GROW (Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus)

New for 2026! The Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus professional development programme for education leaders has been revised and is now presented as “Grow”, targeting individuals and groups of senior leaders in schools.

A unique learning opportunity for those in leadership roles

This isn’t your traditional PLD session or series of workshops. It’s a partnership in your ongoing evolution as a leader. And it’s not about adding more to your plate. It’s about leading with greater clarity, confidence, and authenticity in ways that create lasting change for you, those you lead and those you work with.

“GROW” is a programme for educators with leadership roles who are ready to rediscover their purpose, experiment boldly, and lead the kind of transformational change our schools need for the future.

While some leadership programmes prepare school leaders to survive in the role, Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus equips leaders to thrive. 

Who this programme is for:

Individual leaders who:

• Are stepping into new leadership roles (first-time principals, newly appointed senior leaders) and want to establish a strong foundation from the start
• Are experienced but feel stretched thin and need to move from reactive to intentional leadership
• Know what they want to achieve but struggle to translate vision into sustainable action
• Are leading through significant change or uncertainty and need tools to navigate complexity while maintaining their sense of purpose
• Want to lead more authentically but aren’t sure how to align their daily actions with their deeper values

Networks of principals who:

• Recognise that leadership can feel isolating and want to grow alongside peers who understand their unique challenges
• Are committed to collective impact across their schools and communities
• Want to share strategies, challenges, and successes in a structured, sustained way rather than one-off meetings
• Are navigating similar contexts (rural/urban, demographic shifts, policy changes) and want to develop shared approaches

Senior and middle leadership teams who:

• Need to build cohesion and shared purpose across different roles and responsibilities
• Want to create a consistent leadership culture throughout their school rather than disconnected pockets of practice
• Are experiencing tension or misalignment and need space to explore how they work together
• Are preparing for upcoming changes (restructures, new initiatives, succession planning) and want to approach them strategically
• Recognise that their team’s effectiveness depends on understanding each other’s drivers, building trust, and holding each other accountable

All participants share a common characteristic: they’re ready to do the inner work of leadership, not just learn new techniques. They understand that sustainable growth happens over time, not in a single session, and they’re willing to commit to a process of genuine reflection and action.

These are options for how you might choose to engage in this programme – (for more detail download the flyer below)

Our programme involves…

Through four purposeful cycles, this programme takes you on a journey from self-discovery to sustainable impact. Participating as an individual or as part of a leadership group, you’ll explore what drives you as a leader, translating that understanding into how you lead and empower others, develop strategies for managing conflict and change, gathering evidence of your growth along the way to create systems that celebrate, sustain, and share your success.

There is no pre-determined start and finish time for these programmes – these times will be negotiated to suit the context of each individual or group. Dates for the face to face sessions will be a part of that initial negotiation. It is recommended that the overall timeframe for each programme can be up to a calendar year to enable time for personal and collective experimentation and reflection to take place.

What you’ll gain:

• Tools for transformation: a proven framework for leading meaningful, future-focused change in complex times.
• Personal clarity and renewal: step back from the busyness to reconnect with your ‘why’.
• A trusted network: peers who will challenge and support you as you put new ideas into action.
• Sustained coaching and mentoring: one-on-one guidance and group learning across 20 weeks, ensuring change is real, not just aspirational.
• Confidence and courage: to shift from managing what is, to designing what could be.

We recognise that once leaders have mastered the mechanics of the job, the real challenge – and opportunity – is to reimagine what education could be.

Leadership, especially leading change, can be a lonely experience, but it doesn’t have to be. GROW provides you with the support and guidance required to assist you in achieving the change you are seeking in your local school context.

We believe…

• That it is important to focus on long-lasting and sustainable strategies when thinking about how to best support school leaders. A holiday provides a short-lived respite, but this alone is not enduring.
• That leaders who have a clear sense of their ‘why’ are confident in communicating this in ways that rally others around them. They are excited by the future for themselves, their colleagues and their students, and they have a set of tools they use to make this future a reality.
• That great leaders are always learning, and are constantly seeking ways to encourage, engage and refresh those around them.
• That we need leaders in our schools who are ‘systems thinkers’, who can lead well at an organisational level, but are also agents of change at a system level.
• That this enthusiasm is best supported by a community of like-minded leaders who can support each other.

These beliefs have shaped our approach to the design of the “GROW” (Refresh Reconnect Refocus) programme. This is not a course about leadership, it is a programme about being a leader, where leaders are challenged, nurtured, inspired and grow – no matter what background or context they are from.

Our programme is a space for education leaders to pause and renew their sense of purpose, to experiment with new approaches, and to build the confidence and courage to lead change that matters.

Does this sound good to you? Over 60 leaders from NZ and Australia have completed this programme, and the results have been transformational!

Your Facilitators

The “GROW” Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus programme is a joint venture between FutureMakers and HMWLead.

Terms of Agreement