The importance of middle leaders in bringing about improvement in schools is well recognized in the UK, as in many other countries, with the ever-present demand for raising standards and achievement. This article outlines some initial findings and discussion points emerging from the first stage of a project exploring how middle leaders in secondary schools in the United Kingdom perceive their leadership development needs, having recently completed a major middle leadership programme. An online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to uncover the perspectives of middle leaders about aspects of their role in which they feel confident, their immediate development needs and what they perceive would help them to meet these needs. Most respondents felt confident in their role but, somewhat paradoxically, expressed a need for further development in their areas of greatest confidence, which may well reflect the increasing complexity of the role of the middle leaders in schools.