The Alternative Path with David Robson

This week I had the absolute pleasure in talking to Ryan Hudson. After playing 15 years of Super League and International Rugby, Ryan’s enthusiasm and passion for coaching people shone through when he was appointed as Head of Youth Development at Wakefield Wildcats Rugby League Club. Ryan has developed pathways and programs for children in schools, and academy, all the way through to first-team ru...

This week I spoke to Paul Hannaford. I first spoke to Paul on Twitter and after looking into his background and what he is now trying to achieve through educating others, I was keen to chat to him. I genuinely think through his own experiences he can and is making a huge difference to a lot of people’s lives. If you are looking for someone to help educate your young people around drugs, alcohol, i...

Julie Norman - Executive Primary Lead at Quantock Education Trust & MD of School Omega Solutions. This week I had the privilege of talking to Julie Norman - At age 14 I had already been fixed term excluded some 100 times. My year leader felt it was time for a chat "You really are breathing valuable oxygen someone useful could be using' she said. Well, I knew she did not like me, but this was a...

This week I chatted to TJ Juttla, TJ is someone I met through a networking group and since then we have shared our journey both through our recruitment businesses and podcasts. TJ is a passionate individual who is building a mainstream education recruitment business called QTS. I think it’s fair to say that since October TJ has a newfound motivation for education through his Podcast The Teachers'...

This week I had the pleasure in speaking to Nikki Holmes from Safe Together. Nikki started her career with West Midlands Police as a Police Officer, she then moved into a role as a service Manager with focus on young person’s substance misuse. Nikki has always had a real passion around the safeguarding of young people which took her into a role as a Children’s Services Inspector for the Care Quali...

This week I chatted to Pavla Gariboli, Pavla is an Educational Consultant based in Dubai in the Middle East. Born and raised in the Czech Republic Pavla moved to England and started teaching before taking up an opportunity to move to Dubai. As someone who went to both Primary and some of Secondary school in Dubai, Dubai will always hold a special place for me. Pavla has a fantastic view that we sh...

This week I chatted to two fantastic humans in Julia Johnston & Vicky Lambert from Best4Learning. BEST4Learning was created in September 2014 by Julia Johnston & Vicky Lambert, who after many years of working with children in various areas in sport, art and education had seen how creative activities could have such an influential effect on children’s wellbeing. BEST was initially set up to support...

Today I chat with Carla Andrews Founder & MD of Motivated Minds which is a non-for-profit organisation with the core mission to build mental health and wellbeing across the life course.  Motivated Minds work focuses on researching, developing and delivering services to help individuals, organisations and the wider community to be mentally and physically well. This is achieved by partnering with in...

This week I chat to Sturt Evans who is the Headteacher at New Leaf Inclusion Centre.  Stuart has experience in a wide range of leadership posts in secondary schools and alternative provision. He is an energetic practitioner with the knowledge, skills and understanding of a range of teaching, learning, assessment and behaviour management strategies needed to make a positive impact on the progress o...

This week I spoke to Terri Wyse (Assistant Headteacher) and Andy Chase (SLT, Careers and Enterprise leader, Learning beyond the classroom and Outdoor learning) from Woodfield Secondary School. Woodfield Secondary School provide education for young people with Learning and Additional Needs (LAN). A significant number of our pupils have language and communication difficulties, and an increasing numb...

Former RFL Chief Executive Nigel Wood said of Vince Karalius that his achievements marked him out as “one of the best players of his generation who approached the game with fierce determination and total commitment”. With extraordinary leadership and empathy Karalius was renowned for developing disengaged teenagers through robust training regimes and rewarding through recognition! The Karalius Fou...

In this episode I speak to Alex Manners. Alex was diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of 10, since then Alex has achieved so much and shares our passion in raising awareness. I hope you enjoy.

In this episode Simon Turnnidge and I talk about experiences and stigma's attached to Alternative Provision. The work both Simon and the rest of the team at Heybridge Co-Operative Academy Trust do is fantastic. I hope you enjoy.