Frank and Stan Chats

The next SPOTLIGHT Edition considers a recent blog written by Mark Innes, Dr Elizabeth Gregory and Dr Lisa Murtagh on the apparent marketisation of professional leadership qualifications. The three academics published a BERA piece to explains the development of national leadership programmes and how they have shifted through the DfE's control into six NPQs provided by nine lead providers. Their bl...

Frank met the amazing Sarah Davies at a conference last September in London. He was impressed by her insight, passion and commitment of Sarah so he reached out and luckily she agreed to be a guest on our weekly Frank and Stan Chat. She explains why Oracy is so important, how it unlocks doors in other areas of learning and is not just an English department issue. She also explains how she found the...

Today Frank and Stan chatted with Ros McMullen and Peter Cockcroft, two colleagues closely involved with Headrest, a support group for senior managers facing significant stress from undertaking their role in education. Headrest explain why they exist on their website https://www.headrestuk.co.uk 'Never before has the job of running a school been so challenging, not just for headteachers, but also...

On the day Ofsted announced the launch of 'The Big Listen' it is timely to have Tracey O'Brien, headteacher and author of the seminal book 'Rethinking Inspection as our guest. The chat covers a broad range of topics. Stan kicks off with the strange news story where apparently a Headteacher was dismissed for slapping her child's wrist while on school premises in front of the designated safeguarding...

This week the gents chat with two colleagues who appeared on the show in October 2022. Big advocates of the physically active learning movement, Alun Davies and Bryn Llewellyn bring us up to speed with their recent work. The chat also includes a consideration of the leadership approach adopted by James Timpson, of the shoe repair business, which gives significant flexibility to local store manager...

Every year in the build-up to World Book Day Frank and Stan invite children's author Dan Worsley to be their guest. The chat covers how he creates his ideas, drafts his work, edits and then publishes the successful books. These include the Eric Appleby trilogy and the Impossible Tales collection. As a former primary school teacher Dan appreciates the challenges in encouraging reading and writing....

This week the two gents are joined by Sam Gibbs, Leader of Curriculum and Development for the Greater Manchester Education Trust. Sam contributed strongly at a recent Forum Strategy event and also published a fascinating analysis of the risks associated with centrally driven training programmes. As she points out in the chat there is a need for professional agency and leadership development progra...

This week Stan gets the chance to chat with a colleague with a vast range of experience in offering supervision support for education staff including senior leaders. Lisa Lea Weston is the founder of Talking Heads Supervision which has provided support to over 1000 schools across the country. If you follow these weekly chats you will know that Stan is a big advocate of supervision support. The cha...

We were delighted to be put in contact with Sam Fox and Chris Walsh by a previous guest Shaheen Myers. Shaheen sang the praises of their work so we were keen to find out what all of her excitement was about. It turns out to be a new online support programme for PSHE in secondary schools. Sam and Chris explain the concept and where the idea for their work came from. It seems to have started as an a...

Sometimes the Frank and Stan Chats connect with guests at just the right time. John Woodhouse, who set up and leads the Safeguarding Network, joined the two gents during a week when Ofsted announced changes to the way it intends to inspect safeguarding, a recent NSPCC report on child abuse was published and the awful events surrounding the death of a two year old focused on child protection arrang...

For the first edition of the New Year we were delighted to have Dr Ronda Zelezny-Green join us as our guest from sunny Grenada, in Southern Spain. Frank knows Ronda through their work as Board members (Ronda is the chair) of InnovateHer, a not-for-profit organisation committed to ensuring more females join the digital tech industries and ensuring those industries are ready for more females. Ronda...

The final chat of 2023 sees Eric Craven, the Scouse Poet, return for the third time. He is the regular 'go-to' guest for the final chat before Christmas and he never disappoints. He has a new anthology of poems just published called "Love, hurt and whimsy'. He reads two contrasting poems from the collection as well as a new poem about his son. Despite much news in the world of education we glide o...

We've been trying to secure a slot to have the brilliant Sameena Choudry back as a guest and she certainly didn't disappoint. In a week when there was the Coroner's verdict on the Headteacher at Caversham Primary School, the lack of strong leadership emanating from the Covid Inquiry, a Prime Minister trying to say that Rwanda is a safe country when only a few months ago Supreme Couty judges determ...

