Whilst leadership in a small school can sometimes feel like navigating turbulent waters, the context of a small school also offers the opportunity to be agile and adaptable.  

In dialogue with small schools, we developed a programme that provided the opportunity for leaders to meet and share their experience of the challenges and opportunities as well as to explore the hot topics in education through the lens of a small school. 

We had hoped to bring the programme back in September 2025 but have had to postpone the series due to lower than expected take-up. This does not mean that our commitment to small schools has waned, just that we need to refine our support offer for you. 

What can we offer our small schools? 

We are rejuvenating our small schools’ concierge service, giving you the opportunity to speak to an adviser with lived experience of small schools who would be delighted to explore a bespoke package of support for your school at a price that you can afford. 

If you would be interested in speaking to one of our expert advisers please complete this form.

Support for Small Schools - expression of interest

Our Small School experts

 

Kate Kellner-Dilks

Kate Kellner-Dilks

Head of Primary: Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Kate Kellner-Dilks

Head of Primary: Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Kate qualified to teach over 22 years ago and has since taught in London and across Hertfordshire. Her experience includes senior leadership roles in three schools, including deputy headteacher. She joined HFL Education in 2016 and, in January 2023, stepped up to lead and develop a new team focused on the curriculum for foundation subjects and primary science. Since then, Kate has also taken on responsibility for primary mathematics and the wider curriculum and, more recently, moved into the role of Head of Primary: Teaching, Learning, Curriculum, and Assessment in September 2025. 

Kate understands what it means to lead a school and is passionate about getting education ‘right’ in schools, whatever their size, for all children. She has played a huge part in our Small Schools’ Programme and has worked to develop a CPD and consultancy support offer which enables schools and subject leaders to ensure that the curriculum they offer is right for their setting. 

Anne Gorolini

Anne Gorolini

District School Effectiveness Adviser – East Hertfordshire 

Anne Gorolini

District School Effectiveness Adviser – East Hertfordshire 

Anne joined the primary education services team at HFL Education in September 2017 having been in the teaching profession for over twenty -two years. She started her teaching career in Luton before taking up a post in Hertfordshire where she has subsequently held several leadership positions including that of headteacher.  

In her role at HFL, Anne supports a large number of small schools across her district including those in rural settings, she also works with other local school leaders to plan the annual HFL Headteachers’ conference. 

Anne Peck

Anne Peck

Director of Education Services (Primary and Early Years)

Anne Peck

Director of Education Services (Primary and Early Years)

Anne's entire professional life has been rooted in education, beginning as a student and later, after university, a teacher in Hertfordshire schools. She started her career teaching Key Stage 2, progressed to leading the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), and was instrumental in establishing a Children’s Centre as part of the Sure Start programme. Her leadership skills were further honed during her six-year tenure as a headteacher of a small school in North Herts. 

In 2017 Anne joined HFL as a District School Effectiveness Adviser for Watford, Stevenage, and Dacorum, working side-by-side with more than a hundred school leaders to support them on their improvement journey. More recently she has demonstrated her passion for all things small schools by championing and leading  our award-nominated small schools’ programme. 

We already offer a 10% discount for schools with less than 100 pupils on roll, who would like to book onto our training and events (please make contact with our training and events team for a discount code) and our most popular subscription products are priced favourably and fairly for small schools too. 

The ESSENTIALWRITING Curriculum 

ESSENTIALWRITING is an unmissable resource for any school but with the addition of mixed age overviews and planning it is particularly helpful for those with mixed age classes. 
Read more… 

ESSENTIALSPELLING

ESSENTIALSPELLING is a flexible, teacher-friendly scheme designed to support mixed-age teaching and varying abilities across a cohort. With built-in assessment, adaptive teaching strategies, and clear links to National Curriculum objectives, it helps address gaps in pupils’ knowledge.  
Read more… 

The ESSENTIALMATHS Subscription 

Support for small schools was at the forefront of our maths team’s minds when they developed the award winning second iteration of our popular ESSENTIALMATHS curriculum package. It contains carefully crafted single-age and mixed-age learning sequences, enabling educators to teach a carefully planned, small-step progression through the maths national curriculum.  
Read more… 

The HFL Complaints Toolkit 

Parental complaints are a drain on the resources of all schools but can be particularly challenging for those with a smaller staff team. Our Complaints toolkit provides step-by-step guidance, suggested responses, essential do’s and don’ts and a summary of the process and we offer a 10% discount for small schools. 
Read more… 

Series 1 and 2 recordings of the Small Schools' Programme are still available to purchase.  

The first series of the HFL Small Schools’ Programme took place between February 2024 and November 2024, with 6 sessions in total. The second series took place between January 2025 and July 2025, with 4 sessions in total. The live sessions have now concluded for series 1 and 2, however if schools are interested in the content and materials, these remain available to purchase. They are packed full of helpful guidance, case studies and suggestions for schools to consider. As well as session recordings, you will also be able to access the slides and any other supporting resources. 

The full suite of recordings and supporting materials for series 1 can be purchased for a reduced cost of £100 +VAT per school. 

Session content from Series 1 of HFL Small Schools’ Programme: 

  • Session 1 - Leading the curriculum in a small school 
  • Session 2 - Delivering the curriculum: pedagogy when teaching mixed ages 
  • Session 3 - Ambitious, inspirational and strategic governance in small schools 
  • Session 4 - Designing leadership models for long term exceptional outcomes 
  • Session 5 - Disadvantaged pupils: a small school’s perspective 
  • Session 6 - Creating a staff community where all feel empowered and valued 
Click to purchase

The full suite of recordings and supporting materials for Series 2 can be purchased for a reduced cost of £75 +VAT per school.

Session content from Series 2 of HFL Small Schools’ Programme:

  • Session 1 - Headteacher well-being in a small school
  • Session 2 - Using AI to support leaders' workload in a small school
  • Session 3 - Creative and strategic problem-solving and what's available to access for your small school
  • Session 4 - Considering the new Ofsted framework and your small school
Click to purchase

'On behalf of the National Association of Small Schools (NASS) I am delighted to recommend the Small Schools Programme devised and developed by HFL. The sessions which I saw were amongst the best specifically devoted to small schools I have ever seen. The innovative format, with the subject focus being narrowed by each of the speaker until its development and implementation within the small school by practitioners, provided lessons for all listeners. Indeed NASS included examples of the first of the sessions in one of our Newsletters and passed the word to colleagues whenever possible.. 

I am delighted the programme will be continuing into the future and will look forward to learning more about the ways in which small schools can prove their value to the wider world of education.'

Neil Short, Chairman of the National Association of Small Schools.

 

If you have any questions, or would like any support with purchasing this, please contact us: events@hfleducation.org  

Contact the training and events team

Email us Call 01438 544477