National Support School

The Headteacher and staff at Ribblesdale High School in Clitheroe play an important role in supporting schools in challenging circumstances. Stephen Cox is one of more than 70 Headteachers nationally to be appointed to the role of national leader of education (NLE) in the latest recruitment round (2017).

NLEs along with staff in their school – designated a national support school (NSS) – use their success and professionalism to provide additional leadership capability in other schools.

NLEs are deployed to suit the needs of each school needing support. The type of support provided is flexible and can sometimes involve NLEs becoming executive Headteacher. They also have responsibility for developing the next generation of NLEs and national support schools.

Achieving this role is indicative of the incredible staff we have at Ribblesdale and their commitment to ensure young people receive the very highest level of education. Whilst there is a clear focus of this role on assisting schools in challenging circumstances, there is compelling evidence that this process also has huge benefits for the National Support School and its pupils and I am confident it will assist in Ribblesdale’s continued success.”

Roger Pope, Chair of the National College for Teaching and Leadership, said:

“It’s fantastic that heads like Stephen have the passion and ambition to help improve the life chances of young people, not just in their own but in other schools as well.

“The aim of national leaders of education is to drive improvement in underperforming schools. We now have over 1,200 NLEs and we’re working to increase this number further to spread educational excellence everywhere.”

As a school we have already supported a number of secondary schools within Lancashire and will play an important role in the newly formed East Lancashire Teaching School Alliance.