Primary School Leadership- What to expect???

Primary School Leadership – What actually does the role of Head or Deputy mean?
Whether you’re an experienced assistant headteacher looking to take the next step, or a middle leader wondering if a move into SLT is the right progression, it’s important to understand what a Senior Leadership role in a primary school really looks like—both in terms of salary and workload.
One of the most common concerns we hear from colleagues is, “Am I being paid fairly?” and “How much actual leadership time should I be getting?”
The problem is of course that school leadership is a never ending piece of string! There is always more care you could be giving the children, more refined lessons you could be teaching, more support you could be giving your team. However it is just not possible – school leadership is a role that never finishes. Have you ever seen a Head with a completed to do list? No!
One of the big issues as well around Primary School Leadership and Headship and salaries is the wide gulf that seems to exist.
Leadership Pay Range
Briefly is an outline of the Leadership Pay Range (also known as the L scale), which is separate from the main classroom teacher or upper pay scales.

• Assistant Headteachers typically start around L1 (£47,185) and can go up to around L8 (£56,082) depending on the size of the school, location (inner/outer London or rest of England), and the scope of responsibilities.
• Deputy Headteachers tend to fall within L4 to L15, again with variation based on context and whether there’s one or two deputies in the structure.
• Headteachers are paid according to the Individual School Range (ISR) which reflects the number on roll, complexity of the school, and performance. This can range significantly—from L6 in small schools, to L25+ in larger or more complex settings.

Pay is meant to reflect responsibility, not just title. So if you’re, for example, an Assistant Head taking on multiple whole-school priorities, line management, and regular teaching cover, you should be on the higher end of the AHT scale.
However within this you may find that you are also SENCo, DSL, Head of Geography, the list goes on and on. So pay cannot be determined by purely looking at the size of the school – and conversely the smaller schools can often lead to more responsibility as the TLRs are not available due to tight budgets with staff doubling up in many areas.
How Much Teaching? Understanding Protected Leadership Time
Leadership roles should come with dedicated non-contact time to allow leaders to fulfil their duties: school improvement, monitoring, mentoring, data, safeguarding, and strategic planning.
Here’s a rough guide to what’s typical (though not legally prescribed):

• Assistant Headteachers: Often 2–3 days of teaching per week, with the remaining time for leadership duties. In larger schools, AHTs may have a near-full-time leadership role.
• Deputy Heads: Usually have at least 50% leadership time. In two-form or larger schools, this may be more. In very small schools, they may still be class-based full-time, but this should be reflected in their pay.
• Headteachers: Should have no class teaching commitment, although in reality, many heads cover lessons, lead assemblies, or support interventions. In small schools, some heads do teach regularly, but this must be acknowledged in their ISR.

If you're in SLT and still teaching four or five days a week with whole-school responsibilities, it's important to ask: when is your leadership time actually happening?
Without protected time, leadership is squeezed into evenings, weekends, or snatched moments—none of which are sustainable in the long term.
So for anyone looking for a new role or feeling burnt out in their current Primary Headteacher or Deputy role do take stock of all that you do. Are you being paid fairly? Have you got enough protected time? How and when will you lead?
Primary School leaders and headteachers naturally want their schools to thrive, however this should not mean taking everything on as the Head or Deputy. To be a good leader you need to have time, space and trust to lead the school. Picking up the pieces of under resourced areas of the school is not the role of the Head or Deputy – and you want to work in an environment where this is recognised and valued.
My final advice would be if you are looking to move roles or questioning your current salary as a primary school leader then speak to the governors or trust leaders. Transparency around pay and workload is a sign of a strong school culture. A good school will be happy to have this conversation.