About · Insights
Practical articles, animated case studies and short course trailers on the real problems of school leadership. Read, watch, then try one idea with your team this week.
Articles
24 articles on middle and senior leadership, teaching and learning, wellbeing and school culture. Filter by theme.
Student wellbeing
Wondering how to support students with anxiety in the classroom? Here are practical, everyday steps that make lessons feel calmer and more predictable, and a clear reminder of when to pass a concern on.
5 November 2026 · 4 min read
Senior leadership
Need to know how to plan a school budget without a finance background? Here is a practical approach that starts with your priorities, not the spreadsheet, and helps you make decisions you can explain.
3 November 2026 · 4 min read
Middle leadership
Wondering how to delegate as a head of department? Here is a practical way to share responsibility that develops your team, protects your time and avoids simply passing on the jobs you dislike.
1 November 2026 · 4 min read
School culture
Looking for school culture survey questions? Here is how to choose questions that tell you something useful, and how to act on the answers so staff trust the next survey.
29 October 2026 · 4 min read
AI in schools
Wondering how to use AI for lesson planning? Here is a practical approach that saves time while keeping your expertise, your students and your school policy at the centre.
27 October 2026 · 4 min read
Staff wellbeing
Burnout rarely announces itself. Here are the signs of teacher burnout a team leader can notice early, and the practical steps that help before someone reaches breaking point.
26 October 2026 · 5 min read
Lesson observation
Complaints about a colleague rarely arrive as clear evidence. Here is how to give feedback to an underperforming teacher in a way that is fair, proportionate and actually helps them improve.
23 October 2026 · 5 min read
Leading change
A new system is launched, a few people nod, and six weeks later nobody is using it. Here is what to do when staff resist change, and why resistance is often useful information.
23 October 2026 · 5 min read
Personal effectiveness
Deadlines slip when important work has no time attached to it. Here is a practical approach to time management for school leaders, built around the week rather than the day.
22 October 2026 · 4 min read
Student wellbeing
You have noticed something is not right, but what do you actually say? Here is a practical guide on how to talk to a student who is struggling, and what to do next.
20 October 2026 · 4 min read
Classroom management
Low-level disruption rarely looks serious, but it quietly steals learning time. Here is how to deal with low-level disruption in the classroom calmly and consistently.
18 October 2026 · 4 min read
Middle leadership
Wondering how to run a department meeting that is worth everyone's time? Here is a practical approach for new and experienced heads of department.
15 October 2026 · 4 min read
Senior leadership
A school crisis management plan only matters if it helps in the first hour of a real emergency. Here is what to include, and how to make sure it works.
13 October 2026 · 4 min read
School culture
If you are wondering how to improve school culture, start with what people actually do every day rather than new slogans. Here is a practical way to begin.
11 October 2026 · 4 min read
AI in schools
AI is often sold to schools as a way to save teachers time. Whether it actually does depends far less on the tools than on the choices leaders make about workload.
8 October 2026 · 4 min read
Staff wellbeing
Wellbeing weeks and staffroom treats are kind gestures. But how staff feel at work is shaped far more by the everyday decisions leaders make about workload, messages and meetings.
7 October 2026 · 4 min read
Personal effectiveness
Every school leader has a task they keep moving to tomorrow. The difficult email, the budget, the conversation nobody wants to have. Here is a simple habit for getting it done.
7 October 2026 · 4 min read
Student wellbeing
Every school has a pastoral structure. But the students who never cause problems are the easiest to miss. Wellbeing starts with something simple: being known by at least one adult.
6 October 2026 · 5 min read
Lesson observation
We spend hours observing lessons and writing it up. Then very little in the classroom changes. The problem is rarely the observation. It is what happens afterwards.
5 October 2026 · 5 min read
Classroom management
Every staff room has the conversation: students are not what they used to be. Perhaps. But the question that matters is whether our classrooms have changed with them.
5 October 2026 · 5 min read
INSET and staff development
Every new school year begins with a room full of people promising to be better. So where do those promises go, and who notices when they disappear?
3 October 2026 · 5 min read
Middle leadership
You were promoted because you were a brilliant teacher. Then, almost overnight, the job changed. What I wish someone had told me about the first 90 days.
3 October 2026 · 6 min read
Accreditation
I have sat on the other side of the table. Here is what a visiting team notices in the first hour, and why the schools that prepare least for the visit often do best.
3 October 2026 · 5 min read
AI in schools
Can we catch students using it? Which tool should we buy? These are the questions schools keep asking. They are not the ones that matter.
3 October 2026 · 5 min read
Films
Animated case studies for school leaders. Episode 1 is free to watch in full; Episodes 2 to 4 have free previews. Films play from YouTube’s privacy-enhanced player only when you press play.
Episode 1 · full film · 10 minutes
Preparing for and following up a difficult conversation with a colleague.
Episode 2 · preview
Ending every meeting with clear decisions, owners and dates.
Episode 3 · preview
Responding fairly to concerns about teaching.
Episode 4 · preview
Leading change that lasts.
Course trailers
Facilitator packs for the Leadership in Practice films · See all courses
Short reflections on leadership, accreditation and school culture from the founder of Northbeam.
Follow JacquesNew courses, films and free resources for teachers and school leaders, as they are released.
Follow NorthbeamNew leadership articles by email on Substack. Free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Subscribe on Substack
