MOTTRAM ST ANDREW PRIMARY ACADEMY
LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE
At Mottram St Andrew Primary Academy we have developed a unique leadership structure over a number of years. Staff at all levels of
the organisation are given leadership opportunities. We believe that in this way we develop our staff, enabling them to reach their
potential and maximising their contribution to the school.
Background
Several years ago we had a traditional primary leadership structure with a Deputy Head supporting the Headteacher in the leadership
and management of the school. Our staffing is very stable, with little opportunity to appoint new staff at a senior level so we took a
strategic decision to systematically develop leadership potential in all of our staff. This was carried out through a programme of high
quality internal and external leadership training. Opportunities to lead on various aspects of school development were also given.
When the Deputy Headteacher left, the teaching staff suggested that they would like to take on this role themselves on a rotational basis.
This was deemed by the head and Governing Body to point to the success of the leadership development programme that had been
undertaken in the preceding couple of years and was adopted. This arrangement worked well for a number of years. Teachers with more
than five years teaching experience were given the opportunity to be Deputy Head for half a term, and later, a term at a time. All eligible
staff took the opportunity to be “Co-deputies” but the scheme was flexible enough to allow for staff whose personal circumstances
demanded less responsibility were able to relinquish their turn.
This experience and subsequent leadership skills enabled the school to be part of The National College for School Leadership (NCSL)
and The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) Deep Leadership project. We became the hub school for “Deep Leadership” in
the North West – one of only two primaries across the country to be designated as such.
The leadership experiences of the rest of the teaching staff enable the Headteacher to be appointed as a Regional Leader for NCSL for
two days a week on a secondment basis during 2007-09. One of the Co-deputies became Headteacher on a jobshare basis with the
substantive Headteacher, they referred to themselves as Co-heads.
The contract with NCSL came to an end in July 2009. This gave us an opportunity to review the current leadership structure - it had
served us well over a number of years and was in-line with current thinking on distributed leadership as being the way forward for 21st
Century schools. However, we were in a position to take our leadership one step further and become even more effective as a group of
staff and governors to ensure that our leadership practices continue to evolve so we can give the children the best possible learning
experiences.
A new rationale for an evolving Leadership Structure
Personalised Learning is a key national strategy and something we have been working on using the “The Deeps” which were designed
by David Hargreaves of the SSAT as a way of defining and working on Personalising Learning in schools. (See Appendix for more
information.) In addition to developing our leadership, the leadership structure we adopted maintained the focus on Personalised
Learning, putting the individual child at the centre of all we do. We worked with this definition while taking part in the research project on
“Deep Leadership”.
Leadership Structure Diagram
Full Governing Body
Governors Learning
Committee
Governors Curriculum
Committee
Learning Staff
Team
Curriculum Staff
Team
Leadership
Team
Management Staff
Team
Governors Pay, Personnel, Finance,
Premises, Admissions and statutory
committees
Support and
Achievement
Staff Team
Governors Support and
AchievementCommittee
The current Leadership Structure
The leadership of the school is organised around the definition of Personalised Learning. However we have simplified the terminology to
make it clearer to all stakeholders and we have included a separate management team.
Staff teams
There are four teams designed to promote Personalised Learning further:Learning Team
Curriculum Team
Support and Achievement Team
Management Team
All teachers, teaching assistants and other support staff are allocated to a team.
Each of these teams is led by a senior member of staff. Because of the leadership development that we have undertaken in school in the
past few years we have plenty of staff who have the capabilities to lead these teams. The team leaders may change according to need
and circumstances over time and there may be a period of joint leadership when a new leader is to take up the role.
Each team has one (or possibly two) key priorities for development each year based on the monitoring and evaluation that each team
does. This will be linked directly to the school self-evaluation and school development planning process.
The leaders of these four teams make up the Leadership Team with the Headteacher. This Leadership Team meets once a half term and
has its own priorities and maintains an overview and ensures synergy between the team priorities.
Teachers keep curriculum subject responsibilities so that someone (or possibly two people) is keeping an eye on each subject, ordering
resources etc. When a major development is needed in one subject area this person may join the Curriculum Team.
