To become an SLE, you need to have been in a leadership role other than headteacher for at least 2 years. Your headteacher will be asked to confirm that you’re in an appropriate role. Higher level teaching assistants are not eligible to apply. You can be from any type or phase of school. You do not need to be in an outstanding school or a school that is part of a teaching school alliance, but your school will need to have the capacity to release you to work in other schools.

You must have at least 1 specialism from our areas of expertise, which are based on the areas of focus in the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework (September 2016):

To be successful in your application, you should have:

• a successful track record of working effectively within your own school and/or across a group of schools, or working with a range of leaders within a single school
• evidence of successfully using coaching and/or facilitation skills to bring about sustainable improvements
• excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• a good understanding of what constitutes ‘outstanding’ in your field of expertise and the ability and confidence to communicate this
• a good understanding of how your specialism and skills can contribute to wider school improvement goals
• an analytical approach in identifying and prioritising needs
• the ability to set and establish new and innovative working practices 
• the ability to grow leadership capacity in others.

You can also provide supporting evidence gained from completing leadership development opportunities such as:

• The National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership
• The National Professional Qualification for Middle Leadership

There is no limit on the number of times you can apply. There is no cost to apply.

Contact: Woodrush Training Consortium an application form to become an SLE.