Facilitator Bio - Julian Grant

Facilitates: NPQH, NPQSL

Having graduated from Durham University, I commenced my teaching career as a teacher of history and deputy head of sixth form at an 11-18 comprehensive in Gateshead, later moving to serve in pastoral and faculty leadership in Crawley before moving onto Assistant and Deputy Headship.

I was Headteacher of Sackville School in East Grinstead for over 8 very fulfilling years, during which the school saw significant development and achieved 6 national high outcome awards for GCSE results in six years as a Leading Edge school. The sixth form was a large, vibrant, inclusive and high-achieving cohort, with a decade of performance at significantly above value added expectations. Clarity of vision and communication, strength of purpose, teamwork, dedication to (and high ambition for) the community, a sense of everyone being genuinely valued and, of course, the momentum achieved through high morale and hard work all played their part. The challenges of headship nowadays are considerable and I learnt a great deal on my journey. Without a doubt, my fascination with school leadership and my reflection on it has continued well beyond my retirement from this role in December 2021.

I am now a qualified level 7 executive coach and I undertake improvement partner work for a variety of schools in London and the South East, including supporting new headteachers and involvement in the headteacher appointment process. In West Sussex, I help lead a project on improving disadvantaged outcomes and I serve as a mentor and quality assurance consultant on the SSAT Embedding Formative Assessment programme. A particular joy has been facilitating the NPQSL and NPQH programmes for GLF over the past three years, as the future is what counts! Anything I can offer to support the fine people who are eager to be the school leaders of the future is a pleasure and a privilege.