Aspirant guide
Getting ready for trust leadership
Headteacher to trust leader (executive head, director or chief executive)
Who it’s for
This guide is for experienced headteachers who want to lead beyond one school: as an executive head of two or more schools, a director of education or school improvement in a trust, or in time a trust chief executive. It also suits heads moving into local authority school improvement roles. It works for primary, secondary and special school heads alike.
What changes when you lead across schools
Most heads who step into trust leadership have led one school well. Leading several is a different job. Five things change.
- You lead schools through their heads
- You balance consistency and autonomy
- You can't be everywhere
- You answer to trustees and work with the wider system
- Your decisions shape careers
The three focus behaviours
When you lead several schools, one message at one meeting is soon forgotten. A predictable rhythm of communication, shaped for heads, staff, trustees and families, keeps everyone pointing the same way.
Appointing and developing headteachers is one of the most important decisions a trust leader makes. Getting it right shapes a school for years; getting it wrong is costly for pupils.
A group of schools is only stronger than its parts if they learn from one another. Looking beyond each school with a clear question, and helping heads learn from each other and from elsewhere, is what turns a trust into more than a collection of schools.
The one that got you here, but won’t be enough
Great heads know their school by being visible every day. Across several schools that is impossible, and trying leaves heads feeling watched rather than led. The behaviour still matters, but it shifts from being present everywhere to planning purposeful visits, and building the systems and relationships that tell you what's happening when you're not there.
The full guide, with practice ideas, experiences, worked examples and interview questions, comes with membership.