Star Institute is looking for good and outstanding schools within the North West to share their good practice by hosting Blackpool school leaders. There are a range of ways schools can become involved in including offering Residencies, Excellence Visits, Leadership Seminars and Secondments.

Purpose Host schools can offer a short term residency with a focus on sharing the school’s best practice in a specific area matched to a participant’s own leadership development objectives. This might represent an area highlighted for improvement in their own school or an area for development in the participant’s own leadership capacity. At the end of the residency the participant will produce a case study highlighting the host school’s best practice, their learning and how they applied that learning in their own school. Participants will be assigned a designated SLT contact in the resident school to facilitate the residency between the host school, the participant and their home school.
Type of Activities
  • Skills development
  • An agreed leadership focus for the placement
  • Feedback at the end of the residency
Requirements
  • Provide a SLT contact person
  • Provide a range of learning experiences for the participants
  • Observation of the participant
Duration Length 3 to 5 days
Benefits
  • An opportunity to reflect upon and share your school’s good practice.
  • Developing your own school networks.
  • Up to £300 to cover expenses
Purpose If you have a project in school which requires additional leadership capacity or a short term gap in a specific role or project, as a host school you can offer a secondment or placement opportunity. We will be seeking secondment opportunities in schools in the North West for middle and senior leaders from Blackpool schools. The secondments will enable participants to develop their leadership skills and access new experiences within different contexts.
Type of Activities
  • Short to medium term attachment that might, for example, involve project work for one day per week for a period of three to 12 weeks
  • Shadowing arrangement for specific activities over one to two terms.
  • Short term secondment for up to six months or long term up to twelve months
Requirements
  • Provide a member of staff to support the participant
  • Identify suitable project work
  • Communicate hosting arrangements between schools
Duration 5 days to 12 months
Benefits Additional resource to support your school to fill gaps or achieve an additional goal that requires either short or long term extra capacity
Purpose As a host school you can open your doors to host a cohort of 10-20 middle and senior leaders from Blackpool for an excellence visit. Excellence visits involve participants visiting good or outstanding schools to observe outstanding practice focusing on specific leadership themes. The visits provide the opportunity for participants to see excellent practice in action and facilitates the exchange of good practice between schools and education professionals.
Type of Activities
  • A keynote from the headteacher
  • Presentations of best practice
  • Question and answer sessions
  • Networking opportunities
  • A tour of the school
Requirements
  • Keynote speech
  • Source members of your team to deliver presentations
  • Provide a tour and Q&A session
  • Venue and catering
Duration Half to full day
Benefits
  • An opportunity to share best practice
  • Encourage an atmosphere where the school isn’t complacent by opening the school up to external scrutiny and feedback
  • Professional development opportunities for your SLT
  • Up to £150 to cover expenses
Purpose A programme of seminars in which school leaders will be able to share their experience and expertise on the major challenges facing schools today. These seminars will see attendees engage in lively dialogue on key issues and provide an excellent networking opportunity. These seminars will be hosted centrally in Blackpool with each one focussing on a particular aspect of leadership. As a host school we would invite a member of your team to speak at a leadership seminar on a topic relevant to their experience.
Type of Activities
  • Discussion groups
  • Sharing of good practice
  • Presentations
  • Networking opportunities
  • Q&A panel
Requirements
  • Keynote speech
  • Facilitating discussion
  • Participating in a Q&A panel
  • Optional: Act as host for the seminar
Duration 60 to 90 minutes
Benefits
  • An opportunity to reflect upon your school’s practice
  • Sharing of good practice
  • Networking opportunities

WHAT’S INVOLVED?

If you would like to get involved in any aspect of the project please register your interest on our enquiry form, call 0330 313 9871 or email ann.fitzgerald@staracademies.org