A leadership programme for aspiring headteachers in the West Country

Headteachers for the schools and communities of the West Country.

A year of preparation for headship, rooted in the communities of the West Country, alongside peers who will stay with you long after it ends.

Apply now Register your interest

100 leaders per region, a new cohort every year.

Applications are open for the September 2027 cohort.

Apply now

Comfortable on paper. Unequal in practice.

The South West has some of the widest gaps in England between disadvantaged children and their classmates. Because so many families are doing well, the children who are not can be easy to miss.

  • 12.5 months

    Behind by the end of primary

    Disadvantaged pupils in the South West finish primary school further behind their peers than in any other region, and that gap has grown more since 2019 than anywhere else.

  • 21.3 months

    Nearly two years by 16

    By GCSE the gap is the second widest of any region. After 16, disadvantaged students trail by 4.4 grades, joint widest in England.

  • 5.8 grades

    Need hides in prosperous places

    North Somerset has the widest post-16 gap of any local authority in England, and Bath and North East Somerset the widest at age 5.

Bright spots

Elsewhere in the South West, Plymouth cut its GCSE gap by 4.4 months between 2019 and 2025, one of the biggest improvements in England. It can be done here.

Sources: Education Policy Institute, Annual Report 2026 (2025 data).

How it works

Personal leadership development and collective learning, designed to sit alongside a senior role in school.

Leadership is shaped by geography as much as policy.

Learning grounded in coastal, rural and urban communities, and in the hidden need that averages miss.

Leadership grows through difference.

Small rural primaries, coastal secondaries, federations, special and alternative provision, and urban schools learn together.

Ambition grows when you see what is possible.

Study tours to excellent schools beyond the region, with time to adapt what you see rather than copy it.

Leadership starts with self-knowledge.

Coaching and structured reflection to clarify your values, your judgement and the head you want to be.

Schools thrive when they are rooted in place.

Deep inquiry into your community's assets and history, and a focus on the levers that matter most for fairness.

The year

Demanding at times, reflective at others. Full dates and details

  1. September

    Opening residential

    Trust, shared purpose and a common language for the year.

  2. Through the year

    Workshops and webinars

    New perspectives and structured reflection with peers.

  3. Autumn and spring

    Study tours

    Excellent schools, within and beyond the region.

  4. Ongoing

    Online community

    Curated content and connection between live sessions.

  5. Termly

    Headteacher tasks

    Real decisions, practised in your own setting.

  6. June

    Closing residential

    From insight to sustained leadership action.

Who it's for

  • Leaders aspiring to headship in the next few years
  • Committed to leading in the West Country
  • Working in small, federated, rural, coastal or urban settings
  • Who value collaboration over competition
  • Who want their school to be an anchor for its community

What it asks of you

  • Time and attention across the whole year
  • Full engagement with cohort learning and reflection
  • Honesty about the challenges of your context
  • Willingness to test new approaches
  • Generosity to a shared regional network
Apply nowNot ready yet? Register your interest

What changes

When it works, we see change at three connected levels.

In leaders

Confidence, clarity and readiness for headship, particularly in complex and isolated contexts.

Between people

Isolation reduces as lasting professional relationships form across the region, creating support where there was none.

In schools and trusts

Leadership pipelines steady, schools become more resilient, and communities benefit from leaders who stay.

In their words

“The West100 has been a career-defining leadership experience that has provided coaching, access to world-class educational visits and an incredible professional network.”

Participant

“Some of the deepest professional conversations I have ever had took place on the coach journey back.”

Alum

“The West100 has been professionally life-changing, giving me the opportunity to see beyond my own school community.”

Participant

Built in partnership

The West100 is shaped with trusts across the region, on the belief that no single organisation can solve these challenges alone.

Our partner board

  • Blackdown Education Partnership
  • Cabot Learning Federation
  • Lighthouse Schools Partnership
  • The Priory Learning Trust
  • Trust in Learning Academies

The team

Mohamed Abdallah

Mohamed Abdallah

Programme Lead

Draws on a background in inclusion and safeguarding, and on growing up in an under-served community, to build networks that help leaders collaborate and innovate.

Shelley Gonsalves

Shelley Gonsalves

Programme Director

Leads leadership development at The Reach Foundation, shaping the x100 programmes and overseeing coaching.