Leading an inclusive school requires more than policy — it takes purpose. This category shares leadership insights, inclusion audits, staff CPD ideas, and SEND-focused strategy for school leaders and SENCOs.
Whether you’re managing provision, supporting teaching assistants, or embedding neurodiversity-affirming practice across your setting, these posts offer grounded, thoughtful support for inclusion-minded leaders.
Creating a School Vision This is part of a series of posts based on my NPQH learning. A strong, aspirational vision is crucial for any school to thrive and achieve its full potential. It provides clarity and purpose, guiding strategic decisions around curriculum, priorities, resource allocation, and progress monitoring. An effective vision rallies and motivates … Read more
Applying Leadership Lessons to School Leadership On my leadership journey, I have read various leadership books and the insights they provide for aspiring or existing school leaders. Leadership is a critical aspect of any school. School leaders play a vital role, and have accountability for ensuring that their schools are successful in achieving their goals. … Read more
Writing a School Leadership Application that will get you an Interview Completing a school leadership personal statement and application form can be a daunting task. With time invested in preparation and attention to detail, you can increase your chances of being selected for the role. I recommend signing up to the Key for School Leaders … Read more
Leading a Team: Seeing Yourself as a Leader This post is based on “Leading a Team” training I delivered to colleagues in Kent special schools. It is aimed at ECTs, Teachers, and HLTAs. Anyone stepping up to lead a class in a special school becomes a leader of a team. This is usually of a … Read more
How to Have Difficult Conversations in Schools Leading difficult conversations is not about power or forcing people to do as they are told. It is about accountability, gaining buy-in and building trust. When holding conversations around practice, or conflict there will be specific elements of people management but that is not leadership. As a leader … Read more
Leadership Lessons From The Coronavirus Pandemic and Other Challenging Times. Research conducted during the pandemic suggests that schools facing challenging circumstances need leaders who demonstrate a broad range of leadership approaches. This study “Leadership for Challenging Times” by Gurr and Drysdale (2020) gives some insight. Skills in these areas are most effective when underpinned by … Read more
Imposter Syndrome for Teachers and School Leaders Imposter syndrome is a really common issue for teachers and school leaders in education. I started this website as a reflective blog whilst completing the NPQML leadership course, since then it has evolved into a special education teaching resources and ideas website. Over the last 5 years, over … Read more
The UK SEND Policy Guide This document captures the discussion between, parents, carers, educators and people with SEND about the state of special education in Britain in 2019 and the messages they want to send to politicians. We asked 6 questions to include in the #SENexchange SEND Political Manifesto. The answers to which we have … Read more
Thoughts on the Ofsted Framework Relating to Curriculum. The Ofsted Inspection Framework was updated in September 2023. These are my thoughts on how the Ofsted framework may affect your school and some ideas that may help to formulate your response. One of the biggest changes is to Conduct during an inspection. Ofsted outlines clear expectations … Read more
The appraisal process is an essential part of not only a member of staff’s professional development but also in the process of school improvement and review.
I want to share my project. Examples online are few and far between. I have had to redact some parts and evidence for obvious reasons and being an SEN provision my focus is unlikely to be the same but I hope the content and style should give you some pointers. All I ask is that you take the time to share Inclusiveteach.com with your colleagues.
There are many many children out there who are crying out for help. There are many dedicated, enthusiastic, creative and compassionate people who are desperate to help. These people need help, we are increasingly facing highly complex issues that very few educational professionals are equipped to deal with. I am writing this as a teacher but I know there are CAMHS workers, social workers and support staff throughout the country who are feeling like this.
If you have a recruitment crisis in your sector you work to encourage people to join that industry not make excuses for why the barriers exist.
These are purely a bank of questions you might face in interviews for leadership positions in schools and colleges. You may also like to use them if you are about to interview. Good luck!
Evaluating Your Education Leadership Success I have based this post on a task for my NPQSL – You can see my final submission here. This terminology comes from a study of a commercial company by Binney, Wilke & Williams in 2005. Given the commercialisation of some aspects of the education system it may be more … Read more
Top Tips For Completing Your NPQML in 2023 This article was originally written after I completed my project. I have now coached 5 people through the ML and NPQSL courses. The NPQML course is intended for those in middle leadership roles to develop areas of their practice Known as competencies. This was not an easy … Read more
There are some excellent lessons we educators can take from George RR Martin’s epic tale of the fight for the throne of Westeros. Game Of Thrones has some brilliant quotes about Friendship, the struggle against an adversary, loyalty to name just a few. Here is a selection of quotes that you may find apply to … Read more
6 Essential Practical Elements of Effective CPD Training is big business. The reason for this is because Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is such a wide term. A school’s training budget can cover a multitude of areas, non teaching and learning areas such as: health and safety, food hygiene, seagull avoidance, first aid, fire awareness, the … Read more
Positivity in the staffroom Negativity in schools in commonplace. I think it is incredibly important to be positive about the work you do. If you work with children then it is vital. However the school ecosystem is a complex organism, easily affected by external inputs. As staff we have worries and dilemmas that play on … Read more
This handy little guide aims to equip you to deal with any challenging situation. But can we apply it to the challenges of school leadership?
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