SW100

🫵 We need you!

We’re on a mission to ensure that every child, no matter their background, has the opportunity to thrive from cradle to career—and we’re looking for a new trustee to help shape our next chapter.

www.reachfoundation.uk/join

Joining SW100—Cohort 5 For a September 2025 start

Are you ready to break out of your bubble?

If you want a new perspective on leadership, fresh ideas to bring back to your school, and a network of peers who will push you further—SW100 is an opportunity unlike any other.

📋 Apply now!

sw100.substack.com/p/joining-sw...

The programme creates a space where leaders can connect, share ideas, and challenge each other’s thinking—not just for a few months, but for years to come.

🛜 You’ll expand your professional network in meaningful ways

The power of being in the right room with the right people is one of the most enduring benefits of the SW100.

By taking inspiration from outside education, SW100 leaders develop the boldness to innovate, rather than just refining the status quo.

🪐 You’ll learn from different sectors and systems

We’re here to offer stimulus, not solutions. While all content is evidence-informed, it’s also designed to be challenging—bringing in insights from other education systems and best practices from other sectors too.

Through study visits across the UK and beyond, the SW100 introduces leaders to high-performing schools with different models, cultures, and strategies—so you can bring fresh thinking back to your own setting.

🌗 You’ll see different types of leadership

The SW100 takes you beyond your own school and trust to explore what’s working elsewhere in education.

More than just a programme to help you refine what you already do, the SW100 is about stepping outside your bubble.

It’s about challenging assumptions, exploring new ways of thinking, and expanding your leadership horizons.

Here’s what past participants say: ⬇️

Breaking out of the bubble Apply for the fifth and final cohort of the SW100 now

Great leadership requires perspective.

Yet, in the intensity of school life, it’s easy to fall into routine—talking about the same constraints and missing out on fresh ideas.

This is where we hope the SW100 offers something different 🧵

sw100.substack.com/p/breaking-o...

Join us in September 2025 for our fifth and final cohort!

sw100.substack.com/p/joining-sw...

"The clarity of message and everybody buying into the same thing—it was absolutely clear. That relentless pursuit of values and vision has really made me reflect on what kind of environment I want to create as a headteacher."

"The level of connection to the school’s community stood out. It’s made me realise how much more we need to reach out and engage with our community, not hide behind the gates."

"I have never been so agitated in my thinking... it’s challenged my paradigm of what I think is right or wrong. It’s exhausting but I love it—it’s made me question years of assumptions and rethink what’s possible."

One term in the rock tumbler We asked our current crop of participants to reflect on their first 100 days on the SW100.

This week, we asked our current crop of SW100ers to reflect on their first 100 days on the programme—and here's what they said 👇

sw100.substack.com/p/one-term-i...

Joining the x100 — The Reach Foundation Do you aspire to lead a school within the next five years?  Do you want to lead a school in your community where all children thrive—especially those underserved by our current systems...

🫵 We need you—yes, you!!

Applications to join the fifth and *final* cohort of the SW100 are now OPEN!!

If you want to lead a school in the South West within the next 5 or so years—check out this post to see whether this sounds like a good next step for you.

www.reachfoundation.uk/insights/joi...

🤔 How can we lead with such intentionality, such deliberateness, that *every* action—no matter how small—contributes to a cohesive, purposeful environment?

🤔 How can we create positive, values-driven cultures that resonate at every level of school communities?

🤔 How might we build a shared language and vision that aligns staff, students and families?

3️⃣ The intentionality in every aspect of school life, with clear systems and routines that empower both staff and students.

Common themes clearly emerging—which gives us some really tidy Qs to accompany dinner tonight 👇

Meanwhile, south of the river @OasisSouthBank, visitors were struck by...

1️⃣ The strong, positive school culture emanating throughout the school community.

2️⃣ The unifying, shared language of the school values.

1️⃣ The clarity of vision, the consistency of actions, and the coherence of the experiences throughout the school.

2️⃣ The sense of unity and camaraderie among staff and students—everyone 'on the rig' and all in!

3️⃣ Sky-high expectations 🤝 Properly inclusive, universal support.

Let's start in primary with A Big Thank you to the entire team One Degree Academy—staff and students alike—for welcoming us so warmly, and for sharing insights about what makes the school tick so generously.

Two claps 👏

Here are three things that struck a chord with the group...

... secondary friends headed to Oasis Academy South Bank with @leadyorks100.bsky.social and @michaelslav.bsky.social.

🚂 Today marks day one of our Autumn School Study Tour in London.

Primary folks spent the day with @jonhutchinson.bsky.social, @leadwest100.bsky.social and @leadeast100.bsky.social colleagues at One Degree Academy in Enfield, while...

🎧 Great to hear @jonhutchinson.bsky.social
and friend of the SW100, @mide_9, reflect honestly on the challenges of headship, the impact those challenges can have on heads, while identifying opportunities to ensure all heads are better supported.