Leadership coaching for headteachers and
MAT leaders

The work on the relationships that hold a school or trust together, held with skill across months.

Why this work

Headship is a relational job in a high-pressure system. The accountability is heavy, the resources are stretched, and most of the support available is generic CPD that doesn’t reach the actual work. What reaches it is structured reflective coaching, sustained, confidential, and held with someone who has done the work themselves.

I’m an AoEC and ILM-accredited coach, MBE recipient for services to SEND, and co-founder of Gesher School (three times Ofsted Outstanding). I’ve led under pressure. I know what the role is asking of you. I bring that into every coaching relationship – not as advice, as a thinking partner who knows the terrain.

Two ways to work

Individual coaching – regular sessions for headteachers, MAT CEOs, deputies, or assistant heads working through what their leadership is asking of them now. Sessions are confidential, sustained, and shaped around your context.

Paired coaching – sessions held with a head and deputy together, or any senior pair whose working relationship is doing more work than they realise. The pair at the centre of a school often holds more cultural weight than any policy. Coaching the pair, rather than the individuals separately, sometimes shifts more than coaching either alone.

Who this is for

• Headteachers navigating complex challenges who need a calm, reflective space to think.
• MAT CEOs and executive leaders carrying the weight of multiple schools, looking for a thinking partner outside the trust.
• Senior pairs – typically a head and deputy whose working relationship is shaping more of the culture than they have time to notice.
• Deputies and assistant heads stepping toward headship who want to develop their leadership identity before they’re in the chair.
• New headteachers in their first or second year who want structured, experienced support alongside their NPQ.

What changes

Most leaders describe three things shifting over time:

• Less reactive, more intentional leadership. The day stops being shaped by whoever shouts loudest.
• Sharper awareness of how their leadership is shaping, or being shaped by, the people around them.
• Better thinking about the harder decisions, with fewer of the same circular problems coming back round.

This isn’t a quick fix. It’s the slower work that makes the rest sustainable.

How it works

Sessions are online, confidential, and sustained. Most leaders work with me over six to twelve months, often longer. Each engagement starts with a thirty-minute strategic conversation: no pitch, half an hour to think out loud about what you’re seeing in your role and whether this is the right work for you right now. If it isn’t, I’ll say so. If it is, we’ll talk about scope.

Coaching can usually be funded through your school or trust’s CPD budget. If you need help making the internal case, I can help you frame it.

Frequently asked questions

What is reflective coaching, and how is it different from mentoring? Mentoring offers advice from someone who has done the role. Coaching offers a thinking partnership, a confidential, sustained space to develop your own clarity rather than receive someone else’s. My approach combines the depth of relational coaching with a genuine understanding of what the education system actually feels like from the inside.

How many sessions will I need? Most leaders work with me over six to twelve months, with sessions roughly monthly. Many continue beyond that initial period because the reflective space proves useful in itself. We agree on the shape together at the start.

What about paired coaching specifically? Paired coaching is held with two senior leaders together, typically a head and a deputy. The shape is the same as individual coaching, but the work is on the relationship between you as much as the leadership of either of you. It’s the right form when the working pair at the centre of a school has more weight than either person realises. We agree boundaries up front about what stays in the room and what gets shared.

Is coaching online? Yes. Sessions are online, which works well for most leaders and fits more easily around the demands of the role.

Can my school or trust fund this through CPD? Yes. Coaching is widely accepted as legitimate CPD spend. If you need help framing the internal case, I can help you with that conversation.