How to Lead a School

Targeted primarily at those running a school, or contemplating doing so, this book talks frankly about the pleasures and pitfalls of the job, common to all schools across the world. Each chapter considers in detail the different constituencies a Principal or Head will encounter.

The book endorses good practice, highlights some tricks of the trade, asks questions to provoke thinking, and includes imaginary case studies.

Covid-19 may have disrupted conventional ways of education but has not significantly re-defined school leadership. Rather, it has put even greater pressure on school leaders to meet the demands of their existing constituencies. So this is a handy ‘go-to’ guide, written from experience of over 20 years in senior leadership, as a school inspector and as a member of several school boards.

It’s not another manual on leadership theory because it concentrates on immediate practical responses to the landscape a school leader will face, including a final chapter on personal well-being and how to survive the unexpected.

Robert Gullifer read English at Cambridge and did his post-graduate education training at Oxford. He is currently director of the New College School Foundation. He has taught in both state and private sectors and has over twenty years’ experience of senior leadership in secondary and primary schools. He now serves on the governing boards of several schools in the UK and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.