is a timely contribution to the debate about the purpose and structure of schooling in England and internationally. It draws deeply upon the work of ten schools and describes how they created strong alliances with local communities. These alliances helped to raise the academic attainment of pupils and improve the much wider range of outcomes for children and young people. In turn, the school's resources were deployed to encourage community growth and regeneration.The featured schools were participants in an enquiry sponsored by the National College for School Leadership. The authors, both well-known figures in education, contributed to this and here present their findings through the lens of "public value". They explain what public value is, use it as a framework to reflect on the schools’ core activity and show how they added ecological, political, economic, social and cultural values. They identify five key tasks that school leaders can use to create public value, develop leadership qualities and judge its impact. This book combines lessons learnt by the schools with wider research and political perspective to create a compelling, accessible, narrative. It is a story of disciplined educational and social innovation which shows how school leaders can create the schools they believe are needed by pupils, parents and communities. It will help leaders from schools, local authorities, policy-makers and third-sector services to understand the benefits that can result from a positive interaction with local communities. The challenges shown in the case studies are internationally recognizable.