Helping headteachers to thrive
When you are operating at your best, you achieve more and feel happier. You are able to accomplish the extraordinary for you team, your pupils and your school. An investment in your leadership effectiveness benefits everyone.
You are a unique leader, operating in unique circumstances and that's why you need a personalised approach to operating at your best.
Helping headteachers and their team to achieve goals
Being a headteacher is incredibly rewarding but even under normal operating circumstances it can feel like riding a roller coaster, with twists, turns and new challenges around every corner, testing every aspect of your leadership.
In addition, given the challenges of being a headteacher, school success is dependent on having a great set of people around you to help you achieve your goals and vision. You can extend support to your senior leaders, through coaching, and bespoke training to fill skills gaps, helping everyone to operate at their best.
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I provide coaching to help you and your team thrive.
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I deliver bespoke training programmes to create the strong workforce you need.
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I facilitate thinking sessions which enables you and your team to problem solve and plan for a great future.
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I support schools in creating a culture in which everyone is empowered to thrive.
Let’s unlock what’s possible — together. Book a free consultation today.
Why the demands of being a headteacher require high levels of professional support
Headteachers carry the demanding responsibility of providing an excellent educational experience for pupils and their families. They have an extremely wide remit, often operate outside their comfort zone, tackle challenging problems that are multi-faceted and not easy to resolve, are set ambitious key performance indicators, face external scrutiny (governors, Ofsted, parents, community, results tables) within a system that experiences regular national policy shifts with limited resources and under financial strain. With small leadership teams, they are often pulled from strategic priorities into daily operational issues and face many competing demands on their time. This constant pressure makes sustained high performance difficult; without effective support and strong personal resilience, many risk burnout, underperformance, or ultimately leaving the profession. Despite their visibility, headteachers can experience profound professional isolation. Confidentiality responsibilities, concern about transferring stress to colleagues, fear of losing respect both for themselves and their school can prevent them from speaking openly about difficulties. As a result, many carry significant emotional and professional burdens alone while being expected to lead with confidence and clarity.
Over 1,600 heads left for a job outside the state sector in 2023-24. In 2010-11, the figure stood at 438. (Schools Week, 2025).
Many ‘overwhelmed’ headteachers leave role within five years. Some 30 per cent of primary heads and 38 per cent of secondary leaders under 50 are leaving their posts within five years, analysis by the NAHT shows (TES, Nov 2025).
Mental Health
Coaching is very beneficial for the mental health of leaders, helping leaders continue to perform in a demanding role and find joy in school leadership. Coaching provides a safe space to process emotions and analyse situations. With many years of school improvement experience, headteachers tell me in coaching sessions that they feel heard and understood.
What can be won
won: clarity, synergy, focus, insight, identify patterns, make connections, unpack complex issues, feel heard and understood, see from new perspectives, problem solving, understand yourself better as a leader, learn to learn into strengths, step back to make better use of emotional intelligence, better articulate what you need from others, action plan, try out new ways of thinking, sandboxing of new ways of working, idea generation, feeling lighter, emotional relief, professional growth, sharper leadership skills, better use of time.
Happy Headteachers operating at their best are more likely to lead successful teams, have happy staff, gain great results and not burn out.
what can be lost
lost: lack of focus, diffused efforts, trudging through treacle, not achieving goals, limited progress, stressful relationships, increases in difficult conversations, pressure to improve, negative external judgements, not feeling fulfilled or sense of job well-done, poor flow state.
Avoid working extremely long hours for little gain. As leaders, we can get in our own way of achieving success, falling into patterns of behaviours and actions that do not bring about the results we were aiming for. In addition, high levels of mental stress leads to lower operating effectiveness. Reflective, analytical work on a regular basis can help to restore your emotional balance and improve effectiveness by ensuring we you are not leading with blinkers on.
STRATEGISE
In my top 5 Clifton Strengths are strategic, futuristic and problem solving.
I am a good person to strategise with. I enjoy grappling with complex problems, spotting patterns, working out solutions, digging into data, and analysing systems and processes.
harness research
'Learner' is also in my top 5.
School leaders appreciate my wide knowledge of research and my ability to turn this into practical solutions.
REAL
My feet are firmly planted in reality.
The leaders I work with appreciate this, and quickly feel able to be very open and honest, which is essential for a great partnership.
COMMITMENT TO YOU
My approach is totally tailored to your needs.
I am generous with my time, flexible in the support I provide, and work as a true partner.
Yorkshire and England
If you are in Yorkshire, you can access face-to-face training and consultancy. In addition, I offer 1:1 and small group services remotely to schools across England.
By not always travelling to physical sites, I can provide more responsive, flexible support for schools. Headteachers find it useful to book sessions from just an hour to a half day, and from planned support to responding as needed. Coaching, regular meetings, involvement in projects, providing support for teams and individuals are all possible.
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