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System leadership: does school-to-school-support close the gap?

Closing gaps in attainment has been a goal for school leaders and policymakers alike for a decade. Yet the gaps between children eligible for free school meals and their peers have narrowed only slightly at KS2 and KS4.

Drawing on a wide range of evidence from National Leaders of Education (NLEs) and their partner schools, this detailed report examines what lessons can be drawn from NLEs' work on raising standards for all children and how their skills and experience could be applied to tackle attainment gaps among FSM-eligible pupils in particular.

The research the strategies NLEs use for improvement at three levels:

• whole school - for example, high quality teaching and learning
• strategies for under-performing pupils - such as engaging parents
• strategies for pupils eligible for free meals - such as targeted family learning

Each one is illustrated with a range of case studies.

Behaviours and skills

The report identifies some common behaviours and skills used by those NLEs who have had particular success in tackling gaps in attainment in their schools. They include:

• making leadership of teaching and learning a high priority
• close personal interest in individual pupil progress
• regular monitoring and tracking of performance

Recommendations

There are a number of recommendations on how the expertise of NLEs could be harnessed to target gaps in attainment more specifically, such as:

• incorporating information about closing gaps in attainment into NLE induction
• deploying leaders with a strong track record in the area to work with clusters of schools and create good practice hubs
• linking NLEs' work on closing gaps to other government initiatives aimed at tackling disadvantage and social mobility