This article reports on a study that was funded by the National College for School Leadership in order to explore practices, drivers and barriers to leadership talent identification, leadership development, leadership succession planning and leadership retention within a group of contextually different schools. The article offers two narratives from primary school headteachers, operating in different circumstances, in order to show the ways in which schools are attempting to "grow their own" leaders through systematic policies for leadership development. Key features of successful schools which consider themselves to be good at leadership development, which may be relevant to other primary schools, are outlined.