Sir David Carter was a guest on Frank and Stan Chat in September 2022 and we were delighted to welcome him back to find out what has caught his eye this week? The chat considers The Elgin Marbles and what it says about leadership. Also enables us all to reflect on the tricky meeting with a parent/carer and how best to deal with it. David then shares his clear view on the Minimum Service Standards...

Sir David Carter was a guest on Frank and Stan Chat in September 2022 and we were delighted to welcome him back to find out what has caught his eye this week? The chat considers The Elgin Marbles and what it says about leadership. Also enables us all to reflect on the tricky meeting with a parent/carer and how best to deal with it. David then shares his clear view on the Minimum Service Standards...

This week the chat tries not get in a tail spin over a variety of Ofsted issues. Meena Wood is a former HMI, Principal, local authority adviser, author and public speaker and a strong critic of the current inspection arrangements. During the chat she explains how differently other countries inspect their schools and wonders why there is not a greater focus on this. Stan considers why Maintained Nu...

It is great to have weekly chats with colleagues who know each other well and feel safe chatting about things. There is a higher level of trust and respect. This is certainly the case for this week's chat with Stephen McMullan. Stephen worked with Frank as one of the most senior colleagues at the Coop Academies Trust when Frank was CEO there. He became a Senior HMI with Ofsted and then followed in...

It is great to have weekly chats with colleagues who know each other well and feel safe chatting about things. There is a higher level of trust and respect. This is certainly the case for this week's chat with Stephen McMullan. Stephen worked with Frank as one of the most senior colleagues at the Coop Academies Trust when Frank was CEO there. He became a Senior HMI with Ofsted and then followed in...

Every week we usually have a great guest drawn from a range of roles involved in education. But, this week we have excelled ourselves by having as our guest Prof Andy Hargreaves, the visiting Professor at University of Ottawa, Research Professor at Boston College, an elected member of the US National Academy of Education and current adviser to the First Minister of Scotland. In addition he has pub...

A few months ago Frank met Dave McPartlin at a glitzy event in Blackpool. Dave, Headteacher at Flakefleet Primary School in Fleetwood has recently spoken out publicly about the current Ofsted arrangements and how these were impacting on his wellbeing as well as other senior leaders. He mentioned some work he was proud of at his school so we decided to record this week's Frank and Stan Chat in the...

Carolyn Eyre is a nationally recognised expert on safeguarding. She returns to Frank and Stan Chat to discuss what's caught her eye this week but also to explain the significant changes in statutory and non-statutory arrangements that come into place before the end of 2023. Nearly all of the proposed changes were completely new to Frank (what's new, we hear you cry!). If you are a trustee, governo...

It is always a pleasure to have guests on Frank and Stan Chat who feel relaxed and willing to be open and honest. Lisa Fathers, Director of Education and Partnerships at Bright Futures Educational Trust, fits that bill. The chat covers mathematics for Primary Schools, what the Shadow Secretary of State for Education may have meant when she suggested more regular inspections on the most important i...

The two gents are joined by three senior education leaders from the south coast. Shelley Baker, Will Baldwin and Grainne Byrd share a strong commitment to the importance of citizenship and use it to drive school improvement through engagement and connection. An interesting week for the chat with the Prime Minister announcing a number of education and infrastructure decisions. The chat considers ma...

A few months ago Dr Rebecca Lawton was a guest on the weekly Frank and Stan Chat. During the discussion, she mentioned a number of initiatives she had introduced to improve teacher workload, recruitment and retention. We invited Rebecca back to focus fully on her initiatives including the introduction of a 4 day week for staff. It is an amazing chat that captures innovation, leadership and a real...

It is an absolute pleasure to spend an hour each week chatting formally (while recording) and informally (prior to and after the recording) with our guests. This week Aelwyn Pugh, a former longstanding HMI, joined our chat and provided real food for thought around what a broad and balanced curriculum looks like and whether it is actually available for all pupils. Stan considers a new approach for...