Blog: School leadership Tips
We live in an age that feels uncertain.
Globally, the world order we’ve known seems to be shifting.
Nationally, politics feels less certain than it once did.
And in schools you’re facing a new Ofsted framework, the White Paper, rising complexity in pupil needs and parents who understandably expect more than ever before.
It’s no wonder leadership feels uncertain!
Some days it might even make you think about quitting.
Or retiring earlier than planned.
And yet…
When you’re in the thick of school life, it’s easy to forget this simple truth:
You’re closer to great than you think.
I’m reminded of it every time I walk into one of the schools in Outstanding Against the Odds.
None of them started in an easy place.
Many began where you might be now.
And yet they moved.
There’s a quiet way school culture erodes —
not through big blow-ups,
but through tiny tolerances that slip in unnoticed.
A missed deadline.
A lesson that isn’t quite good enough.
A comment that lands a bit too sharply.
Have you seen this?
Welcome back — I know Spring 2 can feel financially tight, emotionally tight, and time tight.
So here’s something honest to start the term with.
A head said something to me recently that stopped me in my tracks:
“I spend £2 million on staff.
I’m not going to worry about £60k on CPD.”
And she’s right.
We talk about CPD like it’s a “nice-to-have”.
A luxury.
Something to trim when the budget hurts.
But when you strip it back, CPD is the thing that protects the biggest investment you make every single year: your people.
School leaders tell me this all the time:
“We’ve shared the policy.
We’ve explained it in briefing.
Everyone nodded.
So why aren’t people actually doing it?”
Every head has that one child who keeps them awake at night.
The one you carry home in your heart.
The one you wish you could do more for.
I was speaking to Sian recently about Tia — a bright, funny Year 4 girl with learning differences that sometimes spill into frustration.
There’s a lot you can’t control right now.
The funding formula.
Energy costs.
National pay scales.
All set elsewhere — and often without any sense of your reality on the ground.
But here’s the hopeful bit:
You can’t control the funding.
You can control the impact.
If every penny is stretched at the moment, here’s a hopeful thought:
You might have £10k in your budget.
You just haven’t found it yet.
I see this all the time in schools — money that’s there, quietly hiding in plain sight.
Here are a few places it loves to hide
Sickness doesn’t just hit the timetable.
It hits the budget — and often harder than we realise.
Here’s a quick way to see the real picture.
Think back to last term (or better still, last year): How many sick days were there?
Now multiply that by £150.