Innovations in Succession Planning: The Compton School

Institute of Education

Innovations in Succession Planning

The Compton School

Nick Hackett and Dr. Karen Edge UCL Institute of Education [email protected]

UCLInstituteofEducation InnovationsinSuccessionPlanningSeries

Hackett & Edge (2015): The Compton School Succession Planning 2

Contents

Leadership and Improvement [5]

Current Senior Leadership Team Structure [6]

Teacher and Leader Recruitment [9]

Leadership Development [10]

Talent-spotting [11]

The Succession Planning Strategy: Design [14]

The Succession Planning Strategy: Implementation [14]

The Succession Planning Strategy: Transition [16]

The Succession Planning Strategy: Implementation [15]

The Succession Planning Strategy: Governance, Monitoring and Planning

[17]

The Compton School Leaders’ Advice to other Schools [18]



Acknowledgements Dr. Karen Edge and Nick Hackett would like to thank the team at The Compton School for their initiation of the project and their willingness to share their approach and experience throughout the process. It was a pleasure to learn more about The Compton School’s innovative succession planning strategy and to create a resource to support other schools interested in alternative ways to shape their own forward-looking strategies. We would also like to thank the London Centre for Leadership in Learning at UCL IOE for their sponsorship of the research from conception to reporting.

The Innovations in Succession Planning Series Innovations in Succession Planning: The Compton School marks the first of what we hope will be a growing series of reports exploring how schools, federations, networks and alliances are working to identify, nurture and retain leaders across the system. To learn more about our plans for the series or to nominate a site of innovative succession planning, please email Karen Edge at [email protected].

The authors Karen Edge is a Reader in Educational Leadership at UCL IOE. Karen is an academic and advocate committed to asking new questions to shake up how policy and educational leaders think about educational opportunities and challenges. Karen’s latest international research project has engaged 60+ generation X school leaders in London, New York and Toronto in exploring their careers, leadership and future aspirations. She is a member of the six-person Advisory Panel for International School Leadership Principals [http://internationalschoolleadership.com/], a visiting academic in Canada, Malaysia and Chile and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Educational Assessment Evaluation and Accountability. Karen’s research, consulting and speaking engagements relate to knowledge management, education policy, leadership, networks, talent spotting, retention, succession planning and well-being. Karen can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @drkarenedge. Nick Hackett is an experienced senior school leader in rural and urban contexts. He has also worked as a Local Authority advisor with responsibilities including science, pedagogy and curriculum leadership. Until September 2014, Nick was chair of the Somerset Association of Leadership Teams - a vibrant network comprising some 37 schools' senior leaders. Nick is currently working as a consultant and pursuing his PhD at UCL IOE. His postgraduate studies to date have looked at the organisational conditions required for authentic innovation in the secondary context including the development of a set of tools based around student and teacher learning delivered through an enquiry-based curriculum.



Succession Planning Innovation: The Compton School The University College London’s Institute of Education (UCL IOE) and The Compton School have a history of collaboration. Based on a mutual interest in succession planning, several conversations took place between members of The Compton School’s senior leadership team (SLT) and Dr. Karen Edge and Nick Hackett of UCL IOE. Based on these initial meetings, we embarked on a collaborative process to understand more about The Compton’s innovative succession planning strategy. Members of our team spent two days interviewing senior leaders across the school to understand more about the structure and process in place. This report describes the overall succession planning strategy developed and implemented by The Compton School. This report is based on the evidence from individual interviews and focus groups with senior leaders, governors and teachers from The Compton School. We also analysed school-level documents and public resources. Throughout the report, we identify the leadership practices that support the overall goals of the strategy, which includes promoting the creation of a strong talent pool of potential leaders. We also highlight current leader reflections on the structure and outcomes of the work at The Compton School to support other schools hoping to develop their own innovative succession strategies. Finally, we present a set of informative practice-derived recommendations for school leaders that will be of interest to leaders and policymakers alike. Context The Compton School was opened in 1992. It is a large and growing secondary school in north London which includes the addition of a new sixth-form opening on the site in September 2015. The school has approximately eleven hundred students. The number of students eligible for free school meals and those supported by ‘school action plus’ or a statement of educational needs are both above the national average. The Compton School is a successful convertor-academy with Teaching School and School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) status. This allows The Compton School to design their own programme of staff development and share high quality classroom practice with trainee teachers as they work alongside and learn from The Compton teachers. The current headteacher, Teresa Tunnadine CBE, joined the school as a deputy headteacher in 1992, when The Compton School relaunched as a ‘Fresh Start’ school. Over the last 16 years, under Teresa’s leadership, the overall senior leadership team has shifted and grown, from three to 16 members, to meet the needs of the students and local community. The Compton’s current leadership team model has been explicitly designed in response to the phased retirement of the headteacher and two long-standing members of the senior leadership team. The design and implementation aim to minimize disruption and maintain and build on performance during this transitional phase.



