In this presentation Gurr and Day provide a summary of the 15 cases. The book is organized into four sections covering: - School Improvement: Sustaining the ‘Turnaround’ in Schools Serving Challenging Communities - What New Principals Do - Values and Trust - Social Justice Whilst these categories provide a useful conceptual grouping of the chapters, in the final chapter we decided to explore key themes that arise as we consider the chapters in their entirety. It is these themes that we consider in this presentation. We do not claim that a theme is evident in the work of every principal, but nevertheless, these themes are those that have sufficient representation to be worthy of attention. Our synthesis has been helped by the reflections of two graduate classes who read an early draft of the book. The themes are: • High Expectations • Post-heroic leadership • Collaboration/collective effort/shared vision/alignment • Symbolic role • Integrity, trust and transparency • People centred • The Power of ‘And’: Transformational AND instructional leadership • Improving schools in challenging circumstances • Developing as a leader • Personal qualities, beliefs and values: Personal acumen; Qualities and Dispositions; Beliefs and values