At Foxfield Primary School, leadership isn't about hierarchy - it's about relationships, community connection, and distributed decision-making. Co-head teachers Megan Minnett and Tatum Sharp have created a culture where staff feel heard, supported, and empowered to contribute to school improvement.

Both leaders have deep roots in the school and community. They've worked at Foxfield for 10 years, progressing from assistant heads to their current roles, and crucially, they live locally.

"We not only have worked here for 10 years, we also live in the local community. I think that helps because we understand the challenges within the community."

The leadership approach prioritizes accessibility over formality. Rather than a traditional head teacher's office, the school has a leadership suite where staff can easily approach.

"We don't have a head teacher's office, we have a leadership suite so we're all together. Sometimes we joke and we're like the doctor surgery, have you got five minutes?"

Training and messaging is deliberately distributed across the leadership team rather than delivered top-down.

"When we're doing training, it's not just myself and the other co-head... it's myself, the inclusion lead and a phase leader. So the messages aren't that top down."

The senior leadership team reflects the school's diverse community, enabling more effective family engagement when challenging conversations are needed.

"For children and for the families to see that representation at senior leadership level, we use that to our advantage."

The leaders maintain high expectations while being flexible about life circumstances.

"We are very flexible in terms of hospital appointments for children or dentist appointments. We don't take away PPA. We find a solution."

Trust is built through consistent follow-through on commitments.

"Tatum and I are really fine detailed leaders so I don't forget anything. When you say to someone you're going to do it, we always make sure we do that. I think that creates a bit of safety for staff."

The school maintains regular informal check-ins through "Chai and chat" sessions where staff can raise concerns in a relaxed setting.

"We get biscuits, we get tea, everyone's in a good mood because it's Friday and we just have a little chat. That's our temperature check."

When issues arise with school culture, leaders address them directly and immediately. This is reflected in the TEP data. In Summer 2025, staff scored the Leadership driver as 8.9/10 (+1.5 points above benchmark), within this driver the question ‘I think that the senior leadership team is doing a good job’ scored 9.0/10, +1.4 above benchmark. When asked how satisfied they are working at Foxfield, staff scored 8.5/10, putting them +0.9 points above national benchmark.  

Key strategies:

• Community-connected leadership with both co-heads living locally

• Distributed training delivery across multiple leaders rather than top-down messaging

• Representative leadership team reflecting school's diverse community

• Regular informal check-ins ("tea and chat") to maintain culture and address concerns