About the Leading Together Programme
This section provides information on the content and structure of our Leading Together programme.
Frequently asked questions
The essentials
- What is Leading Together in a nutshell?
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Leading Together is a free, two-year programme that builds and supports strong leadership in the schools facing the biggest challenges. It offers bespoke support by an experienced school leader for your entire senior leadership team to help speed up your school's improvement journey.
- How long does the programme last?
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The programme lasts 2 years, starting in March 2024 and ending in March 2026.
- What is the structure of the Leading Together programme?
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Leading Together is delivered in four phases over two years, with close support throughout from your Achievement Partner:
Diagnose
With the Achievement Partner’s support, the senior leadership team analyses the school’s priorities and strengths. This helps identify the strategic school improvement goals the team wants to focus on.
Build
The team begins to identify, test and use new approaches to address its goals. Each member develops their understanding of key areas through a series of learning modules.
Embed and drive
The Achievement Partner supports the leadership team as it builds and secures the improvements made so far, through further learning modules and coaching.
Sustain
Through reflection activities and work with the Achievement Partner, the leadership team focuses on using its new approaches into an improving permanent culture of ongoing development.
- What does a 'learning module' look like?
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Example core modules (which all programme members complete) are:
- Culture
- Strategy and implementation
- Using research
- The Science of Learning
- Curriculum
- Professional development
- Assessment
- What is the time commitment?
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There is a set amount of time that individuals need to give up for their training.
Each module (or module level) has pre-work which is found on My Teach First (our online portal).
The time commitment is approximately:
- Pre-session learning – 45-60 minutes
- Facilitated sessions – 1.5- 2 hours (including a break!)
Some of these will be delivered at a national conference (1 day events in the summer term in both your 1st and 2nd year on the programme) giving you the chance to engage with these important topics whilst networking with other schools
Across your two years on the programme we will have 14 learning modules on offer, some core (for everyone in your SLT) and some non-core (for representatives from your SLT)
With regards to coaching, we will offer individual and team coaching to your school. In the last year, on average schools chose to have approximately 30 coaching sessions to support them to discuss learning modules and how they would use their new knowledge to make progress to their school goals. Some schools had more, or fewer than 30 – our bespoke programme is built to adapt to your needs.
- How does Leading Together work alongside other initiatives?
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The best thing about Leading Together is that it works alongside what is already happening in the school. We encourage the Achievement Partner to be allowed to engage with the school’s other providers so that they are clear on any potential overlaps and can manage these effectively to ensure the greatest impact from all support being provided.
Achievement Partners are well-placed to support schools in determining what would suit their current needs best, narrowing down options and even giving additional support.
- As the programme runs over two years, what happens if a new SLT member joins the school?
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New members of leadership teams, who join the programme significantly later than the majority, will be offered a bespoke catch-up/induction programme by their Achievement Partner, possibly alongside new programme members from other schools.
Module content remains available through the online portal after delivery so would be there for new programme members to ‘catch-up’.
Support on the programme
- What is an Achievement Partner and how do they support my school?
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Your school is matched with an Achievement Partner – an experienced school leadership expert, trained coach and facilitator. They’ll guide and support you throughout the two-year programme by tailoring the programme to address your school’s specific goals and build plans for long-term success.
Your Achievement Partner delivers the programme for your team in several ways:
- Team and individual coaching.
- Delivering learning modules.
- Supporting access to bespoke support.
- Providing networking and collaboration opportunities.
Evaluation data from past and existing programme members shows that support from the Achievement Partner is the most valued part of the programme
“I've found the support of the Achievement Partner to be most beneficial overall. Having a dedicated partner through the process has ensured a personal touch that is leading to greater impact.” - Leading Together programme member
- How is coaching used to support my school?
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The Achievement Partner coaches your senior leadership team throughout the two-year programme, based on your school context. This includes helping your team understand your school's needs and supporting heavy planning and implementation of your school's chosen strategies.
The Achievement Partner acts as an objective pair of eyes for the leadership team – they’ll support your vision for the school while also picking the right moments to constructively challenge you.
- How does the Achievement Partner work alongside School Improvement Advisors?
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Most Leading Together schools have School Improvement Advisors/ School Improvement Partners (SIAs/SIPs).
Where useful, the Achievement Partner may be involved in these conversations alongside the schools and engage directly with the SIA/SIP around their ongoing school support. This connection would be at the discretion of the headteacher.
It is useful for the Achievement Partner to know what support is being provided across the school so that they are best able to coach the SLT alongside this.
The Achievement Partner can work with the headteacher (and potentially the SIA/SIP) to set their key strategic goals for school improvement.
Alternatively, the Achievement Partner can work with the headteacher, following their conversations with the SIA/SIP, to identify which area of school improvement will be set as a specific goal for the programme.
The Achievement Partner (and Leading Together) do not make judgements, or write reports, about schools (which may be part of the SIA/SIP role) but rather coaches the SLT through the process of addressing goals in a sustainable and strategic way.
- Is the programme designed to support our school through the challenges created by the pandemic?
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Great leaders enable great teachers, great schools and great outcomes for pupils. In these challenging times, schools and their teams are more important than ever. We want to help you and your leaders as you respond to this challenge.
Leading Together provides bespoke support to you and your senior leadership team. The programme is driven by your context and your unique priorities, so that the learning and bespoke support will be relevant and driven by whatever your school needs are.
We have reviewed all our learning module content to reflect the current national picture, and to make sure that, more than ever, Leading Together is helping your school thrive.