Primary & Secondary Education
Services for Heads
Practical, school-based support aligned to the EIF November 2025 and EEF evidence
What do you need support with?
what to expect
Experienced support for Headteachers.
Andy Mitchell is a former headteacher with over 20 years’ experience leading schools through Ofsted, structural change, and complex leadership challenges. Now an independent education consultant and executive coach, he supports headteachers with practical, evidence-informed strategies grounded in the Ofsted framework and EEF research.
21+
Years as a headteacher across three local authorities and a multi-academy trust
7
Ofsted inspections led as a headteacher - requires improvement to outstanding
40+
Organisations worked with directly as a specialist in the last twelve months
ILM7
Executive Coaching & Mentoring - the highest professional coaching qualification - in progress
1.
School Performance Health Check
“You know your school better than anyone — but sometimes you need an honest, external pair of eyes to see what you have stopped seeing.”
How this helps you
This is a structured, evidence-informed check of your school’s performance – conducted by someone who has been a headteacher, who understands the complexity of your context, and who will give you a straight, honest assessment without the politics.
It is not an inspection. It is not a judgement. It is a rigorous, supportive review that tells you what an Ofsted inspector would be likely to find if they walked through your door tomorrow – and what you can do about it before they do. Whether you are preparing for an imminent inspection, wanting an independent check on your school improvement journey, or simply needing someone to confirm that your own sense of where the school is is accurate, this service provides exactly that.
Further information
What it involves
- Pre-visit analysis of your school’s IDSR – attainment, progress, attendance, persistent absence, disadvantaged gaps and SEN data interrogated across all available years, with a written briefing note provided before the visit
- Full day on-site – learning walks across year groups and subjects, work/book scrutiny with a focus on consistency and challenge, pupil voice interviews, and a focused conversation with you and your SLT
- Safeguarding check – a structured review of your safeguarding culture, Single Central Record and DSL confidence, aligned to KCSIE and the EIF’s binary Met/Not Met standard
- Attendance and behaviour deep dive – your current data reviewed against national benchmarks, with particular attention to FSM and SEN pupils as per the IDSR
- Honest verbal feedback at the end of the day – no surprises in the written report that were not shared with you directly
- Written school health check report within 5 working days – including an emerging EIF-aligned assessment across all six evaluation areas, three key strengths and three priority actions
Working Model
One-off commission | Termly health check programme
why choose high pass?
- EIF: All 6 evaluation areas
- EIF: Secure fit model
- EIF: Safeguarding – MET / Not Met
- 7 Ofsted inspections as headteacher
- IDSR Analysis expertise
Cost
All-inclusive fee – prep + visit + written report
Price
£675
Book your School Performance Health Check Today
To find out more about this service or other services offered by Andy Mitchell, please get in touch today for a free, no obligation chat.
2.
Evidence-Informed School Improvement Planning
“A good school improvement plan does not just describe where you want to go. It is built on evidence of what will actually get you there.”
how this helps you
Too many school improvement plans are written under time pressure, anchored in Ofsted’s previous framework, and built around the strategies that feel familiar rather than those that the evidence says work.
Andy works with you and your leadership team to build an improvement plan that is genuinely rooted in EEF evidence, explicitly aligned to the November 2025 EIF’s six evaluation areas, and designed to drive real change in your school rather than generate paperwork for your next monitoring visit.
He brings a headteacher’s understanding of what is realistic in your context, and a consultant’s rigour in ensuring that what you plan is grounded in what works.
Further information
What it involves
- Pre-session analysis of your current improvement priorities, your school’s IDSR data and your existing SDP or SEF – Andy reads everything before he arrives so the day is a genuine working session, not a briefing
- Facilitated full-day planning session with your SLT – mapping your improvement priorities to the EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit, identifying the high-impact, low-cost strategies most relevant to your school’s specific context and cohort
- Explicit alignment to the EIF’s six evaluation areas using the ‘secure fit’ model – so you can see, for each priority, how the planned work would be evidenced on inspection
- Particular focus on the strategies with the strongest evidence for closing the disadvantaged attainment gap and improving outcomes for SEND pupils in mainstream classrooms
- A structured evidence referenced document delivered post-session that can be used to complete your SDP.
Working Model
One-off commission | Annual planning cycle — two sessions per year
Why choose High Pass?
- EIF: All 6 areas – secure fit
- EEF: T&L Toolkit
- EEF: Implementation guide
- RI to Good to Outstanding
- 21 years SDP development
Cost
All-inclusive fee – prep + facilitation day + written plan
Price
£675
Book your School Performance Health Check Today
To find out more about this service or other services offered by Andy Mitchell, please get in touch today for a free, no obligation chat.
3.
Inclusion & SEND Deep Dive
“Under the November 2025 EIF, Inclusion is a standalone judgement for the first time. If you cannot evidence it clearly, it will cost you.”
how this helps you
Inclusion is now one of the six named evaluation areas in Ofsted’s November 2025 inspection framework – and it is the area where many schools are least prepared.
