Main responsibilities
- Set strategy and standards across the group of schools.
- Hold heads of school to account for day-to-day leadership.
- Deploy staff, expertise and budgets across schools.
- Report to the governing body or trust board on all schools.
- Lead school improvement and, where relevant, support schools outside the group.
Statutory duties and official sources
England. The STPCD applies to maintained schools; academies follow it where contracts adopt it. Paragraph references below are to the 2025 STPCD. The 2026 edition was published on 16 October 2026; its Order comes into force on 6 November 2026, with Section 2 taking effect from 1 September 2026. See the pay guide for 2026 figures and paragraph references.
- Where the executive headteacher is the headteacher of the school(s) in law, the headteacher duties apply: internal organisation, management and control and educational performance, accountable to the governing body. Source: School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013, regulation 6.
- The governance guide recognises the executive headteacher as a form of the school's executive leader; in a federation there may be more than one headteacher. Source: Maintained schools: governance guide, glossary and section 3.1.
- Where a headteacher is permanently appointed to more than one school, the headteacher group is calculated by combining the schools' unit scores (maintained schools); academy executive pay is subject to DfE controls. Source: STPCD 2025, paragraph 6.6; Senior pay controls for academy trusts.
- In an academy trust, the board appoints a senior executive leader and an accounting officer; where an executive headteacher is not the CEO, check the scheme of delegation for their duties. Source: Academy trust handbook 2026, paragraphs 1.33–1.34.
- Headteacher professional duties (strategy, teaching, safety, staff and resources). Source: STPCD 2025, paragraph 46.
The NPQ in executive leadership is voluntary.
Key dates in the school year (2026 to 2027, England)
The headteacher dates apply to every school in the group: census days (1 October 2026, 21 January 2027, 20 May 2027 — census dates), pupil premium statements by 31 December 2026 where the school’s 2026–27 allocation is based on more than five eligible pupils, excluding pupils eligible only for the service pupil premium (see pupil premium publication requirements), statutory assessments and exams, and budget returns (maintained: 1 May–30 June; academies: accounts by 31 December). See the headteacher page for sources.
Common challenges and good practice
- Who is the headteacher in law? Make this explicit for each school; it determines who holds statutory headteacher duties, including for exams and safeguarding liaison.
- Clear split with heads of school. Write down which decisions sit with the executive head and which with heads of school.
Common questions
- Is an executive headteacher the same as a CEO? Not necessarily; a CEO is the senior executive leader and usually accounting officer of a trust, while an executive head may lead a cluster within it.
