SecEd Podcast

One in four children are persistently absent from school and new government guidance means attendance is a priority this term. In this episode, we discuss why students struggle to attend school, the barriers they face, and effective approaches/strategies to help raise attendance. We seek tips from children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza and the Education Endowment Foundation, discussing the f...

With soaring costs and real-terms school funding cuts, balancing the books has become a huge challenge. This episode offers practical advice for effective school financial planning and management. We consider the funding situation on the ground and contemplate some worst-case scenarios for the year ahead. We discuss how we can approach the challenges we face, touching upon generating efficiencies,...

In this episode, Alex Quigley offers tips and ideas for the explicit teaching of writing skills in the secondary classroom. Drawing on his book, Closing the Writing Gap, Alex explains how secondary teachers of all subjects can improve their students' writing skills – and why this is important. We discuss general principles, the Simple View of Writing, explicitly teaching and modelling the stages o...

Are you ready for the new school year? This podcast offers a checklist for senior leaders in secondary schools to help you prepare for the autumn term and beyond. Our experts discuss common 'new year' tasks for school leaders as well as common problems at this time of year. We focus on the school improvement cycle and self-evaluation – what should be in place and what lies ahead for the School Imp...

At least 250,000 children and young people are living with Long Covid including an estimated 4.8% of secondary-age students. This episode looks at the implications for secondary schools and what we can do to support these students academically and pastorally. We discuss the many and varied symptoms of Long Covid and the impact they can have on learning, education, and wellbeing. We offer ideas and...

This podcast tackles memory – asking what teachers need to know about how students learn, forget and remember information. Our experts offer a wealth of tangible teaching strategies as they discuss short-term, working and long-term memory, how they work and interact, and the implications for how we teach. We discuss how we can direct pupils' attention, the limitations of short-term memory, and how...

This episode looks at supporting pupils as they make the transition from primary to secondary school. We chat with two secondary schools and two feeder primaries about common transition challenges and solutions. We look at when transition work should begin, what the process looks like, engaging with parents, identifying pupils who may struggle, and supporting vulnerable pupils. We discuss tried an...

This episode considers extra-curricular activities and what effective provision looks like in the secondary school. What are the common challenges when delivering extra-curricular provision? What kind of activities work best? How do we schedule these activities – when and where? How do we ensure equitable access and do we 'target' students? We also discuss how we can staff extra-curricular provisi...

How can school leaders ensure that teacher appraisal and performance management processes are fair and effective. Our experts discuss what an effective appraisal and PM policy looks like and what kind of evidence the process should require. We discuss how to set objectives to enhance mastery and protect teacher autonomy, what happens to those objectives once set, and how they should be monitored a...

All homework should have a clear purpose – but what? This podcast asks what secondary teachers should consider when planning homework. We discuss the purposes of homework, different types of tasks, and which are most effective. We agree some golden rules for setting homework, ask how much we should be setting, and what teachers should avoid doing. We discuss what we should do with the results of h...

This episode considers how teachers can use test-enhanced learning – commonly known as retrieval practice – as well as spaced learning and interleaving techniques to help students remember/recall the information they are taught. Our experts discuss what these approaches look like in the classroom and the evidence and reasoning behind them. We consider activities that work best, what to avoid, test...

This episode looks at how we can help students to prepare for their GCSE and A-level exams, including handling the anxiety and stress that exam season can bring. Our experts discuss supporting students academically and pastorally, including tackling the impact of Covid on exam preparation. We look at preparing students so they know what to expect, building techniques to use on the day, spotting th...

This episode looks at how secondary schools can support students living with trauma & adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). We ask what form trauma/ACEs can take and what impact they can have on young people and their education. We discuss signs to look-out, the key tenets of effective support, how to build strong relationships and trust, and creating safe spaces. We discuss behaviour as a form of...

This episode considers how we can work with key stage 4 students, both academically and pastorally, to prepare them for the step-up to post-16 study. Our experts discuss why this transition point is so vital and the key challenges post-16 students often face. We consider: How we can help students to handle the increased independence of post-16 study, including study and research skills, time-manag...

After 2021 – the year of experimentation – this episode talks all things #edtech, looking at examples of recent best practice and the elements that are crucial to successful technology-use in schools. We offer tips to teachers on risk-taking with edtech as well as making a success of hybrid learning. We also discuss: Confidence-building, edtech trends, CPD/training, good edtech leadership, support...

This episode looks at how to be an effective SENCO – considering best practice in the role, key duties, and how we can carry these out to a high standard. Our experts discuss what a SENCO can and should do in order to be effective, and how we can overcome common challenges – including insufficient time for the role and high workload. We offer advice for someone who is new to the role and we discus...

This episode looks at how middle and senior leaders should approach the first 100 days in any school leadership role with lots of advice and tips for school leaders new in post. We discuss: How to prepare for a new leadership role and identify early priorities; what a new leader should do and avoid doing in their first week; how we can engage effectively with new colleagues, including 'difficult'...

This episode discusses effective parent/carer engagement work for schools, offering advice and ideas. We discuss a parental engagement timeline (when this work should begin and how it can be sustained), handling conflict with parents, how to engage with "hard-to-reach" parents, community out-reach, and protecting staff workload. We discuss best practice for your school website and how parental eng...

In this episode, we catch up with Adele Bates, a behaviour specialist, ex-teacher and author of Miss I Don't Give a Sh*t: Engaging with challenging behaviour in schools. Our practical discussion looks at how we can deal with and prevent challenging behaviour, what challenging behaviour looks like, when it occurs and handling incidents. We ask how we can create safety, boundaries and routines, incl...

This episode looks at how digital learning in schools is evolving in the wake of the pandemic and what it will look like in the months to come. We discuss lessons learnt from Covid, how the pandemic experience has changed practice and use of technology – and where we go next. We offer ideas for edtech practices that free-up teachers to teach, including pedagogy, homework, assessment, blended learn...

Host Adele Bates leads a reflective and practical discussion on diversity and inclusion in the classroom – how we can achieve this and what it looks like. We touch upon representation, avoiding tokenism, evaluating the resources we use to deliver our curriculum, and ask how we can include all students and ensure everyone feels they belong. We discuss how we can connect with pupils from diverse bac...

This episode is published ahead of #AntiBullyingWeek 2021 (November 15-19) and looks at how schools can prevent and respond to bullying behaviours and incidents. We discuss core principles of anti-bullying work, including school structures, policies & culture, what whole-school approaches look like, effective anti-bullying policies, using student voice, effective school culture, LGBT­+ inclusion &...

This episode offers advice to early career teachers (ECTs) to help you thrive during your first year/s of teaching. The discussion features two ECTs (one first year & one second year) as well as an experienced mentor. We discuss common challenges for new teachers and offer advice for ECTs across key areas including SEND, work/life balance, workload, lesson-planning, differentiation, self-care and...

Ofsted's inspection framework requires schools in England to focus on the intent, implementation and impact of their curriculum. Last year, Matt Bromley, author of School and College Curriculum Design, discussed his six-step process for curriculum intent ( https://bit.ly/3cl68fY ). Now we invite Matt back to focus on curriculum implementation and impact. Implementation: Translating curriculum into...

This episode looks at coaching and mentoring as part of effective CPD practice in schools. Our experts define coaching and mentoring, how one differs from the other, and how coaching and mentoring practices in schools have changed over the years, including different models and how to measure impact. We discuss the essentials that need to be in place in order to make coaching and mentoring effectiv...