Page 3 | What's an executive headteacher?!

Pandadream · 2025-04-30T16:48:32+00:00

Does anyone know or experience a school that has Executive headteacher and a head of school, no deputy. It seems like a pretty new thing that local authroity are doing to reduce cost. If anyone has any knowledge or any experience of that, could you share? it has just happen at my child's school and the parents are at lost what that entails. Will this executive head spend any time physically at the school at all or split his time equally across different schoold, has any very sucessful stories?

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

crumblingschools · 03/05/2025 11:26

@CurlyhairedAssassin some of our local very rural schools have fewer than 100 pupils, some even smaller than 50. Sharing resources including an Exec head mean that they can stay open, which is great for communities. Also means there are shared practices and support across subjects. Can also have shared experiences for pupils so know more pupils that just those in their school, but still have their local school. Unfortunately with falling rolls and crap funding (we are in an area with one of the lowest funding per DfE algorithms) some of these schools will have to close eventually.

ItsBouqeeeet · 03/05/2025 11:28

It's a shame they don't get rid of executive headteachers and use their wage to fund more TAs!

CurlyhairedAssassin · 03/05/2025 11:31

But that's what I'm saying, @crumblingschools . It's purely about cost cutting (and personally I'm not wholly convinced it DOES save a lot of money, the money is often just being redistributed, and/or job roles lower down expanded with no additional pay). Not what's best for the children. Not what's best for education as a whole. Because a system of shared SLT bring a whole host of difficulties, not least of which puts some potential leaders off trying for the role. People who would have once been very happy in a stable, successful school to step up the ladder internally and work in a really tight head/deputy head partnership day in day out on the same physical site, knowing their pupils, families and staff really well, and implementing changes more personalised to their school rather than being forced to as part of some overarching distant organisation with different needs and characteristics elsewhere in the organisation.

crumblingschools · 03/05/2025 11:42

@CurlyhairedAssassin but a school with 50 pupils is not going to have a head and deputy head. And the head will have to be mainly teaching. Our small local schools would not have survived without this set up

Prepositional · 03/05/2025 14:30

CurlyhairedAssassin · 03/05/2025 11:20

What about travelling time between schools? It's a very important factor which no-one seems to consider. You have an EH who works across 3 schools and often travels between them during a single days' work to solve whatever day to day crisis has arisen. From one office to another in the other school it could be a half hour journey. Perhaps they need to return again on the same day. That alone could be a whole hour spent simply travelling between schools. Not a very good use of their (often well-paid) time, even without factoring in those occasional bad eggs who will take the piss and use this to their advantage, making that travelling time last as long as possible while the head of school is trying to deal with things on the ground.

I don't know, it's just like all common sense has gone out the window - we are ignoring the gut feelings which scream at us that it is not the best or most efficient way to run a school for the pupils. If the real reason for implementing executive head (and similar) models is because right at the top the DfE demands it because they are just not prepared to fund schools properly, or because teaching recruitment and retention has become dire and difficult and schools simply can't recruit decent heads then at least own it. Why can't schools be honest with parents, staff (and to some extent governors)?

There is so much masking in education and pretending everything is ok and a great idea. A school I once worked at had a head teacher who was refreshingly honest with his staff and would basically tell us when he felt his hand was being forced and he was having to take decisions he didn't agree which he knew would have a bad effect on the offering to children, and affect staff morale. He was genuine, and his staff respected that. He retired a good few years back now and education has changed a hell of a lot since then, and not for the better, sadly.

Show quote history

My response wasn't whether it was a good idea or not, it was because you seemed to think it was related to academisation. It obviously can be, but it can also be used in the situation of small rural schools.

As it happens, I agree with the pp above that it does tend to work in schools of circa 50 pupils ie one EY/KS1 class and one KS2. These schools are so small they might not even have a deputy head, just a senior teacher. In my experience as a teacher, the model works massively better than having a teaching head. We haven't found travel time to be an issue because the schools are no more than a few minutes drive apart and because the majority of the time the head does set, full days at one school or the other.

There are massive, massive issues in education at the moment. I could make a list as long as my arm about my frustrations around money being spent in the wrong place. This really isn't one of them (in fact I can't fathom why anyone would take on the stress of two schools, two Ofsteds etc for less than £70k a year. I certainly wouldn't).

crumblingschools · 03/05/2025 14:40

@Prepositional I wonder if it is because many people can’t envisage a school with 50 pupils. I always smile when posters come on here talking about a small school and it has over 150 pupils, as that is pretty standard size round here. But then I haven’t had experience of 4 plus form entry Primary schools. Many of the single form entry schools are reducing their PAN (admission numbers) due to falling rolls.

I know at some point some of the really small schools will likely have to close but if there are ways of keeping them open, like an Exec head and ways to ensure the pupils have a good all round education then long may they stay open. Sometimes they are the only community thing left in small villages with shop and pub not staying open.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 03/05/2025 16:38

crumblingschools · 03/05/2025 14:40

@Prepositional I wonder if it is because many people can’t envisage a school with 50 pupils. I always smile when posters come on here talking about a small school and it has over 150 pupils, as that is pretty standard size round here. But then I haven’t had experience of 4 plus form entry Primary schools. Many of the single form entry schools are reducing their PAN (admission numbers) due to falling rolls.

I know at some point some of the really small schools will likely have to close but if there are ways of keeping them open, like an Exec head and ways to ensure the pupils have a good all round education then long may they stay open. Sometimes they are the only community thing left in small villages with shop and pub not staying open.

It probably is that for me, yes, I admit. I have no experience of tiny schools, mixed age classes etc. I can understand the need for executive heads in those circumstances, if they want to stay open.

Humpycamel · 04/05/2025 16:51

howshouldibehave · 30/04/2025 18:07

Executive heads generally float about across a few schools, wear suits and shiny shoes, earn £100-250k, work from home a lot and tell teachers that they should be working harder.

Head of schools do the day to day running of the school but have little autonomy about big decisions and get blamed if anything goes wrong. They get paid less than a head teacher.

This! I worked in a MAT (multi academy trust) and we had an executive head who was over 3 or 4 schools and a head of school.

TariffandTrade · 04/05/2025 21:26

howshouldibehave · 30/04/2025 18:07

Executive heads generally float about across a few schools, wear suits and shiny shoes, earn £100-250k, work from home a lot and tell teachers that they should be working harder.

Head of schools do the day to day running of the school but have little autonomy about big decisions and get blamed if anything goes wrong. They get paid less than a head teacher.

Wages of that level would only be very large pupil numbers or academies.

Local Ex.HT’s lead up to 4 small schools on a salary of around £60,000.

The arrangement may also mean the governing body becomes one, rather than 2/3 across the schools.