Succession planning and talent management is about how we all identify and develop the leaders of tomorrow. This is about how we systematically identify leadership talent within and across Bristol, and the strategies that we employ to move this talent onwards.

Our work is set against a backdrop of national challenge within the system. One in four headteachers are eligible to retire in the next four years, and the school system faces a succession challenge to secure enough high quality headteachers to replace them. There remains particular difficulty in recruiting headteachers to some school types, most notably; primary, inner city, small rural, special and faith schools.Over the next few years, working together, we will have an increasingly important strategic role in succession planning by systematically managing the talent in Bristol to bring through the next generation of headteachers for all schools.
 We will work with Early Years settings (PVI), Nursery Schools and Children’s Centres along with the Local Authority and other Teaching Schools to :

• secure local leadership supply data in order to strategically plan for how together we will develop leaders to meet future local needs

• develop future headteachers to help meet the most pressing national needs of primary, special, challenging urban schools and faith schools

• take positive action to help diversify senior leadership and achieve representation of women and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds

• put in place systematic processes across Bristol teaching school alliances to identify leadership talent in areas of need

• put in place systematic talent management that develops this leadership talent within and across their schools (through a range of authentic leadership placements and experiences)

• build strategic governance and partnerships across teaching school alliances in order to make strategic decisions about developing and placing their collective talent
• measure and understand the success of our succession planning role.