Care is widely recognised as an important aspect of school life, yetthere is little empirical research examining how care is understoodand enacted in post-primary (secondary) schools at an organisa-tional level. This paper examines how care is organised, experi-enced, supported, and constrained within the Education andTraining Board (ETB) post-primary sector in Ireland, where care isofficially recognised as a core value. Focusing on leadership at thewhole-school level, the study aims to explore the gap between careas an espoused ethos or policy aspiration and care as an enactedorganisational practice. A sector wide survey was used to collectquantitative data which measured perceptions of care provisionand qualitative data examining challenges in the provision of careand the supports required across the sector. Findings indicate thatcare is experienced through a range of organisational practices,including leadership approaches and structures for pastoral care.This study makes visible the labour through which care is sustainedin practice and acknowledges that it is time-consuming, emotion-ally demanding and unevenly resourced. Participants identifiedsystemic and resource-related challenges that impact the consis-tent enactment of care across the sector. The study contributes tounderstanding of care as an organisational construct and highlightsimplications for educational leadership.