It is no longer enough to have a good SENCO and a broadly positive culture; inspectors will want to see specific, evidenced practice across the school in adaptive teaching, the graduated approach, TA deployment, and the outcomes of your most vulnerable pupils.
Andy’s depth of experience in primary schools serving complex and diverse communities, combined with his rigorous grounding in the EEF’s SEND evidence, makes this one of his most distinctive and practically valuable offers for headteachers who know inclusion matters but are not certain their evidence is inspection-ready.
Further information
What it involves
- Pre-visit analysis of your school’s IDSR inclusion data – disadvantaged pupil gaps, SEN figures, attendance for FSM and SEN pupils, pupil movement data and any alternative provision links, reviewed in detail before the visit
- Full day on-site inclusion review – structured SENCO interview, graduated approach documentation review, TA deployment observation and analysis, lesson walk focused on adaptive teaching quality, and pupil voice with targeted groups including SEND and disadvantaged pupils
- Book/work scrutiny with a specific inclusion lens – examining the quality and ambition of work set for SEND and disadvantaged pupils relative to their peers
- Staff knowledge check – a brief, informal conversation with two or three class teachers about how they adapt their teaching for SEND pupils.
- Written inclusion audit report delivered within 5 working days – identifying strengths, gaps and a prioritised set of actions, each one referenced to the EEF evidence and the EIF Inclusion evaluation area criteria
Working Model
One-off commission | Half-termly monitoring visits
Why choose High Pass?
- EIF: Inclusion (new standalone)
- EEF: SEND in Mainstream Schools
- EEF: TA Deployment
- Special school co-location
- Complex community leadership
Cost
All-inclusive fee – prep + review day + written audit report
Price
£675
Book your Inclusion & SEND Deep Dive Today
To find out more about this service or other services offered by Andy Mitchell, please get in touch today for a free, no obligation chat.
4.
Headteacher Executive Coaching Programme
“The most important thing a headteacher can do for their school is to keep developing themselves as a leader. Most never have the space to do it.“
what to expect
Headship is one of the most isolating leadership roles in the country. Andy has done it for 21 years across three local authorities and a MAT.
His coaching is not delivered from a textbook – it is grounded in the lived reality of headship, tailored to you and your context, and underpinned by a rigorous ILM Level 7 methodology – which he is currently completing.
He brings what almost no other executive coach can: genuine peer-level understanding of what the role actually requires.
Further information
What it involves
- Initial diagnostic conversation – establishing your goals, your context, and what you most need from a coaching relationship
- Psychometric profiling used at the start of the programme to build self-awareness and inform coaching focus
- Six coaching sessions per programme – typically one per half-term across the academic year, each 90 minutes, in person or remote
- Sessions are yours: focused on whatever you bring – whether that is a specific leadership challenge, a difficult decision, your confidence and resilience, your relationship with governors, or your longer-term career development
- Between-session reflection prompts and accountability tools to embed learning in your daily practice
- Optional: a brief update to your headteacher appraiser or line manager at mid-year – agreed boundaries of confidentiality maintained throughout
Working Model
6-session annual programme | Single session — £375
Why choose high pass?
- ILM7 Executive Coaching
- Psychometric profiling
- 21 years headship experience
- CUREE & Synergia trained headteacher coach
- New heads induction lead
Cost
6-session programme — all-inclusive (profiling, sessions, reflection tools)
Price
£2,025
Book your Headteacher Executive Coaching Programme Today
To find out more about this service or other services offered by Andy Mitchell, please get in touch today for a free, no obligation chat.
5.
The School Improvement Partnership
“A headteacher doesn’t need another inspector. They need someone who has done the job, who will be honest with them, and who will still be there at the end of the conversation.”
what to expect
The School Improvement Partnership is a structured annual programme designed to give headteachers the external challenge, support and strategic thinking they need – consistently, throughout the year, from someone who genuinely understands the role from the inside.
Andy spent 21 years as a headteacher, leading schools through seven Ofsted inspections, taking schools from Requires Improvement to Good and from Good to Outstanding. As a Local Leader of Education he provided specialist support to schools in challenging circumstances on behalf of Coventry Local Authority. He has spent 2025/26 working directly with more than 40 schools across primary, secondary and special phases – as an attendance specialist, as a School Improvement Partner and in an advisory capacity alongside leadership teams navigating strategic planning, improvement and inspection preparation. That breadth of current, cross-phase experience is rare among independent consultants and gives every school he works with the benefit of a genuinely up-to-date picture of what is happening across the sector.
He is completing his ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring diploma. He brings to every school visit the combination of a coaching practitioner’s discipline and a former headteacher’s practical, direct understanding of what it actually takes to lead a school well.
