Preparing for Senior Leadership - Wednesday 6 May 2026 (Online)

This course is for: Aspiring Deputy Heads, Directors of Studies, Assistant Heads, and other senior leadership posts

Description

What will you gain by attending?  By the end of the session you will have: 

  • Learnt about senior leadership roles and their opportunities and challenges, including from a serving senior leader in an HMC school 

  • Understood your own development needs and career pathways in preparation for a senior leadership role  

  • Learnt about the application, interview, and recruitment process 

  • Developed insight into making an effective transition to a senior leadership role 

Course Programme

Time

Session

15.30

Welcome and introduction

 

Speaker: Jill Berry

15.35 – 16.00

The nature of Senior Leadership

 

Speaker: Jill Berry

16.00 – 16.30

What the Head is looking for, both in appointing a new senior leader, and in working with their Senior Leadership Team

 

Speaker: Jill Berry

16.30 – 16.40

Break

16.40 – 17.40

Making the transition from Middle Leadership to Senior Leadership 

 

Speaker: Orla Weaver, Senior Deputy Head (Academic) at The Grammar School at Leeds

 

17.40 – 18.10

Preparing to make the leap

 

Speaker: Jill Berry

18.10 – 18.30

Reflection: how ready are you, and what might be your next steps?

 

Speaker: Jill Berry

 

Meet your Course Leader

Jill taught for thirty years across six different schools in the UK, state and independent, and she taught adults to GCSE and A level in the evenings for several years.  She was a head for the last ten years of her time in schools.  Since 2010 she has completed a doctorate, researching the transition to headship and written a book about it: 'Making the Leap - Moving from Deputy to Head' (Crown House, 2016) https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/publications/making-the-leap (also now available as an audio book); and carried out an extensive range of leadership development work.  She has given a TEDx presentation on the subject of ‘Take a Second Look: Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Others’: https://www.ted.com/talks/jill_berry_take_a_second_look_bring_out_the_best_in_yourself_and_others and she has published four novels. See her author page:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B01JSM9UXI

Jill is an advocate for the opportunities presented by social media for networking and professional development, on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jillberry102,  on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jill-berry-a5a55a21/ and blogging about education at https://jillberry102.blog/