Leadership and Improvement Leaders and governors at The Compton consistently describe the school’s vision, ethos and relentless drive for improvement. Throughout our discussions with school leaders, a clear vision for ongoing improvement is deeply rooted in the headteacher’s regular linking of initiatives and successes to an overall drive to embrace change and avoid stagnation at all costs. As one leader explains:

There's always a reference to the sigmoid curve. It’s been highlighted for years – year in year out … you sit there and you do buy into it. [We will hear] “OK very well done. We've done really well with results, but how do we get even better?” It comes from the headteacher but it filters down. I think every member of staff takes ownership for it.

Leaders are proud of the school’s successes and the recognition it receives but clearly articulate their understanding that they must continue to work hard to retain their status. As one leader explains:

We are a Teaching School and we are at the top of our game, and our reputation is very strong. The challenge is to keep that up there. A lot of what we do is geared up around being a Teaching School. If we were to let standards slip [and] put that at risk – that’s a serious risk factor for the whole school. It would cause a lot of disruption.

Many Compton leaders are motivated by a collective desire to work toward achieving the best for their staff and students. Leaders speak passionately about their students, their responsibilities and of sharing in each other’s successes: “The headteacher is very good at taking … opportunities to celebrate success and share it with staff and people buy into it because of that. … I think people feed off that.” Another leader explains how the commitment and drive permeate all aspects of the school: “Support staff, everyone – finance department, receptionist – it’s all about building the school to be the best it can be.” Similarly, when describing leadership at The Compton School, the chair of governors says:

Respect – I think that’s key. Anyone can ask anything – there's no single right answer. Just because that’s how we do it now doesn't mean it’s the right way or there's not a better way of doing things and that comes from the top.

Focus on the educational experience. Leaders at The Compton are highly driven, principled and particularly motivated by ensuring their students’ time at school is as positive as possible. A number of leaders speak of the importance of students having access to a great educational experience and express their shared desire to see “every single child get the best possible education they can and everything we do is pointed in that direction.” Another leader states how “everyone on SLT is in it for the children. I think that’s often because some of us never had the best start ourselves. We value what education has done for us and therefore want to do the same or even better for other students.” Leaders regularly reference a common set of values that drives Compton leaders: “It all begins with the school ethos and that’s held at the heart of any leadership planning.” Another leader explains: “There is a sense of moral purpose. It does come from the



headteacher. Much of it is unspoken but everyone buys into it. We all know why we're here. It is very much part of what we do.” Several leaders express a mutually fulfilling relationship between their desire for professional success and the success of their students and, indeed, the school. One leader explains:

You look at our results and the kids who come out of here and you think how exceptional that is and you want to be part of that. It’s [achieved] by setting those high expectations, challenging students, challenging staff and the outcome is the amazing results.

Motivation, tweaks and ongoing improvement. Leaders share how high levels of motivation for ongoing success and development influence student outcomes. One leader suggests: “What we do has great outcomes and therefore we only want to get better.” Another says: “You realise that [there are] small changes you can still make. You might get 90 per cent results one year but if you make a small change it could be 92 next. Students really buy into that as well.” Reaching out and sharing resources. The Compton School has a long-running tradition of outreach and networking, as one leader recalls:

If you go back to London Challenge, my job was running the science department and [doing] loads of outreach work. I would have someone in [to visit] monthly, at least. It was done in your free time but it was done because you believed in doing it. It was very much the ethos of the school – that you share best practice. … If people come and visit me now as head of science then the first thing I say is: “Bring in an external hard drive and take our resources and you just share whatever it is that you do.” That was driven by the headteacher. That was driven by London Challenge.

Current SLT Structure Schools create new and innovative structures and processes for many different reasons. The novel succession planning structure at The Compton School emerged as part of a long-term strategy to nurture and maintain even greater success for pupils. The headteacher describes the overall context:

Around the time I became head I felt people were being sucked into dealing with behaviour issues and [other distractions] and not being able, during the day, to do as much as I thought was necessary to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Everything was going well; we weren't at crisis here, but [I thought, if] we are going to improve standards even more, we need to focus in on teaching and learning even more to squeeze out every last drop of effectiveness.

This commitment to innovation, effectiveness and relentless pursuit of improvement also characterises The Compton School’s leadership succession strategy. The Compton’s current senior leadership structure is organised into four teams overseen by the



headteacher and the senior associate headteacher. The four other teams are focused on specific aspects of the leadership of running a big school which has a major outreach function Within the model, each team is led by an associate headteacher who has overall responsibility for the line management of leaders within their team (Figure 1). As described by leaders, these teams focus on:

• teaching and learning: responsibility for standards and Continuing Professional Development (CPD);

• support and intervention: making sure the children are in the right frame of mind for learning and all that learning entails;

• outreach: responsibility for all the work we do in supporting colleagues beyond the school;

• expansion and management systems: day-to-day running of school (estate, finance, HR, etc.).