The School Improvement Partnership is not an inspection preparation service. It is a sustained, structured professional relationship – built around regular half-day visits across the academic year – that helps headteachers stay sharp, stay strategic and stay well. It is a critical professional friendship with rigour at its heart.
Further information
Programme Structure
The overview below sets out a suggested model for the partnership – six half-day visits across the academic year, one per half term, with additional time for headteacher performance management support. Together these add up to the equivalent of four full days. This is a starting point, not a fixed framework. Every school is different, and the shape, focus and sequencing of each visit will be tailored to meet the specific priorities, context and needs of the school and headteacher at that point in time.
| Visit | When | Duration | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half-day visit 1 | Autumn term — half term 1 | Half day | Scene-setting: priorities, context, performance data review and headteacher self-evaluation |
| Half-day visit 2 | Autumn term — half term 2 | Half day | Autumn review: progress against priorities, emerging risks, pupil progress and attainment data |
| Half-day visit 3 | Spring term — half term 3 | Half day | Mid-year review: curriculum quality, inclusion, SEND provision and staff development |
| Half-day visit 4 | Spring term — half term 4 | Half day | Spring review: inspection readiness, leadership narrative, evidence base and forward planning |
| Half-day visit 5 | Summer term — half term 5 | Half day | Summer review: end-of-year data analysis, improvement planning for the following academic year |
| Half-day visit 6 | Summer term — half term 6 | Half day | Year-end: priorities and planning for the year ahead, succession and development conversations |
| Performance management review | As agreed — typically autumn or spring term | Additional | Headteacher performance management — goal-setting, mid-year review or annual appraisal support for governors |
Each visit is structured but responsive — the agenda is shaped by what the school most needs at that point in the year, not by a fixed template. The visit schedule, duration and focus areas are agreed collaboratively at the start of the partnership and reviewed at each half-term meeting. A written summary note is provided after each visit.
What it involves
- Performance data review and interpretation – an objective, experienced reading of the school’s data at each visit — identifying strengths, risks and the questions the data raises that leaders should be asking themselves
- Self-evaluation and inspection readiness – supporting the headteacher in building and maintaining a clear, honest and well-evidenced self-evaluation – and developing the leadership narrative that will matter most when the call comes
- School improvement planning – collaborating on ambitious, evidence-informed improvement priorities – plans that are realistic and rigorous, not lists of intentions – and reviewing progress against them at each visit
- Curriculum quality and deep dive preparation – supporting leaders in articulating intent, implementation and impact with confidence, and preparing for the kind of focused curriculum conversations that define modern inspections
- Headteacher coaching and professional challenge – a structured, confidential coaching strand running through every visit – providing the honest challenge, strategic thinking and personal reflection space that the headteacher role rarely affords
- Middle and senior leadership development – identifying and supporting the development of the leaders who will determine the school’s capacity to improve – through targeted conversations, coaching and development planning
- Culture, ethos and staff wellbeing – attending to the conditions that sustain a high-performing school – staff morale, workload, retention and the values-led culture that makes the difference between a school that performs and a school that thrives
- Headteacher performance management – working with the governing body or MAT to support meaningful, evidence-based headteacher performance management – including goal-setting, mid-year review and annual appraisal – focused on development as much as accountability
Working Model
Annual partnership | Half-day visits across all six half terms | Performance management support included
Why choose high pass?
- 21 years as headteacher – 7 Ofsted inspections
- Local Leader of Education – specialist LA support
- Active SIP experience – 2025/26
- CUREE & Synergia trained headteacher coach & mentor
- ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching & Mentoring – in progress
Cost
Annual programme breakdown
6 half-day visits (one per half term) – 3 days
Headteacher performance management – 1 day
Total = 4 days
Annual Partnership Fee
£2,200
4 days | £550 per day | All inclusive
No VAT | No additional costs
Book your School Improvement Partnership for your school
To find out more about this service or other services offered by Andy Mitchell, please get in touch today for a free, no obligation chat.
Pricing at a glance
| Service | Fee | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| 1. School Performance Health Check | £675 | Prep + visit + written report |
| 2. Evidence-Informed School Improvement Planning | £675 | Prep + facilitation + plan framework |
| 3. Inclusion & SEND Deep Dive | £675 | Prep + review day + audit report |
| 4. Headteacher Executive Coaching — 6 sessions | £2,025 | Profiling + 6 x 90 min sessions |
| 4. Headteacher Executive Coaching — single session | £375 | 90-minute session |
| 5. School Improvement Partnership | £2,200 | 4 days - £550 per day - All inclusive |
All fees are all-inclusive. High Pass Coaching and Consultancy Ltd is not VAT registered — no VAT is added on top of the fees stated. Travel is charged at cost for distances over 20 miles from Warwick. An initial conversation is always complimentary and without obligation.
Ready to find out more?
All services can be commissioned directly by a headteacher or as part of a MAT-wide programme. An initial conversation is always free and without obligation – it is simply a chance to explore whether working together would be right for you and your school.