Clifton Terrace Model School

15 Clifton Terrace, W ellington, New Zeal and

Phone (04) 472-7519 Fax (04) 472-8204
E m a i l staff@ctms.school.nz
Website www.ctms.school.nz

CoPrincipalship at CTMS – A Paper for the Community

The CoPrincipalship approach to leadership has been in operation at CTMS since 1992.
The purpose of this document is to outline the understandings and values which underpin
the model and describes how it works at a practical level for the CTMS community.

The Co-Principalship model is a joint approach to the traditional Principal role which
involves collective responsibility for management and leadership, shared decision making,
increased personnel stability and increased skills and experience.

CoPrincipalship in practise

Flat management - The CoPrincipals are collectively and individually responsible for the
management and leadership of the school. There is no seniority within the CoPrincipalship.

Accountability - CoPrincipals are responsible for all students within the school.
Sucesses and failures are jointly shared.

Responsibilities - Share management responsibilities between the CoPrincipals for finance,

personnel and curriculum. Additionally each CoPrincipal has responsibility for particular
areas within the school such as property, fundraising, ESOL, special needs, extending high
standards and health and safety.

Remuneration - There is no financial advantage to the CoPrincipals as a result of this

unique model.

Voting on BOT decisions - For voting purposes we have 1 vote.

Understandings and values

This model;
 Provides an innovative leadership approach which models collaborative decision
making processes for students, staff and the community.
 Allows for succession planning. New CoPrincipals have an induction programme
which involves a mentoring process into the job. CoPrincipals are supported in their
development as principals.
 Draws on the whole team's professional expertise.
 Maintains a direct link between management decisions and classroom practice.
 Models practices and behaviours which contribute to collective success.
 Ensures robust decision making through collaborative leadership.
 Reduces stress and potential professional isolation frequently experienced by sole
principals.
 Collective decision making processes ensure well considered decisions and actions.
  Collective responsibility does not always contribute to a decrease in work load
however CoPrincipals are able to support each other and share tasks when the
workload is high.

Benefits to the school community

 The community experiences consistency in the school's culture as the values of the
school are passed down as part of the induction process.
 The homegroup teachers are highly skilled and typically bring much more
experience than would be typically expected.
 Leadership decisions take into account the unique needs of all students as
homegroup teachers have input into the decision making process.
 Decisions and outcomes are of a very high quality as they have been considered by
all three CoPrincipals.
 Children are able to observe their teachers working collaboratvely and taking
responsibility for the school's development.
Communication approach

 Feb 12 - Discuss the model with the BOT

 Tues 24th Feb - Afternoon tea with the community and an informal discussion
around the CoPship

 Follow up actions
Publish the document with events or with BOT newsletter
Publish the document on the website