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There is a large literature on leadership mentoring and coaching. However, in education in England, mentoring is the term that has dominated policy and discussion until recently, with the application of this concept as a core element in teacher training and in the induction of new headteachers. Coaching has emerged more recently as a significant element of continuing professional development for teachers. The first national leadership development programme to embody an explicit and systematic approach to coaching was the National College for School Leadership’s programme for school middle leaders—Leading from the Middle (LftM). This paper explores the experience of school‐based coaching on LftM. It begins by considering key issues concerning the practice of leadership coaching before presenting data on the LftM coaching experience drawn from two evaluations of the programme. The findings …