Taking up a new senior or executive leadership role in education is both a privilege and a responsibility. The first 100 days are often described as the period in which leaders lay the cultural and strategic foundations that shape their tenure. For school and trust leaders, this window is not about quick wins or surface-level change, but about establishing a climate of trust, safety, and purpose where adults and young people can flourish into the long-term. 

At the executive level, where systemic decisions ripple across schools, staff, and students, wise compassion is a leadership necessity. When embedded in the relational fabric of educational leadership, it fosters psychological safety, enhances performance, strengthens culture, and drives values-aligned change. 

Being a Leader in the UK today is not for the faint-hearted. The pressures of educational leadership, particularly in the current climate, are immense. Whether it’s managing staff, ensuring pupil outcomes, liaising with parents, or navigating government policies, Leaders are tasked with a wide array of responsibilities that impact the entire school community. The accountability of a leader is stretched further when education feels like the last remaining pillar of some communities and the leadership goes beyond the school gates. But as the role of the Leader seems to range from finding paperclips (a client told us this last week!) for a teaching assistant to standing in front of their board to explain student progress despite budgetary shortfalls and with an Ofsted knock looming it is critical to ask what accountability for school leaders should really look like?