Episodes
Thursday Mar 25, 2021
Thursday Mar 25, 2021
“The pandemic has given us the confidence to change, potentially in quite a quick way, to be creative in what we do and to focus on the most important things which, at the end of the day, are the children, the families and the staff.”
This week we talk to senior leaders at TEAM Education Trust: Sarah Baker, CEO, Alison Bingham, Director of Development, Rachel Watson, Associate Principal and Director of Education and Achievement, and Alan Brown, Principal, Model Village Primary. We look back at the year gone since the start of the pandemic, think about the difference working together as a trust has made to them and hear about the plans they have currently underway to further develop their work on a wellbeing charter.
We talk about:
- Their reflections on the previous year
- How the central team provided capacity to the schools
- The Trust’s approach to remote learning and how it has evolved over the course of the year
- The success of TEAM’s emphasis on parental involvement, including doing detailed individual risk assessments with each family and initially, designing the remote learning around parents’ ability to support it
- The ways in which parents, particularly at the Special School in the Trust, continued to support both the school and each other at this time
- Areas the Trust wants to develop in the future including its curriculum around employability and plans for more work around staff CPD
- The new members of staff that are joining the central team as TEAM becomes more established and the possibilities that might open up with regard to their wider offer as a result
- Their plans around working with staff to create a workload charter
- The confidence the team has taken away from the pandemic to “throw things up in the air” and make changes that will focus on what makes the most difference for pupils
You can learn more about TEAM Education Trust and its work here
“Parents probably learned more by accompanying their child in an online phonics session for instance, than in all the workshops we put on for them around phonics.”
Thursday Mar 18, 2021
Thursday Mar 18, 2021
“Nobody has asked me about how I, as an individual person, am feeling about the whole pandemic... because I am the headteacher and that is my job and that is what I do… I am the face of the school and that’s how I have to present. I don’t tend to share my opinion and feelings on a personal level, they tend to be more on a professional level because actually, it is not about me It’s about the children, the families and the staff.
This week we speak to Kate Owbridge, Executive Headteacher at Ashdown Primary School. She shares with us some of the lessons she has learned across 4 very different headships. Kate also includes some practical tips about engaging with school communities and school improvement. We briefly discuss engaging parents with remote learning, catch up and the challenges of leading a school community as they all return to school. We end with Kate enthusiastically explaining why she absolutely loves the work she does.
We talk about:
- The different schools Kate has led during her career and how in each case she got to know the community and how best to serve it
- The common thread across all types of parent is that they want the best for their children
- How to start on a school improvement journey while also taking parents along with you
- The realities of Kate’s school improvement experience at her current school, bringing an infant and junior school together
- What she has learned about headship during her career including, picking your battles, how to manage staff (such as the SBM) in an informed way so you feel confident all the right things are happening
- Her brilliant analogies about why supporting your child with remote learning can be approached like getting them to eat their meals and how catch-up is like recovering from a broken bone
- Her approach to building a bespoke curriculum based on how much time children have missed and how much longer they have left at the school
- How as a Head you need to remain neutral sometimes so that you can lead every member of the community, no matter how you are feeling
- Why she loves her job
Thursday Mar 11, 2021
Thursday Mar 11, 2021
This week we talk to Cheryl Campbell, Business, Finance and Operations Director at Thomas Tallis School, Founder of ABBLed (Association BAME Business Leaders in Education) and Stephen Morales, CEO at ISBL, about the recently released ‘Exploring Ethnicity: School Business Leadership in England’ report. We acknowledge that the report found very limited BAME representation in the school business profession and look at practical ways it can be increased. We also think about the lack of visibility of the school business profession and the ways in which that could be addressed.
We talk about:
- Cheryl’s journey into school business leadership
- Why she created ABBLed and how it works with ISBL
- The need for parity of esteem for school business leaders alongside leaders of teaching and learning
- How to attract talent into the school business profession, including the importance of different routes in and wider access to training and qualifications
- Why it is important for BAME individuals to tell their stories, as those interviewed for the research have done, so others can understand the impact of their actions or their silence
- How now is a time for us all to reflect and strive to do better
- Potential ways SBLs from BAME backgrounds can progress in their careers, including mentoring, training and becoming a governor
- The importance of role models
- The future for ABBled and its collaboration with ISBL
You can read the full Exploring Ethnicity School Business Leadership in England report here
Follow ABBLed on Twitter here and learn more about its work here
As discussed in the interview, you can also request a mentor here
Thursday Mar 04, 2021
Thursday Mar 04, 2021
“It’s been brutal. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my career in terms of the intensity, speed of thought, emotional demands, holding a community together as best you can, while not really knowing the answers to the questions you are being asked. But at the same time, what’s been really clear is the strength of the community we work within and work for.”
