West Sussex Teaching School Hub

GLF Schools

GLF Schools was founded in 2012 in order to enable the federation of Glyn School (an academy in 2011) and Danetree Junior School. Together, we began our journey to become a MAT of more than 1000 talented staff working with over 10,000 children in 40 schools across 5 regions in southern England.

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Being an NPQ Leadership Facilitator with GLF TSH

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In the autumn of 2021, as I approached retirement from many happy and fulfilling years as headteacher of Sackville School in East Grinstead, West Sussex, I was presented with the opportunity to be a Facilitator for both the NPQSL and NPQH courses in Sussex and Surrey, linked with GLF.

 Moving into retirement from such a key leadership role had left me wondering how I might be able to give something back in terms of supporting educational leadership for the future. Being a Facilitator for both NPQSL and NPQH cohorts seemed a very fitting way to make such a contribution.

 With the excellent support of GLF Teaching School Hub Associate Lead Caroline Carroll, I have planned and am delivering NPQ courses to several groups, largely based at the Mitex Centre in Horsham. This is a convenient central location for participants.

 The importance of locality has been, I feel, key to the success of these courses. They are run by local educational leaders for local future leaders. This means that strong relationships are quickly fostered, often built on well-established foundations. Also, the challenges of, and skills involved in, high quality leadership can be applied relevantly to local contexts within which most participants will be seeking to further their careers.

 The courses (in this case offered by EDT) are well structured and well resourced and underpinned by the vision of the EEF. Participants are challenged in their thinking and a lot is gained from the sharing of good practice as they apply it to senior leadership scenarios, always focused on what is best for our young people.

 Yesterday, I completed my first course of face to face sessions with my initial cohort and we were sorry to say goodbye to each other. One participant remarked: “We’ve had a ball!” which, at the very least, suggests that they are still keen and eager to be remarkable leaders of the future, with those vital ingredients of passion and enthusiasm.    

Written by Julian Grant

 

Note that we are always looking for new facilitators to run future cohorts, especially Primary leaders.*

Please do make contact with Caroline Carroll, our NPQ Lead based at Millais School in Horsham, on caroline.carroll@millais.org.uk