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Leadership structures in small primary schools
Get advice on how leadership in small primary schools might work in practice and find examples of leadership structures from other small primary schools.
Develop your own leadership structure
The leadership structure in your school will depend on your school's context and the experience of your staff. However, you can follow the advice below to get some general recommendations.
This advice came from our associate education experts, Jacqueline Baker and Sarah Searle-Barnes.
Distribute leadership responsibilities
Ofsted suggests distributing leadership is an effective way to develop leadership in schools (see page 5). Have as flat a leadership structure as possible and avoid a hierarchical structure. Unlike in larger schools, you can make your staff feel involved in the leadership and direction of the school.
It helps to have a rigid performance management process that drives professional development and moves your team toward taking on more responsibility.
Make decisions collectively
If you're the executive headteacher, encourage staff to challenge you so that you can
- Administrative staff structures: secondary schools
- How to create a cost-effective staffing structure
- Leadership structures in 'outstanding' schools
- Leadership structures in primary schools
- Organising a cost-effective support staff structure
- Primary school staffing structures: examples
- Staffing structures: special schools
- The SENCO as a strategic leader: guidance
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