ABSTRACT
Ridgeway is a low-performing state high school situated in suburban Queensland. The Clementine Academy, by contrast, is a high-performing school situated in a London borough. It is so outstanding that it is charged with leading an alliance of twenty schools. Large and well resourced with teaching occurring in friendly learning huts, it has minimal security. The role of school leaders in contexts like Australia and England has never been more complex and difficult than it is at present. This chapter focuses on the points of resonance in the case of Ridgeway, and within one network, in the case of the Clementine-led alliance. In both of the case studies, issues of context are central to how a telos of leading for social justice is played out. Being sensitive and responsive to her school context is central to the principal at Ridgeway's telos of leadership.
