How CST’s new domains of leadership help you to lead through complexity
In a more uncertain, divided and complex world, the leadership of our schools is ever more important. And the solutions to the problems that face us in society are beyond the reach of individual leaders or organisations. They are complex problems, requiring education leaders to embrace different mindsets.
This masterclass is an opportunity to join a conversation with peers to explore the three new leadership mindsets - trust leadership, civic leadership and system leadership - set out in CST’s book, New Domains of Educational Leadership.
Across three seminars, we will consider how these three models can scaffold and support different areas of your leadership practice. We will look at how they can help to shape to your vision, strategy and stewardship, and connect to the judgement of high-quality trusts which are both deeply rooted in their schools' communities and operating as outward-facing civic institutions.
Led by Leora Cruddas CBE, with expert guests, this course aims to equip you with the new mental models that help you to reflect on your leadership, and practical guidance on how to reframe your
Who is it for?
- Trust executive leaders
How you will benefit
You will gain:
- An understanding of the theory and practice of trust leadership, civic leadership and system leadership
- Guidance on how to implement these leadership practices within your trust #
- Practical approaches to evidencing success through the high-quality trust framework
- The opportunity to share with and learn from colleagues
Course overview
Seminar one: Trust leadership
The first seminar will provide an overview of leading the organisation:
- The distinctive purpose of education and the importance of mission
- Practical approaches to evidencing success through the high-quality trust framework
Seminar two: Civic leadership
The second seminar will provide an overview of the core capabilities to foster collaborative and collective leadership, increasingly important in both DfE and Ofsted’s view of the role of the high-quality trusts:
- How to foster deep connections with families and local stakeholders, enabling schools to thrive as anchors of collective wellbeing and opportunity.
- How to build your trust as a ‘civic institution’ that works in partnership with local services across diverse sectors in a place to address wider social challenges.
Seminar 3: Optimising the operating model of the new organisation
The final seminar will develop your understanding of building your trust as a public institution with the quality and scale to deliver for children and communities:
- The importance of a relentless focus on quality as we scale to be able to deliver for children
- Building local systems to drive both educational excellence and social renewal so that children and communities can flourish.
Course speakers
03:30 pm
03 Feb 2026 02:00 pm to
03:30 pm
10 Feb 2026 02:00 pm to
03:30 pm
- CST members £270+VAT
- Non-members £330+VAT