There is also an historical element to the current overarching Compton School leadership structure: elements of the team structure are well established and have been in place, using a smaller structure, for some time. The previous model had been in place for a number of years, with a smaller number of leaders, and comprised three teams: teaching and learning; leadership and development; and support and enrichment. The historical legacy to the design, according to one leader, has supported relationships and helped create an effective team. The leader continues: “Even though there are different egos, no-one demands respect because ‘they are the leader’. We respect each other … we're all working on different things.” One associate headteacher explains how the previous structure has provided a firm foundation from which succession planning could be designed. The leader shares: “Having those developments in place gave us confidence to think 'what do we need to do around succession planning?’ The structures are here, now what do we need to do to make sure those structures deliver.”

Figure 1. Senior leadership structure, The Compton School, 2015



Perceived benefits of the model. With the team-based structure, new leaders are encouraged to become experts at what they do before seeking, or being offered, new responsibilities. As one leader explains, “there has been a transition within the team structure to streamline responsibilities, focus on a core area and develop expertise, from a previous era when a leader could be responsible for line-managing the head of Y10 and perhaps drama, music and PE as well as having CPD as a [whole school] responsibility. So you had your finger in lots of pies but not enough time to focus in on your specific area.”

The current team structure provides clear lines of responsibility with line management of departments only being undertaken by leaders from within the teaching and learning team. Similarly, the support and intervention team addresses all issues of pastoral care. As intended, this clear demarcation of responsibilities ensures that leaders can better focus on their remit. The headteacher explains the overall approach:

This means that if the support and intervention team are dealing with behaviour for learning, uniform, the form-tutor role, pastoral support, support for vulnerable children and so on, the teaching and learning team can actually get on with looking at the quality of teaching, CPD provision, effective line-management of departments, and then heads of department being trained up and enabled to be the best middle leaders they can be.

Many Compton leaders describe the school’s current leadership model as adopting an “organic and evolutionary approach” that has moved from a “jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none” model to one they now describe using terms such as “delegated” and “distributed.” One associate headteacher depicts the current leadership structure as “providing greater specialisation in leaders – in their capacity to deliver things in a more skillful, knowledgeable way.” This approach contrasts with leaders’ previous experiences of being part of a much smaller leadership team with more varied and competing responsibilities. Grow your own. Although the school-wide leadership team is large, the headteacher observes that “all of these [leaders] are home-grown and have come through the system” at The Compton. This is indicative of the school’s investment in their teachers and the provision of effective leadership development opportunities. The headteacher explains how the process starts from the point of hire:

When we're interviewing people [I’ll say] “If you're good, we'll nurture you and we'll promote you.” There is a strong tradition of people being promoted throughout the school; somebody on the senior team started as a supply teacher for example.

Similarly, one governor shares how the school’s commitment to career and leadership development influences the school:

If you're coming in and there's a senior leadership team that’s very static – nobody's moving or somebody going in, somebody going out – that’s not delivering the right messages. [For staff, The Compton] is somewhere that you can develop or where there is a longer-term career path.



A crucial factor when considering the succession planning implications and inspiration of the overall Compton School leadership model is the phased retirement of several very senior and longstanding members of the leadership team. More specifically, two associate headteachers and the headteacher are likely to retire around the same time as each other. As part of their orchestrated transition, their leadership responsibilities are becoming delegated, more and more, to their deputies. For example, the headteacher is increasingly passing on responsibility to the senior associate headteacher. Model-led opportunities. One of the benefits of a homegrown and large leadership team is the legacy that they bring to the work and their shared history with the school. Their collective learning over the years within the school encourages “a real sense of commitment and loyalty – we wouldn't be here otherwise.” Several leaders directly link the new leadership model to The Compton’s ability to respond to opportunity and seek challenge. As one leader explains:

The breadth of [our] SLT means that we can specialise in [becoming] a SCITT for example, or setting up a sixth form. One team focuses on outstanding teaching and learning and [one on] a good pastoral system. There's a lot that the school is doing and I think that’s only possible with the size of the SLT.

Teacher and Leader Recruitment A significant component in developing The Compton School’s rich talent pool is a coherent and explicit approach to recruitment. As one leader shares: “Staff are high calibre – because we've got the recruitment right at the start. The kind of people we're working with, even in second and third years of teaching, want those [leadership] opportunities and thrive in them.” Another leader observes: “We are lucky that we do have a relatively young staff base and they give their everything to work at this school and they really have that enthusiasm and that drive.” The school’s ability to attract and retain high quality applicants is seen as a significant element of their overall success and succession plans. One leader explains the strategy and the potential return on retaining teachers and leaders within the school:

You attract the very best teachers and you attract them at a young age and they stay within the school. At other schools they have a huge turnover of staff, and members of staff work there for a year or two and then leave – invariably [they] don't have the success that [The Compton] has.