This week we talk to Simon Knight, Joint Headteacher at Frank Wise School and National SEND Leader at Whole School SEND. We talk about his route into special school leadership and his experiences of running the school during the pandemic. We also talk more broadly about the structural inequality that impacts the lives and life chances of young people with special educational needs. We discuss how the education sector, other government departments and society as a whole, have much more work to do to make sure everyone has a place in society where they can contribute and feel valued.
We talk about:
- What he loves about working with children with SEND
- His experiences of leading a special school during a pandemic
- Why a truly cross-departmental approach is needed to supporting young people with SEND
- The importance of genuinely involving those with lived experience in the policymaking process
- That the lack of opportunity for those with SEND is a hidden issue and isn’t challenged as frequently as other forms of discrimination
- The deep inequality facing young people with SEND in regard to opportunities for employment, health and happiness that others take for granted
- The importance of connecting young people with SEND to their local communities
- Simon’s thoughts on how the education sector could become truly inclusive
Do take the time to read this heartbreaking report, A Fair, Supportive Society, from the Institute of Health Equity that Simon and I discuss in the podcast.
“Let’s create a bit more space for people who’s lived experiences can inform what we do and stop making the presumption that those with the qualifications are best placed to make the decisions - because actually, it is those who experience it day to day who can help us work together to come up with the best ways of taking things forward.”
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
Key Voices #101 - ‘Let’s talk about Flex’ with Emma Turner
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
“The pandemic has shone so many lights on possibilities for how we could really harness flexible working. Historically, the infrastructure and organisational structures that we had within education were so deeply ingrained, that nobody dared challenge them… It’s thrown everything up into the air and has said, there is no aspect of our work... that we can’t explore doing in a different way.”
This week we talk to Emma Turner, author and Research & CPD Lead, about her book Let’s talk about Flex. We hear about Emma’s experiences of working flexibly and how schools can benefit from offering their staff opportunities to work differently. We also bust some common myths along the way. We consider how remote learning during the pandemic could actually accelerate the adoption of flexible working in education, a sector that still lags behind others when it comes to the number of people accessing flexible working.
We talk about:
- The different ways in which Emma has worked flexibly during her career
- What flexible working actually means including part-time, job share, staggered hours, compressed hours, working from home
- The fact that, after retirees, the biggest group of people leaving the teaching profession are experienced, female teachers aged 31-40 often this is because of a lack of flexible working options
- Whether schools could be missing out on a diverse range of talent if they only employ people who can work a full 5-day week
- How a culture with a low level of professional trust is a barrier to innovative flexible working opportunities
- The wealth of data and experience that shows that flexible working works and the lack of evidence that it doesn’t (see links below)
- Why we need to stop viewing flexible working as something negative that teachers and school leaders should apologise for doing
- How to bust myths, convince the sceptics and fully embrace the different kinds of career paths offered by working in a different way, including Emma’s “ patchwork flexibility” approach
As mentioned by Emma, you can find a range of data and case studies via the following organisations:
Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher Project
“A healthy happy staff are much better teachers, it is about looking at your culture and your ingrained systems rather than thinking “if we implement this new shiny approach to doing something this will solve it all” no it is actually: What do our staff need? What would benefit them? What can we tweak and offer?”
Thursday Feb 18, 2021
Key Voices #100 - Priorities for action in education and youth with Loic Menzies
Thursday Feb 18, 2021
Thursday Feb 18, 2021
This week, in our 100th episode of the podcast, we talk to Loic Menzies, CEO, Centre for Education and Youth (CFEY). We look back on Loic’s time creating and building the organisation as work begins around appointing his successor. We think about what has changed and shifted in education during the 12 years he has been running CFEY and look ahead to the forthcoming publication of his book “Young People on the Margins: Priorities for Action in Education and Youth”. We also consider what is needed to make sure all children and young people get the best start in life.
We talk about:
- How the CFEY began and how it has developed over time
- What a “think and action tank” actually does and the impact their work has had
- What has changed in education over the past 12 years
- The focus of their work on young people on the margins
- How Loic feels the wider services that used to support schools have been stripped away, leaving a “hollowed out” system
- The way that integrated action is needed to fully understand and address pupil vulnerability and child poverty
- The importance of young people’s voice to the work of the CFEY and suggestions of ways schools can harness pupil voice
- What should happen with this year’s exams
- If I made Loic an all-powerful Minister of Education and Youth what would he do?
You can learn more about the work of the CFEY here and their search for a new CEO here
The Youth Social Action Toolkit Loic mentions can be found here
The Primary Schools Careers resources Loic mentions can be found here
You can pre-order your copy of Young People on the Margins: Priorities for Action in Education and Youth here. You can save 20% by using the offer code (FLY21).
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
This week we talk to Adam Arnell, Director, Oxfordshire Teaching Schools Alliance, Patrick Garton, Director Oxfordshire Teacher Training and Robbie Haddock, Associate Teacher. We discuss how their teacher training and CPD have had to adapt to provide a compelling remote offer. We consider the ways in which teachers training this year have benefited as well as some of the challenges they have faced. We look forward to the introduction of the Early Career Framework and think about how schools might want to prepare for it.
