Management Information Sheet

As you know, the landscape within local education systems like Norfolk has changed dramatically over the last six years. Further significant and rapid changes are expected, specifically in relation to the role of school leaders, system leaders and the local authority in supporting school improvement. In Norfolk, we want to be pro-active in working with current and aspiring leaders to anticipate the skills and experience that will be needed for effective school and system leadership in an increasingly diverse, schools-led, self-improving local education system.

To this end, we have commissioned an organisation called Isos Partnership to work with us and school leaders across the county to shape how we can support future school leadership in Norfolk. Isos is an independent research and advisory organisation with a strong track-record of working with national government, local authorities and school partnerships to develop effective models of school improvement and education leadership. Some of you may have worked with Isos in the past, when they supported us in implementing 'A Good School for Every Norfolk Learner' and 'Norfolk to Good and Great' or through their national research on teaching schools and school leadership for the National College. You can find out more about their work at www.isospartnership.com.

As part of this review, Isos colleagues are keen to engage a broad range of school leaders, headteachers, governors and other partners. They plan to do this through a series of engagements during this term. We envisage that these engagements will include:

• a short online survey - to gather some initial feedback from a wide range of colleagues
• some visits to individual schools - to engage school leaders, aspiring leaders, staff and pupils and
• a series of workshops - these will take place in different locations around the county, and will involve Isos colleagues playing back and testing some early messages and facilitating discussion to identify and shape priorities for supporting school and system leadership in the future - these will include workshops for school leaders (headteachers, aspiring leaders, governors, system leaders), as well as workshops to gather feedback from other stakeholders such as parents.

We very much hope you can take part in this project and help to shape the future of school and system leadership in Norfolk - and indeed beyond. We will be in touch early in the next few weeks with details of these engagements and how to get involved. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mark Adams at mark.adams@norfolk.gov.uk.

We and our colleagues at Isos look forward to working with you on this important piece of work. Many thanks in advance, and all the best for 2017.

Chris Snudden
Assistant Director, Education