Growing & Embedding Outstanding

National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership (NPQSL)

NPQSL is for those individuals who not only have responsibility for leading a team, but are also involved in leading a range of issues that affect the whole school or organisation.This includes those who are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilites e.g. a Director of a Teaching School Alliance (TSA).The qualification will support you in becoming a highly effective senior leader with the skills, confidence and knowledge to contribute to the strategic development of your school or organisation as part of the senior leadership team.The support of a 'sponsor' from your school, usually your line manager or Headteacher, is essential to enable you to make the most of the programme.You will tailor the programme to meet your particular priorities through your choice of in-school project and a 360 20q Diagnostic of your leadership skills which  will help you identify the areas you want to develop.'

             Kaizen                                                                altius                                        

The LLSE NPQSL Package Includes: 

  • Online entry and exit Leadership Diagnostics that identify development areas through feedback from colleagues
  • Induction Twilight for you and your coach, to fully understand the requirements of the programme and journey to Final Assessment
  • School-based Induction tasks to support your preparation for your in-school project
  • 3 Face-to-Face days facilitated by 2 experienced and LLSE trained Facilitators
  • Online self-directed study to link face-to-face learning with your current school role
  • Action Learning sets to gain experience of other school settings
  • Final Assessment Twilight to fully prepare you for your assessment submission
  • Access to the LLSE Professional Learning Community
  • Ongoing in-school coach/mentor support to link learning to your in-school role
  • Access to the highly commended LLSE support team throughout the programme 

Study Modules

Leading with Impact:

  • Lead, motivate and influence others, including beyond the line management chain, to deliver whole-school objectives.
  • Develop a communications plan that promotes or defends the school’s performance, policies or decisions effectively.

Teaching and Curriculum Excellence:

  • Use a range of techniques to gather evidence on teaching quality and the impact of interventions across a school.
  • Reduce variation within the school and against comparative schools by improving pupil progress, attainment and behaviour.
  • Develop and maintain a rich, high-quality school curriculum.

Increasing Capability:

  • Identify excellent professional development practice.
  • Identify talent within an organisation and put in place arrangements or tools to develop and retain it.
  • Design professional development strategies, which engage all staff (including new/recently qualified teachers) and anticipate future professional development needs.

School Strategy and Improvement:

  • Analyse performance data to identify the causes of variation within a school and against comparative schools.
  • Ensure data collected is necessary, proportionate and manageable for staff.
  • Work with the governing board effectively to identify and agree approaches to school priorities.
  • Design and implement sustainable change across a school.

 Working in Partnership:

  • Identify a range of local and national partners that can support school improvement.
  • Put in place systems, processes or structures which facilitate knowledge transfer and shared best practice within and beyond the school.
  • Identify the most effective partnerships for improving pupil progress.

 Managing Resources and Risks:

  • Deploy resources across a school effectively and efficiently to deliver school priorities (for example, in relation to the use of Pupil Premium funding).
  • Monitor the use of resources across a school, identifying opportunities and pressures (for example, in relation to teacher workload).
  • Systematically identify, manage and mitigate risks to the school, its pupils and staff.

Final Assessment

The final assessment is submitted to an external assessor.
The assessment comprises of a project style submission detailing your development as a leader throughout  the programme. You will create a 5000 report  based on your project where you will work across your school to :

a) reduce variation in pupil progress and attainment

b) improve the efficiency and effectiveness of teaching 

Your school based coach and sponsor will also be required to contribute by verifying your submission and supporting with further evidence.

You will be able to choose a window for your assessment within an 18 month timescale. 

Sessions and Cost

The cost of the NPQSL programme is £975 per person. Bursaries will be available to Kaizen Schools in order to reduce the cost to £500. 

Dates for sessions will be confirmed for a January 2021 start. Please be aware that the face-to-face sessions may be replaced with online-facilitated sessions depending on the situation at the time and that the course will only run if it is viable to do so. The programme will consist of:

  • Induction Twilight (4.00pm - 6.30pm).
  • 3 days of Face-to-Face sessions (likely to be facilitated online)
  • Final Assessment Workshop Twilight (4.00pm - 6.30pm).

All sessions will be held online or at Weald of Kent Grammar, Sevenoaks Annexe, Seal Hollow Road, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN13 3SN. 

Please download and complete the application form and then return it to: [email protected] .