Several additional leaders echo this sentiment and agree that appointments are often made with a view to the future. One leader shares: “When we're interviewing staff we're always thinking about their potential, not just the post they are going into. What can we pick up [about their leadership potential] from the interview, from their references [and] any tasks they might do?” Interview strategy. With an eye to recruiting future leaders, the process of interviewing new teachers is given additional importance. One leader, reflecting on their own initial interview for a teaching post at the school, shares how both the headteacher and senior associate headteacher started the interview by saying: “This is the most important thing that



I do.” Another leader explains how prospective teachers must “set us alight in all aspects of the interview or we are not appointing.” A third leader shares:

We get it right when we interview. There is a certain type of staff that we look for. They are the very best staff. We're not afraid not to appoint and interview another group if we don't think our field is strong enough.

Retention. Leaders also work to retain less experienced staff who demonstrate leadership potential. One leader says: “If somebody walks through the door and they're a good science teacher, but we see leadership potential in them, we don't want to lose them. So, if they start looking for something else we will start thinking about what we can do to hold that person on.” Leadership Development The Compton School’s rigorous hiring approach is equally applied to the development and promotion strategies within the school, which is committed to promoting “the right people [to] the right teams.” As the headteacher explains, this is achieved by “being clear about the jobs that need to be done and clear about who the best people are to do them – what skills and talents and interests people have.” Similarly, the clear demarcation of responsibilities in the senior leadership team structure attempts to “clear the way so that [leaders] are not having to do this and this and this and never getting any one job done properly.” Senior leaders stimulate leadership development and promote potential leaders in a variety of ways throughout the school. One leader recalls: “I remember [an associate headteacher] saying that if you want extra opportunities to show your worth to the school, come and approach me, send me an email.” Another leader adds: “There's loads of opportunities, especially if you come here as an NQT. I think if you work hard and [leaders] know you want it and that you're ambitious, I think they will provide opportunities for you.” As part of its active involvement in professional networks and ongoing commitment to working with and supporting other schools, The Compton offers a broad range of leadership development opportunities to its teachers and leaders. Leaders believe that the scale of their outreach work and the opportunities to engage in early and pilot-stage developments of new initiatives provides a unique training and development landscape within the school. These collaborations extend to London Challenge, Challenge Partners and UCL IOE. Teaching School status has also enhanced the school’s position, as explained by one leader:

Because we're a teaching school a lot of our SLT will be delivering the NPQSL/ML [National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership/ Middle Leadership] where they have access to a lot of resources and training opportunities. They'll share that with the staff as a whole to help them understand the approach to managing change and the consequent rationale behind decisions.

The headteacher describes how senior leaders share outreach opportunities with teachers and middle leaders at all levels of the school. One leader describes the benefits of the school’s commitment to outreach and development:



Because we're a Teaching School, [the headteacher] will often find opportunities for staff [to do] research projects. [Two teachers] did a research project with another school and presented their findings to our hub of schools and that was an opportunity for them to develop their understanding of the theory around it and kind of link and collaborate with another school.

The Compton School makes the most of short-term teaching and learning responsibilities (TLR) and offers a number of fixed-term positions to promote personal development and to help retain ambitious staff until they can be offered a full leadership position. As the headteacher describes:

We have quite a lot of TLR posts – more than lots of schools. We provide [opportunities for] second-in-charge, third-in-charge [of departments], in charge of intervention. We [also] have what we call “bursaries.” We advertise those ready for people who are aspiring middle leaders.

Several leaders explain how these incentives promote drive and ambition, sharing how this approach has personally influenced their work. One leader explains:

Every year I've been here there's been a new challenge available to me. At the end of my first year I was third-in-charge; at the end of my second year I was second-in-charge [of my department]. Some of that was convenient because somebody had moved on from the existing role and some of that was generated through the desire to challenge [me].

One leader also perceives that available opportunities are shared and expectations are high:

I don't think there's ever a sense of “Oh you're too young; you've not been here long enough to take on that responsibility.” I think they're very keen to challenge you and give you steep learning curves. There's no sense of having to wait in line for things. I think if you work hard and put yourself forward … it is recognised.

Talent-spotting Formal appraisal. The Compton School appraisal system is deliberately designed to foster the identification of future leaders and ensure that information is quickly and easily communicated to senior leaders. One leader describes:

The appraisal system … allows them to show and tell what they've done. The [senior leader] line-manager [of each head of department] will be present for every teacher's appraisal so that they can hear the quality of work they have been doing and with the new appraisal process [the headteacher] will get to see all of the files of evidence and then personally see each member of staff who has progressed and talk to them about why they have progressed, thank them and so on.



Informal monitoring. Informally monitoring teachers as they engage with the various leadership development activities is another way that leaders are identified and nurtured at The Compton School. One leader describes the process:

[A school leader] told me ‘we offered you [a middle leaders’ programme]’ and then the following year to be a mentor. Once I'd said ‘yes’ and started mentoring someone, it was then little dripped experiences of senior leader-type experiences without being on [the senior leadership team]. What I didn't realise is that they were going through a process of talent identification. … And now I do that with other people.

