Grow your expertise as a senior school leader

Broaden your leadership knowledge and gain the specialist expertise needed to tackle your school improvement priorities.

Create a culture where all pupils can succeed

Learn how to support the development of a positive, predictable and safe environment for pupils. Contribute to your school’s strategic direction, setting ambitious standards across the school and establishing an environment for pupil success.

Access training rated outstanding by Ofsted

Equip yourself with the knowledge and expertise to make a real difference in your school.

Build a supportive environment for colleagues and school leaders

Create a thriving environment in which all staff feel supported and valued.

Free one-to-one support and coaching

If you work in a school serving disadvantaged communities, you can apply for our free one-to-one support which runs alongside the NPQ in Senior Leadership (NPQSL).

This free support comes in the form of an experienced former school leader who will coach and guide you throughout the programme. 

Your delivery partner will confirm how you can be nominated for this support offer

Join a passionate network striving for educational equality

Share experiences with other school leaders, learn how they’ve faced similar challenges and build a professional network that will support you throughout your career.

Interested in an NPQ?

Applications are now open for our autumn 2024 intake.

Register now

Once you have registered with the DfE, your allocated delivery partner will be in touch with the next steps to complete your application.

Need more information?

Frequently asked questions

If you can’t find the information you need, please contact us.

Looking for a different leadership programme?

Is the NPQSL programme for me?

This is for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities.

How does the NPQSL work?

This 21-month programme (18 months’ delivery and up to three months for assessment) consists of a series of courses based on the DfE’s NPQ frameworks. Each course cycle features:

• evidence-based online content to refresh and build knowledge, as well as exemplify what this looks like for your role and level of leadership
• a formative assessment task to support your learning
• a face-to-face seminar with a group of peers, facilitated by a serving school leader – you’ll analyse and reflect on the task and hear further examples of good practice
• the opportunity to record reflections and consolidate learning

This cycle repeats throughout the programme, with implementation a consideration in every course. Towards the end of the programme, you’ll also take a course focused specifically on effective implementation. This provides an opportunity to complete a significant but manageable change project as part of your role. There will be ongoing support through a seminar group and discussion forum.

What will I learn?

You’ll develop expertise in the knowledge, skills and concepts for areas of cross- and whole-school responsibility related to your role. These include school culture, behaviour and professional development. Our content is informed by the best and most recent evidence and developed with input from serving school leaders and subject matter experts.

Our programmes have a practical focus. You’ll be supported to make small but important changes to your and others’ practice throughout the programme. This will conclude with the implementation module and practical implementation cycle of the programme. 

Find out more about the DfE’s NPQ content framework:

Download framework

What are the training commitments?

The programme is designed to fit around your other school commitments. Over the course of the whole programme (spread over five terms), you’ll undertake approximately 77 hours of learning. This includes a combination of seminars, learning modules, conferences and a practical implementation cycle.

How will I be assessed?

At the end of the programme, you will complete your summative NPQ assessment during a fixed 8-day window. Your assessment submission is a written response to a case study related to the content covered in your NPQ, and is an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the NPQ Framework. Detailed dates will be shared with you before the start of the programme.

In order to be eligible to complete the assessment, you will need to have engaged with at least 90% of the course content. Diagnostic tasks contribute 30%, reflective tasks 20%, and attendance at events 50% to this total.

The assessment process for all NPQs has been refreshed to reduce the workload burden on teachers while still providing an opportunity to apply their knowledge. To pass the programme, you’ll need to evidence at least 90% of the course and pass one summative assessment.

At the start of your training, we’ll also provide you with the dates of the summative assessment so you can plan for this with your school. The summative assessment will take the form of a case study. It will represent a likely situation that a leader might encounter at the relevant NPQ qualification level. The summative assessment is designed to give you an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the relevant NPQ framework and how this can be applied to school improvement.

You will have an eight-day window to provide a written response of a maximum of 1500 words for the case study. It is an ‘open book’ approach so you can refer back to your course materials when completing your response.

Interested in an NPQ?

Applications are now open for our autumn 2024 intake. 

Register now

Once you have registered with the DfE, your allocated delivery partner will be in touch with the next steps to complete your application.

Need more information?

Frequently asked questions

If you can’t find the information you need, please contact us.

Looking for a different leadership programme?

DfE scholarship funding 

A limited number of DfE scholarship funded places will be available to teachers and leaders from:  

• the 50% of schools with the highest proportion of students who attract pupil premium funding  
• the 16 to 19 educational settings identified as having high disadvantage  

For further information, guidance and to check if your setting is eligible for scholarship funding, please see the information on funding for NPQs on the GOV.UK website.

The cost for someone who is not accessing a funded place is £1,090.

Interested in an NPQ?

Applications are now open for our autumn 2024 intake. 

Register now

Once you have registered with the DfE, your allocated delivery partner will be in touch with the next steps to complete your application.

Need more information?

Frequently asked questions

If you can’t find the information you need, please contact us.

Looking for a different leadership programme?

Am I eligible to apply for an NPQ?

To apply for an NPQ, applicants must have:

• full support from their school/organisation, as confirmed via a written agreement
• Teacher Reference Number (TRN)
• relevant experience, as detailed under the 'Our Programmes' section of the website

Is my school or organisation eligible for funding?

You may be able to get your NPQ course fees paid for by the Department for Education (DfE). This is called scholarship funding. You do not need to apply for it. 

When you register for an NPQ, DfE will tell you if you are eligible for funding.

When does the programme start?

The next programme starts in autumn 2024.

How can I apply?

Applications are now open for our autumn 2024 intake. 

Register now

Once you have registered with the DfE, your allocated delivery partner will be in touch with the next steps to complete your application, or if you have already been in contact with one of our delivery partners, please continue to liaise with them on your next steps. 

Need more information?

Frequently asked questions

Looking for a different NPQ programme?