How to Recruit an Outstanding School Leader
Seven principles every Governing Board, Trust and Diocese should know.
Recruiting an outstanding school leader is one of the most significant responsibilities any governing board, trust or diocese will undertake.
The appointment you make today is likely to shape the culture and direction of your organisation for years to come. It will affect the experience of staff, pupils and families long after the recruitment process has been forgotten.
In Catholic, Church of England and other Christian schools, the stakes are higher still. The right leader is called not only to lead the organisation, but also to serve as its spiritual leader: the visible expression of the Church’s mission in education within their particular context.
Yet despite the significance of this calling, many school leadership appointments are approached as simply a series of recruitment processes.
A vacancy arises. A timetable is agreed. An advert is produced. Applications are awaited.
In today’s education landscape, that approach is hardly sufficient. With outstanding church school leaders being so scare, you cannot expect them to always be browsing the latest job listings. Most likely they will be absorbed in leading their current communities and making a difference where they are— placing them beyond the reach of a conventional recruitment campaign.
Finding and engaging them requires a different approach.
These seven principles are drawn from years of working alongside governing boards, multi-academy trusts and dioceses to appoint senior leaders in Church schools across the country. They are offered not as a checklist, but as a framework for thinking well about one of the most important decisions governors, trust and diocesan leaders will make.
1. Begin with the organisation, not the vacancy
Every school, trust or diocese is at a particular point in its story. The temptation in leadership recruitment is often to move quickly from vacancy to advert, without first asking what is genuinely needed in this next chapter of the organisation’s story.
What has been achieved under the current or departing leader? What remains unfinished? What is the culture within, and what will it need from new leadership? What are the particular pressures this community faces, and what gifts will help it to flourish?
Good recruitment begins with listening. Governors and trustees who take time to understand their context deeply before proceeding to describe the role they are offering are more likely to attract stronger candidates and make more considered appointments.
2. Tell your story with honesty and care
Outstanding leaders are discerning about where they are called to serve. They are rarely just seeking a promotion. They are asking themselves whether this is the right community, the right challenge, and the right moment in their vocation as a Church school leader. If they are not asking those questions, that in itself may be telling.
What most often draws them is not a polished list of desirable qualities or an optimistic summary of outcomes. It is honesty. Authenticity. A genuine sense of where your school/trust/diocese is at, what it is working through, and what it is reaching toward.
The most compelling leadership recruitment campaigns tell a story rather than simply listing responsibilities. They give a serious leader enough to genuinely consider, and enough to genuinely want to be part of.
3. Remember that the strongest candidates may not be looking
Some of the most capable leaders in Catholic, Church of England and Christian education will not see your job advert, not because they are not ready for a new challenge, but because they are not looking for one.
They are committed to the places they already serve. Their names are unlikely to appear in any applicant pool without someone first having a conversation with them.
Relationship-based, confidential outreach allows talented leaders to explore an opportunity without pressure or risk. It opens a door that a standard advert cannot. And often, that first quiet conversation is the one that makes all the difference.
4. Treat recruitment as discernment, not simply selection
Appointment panels rightly spend significant time assessing candidates. They review applications, observe lessons, conduct interviews and take references. The process is designed to give the panel confidence.
But the very best recruitment processes do something more. They recognise that the candidate is very much deciding whether they will choose you, discerning whether the role is genuinely right for them. Whether your values align. Whether the timing is right. Whether this is where their gifts will be best used.
When both the appointing body and the candidate have arrived at genuine clarity, appointments are stronger, and leaders stay longer. Discernment on both sides is not a luxury. It is the foundation of a sustainable appointment.
"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." (Proverbs 15:22)
5. Invest in the candidate experience
Every interaction a candidate has with your organisation during a recruitment process tells them something about you.
Prompt and thoughtful communication signals that you value people's time. A well-organised visit tells a candidate that your organisation is led with thoughtful care. Genuine hospitality, the kind that makes someone feel genuinely welcomed rather than simply assessed, speaks far louder than that mission statement on your website.
Candidates remember how they were treated. Even those who are not appointed carry an impression of your school, trust or diocese - and given the interweaving networks within education, people do talk! So in a sector where relationships and reputation matter enormously, the candidate experience should never be a minor consideration.
6. Look beyond experience and qualification alone
Technical competence matters. Strategic leadership matters. The ability to manage finance, navigate inspection and drive school improvement – of course it all matters.
But our schools, trusts and dioceses also need leaders of character. Leaders whose integrity is visible in the small moments as well as the large ones. Leaders whose humility allows them to learn from those they lead. Leaders whose wisdom has been shaped by experience, by failure as well as success, and by a genuine reflective practice.
In Christian education, these qualities should not be seen as optional extras. They are foundational. An appointment panel appointing a Church school leader is not simply filling a leadership role. You should be seeking someone whose way of being in the world will embody and promote your particular mission in education.
7. Work with people who understand this world
Leadership recruitment and attraction is more than administration. It is about understanding people, vocation and the distinctive calling of leadership in Church school education.
The advisers, consultants or partners an appointment panel chooses to work with should understand not only recruitment processes but the specific context of Catholic schools, Church of England schools and the wider family of Christian education. They should know the sector, know the leaders within it, and be trusted by both.
Relationships built over years, with schools, trusts, dioceses and leaders, are what allow the right conversations to happen at the right time. That knowledge cannot be replicated by a generic recruitment approach.
School leadership recruitment deserve careful preparation. The right appointment is rarely the result of chance. At Emmaus, we combine the best of recruitment practice with deep knowledge of the Church schools sector. We are trusted, and we are people of faith.
We believe God has a plan – for your school, trust or diocese – and that our role is simply to do recruitment well, whilst looking for His guidance in the midst of all the conversations and activities that will lead to a successful appointment. It grows from thoughtful planning, honest conversations and a genuine understanding of both your organistion and the leaders who may be called to serve it.
If your governing body, trust or diocese expects to appoint a Headteacher, CEO or senior educational leader during the coming academic year, Emmaus Leadership would be glad to support you from the earliest stages of the process. From shaping the role to engaging exceptional candidates, we work alongside organisations to help them make appointments that will serve their communities well for years to come.
About Liam Dowds
Liam Dowds is the Managing Director of Emmaus Leadership and has spent over two decades working alongside school leaders, governors and dioceses in Catholic, Church of England and wider Christian education. He has supported leaders at every stage of their professional journey, from those considering their first headship to those stepping into the most senior roles in Christian education nationally. He is known for the depth of his relationships with the leaders he works with, and for the care and discretion he brings to every conversation.
📞 01737 652 043
📩 ldowds@eemausleadership.me
About Emmaus Leadership
Emmaus Leadership is a specialist senior leadership recruitment consultancy working exclusively within Catholic, Church of England and wider Christian education. We support dioceses, trusts and schools in finding leaders who are not only professionally exceptional but vocationally suited to the distinctive character of Church school education. Every search we undertake is shaped by a deep understanding of the sector and a genuine commitment to the communities we serve.
👉 Find out more at emmausleadership.me