Product reviews for Making The Leap

Making the Leap by Dr Jill Berry is the most impressive and useful book I have read about preparing for headship and how best to make the transition from deputy to leader of a school. A book of this nature is long overdue as until now there has been nothing comparable or as comprehensive - this addresses the experience of applying for, preparing for, and becoming a head. Dr Berry's book is especially useful in this regard; through interviews and a series of meetings with six new heads during their lead-in period she has been able to provide insights into the experience of transition to headship as it is lived rather than in retrospect. 

While well informed by her own academic research, this is nonetheless a highly readable and enjoyable text, with Dr Berry's own experiences and anecdotes placed alongside those of her interviewees. It is as easily read in one sitting as it is dipped into, and I am sure I will be returning to key chapters and sections throughout the coming months and years. It is also an immensely practical book, with questions for reflection provided at all stages. The key challenges of each stage are first made clear and then addressed through eminently sensible advice about how best to respond. Equally, the book is very well structured, covering each stage from the most important question - why apply? - through the application process and lead-in period, and then onto the early months and making the most of what is, in Dr Berry's words, the best job in the world.



The book is most impressive and original on the topic of role identity, of how there are necessary compromises and recalibrations as a head-elect is changed by their new school and by occupying a new professional persona. These sections were absolutely fascinating, and I have not read anything as well developed or expressed on this topic as is articulated by Dr Berry. Making the Leap is a superb text for giving a sense of the range and variety of the job. For many years to come it will be the text that prospective heads, heads-elect and serving heads take down from their shelves to refer to and reread.