Finding and keeping excellent leaders is one of the defining challenges facing the education sector. The pipeline of high-calibre candidates for headship and senior leadership is narrowing. The consequences of a poor appointment are borne disproportionately by the children and communities those leaders serve.

Andy Mitchell has recruited dozens of education professionals across every leadership level – from middle leaders to headteachers — during 21 years as a headteacher. Critically, he has also done this in the most demanding context possible: as the founding headteacher of a brand new free school, where every appointment had to be right first time, before a single child had walked through the door.

He subsequently supported the headteacher he appointed through a successful pre-opening Ofsted inspection. That means his experience runs the full arc – from scoping what the role requires, through designing and running the recruitment process, to supporting the appointed leader through their critical early tenure.

He also brings the perspective of a trained new headteacher induction lead – having supported cohorts of newly appointed headteachers across Warwickshire – and the rigour of an ILM Level 7 coaching qualification that means newly appointed leaders receive expert professional support as well as practical guidance.

This is not a recruitment agency. It is experienced, independent leadership expertise – from someone who has been the commissioner, the recruiter and the developer of leaders, and who understands that an appointment only succeeds if the leader thrives once in post