We talk about:
- How Oxford Teaching Schools Alliance have developed to provide remote CPD
- What it is like to be an associate teacher this year including how remote tools and practices can actually allow you to focus on and hone specific aspects of practice, in a way that can be more difficult in a traditional classroom setting
- How being an associate teacher this year means there are a wealth of online CPD and networking opportunities that you can tap into
- How working with children in their own homes can make you more aware of the issues they are dealing with
- How those going into their NQT year in September may have to complete that recruitment remotely
- The importance of being in the right school for you during your time as an NQT including what questions you should ask at interview
- What schools need to think about with the forthcoming adoption of the Early Career Framework
- How a good NQT experience will be a crucial part of retaining this year’s cohort.
The list of questions for NQT’s choosing the right school to do their induction can be found here
You can register for the National Virtual Recruitment Fair that Adam is organising on the 4th March here
Robbie’s blog is here
Thursday Feb 04, 2021
Key Voices #98 - Supporting trusts during the pandemic with Leora Cruddas
Thursday Feb 04, 2021
Thursday Feb 04, 2021
“However hard it’s been, and it has been very difficult most of the time, schools never stopped, not once, to put themselves first. At every moment they have done their civic duty. I think they are exceptional. I think they are a national treasure.”
This week we talk to Leora Cruddas, CEO of The Confederation of School Trusts (CST), about her views on the role of trusts in the education system and how CST has been supporting its members during COVID-19. We think about the various ways in which schools in trusts have potentially fared better over the past year and consider some of the longer-term consequences of the pandemic.
We talk about:
- Leora’s career journey and what motivates her
- Why CST exists and how it supports its members
- Why schools benefit from being part of a strong and sustainable trust and how schools in trusts have in many cases fared better during COVID-19
- Some of the myths around multi-academy trusts, and the negative impact of some media reporting on cases of poor practice in trusts
- Risk and contingency planning in trusts and local authorities
- Exactly how much has been required of schools during this period and how they have prevailed at every stage
- The long term social consequences of COVID-19 and the need for schools to work in partnership to address them, while not compromising their core role
- Constructive ways to plan in a rapidly changing context
- Leora’s greatest hope for the future
Leora ends the podcast by reading some extracts of a poem by Maya Angelou called ‘Continue’ you can read it in full here
You can learn more about CST and its work here
“As we were going into a global pandemic and a national crisis, what CST members needed was an organisation that pivoted to speak directly to them and act directly for them, so that’s what I decided CST had to become.”
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
This week we talk to Karen Wespieser MBE, Chief Operating Officer at Parent Ping and Teacher Tapp. Karen talks about the Parent Ping app, why it matters to collect survey information from parents and some of the findings to date. We also hear a little bit about Teacher Tapp’s growing international work.
We discuss:
- The Parent Ping model and the benefits of daily polling especially during a period of such rapid change
- Why it matters in policymaking and education to have parents’ voices heard
- What they are uncovering about how different types of parents feel about things, particularly how parents, who are also teachers, behave
- The learnings about parental communication emerging from the pandemic
- Some of their more lighthearted findings
- Teacher Tapp’s international work
You can find out more about Parent Ping and how to sign up here.
The blogs we mention in this week’s podcast can be found here.
Thursday Jan 21, 2021
Thursday Jan 21, 2021
This week we talk to Professor Adam Boddison, CEO of nasen about his new book The Governance Handbook for SEND and Inclusion: Schools that work for all learners. We consider what every governor needs to know about SEND, the legislation schools need to comply with and how they can understand the quality of provision for children with SEND in their school.
We talk about:
- Why it is important for all governors to know about their school’s responsibilities around SEND
- What every governor needs to know about SEND
- The difference between the Social and Medical models of SEND
- Ways to learn more about the size and make-up of a school’s SEND cohort
- How governors might prepare and complete an effective SEND review of governance in their school
- The importance of a strategic approach to SEND, what that looks like and why getting it right for children with SEND is actually good for all pupils
- How you can use data, including budget information, to understand how inclusive your school is
- The most meaningful ways to present data so governors can get a clear sense of progress and attainment of pupils with SEND and the importance of having high expectations
- The eventual release of the Government’s SEND review in the summer, which will likely recommend a more cross-departmental approach to supporting young people with SEND.
In the podcast, Adam recommends governors familiarise themselves with chapter 6 of the SEND code of practice
You can find free resources to support a SEND review of governance here
From Monday 25th January, nasen membership will be available to all (including governors) for free, more details are availble here
If you purchase Adam’s book ‘The Governance Handbook for SEND and Inclusion’ from Routledge you can use the code BSM20 to get 20% off at checkout.