A growing literature on how school leaders can improve schools in challenging circumstances comprises examples of exceptional leadership resulting in the production of a body of ‘transferrable epistemologies’ and also research exploring the unique political, social, cultural, economic, contextual and situational factors, policy and practice within which leadership occurs. In most cases the focus of is on large urban schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas with little attention to small schools. Addressing this gap is of interest to the Irish context as small schools (with fewer than 180 pupils) comprise approximately half the Irish primary school system. This study (funded by the Department of Education and Science) is part of an examination of school in challenging circumstances in the Republic of Ireland. The methodology is qualitative using school visits and in-depth semi-structured discussions with school leaders. The findings indicate the added complexity for leaders of negotiating their professional/ personal roles in the context of small close knit communities both within and outside the school. The findings also reveal how the small scale context facilitates the effectiveness of different supports on student learning and how comparatively small initiatives can benefit student engagement and student outcomes