Place-based leadership programmes for aspiring headteachers
Locally rooted, nationally connected.
The x100 is a family of year-long programmes that prepare aspiring headteachers to lead schools where all children thrive. Each one is led in its region, with the trusts and local authorities who will go on to appoint its leaders, and every leader joins a network that stretches across the country.
100 leaders per region, a new cohort every year.
Applications are open for September 2027 in four regions.
Choose your regionLeading a school today is not just harder. It is different.
The pressures shaping children’s lives now show up in classrooms every day. Great schools are necessary but not sufficient, and headteachers are increasingly asked to lead beyond the school gate.
- 19 months
The gap at 16 is as wide as it has been
By GCSE, disadvantaged pupils in England were 19 months behind their peers in 2025, the joint-widest gap since EPI’s records began in 2013.
- Every area
And it grows everywhere
In every local authority in England, the disadvantage gap widens between the ages of 5 and 16.
- 37%
Fewer people want the top job
The share of school leaders who aspire to headship has fallen from 55% in 2017 to 37%.
London and the West Midlands show the gap is not fixed: disadvantaged pupils there do far better than elsewhere. Place matters, and so does who leads.
Sources: Education Policy Institute, Annual Report 2026 (2025 data); Teacher Tapp.
Not a course. A cohort, a region and a year.
x100 programmes are not generic CPD, short courses or qualifications. They are selective, year-long programmes, co-designed with regional partners and built on six beliefs.
You cannot lead a school well without knowing its community.
Leaders study their place closely, listen to families and design practice that fits.
Leadership is learned through judgement and action.
Participants practise the real decisions of headship before they carry its full weight.
Isolation undermines leadership.
Trusting cohorts that last long beyond the programme year.
There is no single blueprint for a great school.
Study tours within and beyond each region, to adapt rather than copy.
Leadership is about who you are, not only what you do.
Structured time to reflect on values, identity and moral purpose.
Growth accelerates with skilled challenge.
One-to-one coaching is optional, and take-up is consistently high.
What five years in the South West produced
SW100 was the first x100. It closed in 2026 after five cohorts.
SW100 programme data, June 2026.
The year
Every programme follows the same rhythm, shaped to its region. Demanding at times, reflective at others.
- September
Opening residential
Trust, shared purpose and a common language for the year.
- Through the year
Workshops and webinars
New perspectives and structured reflection with peers.
- Autumn and spring
Study tours
Excellent schools, within and beyond the region.
- Ongoing
Online community
Curated content and connection between live sessions.
- Termly
Headteacher tasks
Real decisions, practised in your own setting.
- June
Closing residential
From insight to sustained leadership action.
Find your programme
Each programme shares the same design and ambition, and each is shaped by its own place.
See where x100 leaders are working across the country
East of England
East100
Close to opportunity, out of reach.
Led by Jon Hutchinson and Beck Crowhurst
Greater Manchester
GM100
Devolved ambition, deep inequality.
Led by Leonie Ratty
The West Country
West100
Comfortable on paper. Unequal in practice.
Led by Mohamed Abdallah
Yorkshire
Yorks100
Often the most stable institution left.
Led by Verity Howorth
The South West, five cohorts
SW100
The first x100. Closed in 2026, with its network still going strong.
Led by Sam Fitzpatrick
Who it’s for
- Senior leaders aspiring to headship in the next five years
- Committed to leading in a specific region, for the long term
- Drawn to complex or under-resourced contexts
- Who want to grow alongside peers, not in isolation
What changes
- In leaders: clarity of purpose, confidence in judgement, readiness for headship
- Between people: trust with staff, families and peers, and less isolation
- In schools and trusts: steadier pipelines and improvement that lasts
For trusts and local authorities
In each region, a partner board of trusts and local authorities co-designs and stewards the programme. Partners nominate participants, host study visits and shape what the cohort learns. The result is leadership capacity that serves your organisation and your region.
It is a fair question. Of the 99 leaders who went through SW100, all 99 are still working in education in the South West.
Voices from the x100 family
“The mission isn’t to prepare students to leave. True success will be when students choose to stay, not because they have no other option, but because staying offers meaningful, fulfilling possibilities.”
Alum, East100
“I’m not sure I’ve ever worked so hard and had more fun at the same time.”
Participant, Yorks100
“The West100 has been a career-defining leadership experience.”
Participant, West100
The people who lead it
Mohamed Abdallah
Programme Lead, West100Brings a background in inclusion and safeguarding, and his own experience of growing up in an under-served community.
Jon Hutchinson
Programme Lead, East100Brings deep expertise in evidence-based curriculum design and instructional practice.
Beck Crowhurst
Programme Lead, East100A founding team member and former co-headteacher of Reach Academy Feltham.
Verity Howorth
Programme Lead, Yorks100Committed to place-based leadership, relational practice and the power of strong cohorts.
Leonie Ratty
Programme Lead, GM100The Reach Foundation’s Regional Director for the North West.
Sam Fitzpatrick
Programme Lead, SW100Led the SW100 through all five cohorts, and is The Reach Foundation’s Director of Content.
Shelley Gonsalves
Programme Director, x100Leads leadership development at The Reach Foundation and oversees coaching across the programmes.