Tony Mallard – The role of Lead Headteacher

Tony Mallard is an experienced leader. He’s been a primary headteacher since 1988 and was a consultant headteacher in Leeds for some years. Becoming a Lead Headteacher in Sheffield, however, was something different. “I have always been the sort of person who likes a new challenge and I was excited by the approach that Sheffield was taking to education. They spoke frankly about the problems but they are setting out to be number one in the country. I liked that ambition.”

After a phone call from Navigate, Tony was offered an interview with Sheffield Inclusion and Learning Service. He was pleased to see that the panel included a governor representative, and even more pleased to be offered a Lead Headteacher post, which he took up in September 2008. 

"In some ways it was similar to being a consultant head," he says. "You have got to be prepared to be flexible and move to a new school at short notice and you need to have credibility amongst colleagues”.

“But being a Lead Headteacher is more about being pro-active as opposed to being reactive,” he adds. “And it’s very hands-on.” 

Since he came to Sheffield, Tony has been working in a number of schools which were considered vulnerable to an adverse Ofsted inspection report. In each case, the school has successfully come through the inspection and in some instances inspectors have praised “outstanding” aspects of teaching and learning. He is clear, however, that his task is not to stand in for or replace existing heads. “The job is to add and develop leadership capacity in the school.”

One of the key tasks for Lead Headteachers is to work alongside existing heads. This relationship is often closer than that of a traditional school improvement adviser or even a school improvement partner.

“You have to build relationships very quickly, you must be able to support and to challenge in the correct way.”

Despite their close relationship with schools, Lead Headteachers work very much as a team, says Tony. They have a formal meeting once every half-term but meet more regularly to share knowledge and provide mutual support. “We bring together a fantastic amount of experience from different authorities which we have pooled in putting together a toolkit for people going into schools at short notice, which will also be useful for new heads.” The team has also created an induction programme for new headteachers.

Since the arrival of Lead Headteachers, no primary school has slipped into any of Ofsted’s ‘failing’ categories.

That’s a gratifying statistic and Tony feels this demonstrates that the Lead Headteacher role is working, but ask him what the most enjoyable part of his job is and he adds a more personal note:

 “I think it has to be seeing the head teachers I work with gaining confidence. It’s seeing them move from being managers to becoming leaders.”

For more information about Lead Headteacher opportunities in Sheffield, please call Trudy Searle, Adam Brett or Phil Watt at Navigate on 0844 800 5300 or register for further updates.