Charity identifies future leaders ready to work in Yorkshire schools struggling to recruit great heads

The Future Leaders Trust, which runs the Government’s ‘Talented Leaders Programme’, has identified potential head teachers for schools facing challenging circumstances, especially in rural, coastal and deprived areas of England.

Of these 11 have expressed a desire to work in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Jacqueline Russell, the acting chief executive officer of the Future Leaders Trust, said: “The Talented Leaders Programme is now in its second year. Our heads are turning round their schools by focusing on great teaching and making long-term improvements that will benefit pupils, staff and parents. Each of them has a clear and consistent vision of what can be achieved and this is already delivering impact, particularly for their most disadvantaged students.

“Every Ofsted visit to date has highlighted the positive changes that our heads are delivering.”

She added: “As a chair of governors myself, I would encourage schools struggling to recruit a head to get in touch with the Talented Leaders team.”

Attracting and retaining good school leaders is one of the challenges facing parts of the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Ofsted’s regional director for Yorkshire, Nick Hudson, has previously said that one of the reasons the region lags behind London is that the proportion of leadership in schools in challenging circumstances which is judged to be outstanding by Ofsted is much higher in the capital than in Yorkshire.

A separate report came out yesterday which called for schools in the North to be given extra funding to close the gap in attainment. It warned that the North lags behind the rest of the country at secondary school.

More money should be redistributed to the North to bridge a growing North South divide in academic standards, according to the study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North and Teach First, a national charity.