Proprietors’ Forum

Join fellow proprietors from across the non-association independent school sector for a practical, participative forum focused on the responsibilities, challenges and realities of effective proprietorship.

The NAISA Proprietors Forum is designed to create space for proprietors to step away from the day-to-day demands of running their schools and reflect on the bigger questions: How well do you really know your school? Are you giving your headteacher the right balance of support and challenge? And would you feel confident discussing your school, its strengths and its priorities in depth with inspectors?

A key focus of this forum will be the proprietor–headteacher relationship. Drawing on themes emerging from NAISA’s Headteachers Forum and from schools that have already experienced inspection, we will explore what headteachers value from proprietors, where tensions or misunderstandings can arise, and what helps create a strong and effective working relationship.

This will not be about presenting a list of complaints or telling proprietors how they should operate. Instead, delegates will be encouraged to reflect on their own practice and discuss issues including communication, accountability, professional boundaries, challenge, support and shared responsibility for school improvement.

We will also consider the increasing focus on proprietors within inspection and regulation. Proprietors need to be able to demonstrate more than an awareness of their statutory responsibilities: they need a clear understanding of how their school is performing, the challenges it faces, the quality of its leadership and the actions being taken to improve.

The forum will include substantial time for open discussion, giving proprietors the opportunity to raise current concerns, share effective practice and explore challenges with colleagues who understand the particular context of non-association independent schools.

Delegates will also help shape future Proprietors Forums by identifying the topics, speakers and areas of practice that would be most valuable to explore together.

Who is this forum for?
This forum is particularly suitable for:

• Proprietors of independent schools
• Chairs and members of proprietor bodies
• Directors and owners with governance responsibilities
• Senior leaders who hold proprietor or governance responsibilities

The forum will be collaborative rather than presentation-led. NAISA will facilitate the conversation and bring relevant information and sector insight, but the experience and expertise of the proprietors attending will be a central part of the session.

Whether you are an experienced proprietor or relatively new to the role, the forum provides an opportunity to reflect on your own practice, test your thinking, learn from other schools and strengthen your understanding of what effective proprietorship looks like in the current independent school landscape.