KH Education
School improvement, leadership, and mathematics — Greater Manchester and beyond
Kal Hodgson
Education consultant | Former headteacher | 31 years in secondary schools
I work with schools, academies, and trusts across Greater Manchester and the North West on the problems that matter most — curriculum that isn’t working, leadership teams that aren’t functioning as well as they should, headteachers who need a rigorous and honest thinking partner, and policies that haven’t kept pace with the school they’re meant to serve.
I’ve spent over three decades in secondary education in some of England’s most challenging urban contexts — as a classroom teacher, head of mathematics, senior leader, Principal, and trust executive. I founded a SCITT. I know what it takes to lead a school well, and I know what it costs when something isn’t right. The work I do with schools is grounded in that experience, not imported from a framework developed elsewhere.
What I offer
Policy review and renewal
A structured audit of your policy landscape — identifying gaps, contradictions, and documents overdue for revision — ending with frameworks that are coherent, compliant, and written in a way that staff will actually read.
Department support
Sustained work alongside heads of department and their teams, looking at curriculum design, subject knowledge, assessment practice, and the quality of teaching. For mathematics departments, I bring an additional layer of subject-specific expertise that allows the work to go considerably deeper than a generalist review.
SLT effectiveness
Facilitated work with senior leadership teams on the things that are genuinely getting in the way — trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and collective results — structured around Lencioni’s five dysfunctions model and grounded in the real issues the team is facing.
Headship coaching
One-to-one work with headteachers — as a rigorous thinking partner, a sounding board for the decisions that can’t go to the governors or the trust, and an honest voice when honesty is in short supply. Available as a monthly retained arrangement or on an ad hoc basis.
Teacher training and professional development
Drawing on my experience as a SCITT director and Teaching School deputy head, I support schools and trusts with the design and delivery of CPD programmes, ITT partnerships, and early career teacher development.
Some of what I have done
As Principal of Cedar Mount Academy — one of Manchester’s most complex schools — I secured the school’s first-ever Good judgements in Personal Development and Leadership and Management, raised EBacc uptake from 19% to over 50%, and brought Progress 8 to national average.
As SCITT Director, I grew a teacher training partnership from 3 to 42 trainees, achieved Good across all areas at inspection, and established the partnership as the Appropriate Body for early career teacher induction across Greater Manchester.
As a head of mathematics, I led departments in four very different schools to their strongest-ever GCSE results. As a Specialist Leader of Education in mathematics and leadership, I supported schools to move from Inadequate to Good.
Get in touch
If you want to talk about what’s not working and whether I can help, the best starting point is a conversation
Please complete the short form below and I will reply within 48 hours (usually much sooner).
You can also reach me directly: Email: admin@kheducation.co.uk Mobile: 07590 474192
LinkedIn: Connect on LinkedIn→
“Pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know the best which has been thought and said in the world” – Matthew Arnold
KH Education 