Five years, 99 leaders, one region.
SW100 set out to identify and nurture 100 future headteachers to lead schools in the South West where all children thrive. After five cohorts, we are asking whether it worked, for whom, and what we learned along the way.
Each dot is an SW100 leader. The 42 in green now lead schools.
What we know so far
The first x100 ran from 2021 to 2026 across the South West, one of the regions where disadvantaged children fall furthest behind at school. These are the headline figures. The report will test what sits behind them.
SW100 programme data, June 2026. Figures will be confirmed in the final report.
What the report will look at
We are assessing change at the three levels the programme was designed to influence, from the visible to the deep-rooted.
How formal practices, policies and systems have changed.
- Trusts building SW100 into leadership pipelines and people strategies
- Changes to how schools and trusts recruit
- What alumni now in headship have changed in their schools
How the programme has deepened relationships and shifted power.
- Peer networks that sustain leaders through headship
- Stronger ties between schools and their communities
- New kinds of collaboration between schools and trusts
How leaders think about their role and their place.
- Leaders seeing themselves as civic as well as educational leaders
- Seeing place as a prism, not a prison
- Headship as moral leadership, not only management
How we are finding out
We are drawing on the people closest to the work, and we will report what did not work as plainly as what did.
Alumni
A survey of all five cohorts, plus interviews and the artefacts of their leadership.
Employers
Conversations with trust leaders and headteachers who have appointed SW100 alumni.
Partners
Reflections from the partner board who co-designed and stewarded the programme.
Programme data
Appointments, retention and progression across the region since 2021.
Why it matters beyond the South West
SW100 was the model for the x100 programmes now running in the East of England, Greater Manchester, the West Country and Yorkshire. What we learn here will shape how those programmes grow, and how the network SW100 built keeps going.