The School Leadership Podcast

Geraldine Trotman, Black History Patron for Wales, reflects on the contribution of her lifelong friend, champion of multiculturalism and Wales' first Black head teacher Betty Campbell. Betty was born in Butetown, Cardiff, in 1934. She qualified as a teacher in the 1960s and later became head teacher at Butetown’s Mount Stuart Primary School, where she made sure her pupils learned about the positiv...

In this episode, you’ll hear conversations that reflect on student and staff experiences of discrimination and explore how school leaders can take steps to understand and promote the equalities agenda in their schools. Michelle De Leon, founder and CEO of World Afro Day , talks to NAHT’s Natalie Arnett about why she set up the Big Hair Assembly and how schools can get involved, before Iona Jackson...

In March 2020, head teacher Alan Garnett decided to start a weekly column for a local paper chronicling the experiences of his school community as it responded to the pandemic. He ended up writing the diary for a whole year, and his articles have now been turned into a book, A Headteacher's Diary: Making it up as we go Along – Trying to lead a school through a pandemic . Here, Alan shares some of...

What does research say about the science of learning, and what does it mean for school leaders? In a conversation that takes in his experience of working with Manchester United and Olympic athletes, plus the impact of high expectations, lack of sleep and mobile phones, registered psychologist Brad Busch talks to NAHT’s James Bowen about how we can start to make sense of the wide range of education...

In this episode, you'll hear two perspectives on children's speech and language. Speech and language therapist Anna Sellers, who works with children in schools, and Derek Munn, director of policy and public affairs at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, talk about the impact of the pandemic – both negative and positive – on services for young people. They also share their thoughts...

Former Olympic swimmer Steve Parry is the co-founder of Total Swimming Academies and believes every child should have the opportunity to learn and enjoy swimming. Recent figures show a worrying number of children leaving primary school not knowing how to swim. Steve outlines Total Swimming Academies' campaign to invest in school facilities to ensure school pools remain viable while helping to maxi...

Football Beyond Borders is an education and social inclusion charity which transforms the outcomes for disadvantaged young people who are passionate about football but disengaged at school. In this episode, James Bowen speaks to co-founder and director, Jack Reynolds about the work the charity is doing with supporting young people’s academic and social and emotional learning as they transition to...

After a year that has seen school leaders “carrying the community” as they steer schools through the pandemic, Sinéad Mc Brearty, CEO of Education Support, speaks with NAHT’s James Bowen about the importance of compassion, connection and showing up in your best shape. Education Support is a UK charity dedicated to supporting the mental health and well-being of education staff.

Closing gaps, inclusivity and redressing imbalance wherever it may be is at the very core of the Global Equality Collective (GEC). Co-CEO and founder of the GEC, Nic Ponsford talks to James Bowen about the new GEC app which helps organisations track, monitor and embed diversity and inclusion into their day-to-day practices and behaviours. Nic discusses the core functions of the app and the work be...

Oak National Academy is the online classroom made for teachers by teachers. Created in April 2020 as a rapid response to the coronavirus outbreak, Oak Academy offers pre-recorded video lessons as well as quizzes, worksheets and creative activities to support remote learning. In this episode, principal at Oak National Academy, Matt Hood talks about how the online classroom came about, the important...

One of the unavoidable effects of the pandemic has meant that we have been forced to almost renegotiate our relationship with outdoor spaces. For leaders, it's meant careful management of school grounds and for some children outside of school, lockdowns have resulted in a new dynamic where access to the great outdoors has either been severely limited or denied altogether.  Jim Whittaker, chai...

When the national lockdown took place earlier this year, many schools quickly turned to technology to bridge the gap and continue learning outside of the school gates. In this episode, director of NAHT policy, James Bowen speaks to author, public speaker and managing director of NetSupport, Al Kingsley about the future of technology to support learning. We also consider the challenges blended and...

Campaigner, activist and speaker; Natasha Devon MBE talks to James Bowen about the relationship between exam stress and mental health in children and young people. Natasha also talks about the impact the pandemic and lockdown have had on young people’s anxiety levels.

The past few months have been a rapidly changing picture for schools which hasn’t always been easy to interpret and then act on. It’s been our aim all along to bring as much clarity to school leaders as possible. In this month’s podcast episode, director of policy and NAHT Edge, James Bowen answers your most frequently asked questions about planning for a full return to school this September.

How can we minimise infection in schools and in the wider community? How can we protect the most at-risk groups? Should staff be wearing PPE? How often should surfaces be wiped down in classrooms? Dr Matt Butler answers your most pressing questions about the covid-19 pandemic and outlines some practical steps you can take to keep staff and children safe.

In this episode, NAHT head of policy James Bowen talks to education author and former teacher Daisy Christodoulou about technology in schools. We consider what the next big ed-tech development is likely to be, whether we should ban mobile devices in schools and why ed-tech hasn’t yet had the transformative impact on education that it has long promised.

Professor Sonia Blandford is one of the country's foremost experts on improving the education and aspirations of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

 She is the founder and CEO of the award winning educational charity Achievement for All, which provides programmes to improve outcomes for children and young people aged two to 19 years. She is also a visiting professor of education and social...

We hear from Andy Wolfe, deputy chief education officer for the Church of England, about why it’s time to rethink resilience and what it means for school leaders. Andy oversees leadership development through the Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership.

It's the much awaited second part of our chart with Matthew Purves from Ofsted. Matthew gets into the specifics of what the new framework means for schools and what they'll be expecting of subject leaders. There's also an illuminating conversation with Julie Kelly, the Headteacher at West Meon Church of England Primary School on what it's really like to run a small school. With 60% of teachers in...

Deep dives and cultural capital. Ofsted is always an intense talking point and both this and next month, the School Leadership Podcast will keep you fully up to speed with what's expected and any new protocols. Earlier this term we saw the launch of an entirely new inspection framework and NAHT members have already begun to experience these new style inspections. Already we have seen teachers and...

This month, we’re talking about climate change and how schools are supporting their pupils to take an active interest in one of the most pressing issues facing the world today. Our guests are a Headteacher and NAHT member whose school has already started taking action to reduce its own carbon footprint, and from a member of the house of lords who is leading a campaign encouraging schools and pupil...

School exclusions is an issue right at the top of the government’s agenda currently, and it’s no wonder why. After a period of steady decline in the number of pupils being excluded from school, in recent years we have begun to see a worrying reversal in that trend. The government’s own data suggests the rate of exclusions is rising to almost 7,000 a year in England, the equivalent of more than 35...

We discuss a difficult, but vitally important topic – childhood bereavement. Shockingly, around 1 in 29 children will be bereaved of a parent or sibling during their time at school and of course many more will experience bereavement of other family members or friends. Yet, if you’re like most other teachers and school leaders, you have probably received very little, if any, training on this sensit...

How effective is the professional development in your school? Are you confident that the CPD your teachers are engaging in is having a positive impact on outcomes for pupils? In this episode we talk about the professional learning of teachers, and consider what school leaders can do to ensure that CPD in their school is of the highest quality. David Weston is the founder and Chief Executive of the...

As a profession, we've become accustomed to seeing school leaders, teachers and pupils becoming unexpected stars of the small screen. Documentaries like Educating Essex and Educating Manchester have proven to be unexpected ratings winners and have given viewers an insight into modern-day schooling along the way. You'll get to hear about one particular school community in London that may just be ab...