Independent Consultancy & Training: Helping headteachers achieve their goals
When you are operating at your best, the extraordinary is possible for your team, your pupils and your school. Invest in personal and team optimisation.
As a headteacher, you are tasked with leading a team to create an excellent educational experience for pupils—one that delivers multiple outcomes, from personal development to academic achievement, and fosters happiness and fulfilment for all your pupils and staff. All of this must be achieved in a challenging social context with limited resources. And once excellence is secured, it must be sustained while operating conditions continue to shift. With this as your challenge, investment in leadership is not a luxury, its a must have.
At times, being a headteacher can be like riding a roller coaster, with twists and turns and new challenges around every corner, it can be both thrilling and daunting, and really tests every aspect of leadership. Experienced headteachers know that leadership development is not static, but ever evolving to take into account their dynamic context.
Given the challenges, it is easy to see that as a headteacher, no matter how hard you work, you are just one person, with one brain, one finite capacity to think, and one pair of hands and you are dependent on having a great set of people around you to help you achieve your goals and vision.
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I provide coaching to help you and your team thrive;
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I deliver bespoke training programmes to create the strong workforce you need.
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I facilitate thinking sessions which enables you and your team to problem solve and plan for a great future.
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I support schools in creating a culture in which everyone is empowered to thrive.
Let’s unlock what’s possible — together. Book a free consultation today.
Pillar 2: Improving academic outcomes for disadvantaged pupils
For disadvantaged pupils, achieving academic excellence can be like completing an obstacle course whilst running up a mountain. Frustratingly, we have plenty of evidence of what will level the playing field. Unfortunately, the solutions are as complex as the problem and require hard work and a long-term approach. As an improvement consultant, I am drawn to problem solving, understanding variables, and working out high-impact solutions. If you are a headteacher who really wants to address the academic gap, talk to me and tap into my knowledge base, work with me to make plans that will create an uplift in pupil performance, focus on improving the expertise of your leaders so that you have multiple people working effectively on the problem and tap into resources that can be useful in the quest to raise attainment.
Let’s unlock what’s possible — together. Book a free consultation today,
STRATEGISE
In my top 5 Clifton Strengths are strategic, futuristic and problem solving.
I am a good person to strategise with. I enjoy grappling with complex problems, spotting patterns, working out solutions, digging into data, and analysing systems and processes.
harness research
'Learner' is also in my top 5.
School leaders appreciate my wide knowledge of research and my ability to turn this into practical solutions.
REAL
My feet are firmly planted in reality.
The leaders I work with appreciate this, and quickly feel able to be very open and honest, which is essential for a great partnership.
COMMITMENT TO YOU
My approach is totally tailored to your needs.
I am generous with my time, flexible in the support I provide, and work as a true partner.
TESTIMONIALS
Quality of school improvement service:
Confidence in the person providing external support is paramount. I work with passion and integrity, but don't just take my word for the quality of support I provide. Hear from people just like you who have used my services:
"Vicky is an excellent trainer and has worked with us at Allerton CE Primary, for several years; both in developing individual leaders but also the work outlined here. Truly exceptional in tailoring to our school, my vision and also the staff rather than just being generic. Love her!“ Helen Stott, Headteacher, Allerton CE primary.
"Working with Vicky Crane on all areas of school improvement is a dream. Bespoke packages backed up with up to date thinking and research means that schools can be at the forefront to drive positive outcomes for their children. Vicky’s style is a combination of information sharing, enquiry based questions and a coaching model that provides both challenge and support to all leaders and staff in school. I thoroughly enjoy working with Vicky, it supports and challenges me to be a proactive leader." Rupa Barson, Headteacher, Churwell Primary.
"Thank you for being so generous in your support. I have been inspired and energised to keep going. Truly a well timed and informative session that I can practically put into practice for IMPACT.” Deputy Headteacher.
"We are really pleased with how well the inspection went - lots of hard work has been put in over the last few years, so great to get the report we received. Thank you for your part in it - the subject leaders were confident and knew their subjects inside out!" Headteacher (a mix of HT conversations, subject leader training, and 1:1 sessions across the year).
Experience:
I have run my own consultancy and training business for more than 10 years, with the majority of my clients being in the education sector. I fully understand the challenges school leaders face and keep fully up to date with sector changes.
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25 years of expertise and knowledge of schools & education;
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15+ years of experience in school improvement;
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Leadership posts in schools;
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Leadership posts in a large local authority;
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Substantial experience in designing and delivering training;
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Experience of headteacher performance management;
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Train the trainer : training, co-ordination, support and quality assurance for school improvement professionals - helping others to make a difference in school improvement.
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Leading & quality assuring city-wide networks;
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Creation and development of online learning;
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Chair of governor experience;
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Secondary and primary experience.
I have completed several leadership qualifications and have recently added to this ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring with the University of the West of England. I am member of the Association for Coaching and I am an affiliate member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Training courses
I design and deliver leadership programmes, e.g. DHT training, phase leader training, subject leader training. These can be bespoke, and designed for an individual school or for a group of schools. I also offer a suite of central courses each year. I'm based in the Yorkshire region for face-to-face training.
Multi-academy trust school improvement support
Do you have a central school improvement team in your MAT? Would they benefit from coaching and training? Having lead teams of ASTs, SLEs and local authority consultants, and having extensive experience of supporting schools myself, I can provide training and development for a range of different school improvement personnel. This can be direct training, coaching, or team facilitation.
Contact me for supporting in creating courses and training programmes for MATs and groups of schools who wish to work more closely together, or to contribute to an existing programme.
Yorkshire and England
If you are in Yorkshire, you can access face-to-face training and consultancy. In addition, I offer 1:1 and small group services remotely to schools across England.
By not always travelling to physical sites, I can provide more responsive, flexible support for schools. Headteachers find it useful to book sessions from just an hour to a half day, and from planned support to responding as needed. Coaching, regular meetings, involvement in projects, providing support for teams and individuals are all possible.
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