The New Public Education reform (NPE) is meant to enhance the depressed Chilean public school system via new middle-tier governing bodies administrating and supporting public schools (Anderson et al., 2023). As part of this reform, thematic networks and a networking policy approach have been promoted within new school districts. This paper reports on the use of networks by school leaders to engage in and make sense of the broader social space schools are part of. This study is part of a larger research project on collaboration and support between schools in a recently established school district. The district is composed of public schools that were previously administrated by three adjacent urban municipalities in Santiago, Chile. From a Social Network Analysis approach (SNA) (Freeman, 2004; Marin and Wellman 2011), this research delves into the declared inter-organisational networks and ties reported by school headteachers from sixteen primary schools. Primary data comes from interviews where participants were encouraged to name and map other schools they have a relationship with, and reflect on the content, history and value of those ties. Declared partners range between 4 and 50 and the vast majority are other public schools from their school district. Although many of these are relationships taking place within – and thanks to – district-based mandated networks, others are ties that schools and school leaders have built and maintained on their own. This paper sets itself in the mismatch between policy-led networks and those declared by headteachers and provides insights into the reasons and purposes that formal and informal networks play in both managing and leading schools, and inhabiting the new policy landscape schools are part of. This paper unveils the importance of inter-organisational ties and the engagement of school leaders with the broader surrounding social space they are part of. It is argued in this paper that connecting with others beyond schools is key in order to make sense of, navigate, and overcome the uncertainty that comes with the settlement of a new policy landscape amidst a persisting crisis in the Chilean public education system.

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