Next steps

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On leadership:

Mark Davies, Chief Executive of the Bridge Learning Campus in Bristol

In this new ldr series, we probe leaders in schools, children’s centres and children’s services about their approach to leadership – in thought and action. First to step up is Mark Davies, Chief Executive of the Bridge Learning Campus in Bristol.

Career history

I was a PE teacher in Worcestershire before becoming a head of PE in Derby. I gained my first senior leadership position there in the early 90’s and then moved to a deputy headship in Gloucestershire. I was headteacher of Dene Magna School in Gloucestershire for five years and then left to start my own leadership company. During this time I took up a contract as an executive head helping to move a school out of special measures. In 2008 I became Chief Executive at the Bridge Learning Campus, an all-through campus that includes a primary, a secondary, a special school together with a small student support centre and a 14 – 19 centre.

What are the key challenges of your role?

I work within an executive structure with a number of headteachers and centre managers working with me. My key task is to help the team work collaboratively towards the campus vision while recognising their autonomy and skills as heads and senior leaders in their own right.

Another key challenge is to overcome the different mindsets that can exist between staff working in different phases and focus upon similarities rather than differences.

A third key challenge has been to deliver an all-through and personalised approach to education. The easy option would be just to co-locate on one site but we’ve started to deliver provision that is stage not age and develops integration.

What does leadership mean to you?

It’s about releasing the potential in people by bringing those people to a shared vision of what we are looking to achieve. We are in the business of education and learning and therefore the key to leading schools is to ensure our core business is paramount – which means the classroom and the development and improvement of teaching.

What’s the best piece of leadership advice you’ve received?

That as a leader your responsibility is to help your people solve their own problems rather than always seeking to find a solution yourself.

And what advice would you give to others aspiring to a school leadership position?

Keep aspiring! If you really want to help change things for the better then it is in senior leadership that this can be done. And when you get there keep the focus on the classroom. Teaching is, after all, our core business.

In your experience, what are the three key leadership approaches that create a successful school?

Professional development: think as to how you as leader can establish, embed and then develop a culture of sharing practice and continuous improvement in the classroom.

People focus: as leader your ability to enthuse and inspire people is crucial. This does not mean you always have to be Churchillian, but it does mean that you have to show people that you care about them; that our work is vitally important; that we are in it together as one great big team.

Avoid conservatism: it’s sometimes very easy to put things off as a leader and then realise that you should have gone for it! If you develop a culture that welcomes change, innovation and learning then changes become easier to bring to life.