How we can release the potential of (groups of) schools
by James Townsend
Executive Director
The Reach Foundation
Over the last ten years, school and trust leaders have pulled two big improvement levers: increased curriculum rigour and a strengthening of teacher training and CPD.
Nationally, 88% of schools are rated by Ofsted as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’, up from 68% in 2010. This is an impressive achievement. Schools have adjusted to a demanding new inspection framework and our understanding of how we can improve the quality of teaching across the system has improved rapidly.
It is vital that leaders continue to strive for excellence in these areas. But to take another significant step forward (in a way that prioritises children experiencing disadvantage) we need to pull some additional leadership levers.
We know that the gaps between children experiencing disadvantage and their wealthier peers remain large.
The average absence rate for children receiving free school meals was almost double that of their wealthier peers in 2022/23. Children living in the poorest 20% of households are two to three times more likely to develop mental health problems.
And, as the Education Policy Institute Annual Report shows,
“Children with a high persistence of poverty were around one year (12.2 months) behind their non-disadvantaged peers by the end of primary school and almost two years (22.7 months) behind by the end of secondary school.”
We believe that great schools are necessary but not sufficient to enable all children to enjoy lives of choice and opportunity.
Through our Cradle-to-Career Partnership we are learning collectively to develop the kind of civic leadership that—we believe—will release the latent potential of Trusts as enablers of Cradle to Career support for children, grounded in great schools.
Below, we lay out our six emerging characteristics of ‘Cradle-to-Career Leadership’.
1️⃣ Define long-term success with children, families and community
Schools and trusts are rare beasts.
Schools are highly visible, trusted institutions that provide universal services; building long-term relationships with children and families. As school and trust leaders, we can work with children and families to imagine the kind of lives they would like in fifteen years’ time and work together to make that future a reality. This is a huge asset.
Leaders can make the most of this asset through:
An orientation to the long-term and an ability to manage potential tensions between short-term accountability demands and what is needed for longer-term success.
A willingness to work with staff and community to define success together and not unquestioningly accept outcomes that have been defined externally.
Being willing to do things differently, especially when considering support for children experiencing disadvantage. How we work matters, as well as what we do. Normalise participation and build a sense of belonging for children, teachers and parents.
2️⃣ Build coherence
Moving from one school to another can feel like moving into a different world for children and families, even when schools are in the same trust.
Strong, trusting relationships are often lost, and the curriculum is either incoherent or repetitive (or both!). Cradle-to-Career leaders can act to change this by:
Being curious about children’s whole educational journey. Seek to understand children’s experiences before they arrive with you and after they leave you. Make the most of the potential for early intervention that comes with being a universal service.
Building close relationships with local early years providers and schools within and beyond your Trust.
Building deep knowledge in your team and across schools of the core domains of educational leadership. Striving for cross-phase understanding, co-creating a coherent, backwards-planned curriculum from 3 - 19 and designing for consistent, trusting relationships with children and families.
3️⃣ Understand and strengthen your community
Schools can’t do everything.
But they are very well positioned to strengthen the system of support that exists for children and families—through formal work with other organisations and by enhancing the informal web of support children and families need to thrive.
Cradle-to-Career leaders:
Develop a deep understanding of the assets and needs that exist in the community. Invest in relationships with families and others working with them. Ask the questions, ‘what will it take for all children to flourish?’ and ‘what else can we do?’
Work with others to make the answers a reality—through direct delivery, partnerships, convening and influencing.
Adopt a network mindset and share power. Be open about what the school can and cannot do and work openly with others.
4️⃣ Develop the wider children’s workforce
Children experiencing disadvantage need a range of support from well-trained professionals.
As Cradle-to-Career leaders, we have the opportunity to train and develop those adults, ourselves and in partnership. This means:
Investing significantly in developing all staff in your trust.
Creating development pathways for people in roles supporting children and families needed in your community—both in your trust and beyond. Respond to the specific workforce dynamics in your local community.
Build the conditions that will sustain the intrinsic motivation of the workforce.
5️⃣ Align resources with your ambition
Budgets are tight in schools.
How do we use the funding we do have to maximise our potential to achieve our long-term goals for our children? And how do we bring more money in?
These are the questions that Cradle-to-Career leaders ask. They are willing to:
Take decisions about the use of resources that match long-term ambitions—including putting more funding into earlier years and investing in strengthening relationships.
Seek additional funding and resources where needed—both earned income and philanthropic funding
6️⃣ Tell your story and share your learning
The move to becoming a Cradle-to-Career school trust means a new narrative about the role of schools and how we will relate to families and the wider community.
Using stories to build relationships and momentum for change is fundamental. Cradle-to-Career leaders:
Tell the story of your trust and communicate your vision effectively. When the route to change is less about hierarchy and more about influence, communicating what you are all about is increasingly important.
Share openly with staff, families and partners the trust’s learning about what is and is not working. This builds shared purpose and a genuine sense of creating something together.
Put significant time into telling the story of what you have done so far and where you are now. Listen deeply to others and write the next chapter together.
Cradle-to-Career leadership is demanding.
None of this is easy. Much of it is counter-cultural.
It requires a broad view of the support children need to thrive, a long-term view of what success looks like and our role in enabling that, and an ability to build a wide range of relationships to create a shared vision and purpose.
Through the Cradle-to-Career Partnership, we are learning together how to enact this kind of leadership. Whilst new and challenging, the insights we are gaining from new relationships and perspectives that come from a cradle-to-career approach are motivating.
They are also necessary. As the King of Zhao in north-eastern China declared almost 2,500 years ago,
“A talent for following the ways of yesterday is not sufficient to improve the world of today.”
