School leadership is full of moving parts. On any given day you might be dealing with absences, substitute cover, meetings, ICT repairs, incidents, staff queries, Department circulars, Gaeilgeoir na Seachtaine, and your own never-ending to-do list. Many of us try to manage all of this through a patchwork of notebooks, Google Docs, spreadsheets, emails, and memory.
Notion won’t take away the workload, but it does give you a way to bring everything together in one place, in a way that feels calm, organised, and actually enjoyable to use.
This article is a plain-English introduction to Notion for school leaders – what it is, how to get it, how much it costs, and why I believe it’s worth exploring, especially now that I’ve created a set of Irish-primary-specific toolkits you can duplicate and use for free.
What exactly is Notion?
Notion is a flexible digital workspace where you can combine:
- notes
- tasks
- databases
- lists
- calendars
- dashboards
- checklists
- and templates
all on one page.
Think of it as a cross between:
- Google Docs
- a spreadsheet
- a filing cabinet
- a personal organiser
- a staffroom planner
except everything is linked, tidy, and customisable.
You can build simple pages, or incredibly powerful systems. You can keep it private, share it with staff, or keep one section for daily leadership work and another for school planning.
Best of all, you don’t need to be “techy” to use it, though if you are a whizz you can create all sorts of complex systems. However, for most users, if you can type, click, and tick a checkbox, you can use Notion.
How much does Notion cost?
For school leaders, the answer is simple:
- Free — everything you need for personal use
- Notion Plus (€10–€12 per month optional) only if you want a very large amount of files or advanced collaboration
Everything I have created works perfectly on the free plan, though I can see the appeal of the plus plan, especially the AI helper that essentially is like having a personal assistant within Notion.
You do not need a team workspace, you do not need to pay for staff accounts, and you do not need to upgrade for the templates.
How to get Notion
Two steps:
- Go to www.notion.so and create a free account
- Download the app on your laptop or phone or both. I have it on everything as it syncs automatically to every device I have.
That’s it.
Once you’re in, you can click “Duplicate” on any shared template and it will instantly appear in your workspace just like adding a new Google Doc.
Why I’m using Notion (and why you might too)
As a principal, I’ve spent years trying to organise the daily chaos with:
- notebooks full of mind maps and penned scrawls
- a cluttered Google Drive
- LOADS of spreadsheets (so much so, my web browser has about a dozen tabs that are just spreadsheets!)
- folders that I forget about
- emails unopened
- phone reminders on sticky notes
None of them really work because everything lives in different places.
Notion is starting to change that for me. Suddenly, all the things I need to keep track of, meetings, concerns, ICT repairs, absences, substitute cover, care team follow-ups, and school planning, sit side-by-side in one tidy space, with filters and views that actually made sense for a school leader’s workload.
This is where Notions comes in — a growing collection of Irish-primary-specific templates (free and paid) built so school leaders don’t have to start from scratch.
Before you try my advanced templates… start simple
Notion can look intimidating at first, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are three extremely simple ways a school leader could use Notion straight away — no databases, no dashboards, nothing complicated.
✔ 1. A daily leadership log
One page with three headings:
- What I need to do today
- What I did today
- What I need to follow up tomorrow
That alone can reduce mental load.
✔ 2. A record of meetings
Create a page called Meetings and use:
- Date
- Who attended
- Notes
- Decisions
- Actions
Just having all meetings in one place is transformative.
✔ 3. A running “School Stuff” list
A simple list where you add every job you get during the day — the little ones you would normally forget.
Examples:
- “Ask caretaker to fix door”
- “Check SNA timetable”
- “Order whiteboard pens”
- “Follow up with parent”
Once a week, move the important items to your actual to-do list.
If this is all you ever did in Notion, it would be worth using.
But once you’re ready, Notion can do much more.
I’ve been playing around with Notion…
To help school leaders get real, practical value from Notion, I’ve built a set of templates designed for schools in Ireland, including:
Free templates
- ICT Inventory & Repairs Toolkit
- Staff Absence & Substitute Tracker
Included with SchoolPolicy plans
- Principal’s Record of Meetings
- Communications Log
- Caretaker’s Workspace
- School Self-Evaluation Toolkit
…and more on the way.
Each template comes with instructions and is designed to feel familiar, logical, and immediately useful.
Why school leaders should try Notion
Because Notion gives you:
- one place for everything
- less stress
- fewer things falling between the cracks
- better follow-up
- cleaner planning
- accessible records
- a calmer headspace
- and tools designed specifically for how Irish schools actually work
If you start small and slowly replace your old systems one piece at a time, Notion becomes a genuine support, not another thing on your plate.
Try the free templates
If you want to dip your toe in, start with the two free templates:
- ICT Inventory & Repairs Toolkit
- Staff Absence & Substitute Tracker
You’ll see immediately how these systems reduce decision fatigue and make daily admin lighter.
Check out https://www.schoolpolicy.ie/notions