Our Deputy Headteachers recently came together for a development day focused on one of the most important and challenging aspects of school leadership: how we implement and, crucially, sustain meaningful change.
The day was led by Ricky Stephens, Executive Headteacher of Propeller Trust, who brought extensive experience of SEND leadership including SEMH, alongside his perspective as a current serving school leader. The points he raised felt immediately relatable and firmly rooted in the realities of our schools, the competing priorities, unexpected challenges and day-to-day pressures that can make sustaining systematic change (of any kind) difficult, even when we know it is the right thing to do.
Under the theme ‘From Initiative to Culture’, deputies explored the important role they play in turning strategic intent into everyday practice. Rather than focusing simply on how we launch a new initiative, the day asked a much more useful question: what do we do when the initial enthusiasm has passed and we hit the inevitable ‘stormy waters’ of implementation?
Ricky encouraged deputies to think practically about how we navigate those moments. We explored why change can lose momentum, how habits are formed, how we recognise when practice is beginning to drift and, importantly, the practical strategies leaders can use to keep moving forward. There was a strong recognition throughout that challenge, resistance and setbacks are not necessarily signs that change is failing; they are often part of the process that leaders need to anticipate, understand and work through.
The discussions around team dynamics, culture and feedback were particularly relevant to the realities of leadership in specialist settings. Deputies considered how we create the conditions in which staff feel able to be honest about what is and is not working, and how that information can help leaders adapt their approach without losing sight of what they are trying to achieve.
The afternoon moved from reflection to practical application. Deputies took a current change or school improvement priority from their own setting and used the learning from the morning to think it through. This provided valuable time to anticipate where the ‘stormy waters’ might come, identify potential barriers and consider what they could put in place now to give the change the best chance of becoming embedded.
As ever, an important purpose of our development days is to create protected space for leaders to step away from the immediate operational demands of school life and reflect on their own practice. Deputies had time to talk, challenge one another’s thinking and learn from colleagues across Kedleston. Despite some differences in cohorts, size and location of our schools, there was plenty of recognition and laughter around the shared realities of leadership and the familiar challenges of trying to make change stick.
The day reinforced that successful school improvement is rarely a straight line. Good ideas and strong launches matter, but so too does what happens when things become difficult. It is the leadership, persistence, reflection and willingness to adapt along the way that help move an initiative towards becoming part of the culture and everyday practice of a school.
A huge thank you to Ricky for facilitating such an engaging, relatable and thought-provoking day, and to our Deputy Headteachers for the openness, challenge, humour and collaboration they brought to the sessions.