Specific development opportunities. Several leaders also refer to a school-based programme aimed at developing teaching and learning skills. One leader says: “We run the Outstanding Teacher Programme several times a year. We're looking, at the moment, for next year. Who are going to be the people who are going to be on the [programme]? They are our rising stars.” Another leader adds: “It’s quite clear who the individuals are who aspire for more. ... The first port of call would be to get staff onto the Outstanding Teacher Programme, giving that member of staff the feeling that they are valued.” Teachers’ involvement in CPD activities and meetings is also used as a way for senior leaders to monitor leadership potential. One senior leader explains: “All the time we're talent-spotting…people who might be presenting at meetings. All the time, we're amassing information.” Similarly, leaders use their own involvement in outreach work to present opportunities to teachers. One leader explains:

In my department I've asked two [teachers] to organise a day for two visiting teachers from a school that I'm supporting through [a programme] and I thought it would be good for them. You [might also] get people to run cross-curricular activities. You say: “Go and run STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths] Club and see how you get on with that or write me a scheme of work.” There are opportunities to shine.

The Compton School also has its own in-house training programme that is employed to showcase talent:

We don’t believe in getting people in to run courses, or sending people out to them [and] we're not just using our middle leaders or senior leaders to deliver. Where we see good ideas or something that interests us, we use our staff, right the way through the [school].

These opportunities to contribute are offered as recognition rather than an additional burden to teachers. One leader shares: “Members of staff don't feel pressured or badgered into going for roles. … It’s very much a nurturing culture.” Another adds, “There is an appreciation of what you do.” Finally, another leader provides a similar account:

I think the school is really good at nurturing – if they see that you're doing something extra, they might create a bursary for that role, which is what happened with me. I was running the student magazine and doing quite a lot of extra curricular things in my NQT year and because of that they created a position for me that was paid.



The Succession Planning Strategy The Compton School enjoys a strong local and national reputation. The school has diverse networks and partnerships that both support the school in its development and also, more importantly, allow the school to share its considerable expertise. The school boasts three successive Ofsted outstanding judgements and serves as a Teaching School. The headteacher holds National Leader in Education (NLE) status and there are currently six Specialist Leaders of Education (SLE) working at the school. Within the last twelve months, The Compton has received accreditation as a SCITT and in September 2015, a programme of refurbishment and expansion was concluded with the opening of a new sixth- form. On the current leadership team, three senior leaders are scheduled to undertake a phased retirement over the next few years. Together, they have a combined 65 years teaching and leading expertise at The Compton School. While the loss of one experienced leader can pose challenges to a school’s stability and status, the loss of three is likely to represent a significant risk to continuity and the smooth running of the school. The headteacher views careful and strategic succession planning as a way to reduce, overcome and ultimately capitalise on these risks:

I was thinking about the budget. I was thinking about the reputation. I was thinking that there were three of us due to retire at the same time. I was thinking about how I didn't necessarily want to give up work completely and would be carrying on doing some consultancy anyway. So why not do that, in effect, from my own school by setting up the systems and the training to move the school from here to here, eventually without the three of us.

Following a visit to Outwood Grange Academy, a school in West Yorkshire with a reputation for its effective leadership structure, the strategy for The Compton School’s leadership structure began to emerge a decade or so ago. The strategic intention was to reinforce the senior leadership team’s focus on their core responsibilities while preparing for the imminent retirement of three of the most experienced senior leaders. The headteacher had observed too many leaders in other schools “bogged down in maintenance functions rather than leadership, not being able to be creative and develop new things.” This pattern also inspired the design of the school’s succession approach. Another leader comments on the strategy: It’s about providing continuity – ensuring the outstanding practice at the school is

firmly embedded in practice, not [residing] in the personalities that have been here for 20 years. We know how uncertain education is – the pace of change. [The succession planning strategy] is about trying to minimise one key factor of change that can destabilise schools.

Another leader describes the succession planning strategy in light of future leader development: “It’s about ensuring socialisation of future leaders … almost like an escalator of people stepping up … a simple mechanical process of people moving from A to B because they've been equipped to do that.”



Stage 1: the design. The early planning for The Compton’s succession strategy, which has evolved over a number of years, was inspired by the personal and professional learning from within the school and by their colleagues leading other schools. Leaders mention influences including the headteacher’s links to Outwood Grange Academy and David Hargreaves’ research. The headteacher explains: “I'd spent a year as a research associate [for the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services, now known as the National College for Teaching and Leadership] and I'd interviewed other heads and their senior teams who were approaching retirement. Then I talked to other colleagues about how they'd retired and come back in a slightly different role.” Inspired by her research and learning, the headteacher discussed her thoughts with the chair of governors and developed and presented a paper to the governing body. The headteacher shares:

I suggested to governors that this was a good idea as they would retain us for longer – at a time when we are opening a sixth form, having a major build and all of the [other] changes that are going on with education nationally.

