Muffin, oven-bottom or teacake?

Down the road from our house is a baker’s called Mellors. It’s been there for decades. No glossy branding, no nod to a fashionable Paul or Gail.

If you want bread, the choice is simple: brown or white, large or small. At lunchtime, the queues form for freshly made sandwiches, a small selection of pies and cakes, and — the star of the show — a traditional vanilla slice (for the patisserie enthusiasts, that’s essentially a mille-feuille with extra crème pat).

Mellors thrives because it knows what it does well. It understands its customers, delivers what they value, and hasn’t tinkered unnecessarily. I’m sure there have been small tweaks over time, but the essence remains unchanged.

There’s a lesson here for leaders. Around the world, many new school leaders are settling into their roles, eager to make an impact. The instinct is often to change things quickly: What could be better? What can we build? How do we add value?

But sometimes the most important first step is to pause. Listen. Learn what your community truly needs and wants. Honour what already works. In your ambition to improve outcomes, don’t lose the heart of what makes your school special.

Don’t swap the vanilla slice for a mille-feuille just because it looks grander.