Novice principals' experiences and responses to challenges are important for understanding their sensemaking of their role, especially in view of the contextual complexity of leadership in small schools. Using interview data from 19 novice principals in small schools, we explore principals' sensemaking of their key challenges and responses. Principals' narratives highlighted three challenges, seemingly unique to, or exacerbated by, the small school context: learning the role, building and sustaining community relationships, and leading improvement in teaching and learning. Our findings raise questions and implications for policy makers and training providers around principal succession, induction and development.