Interim leadership when your setting needs stability, experience and clear direction

Experienced interim leaders for independent special schools, alternative provision and PRUs, when leadership capacity matters and you can’t afford to get the appointment wrong.

Experienced in specialist settings
Available for urgent and planned placements
A clear remit agreed before we introduce anyone

What is interim leadership in schools?

Interim leadership means appointing an experienced school leader into a post for a defined period, usually while a substantive appointment is made or while a leader is absent. The interim takes the role rather than advising on it. From their first day they hold the accountability, they line manage staff, and they make decisions.

That is the distinction that matters most, and the one boards most often ask us about. A consultant recommends and leaves. An interim leader takes the seat, and is answerable for what happens while they are in it.

What is the difference between an interim leader and a consultant?

• An interim leader holds a post. They appear on your staff structure, they are accountable to your board, and they make the decisions the role carries.
• A consultant works alongside your leadership. They review, advise and support, but the accountability stays with the people already in post.
• Both can be right. A setting with a capable head who is simply overloaded usually needs consultancy or additional capacity. A setting with a vacant post needs an interim.

When does a school need an interim leader?

In our experience the enquiry almost always follows one of these:

• A headteacher or senior leader resigns with a term’s notice or less
• A leader is on long term absence, whether health related or while a process runs
• A substantive recruitment round has closed without an appointment, which is common in specialist settings
• An inspection outcome or a monitoring visit has raised concerns that need experience in post now
• A safeguarding process has removed somebody from post at short notice
• A proprietor or group has acquired a setting and needs steady leadership through the transition
• A setting is opening a new site and the current leadership cannot hold both

Which interim leadership roles do you place?

We introduce interim leaders across the full senior structure of a specialist setting. Each role has a page of its own with the detail behind it.

• Interim headteacher for independent special schools, holding leadership, safeguarding accountability and the independent school standards
• Interim head of centre for alternative provision and PRUs, including the commissioning relationships the setting depends on
• Interim deputy or assistant headteacher, where the need is senior capacity rather than a replacement head
• Interim designated safeguarding lead, appointed into the setting when the DSL post cannot be safely held internally
• Interim SENCO or SEND lead, covering EHCP oversight, annual review cycles and provision mapping
• Interim executive headteacher or principal, holding quality and compliance across a group of settings

How does interim leadership placement work?

We introduce you to an experienced leader who has led a setting like yours before, and we agree the arrangements with you in writing before anybody is approached. We stay close enough to know how the placement is going without getting in the way of the leadership.

In practice a placement runs like this:

• Tell us the situation. A short call to understand the setting, the gap, and what the interim needs to hold and what they need to change.
• We agree the brief. We write down the role, the days, the authority levels and how success will be judged, and send it back to you.
• We approach the network. We contact leaders who have genuinely run settings like yours, normally the same day.
• You meet two or three people. We tell you honestly what we know about each of them, including where they are less strong.
• You appoint. Your setting completes its own safer recruitment before the interim starts.
• Handover, then out. The handover to the substantive appointment is agreed at the beginning of the placement rather than the end.

How quickly can an interim leader start?

We begin approaching people as soon as we have spoken, and we move as quickly as the right match allows. What we will not do is quote you a fixed number of weeks before we understand the setting, because that would be a guess dressed up as a promise.

Tell us your timescale at the first call and we will give you an honest answer about whether we can meet it. We would far rather say no at the start than let you down in week three, when you have already told your staff.

Who employs the interim leader?

That is agreed at the outset and written down before anybody starts. The arrangements we see most often in specialist settings are a fixed term contract of employment, or a contract for services with the interim or their own limited company. Whichever route suits you both, the interim answers to your board for the work, which keeps day to day leadership where it belongs.

Safer recruitment stays with you as well. We check that everybody in our network holds an enhanced DBS, has verified references and is not subject to a prohibition order or a section 128 direction. That is a filter on who we introduce, not a replacement for your own process.

Interim leadership or permanent recruitment: which do we need?

This is worth thinking about properly, because the two are often used together rather than as alternatives.

A substantive campaign takes the time it takes, and rushing one is how boards end up appointing the wrong person. Where the post cannot be left open in the meantime, an interim holds the setting steady while the permanent search runs properly. Many leaders tell us afterwards that pairing the two was the decision that protected the school most, because it removed the pressure that causes panels to settle.

What makes our interim leadership solution different from a recruitment agency?

When you need an interim leader, it can be tempting to approach a recruitment agency and wait for a list of available candidates.

Our approach is different. We don’t simply match a CV to a job description. We start by understanding what is happening in your setting, what the leader needs to take responsibility for and what you need to achieve during the interim period.

Then we introduce someone we believe is genuinely suited to the situation. 

We focus on:

Understanding the setting
We take time to understand your circumstances, challenges and priorities.

Relevant specialist experience 

We know the particular demands of independent special schools, Alternative Provision and other specialist settings.

People, not just CVs
We know the leaders we introduce and understand their experience, strengths and approach.

The right solution, not simply a placement
If we don’t believe an interim leader is the right answer, we’ll tell you.

Not sure if you need an interim leader? Tell us what’s happening. We’ll help you think it through. 

Talk to Shaun 

Which settings do you work with?

Independent special schools, alternative provision and pupil referral units, and groups or multi site providers running more than one of them. That is where our experience is deepest, and we will say honestly if a request sits outside it.

For permanent appointments in schools and trusts of any type, that is our executive search service rather than this one.

What does good interim leadership look like?

Good practice, from the placements that go well:

• A written remit agreed before the start date, separating what to hold from what to change
• Authority levels written down, particularly around spend and staffing decisions
• A named person on the board who meets the interim weekly, not monthly
• Staff told honestly what the arrangement is and roughly how long it is expected to last
• A handover document started in the first fortnight rather than the last
• Placing authorities and commissioners told early, before they hear it from somewhere else

A common misconception about interim leadership

Many proprietors worry that appointing an interim tells staff, parents and placing authorities that the setting is in trouble. We see the opposite far more often. A credible, experienced leader in post quickly reads as a board that has acted and put the children first.

What actually unsettles people is a long silence, or a series of temporary internal arrangements that nobody has explained. Those are the things that appear in an inspection report, not the decision to bring somebody in.

Questions for leaders and proprietors

• If our headteacher left tomorrow, who would hold safeguarding accountability by the end of that week?
• What would we want to be different by the time a substantive leader arrives?
• How long are we prepared to leave the post vacant in order to appoint well?
• Who will hold the interim to account, and do they genuinely have the time?
• Have we agreed who completes each part of safer recruitment?

How can Jarvis Education help?

We introduce interim leaders who have already led independent special schools and alternative provision. Because Jarvis Education is led by a former His Majesty’s Inspector, we can also help you think through what the interim period should achieve for the children in your setting rather than only who fills the chair.

Tell us what has happened and we will give you an honest view, including if we think an interim is not what you need.