The Deputy role is taken by those senior teachers who are not acting as Team Leaders in that year. They undertake this role for a term
and deal with day-to-day issues and deputise for the Headteacher particularly when she is away from school.
Teams and their Responsibilities
The staff teams provide a strategic view on the aspects of school development listed below to the Leadership Team, the
Governors’ Committees and to the full Governing Body. They will also provide the Leadership Team with advice at an
operational level.
They will
 monitor and evaluate all aspects as listed below and update self- evaluation documentation.
 seek the views of other the school community on aspects listed below
 monitor classroom practice as appropriate
 consider Every Child Matters
 consider Community Cohesion
 have regard to equal opportunities
 identify one (or maximum of two) key priorities for the next year and possible key priorities for the following two years
 write and implement action plans for the key priorities identified for the School Development Plan
 give reports to advisors and to Ofsted
Learning Team Areas of Responsibility
Learning and teaching strategies including Mind Friendly and Co-operative Learning
Presentation of children’s learning
Marking
Tracking children’s progress
Assessment including APP (Assessing Pupils’ Progress) and AFL (Assessment for Learning)
Curriculum Staff Team Areas of Responsibility
Curriculum areas: Literacy, Numeracy, Science, History, Geography, Technology, ICT, Art, PE, Music, RE, PSHE&C, Modern Foreign
Languages
EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage)
Teacher’s Planning
Homework
Extra curricular provision
School visits
The Review of the Primary Curriculum
The Learning Environment (display)
Support and Achievement Staff Team Areas of Responsibility
Inclusion
Special Educational Needs
Gifted and Talented provision
Vulnerable children
Behaviour, discipline and bullying
Collective worship
SEALS (Social, emotional aspects of learning)
Management Staff Team Areas of Responsibility
Out of School Club
Personal information
Health and Safety
Admissions
Prospectus
Governors
Staffing provision
Finance
Premises
Furniture & fittings
Catering
Leadership Staff Team Areas of Responsibility
Draw together and prioritise the strategies and operational advice provided by the other four teams
Review the mission statement and aims of the school
Be responsible for Safeguarding
Fully consider Every Child Matters
Fully consider Community Cohesion
Have regard to equal opportunities of the whole community
Be responsible for staff development
Be responsible for checking and completing all self-evaluation documentation
Check and complete the School Development Plan
Oversee the implementation of the School Development Plan
Complete the school profile
Submit a termly Leadership report to the full Governing Body
Prepare information for advisors and Ofsted as necessary
Governors committees
Governors committees are directly linked to the four staff teams. This enables the Governors to be much more involved in the strategic
development of the school. There is a Learning Committee, a Curriculum Committee and a Support and Achievement Committee working
with the relevant staff teams. The Premises, Pay, Personnel, Admissions and Finance sub-committees work with Management team.
These committees report to the full Governing Body.
Governors’ Committees Remit
The Governors’ Committees receive reports from the Staff Teams and work with the Staff Teams to lead strategically in the
relevant area. They give reports and strategic advice to the full Governing Body.
For more information see:
Distributed School Leadership by Alma Harris published by Routledge 2008 (Copies available in school – we are a case study in this book)
The Deeps and Personalised Learning– Powerpoint presentation
Leadership for Personalising Learning-pdf file
http://www.ssat-inet.net/whatwedo/personalisinglearning/personalisinglearningdeeps.aspx
http://www.ncsl.org.uk/personalisinglearning-index.htm
APPENDIX
“The Deeps” – a definition of Personalised Learning
David Hargreaves said that Personalised Learning can be achieved through working on the following:• Learning to Learn
• Assessment for Learning
• Student Voice
• Curriculum reform
• New technologies
• Mentoring and coaching
• Advice and guidance
• Design and organisation
• Workforce reform
He grouped these into four “Deeps”:Deep Learning, Deep Experience, Deep Support and Deep Leadership
Describing a school where Personalised Learning is embedded as having children who are:articulate, autonomous but collaborative learners, with high meta-cognitive control and generic skills of learning,
gained through engaging educational experiences with enriched opportunities and challenges,
and supported by various people, materials and ICT, linked to general well-being but crucially focused on learning,
in schools whose culture and structures sustain the continuous co-construction of education through shared leadership
This is central to our vision for our school.