Deep Leadership 1 (Hargreaves) www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk/Article.aspa?NodeId=0&PageId=237217 

NCSL Deep Leadership Ideas www.ncsl.org.uk/research/research_activities/research-deepleadership.cfm

Teaching & Learning Resource Bank www.ttrb.ac.uk/

Teachers TV Videos www.teachers.tv/

David Hargreaves NCSL Hotseat Extract www.ncsl.org.uk/onlinecommunities/extractedlearning/comms-extracted-hargreaves.cfm

Understanding Deep Leadership 

 In preparing this statement we thought it might be a good idea to find out the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of ‘deep’ as “extending far down from the top”. This is an interesting perspective to take on a word that we easily take for granted.

In preparing for writing our bid for Deep Leadership we- read David Hargreaves booklet in preparation. As is often the case, there were thought provoking theories, models, case studies and definitions throughout the booklet which influenced our thoughts and opinions of Deep Leadership . The phrase that captured our imagination the most was, complementarity. Immediately we start to wonder, is that a word and how wonderful it must be to have such powers of vocabulary prestidigitation.

The way we have attempted to encapsulate and explain our understanding of Deep Leadership in the bid and to our colleagues is that it is a conscious, systematic and strategic effort to distribute leadership across the school. Our vision for this, as the Oxford Dictionary definition implies and which we tried to communicate in the bid, is to extend distributive leadership more effectively from the Senior Leadership Group far down into the student population.

Complementarity is seen as the glue which bids the way the school is lead and how distributed leadership is managed. Complementarity helps explain that effective leadership is about establishing an interdependent focus on the core purposes of a school, teaching and learning.

In considering this explanation the strategic focal point of our bid is that:

• Deep Leadership is about the student voice.

• Deep Leadership creates opportunities and mechanisms that enable pupils to be leaders within their school.

• Deep Leadership is about knowing what your pupils are saying about their learning and the teaching they receive.

• Deep Leadership uses pupils’ thoughts, opinions and ideas to make changes and improvements to teaching and the school.

• Deep Leadership ensures that every member of staff understands and accepts the importance of the student voice in improving teaching and learning.

• Deep Leadership absorbs pupils into its leadership systems and structures.