Move from a concern or ambition to a clear, evidence-informed school improvement priority with this practical planner for school leaders.

The planner guides you through each stage of the process: describing the need, reviewing evidence from different sources, exploring possible contributing factors, hearing from the people affected, and deciding whether the priority is important and realistic to address. It then helps you write a focused priority statement, agree its scope and plan how you will review progress.

Inside, you’ll find five blank planning templates and a worked example showing how a leadership team might use the process. Prompts encourage you to consider pupil experience, equity and inclusion, staff capacity, available resources and any questions that still need checking. The monitoring section helps you think about starting evidence, what to review and when, and how to decide whether to continue, adapt or pause your approach.

A useful resource for senior leaders, school improvement teams and colleagues coordinating improvement work. Use it to support discussion, bring evidence and perspectives together, and keep the focus on a manageable change that matters to pupils.