ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some threads together and about the leadership of the vernacular change. Schools are always variously engaged in adapting what they do, stimulated by policy, by local events or by their own concerns. The creative arts can be used to disrupt the status quo, bring people together in new combinations, and begin and build school change. Depending on the school, teachers and students have more or less opportunity to generate ideas and see them through, to influence school policy and to determine everyday practice. Woodlea is a primary school on the outskirts of a Midlands city. A larger than average school, its pupils are largely White British and come from the full range of economic backgrounds. The educational leadership literatures have become increasingly interested in‘distributed leadership’—how much teachers, and others, are able to exercise agency and responsibility in the school. At Woodlea, the head teacher made a place for children to speak and act in the school ecology.
