Resources for middle leaders

Middle/subject/department leadership

Whether you're new to middle leadership (or subject/department leadership), or you've got a bit of experience under your belt, use these hand-picked resources to help you manage your responsibilities.

Department/subject leadership: checklist for the new academic year

Use our checklist of tasks to help get your department/subject plans in great shape for the new academic year.

Tasks for a Key Stage leader: checklist

Download our phase leader checklist to help you stay on top of your tasks. You'll find daily, weekly, half termly, termly and yearly tasks to keep you on track.

Termly tasks for primary subject leaders: checklist

Download our checklist to help you plan ahead and keep on top of your termly tasks. It covers curriculum planning, subject monitoring and setting your subject vision.

Termly tasks for secondary heads of department/subject: checklist

Download our checklist to help you keep on top of your termly tasks. It includes tasks to help with preparing for exams, managing staff, and monitoring your subject.

Curriculum development

Visit our curriculum resource hub for help with improving the curriculum for your subject/department, including subject-specific audit tools, case studies on innovative curriculum approaches from other schools and more.

Use the curriculum tools alongside our subject/department evaluation templates and guidance – they'll help you identify strengths and areas for development.

Curriculum resource hub

Develop and design a broad and inclusive curriculum with confidence. Reveal the best of what you already have and be assured that what you do is right for your pupils.

How to evaluate your subject or department

Read on for details of 7 key actions to take when evaluating your subject or department, with tips and resources for analysing results, conducting pupil voice surveys and creating an action plan.

Evaluate your subject/department: SEF checklist

Download and adapt our checklist to evaluate the effectiveness of your subject or department. It's divided into the Ofsted framework's judgements, and is designed to work alongside our curriculum evaluation tools.

Using data to support school improvement

Understand how to use data for school improvement planning. Download our guide to find out what data is available, how to use it and how often to analyse it.

Plan for improvements

Once you've identified your strengths and areas for development, begin your improvement plan and set it in motion.

Use our guidance on developing a subject action plan to help you prioritise effectively, set SMART targets and identify clear actions and success criteria.

Then, organise your monitoring schedule to help you track your initiatives throughout the year.

Subject leadership: how to develop and embed a vision

Find out how to write your subject vision and embed it so that teaching and learning in your subject are strong and effective. See examples of vision statements and a case study from a secondary teaching school.

Department/subject action plan: template and guidance

Once you’ve identified the strengths and weaknesses of your department or subject, you’ll want to turn that information into a coherent action plan. Download our template and follow our guidance to get the most out of your plan.

How to organise your monitoring schedule

Find out how to monitor with purpose, so you don't overload staff with unnecessary monitoring. Plus, see examples of policies from other schools.

Curriculum progression: activities for teachers (primary)

Boost teachers’ confidence in curriculum progression. Lead activities from our pack to develop their understanding of how Key Stage (KS) 1 learning impacts KS2.

Track progress towards improvement goals

Use these resources to help you collect evidence and track progress towards the goals set out in your improvement plan.

Developing a consistent assessment system

A whole-school assessment system based on the curriculum is key to monitoring curriculum coverage, pupil progress and attainment. Find out how to review or redevelop yours to make sure it's fair and consistent.

Lesson observations: how-to guide and templates

Get to grips with how to carry out successful lesson observations. Use our lesson observation template, template feedback form for staff, and spreadsheet to keep track of observations throughout the school year.

Learning walks: guidance, templates and questions

Your one-stop-shop to plan and carry out a successful learning walk, using our suggested focus areas, checklist and templates. Get to grips with how to successfully analyse your findings and plan future actions.

Pupil voice questions: teaching and learning

Use our question banks to help you talk to your pupils about their learning in class or in focus groups, and find guidance on including pupils with SEN.

Planning scrutiny: template

Download and customise our template to help you scrutinise teachers' general and topic-specific planning.

Work scrutiny: how-to and template

Follow these steps to make sure your work scrutinies have an impact and lead to improvements in your school.

Writing subject reports: primary

Subject leader reports are a way to assess, review and develop different areas of the curriculum. See some examples, and use our template to write your own.

Prepare for Ofsted

Get ready for an inspection under the 2025 Ofsted framework. Share questions that Ofsted might ask with your teachers so they feel prepared.

Ofsted: FAQs

Get answers to your questions about Ofsted's 2025 framework across the most frequently-asked topics. Plus, find links to all our resources to help you manage an Ofsted inspection effectively.

Ofsted inspection framework 2025: summary of changes

Get your head around the key changes to school inspections for state-funded schools for 2025, including new report cards, the inspection toolkit, and changes to the notification phone call.

Questions Ofsted might ask you based on your role

Get an idea of what Ofsted could ask you and your colleagues all in 1 place, so you feel confident talking to inspectors. Find out what they could ask headteachers and SLT, DSLs, middle leaders, SENCOs, teachers, SBMs and TAs under the 2025 inspection framework.

How Ofsted inspects curriculum and teaching

Understand how Ofsted will inspect curriculum and teaching under the 2025 framework, and the key evidence inspectors will consider. Use our self-evaluation tool to review your current provision.

Write and review policies

Learn how to write a policy from scratch or review an existing one. Have a look at our model and example policies to help you develop the ones you need for your subject or department.

Policies

How to develop a school policy

Use our step-by-step guide to developing a school policy and download our policy template with guidance on what to include.

How to review a school policy

Here's your 5-step guide to reviewing a policy. You'll find a tool to help you check changes to statutory guidance and advice on assessing whether the policy is working effectively. Use our model statement on equality once you've evaluated the impact of your existing policy on those with protected characteristics.

Work with governors and support your staff

If your governing board has a link governor for your subject, learn how to develop an effective working relationship with them.

Plus, use our toolkit to understand how to support staff wellbeing as a line manager.

Subject leads: how to work with your link governor

Learn about the role of your subject link governor and how to develop an effective working partnership with them. Use our template to prepare for meetings.

How to maximise the impact of governor visits

School visits are an important part of your governors' monitoring role. Get tips on how to make sure their visits are effective, and use our templates to help structure the conversations.

Staff wellbeing toolkit for line managers

Use these resources to help you look after the wellbeing of your staff. Feel equipped to spot wellbeing challenges, take the appropriate next steps, and support a whole-school focus on wellbeing.

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