Leadership Scholarship programme case study: Sarah Dennis

 

 

 

How has taking part in the Leadership Scholarship Programme shaped or transformed your development as a leader?  

I have found my voice in the RE community and the programme has given me confidence to lead meetings for my academy chain and get involved in projects such as Spirited Arts judging.  I have found a love of writing about our subject and the programme helped me develop my ideas into articles. I was helped by both my mentors from the programme to enable me to train other RE teachers and speak at conferences about ideas from my classroom.

 

What impact has the programme had on your practice, your school or organisation, or the wider religion and worldviews education community?  

I was very isolated at my primary school as I am the only person teaching RE so being part of the leadership programme has given me confidence in my own ability.  My networking groups for my academy chain are now very successful, I have also had great feedback when training Initial Teacher Trainees.

I have developed my role on the National Association of Teachers of RE executive committee. Both of my mentors gave me confidence to put myself forward for opportunities that were out of my comfort zone but they supported me to succeed by guiding me develop my skills and gain the knowledge to be successful.

What did you find most valuable about the programme?  

I don’t think I am allowed to say all of the programme, but it is true.  My two mentors were brilliant sounding boards for my ideas and gave me opportunities that I never thought I would have.   I shadowed two people in very different roles in the RE community who opened my eyes to different future career roles.  My cohort on the programme are amazing and being able to be ‘RE geeks’ at our reading groups and go to conferences together meant I found like-minded people who were brilliant to learn from.

Where has your journey taken you since completing the programme, and how has it helped you take the next step in your career?  

Since leaving the Culham St Gabriel RE Leadership Scholarship programme this summer I have develop a resource for ITTs from another trust.  I have also hosted an REChat on X/Twitter for NATRE.  I have written articles for both RE Today magazine and a piece on the research I did as part of the programme in Professional Reflection, the journal of NATRE.  There have also been surprising opportunities such as helping to judge the NATRE Spirited Arts competition. I am Looking forward to presenting a seminar at the national NATRE conference StrictlyRE in January 2026 having already presented at the AULRE/AREIAC conference in June 2025.

In the future I want to develop my role further in my Multi Academy Trust (MAT) and support other primary MATs across the country.

Why do you think people should apply to the Leadership Scholarship programme?  

It is just the most amazing programme and has had a huge impact on my role.  It has opened so many doors leading to opportunities I didn’t even know were possible.