The governors embraced the opportunity to appoint a successor from within, create a succession plan that would take place over several years and provide a structure that ensured that the leaders who were moving into more senior roles were “comfortable in their emerging roles and also tried and tested.” The chair of governors adds: “[At this time I] worked very closely with the headteacher and set her up as the model for those who were approaching retirement age… and cascading [new leadership] opportunities [through the school].” One of the key factors that facilitated the succession planning strategy was that all three senior leaders involved agreed that they would like to extend their time working and agreed to be employed on fixed-term contracts and phase their retirement over a period of time. This would allow for a much smoother transition of responsibilities to anyone who would ultimately take their place. Stage 2: the implementation. Setting the succession plan in process involved identifying suitable leaders who had the desire and potential to take on extra responsibilities. The headteacher recalls:

I had restructured and extended the senior team eight or so years before. This had provided excellent opportunities for individuals to develop strong leadership skills and they have an expert grasp on the essentials of successful school leadership. I established three specialised SLT teams and increasingly senior colleagues have been given more and more responsibility for running their area of the school. This has meant that at The Compton we have a very strong and effective team of senior leaders who are ready for taking on more and more responsibility needed as part of this succession plan. They are willing and able to step up as those of us on a phased retirement step back.

The headteacher describes how some support and encouragement for this leadership development has led to great results and leaders who have exceeded their own



expectations of themselves. Another leader shares how, as part of the succession planning, this has consistently encouraged and reassured middle leaders stepping into senior leadership for the first time:

They just needed that push through to say: “You can be an assistant headteacher.” Just role-model what you've always done. You have great credibility amongst the staff. That’s part of the succession planning – people have moved up, and I've moved up, but we've also got to get people in behind us as well.

With key personnel identified and ready to share the responsibilities of those undertaking a phased retirement, new leaders were required throughout the school. The school harnessed the overall potential of the strategy to create a series of widespread opportunities that now underpin and catalyse the ongoing development of the school and an ever-extending leadership pool. Succession strategy 1: Increasing the scope and size of the SLT. Working with the new senior associate headteacher, the head was able to restructure and increase the school’s senior leadership team. One leader describes how they considered: “How many assistant headteachers we could afford and what would we want them to be doing?” As part of the restructuring, a new expansion and management system was created. This team created extra capacity for the headteacher by taking up responsibility for the ongoing building and expansion work as well as a number of activities linked to the day-to-day running of the school.

Key learning: The importance of fit and focus As the leadership team has grown, existing leaders have worked hard to place people in the areas that best match their particular skills and to give their role a clear focus. The headteacher says: “[We are] clear about what jobs need to be done and clear about who the best people are to do them.”

Succession strategy 2: Cascading promotions. Promotions and restructuring at the senior level had a cascade effect, as deputy headteachers were promoted to associate headteachers. Additionally, taking on senior leadership for the first time, middle leaders were promoted to assistant headteachers – receiving their first taste of senior leadership. Simultaneously, new middle leaders and second-in-charge of departments were appointed, giving many teachers their first experience of a formal leadership position. The chair of governors observes:

What we've done is to broaden the base of the lower level of the senior leadership team to get more people to have a taste of what it’s like. The people who are aspiring middle leaders, they can see this happening above them. You're showing them you've got a development path throughout the school.

Key learning: The importance of creating a culture of upward leadership mobility Leaders comment on how the school has worked to ensure that staff members are aware of the opportunities to move up through the leadership ranks. The public discussions about succession planning and the visible promotion of peers support the



establishment of a cultural commitment to internal movement. As one leader in a focus group, with support from colleagues, shared:

With the [expansion and changes to the leadership team structure] its almost like everyone has the oppoortunity to progress. I don't think I'm exaggerating there. It does seem that because it’s been a knock-on effect from the top that we've all had that opportunity to progress.

Succession strategy 3: Prioritising internal career progression. The Compton School’s commitment to providing internal leadership experiences and developmental opportunities enables them to draw on a pool of known and tested talent. Leaders believe this avoids the uncertainty and destabilising effects of interviewing and appointing a range of new leaders from outside the school who may not understand the context and culture of the school and who may or may not be up to the job if appointed. New leaders gain confidence in their abilities and develop expertise by having access to observations and conversations with more experienced colleagues who have moved up the leadership ranks within the school.

Key learning: Retaining expertise, sharing strategies and ensuring smooth transitions As leaders remain in the school, there is a consistent pipeline of leaders that can support those teachers and leaders at all stages of their leadership development. This appears to support leader confidence in taking on new assignments because their predecessors are still close by to support and advise. One leader explains:

Because everyone is filtering up rather than people just leaving, you're not left in a role where there's no-one to tell you how they did it. It always feels a bit like there's someone in the school who did it last year and I will be able to meet with them and pick their brains about things. Then you're able to become more independent and put your own stamp on it as you go.

