NPQ Senior Leadership (NPQSL)

What is the National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership (NPQSL)?

For school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities.

Please note that applications are currently closed. Cohort 10 is likely to begin in November 2026.

This programme will:

Develop evidence-led expertise equipping you to respond effectively to the school-wide challenges you will encounter; empowering you to lead your specific whole school responsibilities, enabling the flourishing of children and adults through an ambitious vision for your school.

Deepen your knowledge application to enable you to help your school keep improving across a number of specific areas of school life – including curriculum, behaviour, teaching and organisational management.

Provide you with a dedicated expert coach who will champion, challenge and encourage your leadership journey, developing your specialist knowledge and supporting your wellbeing and resilience as a leader.

Create networked communities of practice of fellow professionals to support your development for the long-term, enabling the collective expertise of the whole education system to grow and develop

The course is based on the 10 units of the NPQSL framework and will be delivered across 5 cycles of the learning model, as follows:

Cycle One

School Culture

Teaching

Cycle Two

Curriculum & Assessment

Behaviour

Cycle Three

Additional/SEND

Professional Development

Cycle Four

Organisational Management

Implementation

Cycle Five

Working in Partnership

Governance & Accountability

How much is the programme?

Funding for Autumn 2025 targets those teachers and leaders who work in the most challenging schools or educational settings, serving more disadvantaged communities. Scholarship funding to cover the full NPQ course cost will be available to teachers and leaders from: (i) the 50% of schools with the highest proportion of students who attract pupil premium funding; (ii) 16 to 19 educational settings identified as having high disadvantage.

NPQ Programme -

Design and Assessment

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