Step 6: Impactful Quality Assurance - A School Leadership Podcast with Lianne Lomas

<p><b>The No Silver Bullets Podcast — Series 2: The Nine Steps to Executive Headship</b></p><p></p><p>How do executive leaders really know what’s happening in their schools when they’re not there? In this episode, Paul Ainsworth speaks with <b>Lianne Lomas</b>, Director of School Improvement at the Mater Christi Trust, to explore <b>Step 6: Impactful Quality Assurance</b>.</p><p></p><p>Lianne leads improvement across 18 Catholic schools in Cumbria and North Lancashire. She shares practical, honest insights into building trust‑wide quality assurance that is <b>coherent, developmental and grounded in collective responsibility</b>.</p><p></p><p>You’ll hear:</p><ul><li>How QA becomes an organisational act, not an individual task</li><li>Why shared language and codified practice reduce variation across schools</li><li>How cluster‑based peer review strengthens accuracy and belonging</li><li>The trust’s Quality Development Review Cycle</li><li>The balance between monitoring and development — “weighing the pig vs growing the pig”</li><li>How geography, time and capacity shape QA in rural MATs</li><li>Why QA must be systematic, low‑stakes and improvement‑focused</li></ul><p>If you’re an executive head, CEO or aspiring system leader, this episode offers clear principles and practical tools for building quality assurance across multiple schools.</p><p></p><p><b>About the Series</b> <br />Part of the <i>Nine Steps to Executive Headship</i> series, supporting Paul’s forthcoming book:</p><p><br />📘 <i>Nine Steps to Executive Headship</i> — Routledge, Autumn 2026.</p><p>Next episode: <b>Step 7 — Effective Data Usage</b>, featuring <b>James Pembroke and Richard Selfridge</b> from Insight Inform.</p><p></p><p><b>Connect</b></p><p><b>Follow Paul on LinkedIn: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-k-ainsworth-20b0a41a/" target="_blank"><b>Paul K. Ainsworth | LinkedIn</b></a></p><p><b>Follow Paul on Instagram: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/paulkainsworth" target="_blank"><b>Paul K Ainsworth (@paulkainsworth) • Instagram photos and videos</b></a></p><p><b>Follow Lianne on LinkedIn: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lianne-lomas-87553618a/" target="_blank">Lianne Lomas | LinkedIn</a></p><p><b>Read the companion blog: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://paulkainsworth.wordpress.com/blog-2/" target="_blank"><b>Blog – Day in, day out,