that there is no clear “full stop” to the workday. Before- and after-school responsibilities continue to expand, and the terrain remains demanding.

Leadership in January requires the same qualities as my most recent winter adventure: planning, judgment, and calm patience. It requires knowing what to bring, what to leave behind, when to adjust the route, and careful attention to the team that travels together. It requires moving steadily rather than quickly, and understanding that sustainability matters, not just for the journey, but to ensure you make it to the end in one piece, filled with pride and with the intention to do it better, differently, or to take a different path the next time.

What stands out across British Columbia is the strength with which school leaders are stepping into January right now. This is not loud or performative leadership. January leadership is grounded, relational, and deeply professional. It is the quiet confidence of leaders who read conditions carefully, hold the center when uncertainty arises, and ensure others are supported, even, and especially, when the work is heavy.  You see, relational leadership are not the 'soft-skills' many think they are.

There is also a sense of pride here, and it deserves to be named. Pride in the care, competence, and commitment Principals and Vice-Principals bring to their schools each day. Pride in leadership that is steady rather than rushed, thoughtful rather than reactive. Pride in a profession that understands the value of pacing, preparation, and collective responsibility.

January is not a reset. It is a re-entry and a return to the trail with intention and care. As this term unfolds, may we continue to travel wisely, support one another along the way, and take pride in the strength and calm patience that define our work as school leadersA

And onwards we go.

Dr. Shannon Behan
sbehan@bcpvpa.bc.ca