Stage 3: The transition With the structural and personnel changes secured and given time to become embedded across the school, the phased retirement process has meant that the three most senior leaders concurrently began to reduce the number of days they allocated to leadership duties. As an NLE, the headteacher has been a system leader for a number of years. The responsibilities held as an NLE have taken her work beyond the school for several years. This has given the longer-serving associate headteachers more freedom and responsibility over their respective portfolios and provided them with ample opportunity to take on high levels of responsibility within the school. This strategy has been part of the strategic succession planning and, as a result, the headteacher’s gradual reduction in time has been smooth and without event. One reason for the streamlined and long transition, according to the headteacher has been the goal of “business as usual” with the aim of a step-wise and gradual shift in leadership so: “I can say ‘I've been doing this over X number of years and still standards have continued to rise’." The knowledge and security new leaders gain through sharing responsibilities and working closely with the previous post-holder is a consistent strength of the succession strategy. One leader describes how the slow move into a very senior role has encouraged a sense of confidence and desire to take on the role:



I would've run a million miles from huge, big jumps in short periods of time. I may have been happy [at one level] and not gone beyond that. It’s kind of the toe-in-the-water, incremental approach that has convinced me that I'm [able to meet the new challenges]. A lot of people don’t make the jump into leadership … but actually our process has been highly structured, highly supportive, done over a number of years and though that’s meant at times it feels I'm out of my depth, I know that support is there and I’ll find a route through it.

Describing how the transition continued in earnest, the same leader continues:

This year I feel I'm doing more decision-making than I've ever done. There's a stepping-back process occurring as well as a [reallocation of tasks] as [they say] “We need you more strategically in terms of running the school and taking on less of the day-to-day [because] the facilitation [of other tasks] can be done by your team, that’s why we've got them qualified to do it – building their capacity.”

Leaders discuss the nuanced way in which the transition is progressing in the school including how senior leaders are more likely to say, “You decide” and “Well, what do you think?” For one leader, these small changes in decision making make it clear that “it’s really happening.” Projecting into the future and anticipating the final stage of the changes, one leader describes the experience:

I don't think it will feel a lot different in two years. I feel now that we lead our teams. There's no-one else involved now. I am the senior figure – those people look to me as the leader of that team. [The previous post-holder, who is now the senior associate headteacher] isn't there anymore. What will be different is that we'll come to work one day and [the three retiring leaders] won't be here.

Succession Planning Strategy: Governance, Monitoring and Planning Governors also play a key role in the overall succession planning strategy. Governors are responsible for holding leaders to account through their regular meetings with senior leaders at strategic and committee meetings. The chair of governors also holds regular informal conversations with the headteacher and senior associate headteacher. As part of the annual appraisal process, each senior leader makes a 20-minute presentation to governing body members. Governors also preview and review each senior leader’s appraisal objectives for the year ahead. Where appropriate, leaders’ objectives have been linked to elements of the succession planning strategy, as one leader explains:

I was on [a more senior leader’s] team last year and one of the appraisal objectives was integrating me into the team and developing me as a senior leader. There is accountability there rather than just helping people, an accountability to governors through the appraisal system.



In addition, the headteacher and senior associate headteacher meet fortnightly with the most senior school leaders and the business manager. “We meet to talk about parts of their work, what they're doing, the next stages and so on.” Again, leaders refer to their close working relationships with previous incumbents of their position, especially those who will replace retiring leaders over the next few years. This shadowing also serves an accountability function and ensures that any problems can be addressed quickly and feedback can be provided in a regular and timely fashion. Another strategy for gathering feedback and accounting for the overall work of the leadership team is a recent set of 360o reviews that took place as part of a previous appraisal process. The school is conducting another round of reviews to provide useful feedback on how new leaders are perceived by those working closely with them. External feedback has also been sourced by inviting senior leaders from other schools and Ofsted-trained inspectors into the school to provide “a focus or two, for them to drill down into.” In addition, a group and individual “temperature check” is periodically administered with staff to gauge their views on matters related to the running of the school. Innovative Succession Planning: The Compton School Leaders’ Advice to Other Schools The Compton School succession planning strategy has achieved its ambitions of creating an internal pipeline of leaders. The school’s homegrown leaders are now in permanent senior positions and the withdrawal of three experienced senior leaders is well underway. Throughout the implementation of the succession plan, student outcomes have remained impressive. With the addition of the new sixth form, the school is set to continue to grow. A senior leader, reflecting on the process so far, makes this recommendation about succession planning: “It’s got to be a dispassionate process. The first question is: ‘Do we have the talent pool that we can internally manage to promote people of quality that will ensure the school's success?’” One leader describes the potential challenges of a change in headship:

The change of headteacher can be seriously disruptive. There's a school local to where I live that almost collapsed when they lost a truly outstanding headteacher who was replaced by somebody who could not cope with headship.

Creating succession plans well in advance. Many Compton leaders highlight a key element of the overall learning of the succession planning strategy that ensures they will not suffer the same challenges: avoiding the “bump caused when [a headteacher] leaves”, indicating that “there will still be change but it will be change that [you] will recognise.” One leader advises that schools design strategies well in advance of any retirements and ensure that sufficient time is given to the transition stage, stating: “[At Compton], it’s been done over a number of years – [the retiring leaders’] days are coming down one by one and [we] take greater ownership.” Another leaders agrees: “I think for it to happen and happen well, you probably have to think about it between three to five years in advance … to have the people in mind, to be training them up.”



