The Cultivating Change Podcast

Morgan was bullied at school and found it hard to make friends. At the time he came to Jamie’s Farm aged 13 he had fallen in with the wrong crowd and was doing noticeably worse at school. He says that he could easily have gone off the rails, but that his visit to the farm helped him gain the confidence to leave that peer group and build more positive relationships. In  Shift Happens , psychotherap...

Like many young people today, Iram suffered from anxiety and was crippled with shyness when she came to Jamie’s Farm aged 14. Having grown up in care, she says that many decisions about her life were made by others and that she hadn’t learned to speak up for herself. This held her back at school because she didn’t have the courage to ask for help, and often truanted from lessons. She describes how...

Johnbosco grew up in Nigeria, but says there was so much violence where they lived that his family decided he'd be safer abroad. He arrived in Heathrow as an unaccompanied asylum seeker aged 15. There are now more than 7000 asylum-seeking children in the UK. Johnbosco's honest account is a rare opportunity to understand what it’s like to arrive alone as a child in an unfamiliar land. In  S...

When he was 12 George didn’t really speak, especially around people he didn’t know. He has Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD, but this wasn’t diagnosed until later in life.  He says this meant he sometimes exploded with frustration, and often got into fights. George didn’t feel like he fitted in at school, but that during his visit to Jamie’s Farm he started speaking a little more, and from there...

When Adele visited Jamie’s Farm aged 13 she was at risk of exclusion from school. She says she found it hard to concentrate and was always getting sent out of class. Ever rebellious, she refused to get off the bus when she first arrived at the farm, but credits her experiences there with a change in mindset that helped her re-engage with her education.  In  Shift Happens , psychotherapist, former...

Riley grew up in care, and came to Jamie’s Farm when he was 14 years old full of energy and struggling to find his place in the world. Having often been let down by the adults around him, he protected himself by anticipating rejection and failure, putting on a hard front and looking for approval in the wrong places. In  Shift Happens , psychotherapist, former teacher, and Jamie’s Farm co-founder T...

A podcast for adults, parents and teachers revealing how young people – in their own words – found their way and what made a difference. We hear it all the time: teenagers today are in crisis. From mental health struggles and screen addiction to rising truancy and disengagement from their education. But what if that’s not the whole story? In  Shift Happens , psychotherapist, former teacher, and Ja...

Join Tish and Ellie, a secondary school early career teacher, as they explore the transformative power of 'fresh starts' in the spirit of spring and a new term.

In this episode of the Cultivating Change podcast, Tish speaks with Glen, a teacher who grew up and currently teaches in London. The pair discuss the changing landscape of modern childhood, and the challenges that this comes with.

Children are not born bad yet can sometimes bring their 'worst' self to school. What is the context of young people struggling to self-regulate? Tish takes a look at the broader picture joining up her knowledge as a psychotherapist and teacher with 14 years of working with children who struggle at school. She is a passionate advocate that behavioural changes for the better are possible.

How can we create a genuine sense of belonging within the school and within the classroom? Listen to Tish Feilden share her thoughts alongside two young people who are coming to the end of their time in secondary school.

Following on from our latest webinar focused on reimagining of the education system, we’ve been talking to young people about their experiences of school and how well they think the system prepared them for their future lives. Speaking openly with Tish Feilden, they identify the skills they feel they needed more support with, including handling finances and understanding tax returns! They also cle...

Doubly disadvantaged? Do stricter behavioural policies adversely affect vulnerable children? In this episode of Regenerative Education, Tish discusses the implications of strict behaviour policies with Wayne from BCP Council. Wayne works to improve outcomes for children with a social worker and children in care. Here, they delve into the consequences of stricter school policy and how this can put...

In this podcast, Tish Feilden talks to writer and teacher, Clare Deal about why a sense of belonging is so critical to children's development, and how we can foster this in schools. In a recent TES article, Clare Deal found that according to 2020 research, one in four young people feel they do not “belong” in school - a figure that is rising. This is a problem, the report finds, because a sense of...

Are children equipped for their futures? What teachers and employers think In November last year I wrote a blog post questioning how well our schools prepare children for their futures. In this podcast I had the pleasure of talking to ex-teacher Lloyd and current teacher Serafina about what schools are doing or could be doing to prepare young people for the working world and life’s challenges. Llo...

The digital world is powerful and are we as adults helping children sufficiently to set boundaries and develop the skills to navigate this positively? The human qualities of good social and emotional relationships can be usurped if we don’t set boundaries and create time and space for more ‘real’ interaction. In this next podcast I delve into this deeper speaking to young people about their perspe...

We have produced our latest podcast and resources (including this PDF Support Sheet on Sensitive Conversations ) to try to help to meet the needs of teachers who have been telling us how worried they are about the mental wellbeing of the pupils they teach. With the NHS and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) struggling to meet the current demand , many teachers are reporting that t...

The teachers in the second podcast in this series have taught in mainstream schools and Alternative Provisions. They bring together their experience and thinking about how we could regenerate education to better meet the needs of the child and help them thrive to face more positive futures. They speak of how wellbeing and happiness are inextricably linked to academic achievement and how teachers n...

The Difference, a charity focusing on what difference is needed to meet children’s needs, is the subject of our two part mini series. As a programme, it brings together inspiring people wanting to adjust the education system to make it even better. In the first of the two podcasts, you will hear Jake Curtis from Jamie’s Farm in discussion with Kieran Gill who founded The Difference. After several...

Our futures have all been under discussion with a focus more than ever on climate change. Amidst a raft of initiatives, farming practices are having to change to be more sustainable, and, borrowing from the wisdom and hope of Regenerative farming, we want to use the same challenging investigation into the education system. Is it fit for purpose, does it help children thrive? Jamie’s Farm wants to...

In episode 3, our final episode of 'Tish with Teachers' , Tish Feilden, Jamie's Farm co-founder and lead therapist speaks to Rob, an English teacher working in London, about how he can help children who seem to love the attention, whatever the costs.   In our venture into podcasting, your feedback is very much appreciated so, if you feel able to do so, do please post a quick review wherever y...

In our second episode of 'Tish with Teachers' , Tish Feilden, Jamie's Farm co-founder and lead therapist speaks to Annabelle, a Science teacher working in Ipswich, about how she can help children with challenging behaviour.  In our venture into podcasting, your feedback is very much appreciated so, if you feel able to do so, do please post a quick review wherever you download your podcasts. P...

Tish Feilden, Jamie's Farm co-founder and lead therapist, welcomes you to ' Tish with Teachers'; the first in the series of the Jamie's Farm Podcast. In this series, we hope to share some of the strategies that we’ve developed here at Jamie’s Farm through talking to teachers who are struggling on the frontline.  Episode 1: Heads on Desks: Engaging the withdrawn children in your classroom Epis...

In our first episode of 'Tish with Teachers' , Tish Feilden, Jamie's Farm co-founder and lead therapist speaks to Abi, an English teacher working in South London, about how she can help the withdrawn children in her classroom to thrive.   In our venture into podcasting, your feedback is very much appreciated so, if you feel able to do so, do please post a quick review wherever you download yo...