A school leaders’ guide to 2025/26: Leadership and governance

What’s on the horizon in 2025/26?

As the summer sun begins to fade and we prepare to open our school gates again, the 2025/26 academic year comes into view – not just as a date in the diary, but as a critical juncture for education. 

This coming year, we will have to navigate a shifting policy landscape, as well as evolving societal expectations, and persistent operational pressures. 

For governors and trustees, school leaders, and teachers and staff, the key to success is not merely to respond, but to anticipate.

Indeed, strategic vision has never been more crucial. In a climate marked by constant change, those with foresight will be best placed to lead with clarity and conviction.

As such, this series of short blogs aims not just to summarise existing changes but to predict what’s yet to come. It’s a framework for professional curiosity; a panoramic view of the key themes likely to define the year ahead.

In this blog, we will explore…

2 Leadership and governance

The modern headteacher’s brief is as wide as it is demanding. Academic outcomes remain central, of course, but today’s leaders must also safeguard staff wellbeing, cultivate community trust, drive digital transformation, and respond to societal shifts. In short, the role is less about steering a single ship and more about captaining a small fleet, each vessel carrying its own cargo of responsibilities.

We can be sure that this breadth of responsibility will not shrink in 2025/26; rather, it will grow. For example:

• Staff wellbeing now means more than a fruit basket in the staffroom; it involves designing flexible working models, reducing workload through intelligent timetabling, and embedding wellbeing check-ins into line management.
• Community cohesion goes beyond open evenings or leasing the football fields; it’s about sustained relationships with local employers, charities, and services, ensuring the school is seen as a hub of trust and opportunity.
• Digital transformation is not simply purchasing new hardware; it’s ensuring every investment in EdTech has a direct pedagogical purpose, that staff are trained to use it confidently, and that its impact is monitored over time – not to mention managing the safeguarding aspects of technology-use.

For governors and trustees

New accountability measures – especially in MATs – will require sharper strategic clarity and a demonstrable link between decision-making and outcomes. This will mean:

• Impact tracking – Not just reviewing raw performance data, but triangulating it with qualitative evidence (e.g., pupil voice, staff surveys, case studies).
• Deep dives – Trustees scheduling targeted visits to explore specific priorities (e.g., curriculum sequencing, safeguarding culture) rather than general “walkabouts”.
• Risk registers – Keeping live, regularly updated registers that go beyond financial compliance to include reputational and operational risks.

Succession planning and training

Leadership turnover remains high, and with recruitment challenges across the sector, “who’s next?” cannot be left to chance. Practical steps include:

• Shadow leadership opportunities – Middle leaders observing SLT meetings, leading whole-school projects, or presenting to governors.
• Talent mapping – Identifying staff with leadership potential and matching them to targeted CPD or coaching.
• Scenario planning – Governors working through “if tomorrow…” scenarios for key leadership departures to test the resilience of succession plans.

Creating time and tools for reflection

In schools, the urgent often shouts louder than the important but leaders must deliberately carve out space for strategic thinking:

• Leadership away-days – Termly half-day sessions for SLT and governors to focus solely on long-term priorities, free from operational updates.
• ‘No meeting’ zones – Blocking out certain mornings or afternoons each month where senior leaders are not booked into reactive tasks.
• Data-light reviews – Leadership time spent on big-picture questions (“Where will our school be in three-to-five years?”) rather than deep dives into last week’s attendance figures.

The trick is to treat strategic leadership as a non-negotiable fixture in the school calendar. Protect it as you would a safeguarding meeting – because, in many ways, safeguarding the future of the school is exactly what strategic thinking is.