Planning for step-wise and upward leadership growth and learning. Leaders discuss the advantages of becoming a senior leader through a carefully monitored succession plan. One leader shares the benefits:

[It] gives [the leaders in the school] an opportunity to learn on the job and have somebody experienced working with you … it’s like always having a critical friend and that’s probably what some new heads don’t have. They’re appointed but it might take them a term or two (or more) to work out who their critical friends [should be].

Trusting in the process. Other leaders speak enthusiastically about how the succession plan has extended their individual and collective achievements well beyond what they believed was ever possible at the outset. Leaders believe the overall leadership development and outcomes can be attributed directly to allocating time, prioritising carefully and working in the presence of experienced leaders who can help guide the process. One leader explains:

There have been some huge changes but they've all been done in slow increments. Yes, it’s been work. You think: “How will we get through that?” but it’s always done step-by-step with guidance and support.

Engaging governors. From the governors’ perspective, the succession plan presented the governing body with options when facing the phased retirement of a headteacher. One governor shares:

It’s a binary decision – do you think you need to go in a different direction?... If you don't have [a school moving in the right direction], I think you probably do need a kick-start and that probably means you need to look externally for somebody at the headteacher level … However at The Compton I think we're lucky enough to see three or four members of the senior leadership team who could be succession material for [the next series of succession plans after this], which is a great place to be.

The headteacher identifies the importance of governors having sufficient trust in the headteacher and the succession planning strategy. With reference to their specific Compton School strategy, the headteacher is grateful for “having governors who are courageous enough and not [going to] feel 'my goodness the head isn't in school five days a week. What’s going to happen?’” Tending to contracts and HR. With so many personnel and structural changes made to accommodate the succession planning model, new leaders [at all levels] were promoted on temporary contracts. The rationale for temporary contracts was to allow protection against any unforeseen issues in the succession planning model and build in opportunities for changes to be made if required. The headteacher explains:

We didn't know if the particular succession planning strategy was going to work. … We said we'd try it for two to three years but at the end of the first year we decided it was working extremely well so we formalised it more quickly than we thought we might.



Creating a communication infrastructure. Another unforeseen challenge came about after the senior leadership team had been restructured and increased. It became apparent that smooth communication and decision-making that had previously been taken for granted was no longer as straightforward. One leader says: “Decision-making with a larger team was hard. Unintentionally decisions might be made in pockets and you'd think: ‘Oh well where did that come from?’” This was addressed with the formation of a smaller “Core SLT” unit that aims to “streamline decision-making and flag up key areas [for discussion].” Core SLT meets fortnightly and comprises the headteacher, the senior associate headteacher, the associate headteachers and the Business Manager, who act as a conduit for information to flow from and back to their teams. Supporting and understanding the phasing of the retirement process. The three senior leaders involved speak of their own learning at this stage and their own planning to move out of the structures of the school. After long careers, adopting a more hands-off and supporting role during the succession transition can be challenging. One leader explains how getting the support and balance right is imperative:

For the people who are being succeeded, it’s the letting go without feeling guilty. We had conversations about what I'd give up but after that, new things came on board. … You can't say: “He’s retiring in two years so he can't do anything new.” Even though reducing days implies less [responsibility], there are still involvements that require you to keep working. That’s a difficult one to manage.

One leader also offers advice on the process: “Schools need to bite the bullet – if you're doing succession planning over several years you need to be clear about what you're giving up and what you can or can't take on.” Staging the gradual retirements. Another senior leader speaks of the challenges encountered when a school is managing more than one staged withdrawal of leaders. In the design of the phased retirement leaders planned different days to not be in school. It was thought that this would provide the benefit of having one of them present in school at all times, but this proved problematic as one leader shares:

As people reduce hours, it’s hard to get [retiring leaders] together. We thought we'd all have a different day off … [but in practice] it was felt it would be too hard to get people to meet. So now all are off on Fridays together and [the senior associate headteacher] is the link between us all.

The importance of recruiting, developing and retaining high quality teachers who have the potential to become outstanding leaders is at the heart of the headteacher’s final words of advice. She says:

I couldn’t do it without [the senior associate headteacher] – other schools have tried it but the headteacher is bought back in as it doesn't work. … Our leaders can take on anything – I don't worry about [the school] when I'm not here. … [By designing a succession planning strategy] you know who and



what you're getting. It’s not a stop-start transition into what is, arguably, the most important job in the school. It’s someone who knows the culture of the school, someone who knows what needs to be done and what doesn't need to be done; it’s someone who isn't waiting to make their mark for the sake of making their mark but who already feels part of the school’s success and is passionate about the school and its success. It’s an apprenticeship model of headship. I'm training [my replacement]; [everyone] is training [subsequent replacements]…It’s not just me leading the apprenticeship. It is apprenticeships being developed at every level which ensures the school continues to go from strength to strength at a time of great change.

This document is available in a range of alternative formats, please contact Dr. Karen Edge for assistance. Email: [email protected]

Documents

Innovations in Succession Planning: The Compton School