Skip to content
16 April 2026

Author: Jessica Hill

Leora Cruddas, The Confederation of School Trusts

The Confederation of School Trusts leader Leora Cruddas tells how teaching in apartheid-era South Africa forged her determination to improve the lot of all children Leora Cruddas opens our conversation by telling me she hates talking about herself and is nervous about the thought of a profile piece. Such apparent shyness seems misplaced for someone […]

Job share trailblazers say two heads are better than one

Trust leaders Heather McNaughton and Caroline Pusey have shared job roles since meeting in a bunker during the Second Gulf War. They think more school staff should follow suit … “There’s nobody more interested in you talking about your work than your job-share partner,” says Heather McNaughton. She has spent most of the last two […]

The (virtual) heads dealing with a kids in care crisis

The role of virtual heads is “vital now more than ever” in a post-pandemic world where vulnerable pupils have further lost out, the government has said. Virtual heads will from this month support the attendance, attainment and progress of children in kinship care – the latest expansion of their role since the support was made […]

The true cost of falling rolls

A declining child population is sparking community fallouts, job cuts and closures as schools struggle to adapt to falling rolls, Jessica Hill investigates… Seven-year-old Kenzie was the third generation of her family to attend Churchill Gardens Primary School. Her mum, Ellie, went to the school when the headteacher was Bob Brunning, a former Fleetwood Mac […]

Learning the hard way to accept the difficulty of leadership

“Where do failed headteachers go?” That was the question keeping Patrick Cozier awake at night as he awaited publication of a critical newspaper article about Highgate Wood School back in 2009. The piece detailed how the school, where he had worked as head for three years, had dropped from ‘good’ to ‘satisfactory’. It was in […]

The Oasis hubs providing a Surer Start for youngsters

Schools will play a key role in hosting the government’s new youth hubs as part of a reimagining of New Labour’s Sure Start scheme. Could Oasis’s school community hubs provide the blueprint for Sure Start 2.0? But rather than focusing on early years support as the former network of children’s centres did, this time the […]

Celebrating a career spent championing ethical leadership

As Carolyn Roberts retires, ending a 23-year headship career in which she has both championed and embodied ethical leadership, her parting question to the sector is one that she believes school leaders have been “reluctant” to answer. “What are schools actually for?” At a time when pupil absenteeism remains stubbornly high, Roberts worries that many […]

‘She makes me feel hopeful for the profession’

It’s a dream come true for any teacher to have a pupil go on to make a powerful impact on the world. For Zahida Hammond, that pupil – who sat in the front row of her Spanish classes “absorbing everything offered to her” – is likely to become education secretary after Labour’s election win today. […]

 The rise of parent activism

“Would you enter a burning building, just to meet a government target?” The question flashed up on screen during a webinar in January, attended by around 300 people, on ‘supporting school ‘refusal’ & attendance difficulties’ run by parent advocacy company Sunshine Support. The Department for Education’s recent attendance campaign had infuriated families nationwide with its […]