Target audience: This programme is for leaders who have overall responsibility for an aspect of leadership across an establishment. This includes senior curriculum/pastoral leaders and members of a senior leadership team, such as assistant or deputy headteachers.

This programme is for leaders who have overall responsibility for an aspect of leadership across an establishment. This includes senior curriculum/pastoral leaders and members of a senior leadership team, such as assistant or deputy headteachers.

Moving from middle leadership to senior leadership requires a shift to whole school thinking, the skills to manage complex teams and competing priorities whilst ensuring you keep learners at the centre of everything you do.

This one-year development programme is a professional learning opportunity for senior leaders across Wales.  The participant will work individually and collectively with others as leaders of learning organisations. This is a national programme co-ordinated by regional consortia, utilising a range of delivery partners.

The programme promotes highly effective leadership through self-evaluation and reflection, exploring the relationships between leadership, successful schools and the wider community.

As part of the professional learning continuum participants will through this programme:  

• Further develop their understanding of the role of senior leader 

• Develop the knowledge and skills an effective senior leader should know and be able to adopt

• Have opportunity to develop the leadership behaviours required for an effective senior leader

• Further develop their understanding of the national reform agenda

• Develop their practice within the formal leadership standards.

All participants who are accepted onto the programme:

• Lead on the development, implementation and review of a Leadership Experience Task

• All participants attend and make a contribution towards participating in nearly all the modules of the programme

• All participants review their own leadership and develop the aspects they identify themselves for improvement, in line with Professional Standards for Teaching and Leadership.

Event details:

This programme is part of an ongoing and sequential development process that matches the professional learning pathway and will build upon the skills and knowledge of an individual’s prior professional learning.  

There are core modules that allow the participant to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding to become an effective senior leader.

The delivery of the senior leader programme includes mentoring, peer support networks and an individual leadership standards self-review. 

All activities undertaken as part of this programme will be delivered in Welsh, English or bilingually. 

Access to the programme is through the national application process, a link to the application can be found on this website.

The programme will be delivered by the regional consortia and senior leaders from schools within the region.

This development programme will consist of:

• Module 1   Values and dispositions, self-reflection.
  Leadership styles, leadership and management

• Module 2   Working with others. Managing change.
  Leading an enquiry.

• Module 3   Performance development.
  Managing underperformance. Coaching and Mentoring.

• Module 4   Pedagogy.
  Self-evaluation and school improvement

• Module 5   Collaboration.
  Leadership Experience Task.

Registration will be through a national booking system, which will distribute completed forms to the respective region in which the participant is employed. This centralising of registration will allow national data to be collected and the most appropriate arrangements put in place for each cohort.

Register here

Closing date 13/10/2023

Janet Waldron Interim Lead for Middle Leader Development waldronj11@hwbcymru.net

Rob Phillips Interim Lead for Leadership phillipsr145@hwbcymru.net

Hazel Faulkner Business Support Officer hazel.faulkner@partneriaeth.cymru