Leading Cultural Change

An Effective Partnership with the Wider Community

This offer unpicks particular leadership issues within school and creates a package to meet the needs of a range of stakeholders including governors and the wider community. There is a worked example of bespoke support developed for the following case study in the appendix.

“The vision statement for the school was written several years ago and most of the staff who were involved in that process have retired or left the school. The current staff team recognise the need to reframe the school vision and values so that they are aspirational for the school as it is now and reflect the wider strengths and challenges of the local community.

The school serves a lively, disadvantaged community. There are intermittent tensions between some groups within this community which occasionally spill over into school life. Associated friction between pupils sometimes affects behaviour in school. Over the last couple of years, the reputation of the school has suffered, staff morale has declined somewhat and there is a slight but concerning fall in the school roll. The headteacher has made several new appointments recently, with a view to energising the staff team and re-engaging the community.

These include an assistant head, leading on careers and employment links with the community, an assistant head leading on teaching and learning, and two additional parent support advisers. The pupil premium lead is new to her role but is an established and very popular member of staff with both families and school staff. She knows the local community very well. She has already raised concerns about a widening attainment gap between older disadvantaged boys and their peers and feels that pupil voice does not carry much weight in the school community.”