Leadership in education has never been about comfort for me. If it were, I would have turned around on day one of my first headship and quietly pretended I’d taken a wrong turn.
That first school had a ten-year history of Requires Improvement. The trust was under a financial notice to improve and would later dissolve altogether. Safeguarding systems were practically non-existent. There were no fobs on external doors, so parents could walk straight in from the playground to shout at teachers. Toilets were being held together by duct tape. And on my very first day, a child discharged a fire extinguisher and hosed me down. Not exactly a gentle induction.
Add to that a community who were deeply mistrusting of schools and leadership, and a profession with very fixed ideas about what a “Headteacher” should look like, and I didn’t fit the stereotype. I was often told I didn’t look like a Headteacher. Whatever that meant. I decided early on not to let other people’s bias define my leadership.
What that school needed wasn’t another initiative, policy, or clipboard. It needed courageous leadership that was calm, consistent, and human.
Behaviour was one of the biggest challenges, but not in the way it’s often framed. Children weren’t being “difficult”; they were communicating unmet needs, low trust, and limited belief in their own futures. Staff were exhausted. Families felt unheard.
Behaviour and learning were inseparable, and until the conditions around both improved, academic success would always be fragile.
That belief is why I feel so strongly aligned with the work of PGS-Educators. When we bridge the gap between pupil behaviour and academic success, we stop managing symptoms and start addressing root causes. Behaviour is information, not a problem, and when leaders understand that, learning has the space to flourish.
I have always chosen to work in diverse contexts and challenging circumstances because both my primary and secondary schools faced significant barriers, and children like me needed to feel seen, valued, and know that, with hard work, they could achieve their goals and aspirations. Representation matters. Growing up, there were always limitations placed on me because of my background, and I wanted to ensure children understood that they could achieve, regardless of their starting points in life. That is exactly what PGS-Educators works to support.
One of the most important shifts I made was introducing a coaching culture. Staff needed psychological safety. They needed to feel trusted, developed, and supported, not judged. That meant regular leadership coaching, a staff book club, shared video analysis, and a relentless focus on growth rather than blame. My philosophy was simple: staff are either on or off the bus. Everyone needed to be on it, fully committed to giving children the best possible shot at their education.
Together, we built a warm, loving school community. Children experienced things many of them never had before: whole-school trips to the seaside, Community Week, Aspirations Week, Year 6 visits to Oxford University, Dragon’s Den-style enterprise projects, reward trips to the cinema, sitting on the top table with SLT at lunch, summer fairs, and more.
Behaviour improved because children felt safe and valued. Learning improved because the environment finally supported it. Staff stayed because they felt trusted and invested in. And the school moved from Requires Improvement to Good.
I stayed for the children, the staff, and the community, longer than I probably should have. But during Covid, I gained clarity. I realised I wasn’t exhausted because I couldn’t do the job; I was exhausted because I no longer felt aligned with my values, vision, or mission. Now, I always choose alignment.
That decision led me to create Courage Over Comfort Coaching, where I work as an executive coach and consultant supporting leaders, educators, and organisations. I help individuals and teams build coaching cultures that prioritise psychological
safety, inclusion, wellbeing, and leadership development, empowering leaders to step outside their comfort zones, make courageous, values-led decisions, and create environments where both adults and children can thrive.
Part of that work includes my Courage Over Comfort 21-Day Challenge Series®, designed to help educators and leaders embed sustainable habits, build resilience, and strengthen leadership skills in practical, achievable steps. It’s about putting
courage and growth into action every day, not just talking about it.
Leadership isn’t about fitting a stereotype or having all the answers. It’s about choosing courage over comfort, values over ego, and people over appearances. When leaders lead with clarity, courage, and humanity, behaviour shifts, learning deepens, and school communities flourish, just as PGS-Educators supports schools to do every day.