Previous empirical studies on school achievement in Finland demonstrate an increasing variation between schools and a decrease on reading comprehension and mathematics during the past decade (Hautamäki et al. 2013). Also when the influence of socio-cultural home background is controlled a significant variation between schools achievement levels remain – about 100 p in PISA09. In line with the symposium findings on a case study consisting of a Swedish speaking low performing school in Finland, is reported. By low performing school is here referred to an underperforming school, i.e. a school performing lower than expected with regards to the socio-cultural composition of the school’s students. Using the school as a unit of analysis (Uljens, 1997) this case study aims at providing a rich empirical description of principal’s leadership intentions and activities and how this may contribute to the schools educational ambitions and culture.