The School Should Be Podcast

Sophia Lerche - Thomsen talks to me about what students need to learn and know about financial planning. She explains the key foundations of financial planning, how students can effectively plan and prepare for the financial futures, what the word investment means (including Bitcoin and NFTs!) and she shares her career journey and how she navigated her choices as a student to the present day. A ve...

Kirsty Pole is an English Lead in secondary education in the UK. Kirsty has been teaching for 12 years and has over 5000 followers on social media; Kirsty shares her own views about the education sector and most recently her tweets to warn parents and teachers about social media influencer, Andrew Tate received some necessary (and a lot of unnecessary) attention.  Kirsty talks about how teach...

Charlotte Lockhart is CEO of the 4 Day Work Week , now a Global Foundation that advocates, supports, and funds research about 4-day week practices, policies, workplace wellbeing and the future of work. Charlotte, along with her co-founder Andrew Barnes has recently launched the international pilot project here in the UK, and has had 100s of companies express an interest. In this insightful and val...

Kirsty Went, Year 13 Student in the UK, Deputy Head Girl and upcoming English Literature Undergraduate talks to me about her explorations and understanding of intersectional feminism. Kirsty first spoke to me about the need for more relevant, in-depth and practical support for students about consent, gender equality and equity, sexual harassment, allyship and keeping womxn safe. Our conversations...

David is the organiser of the Neurodivergent Professional Network LinkedIn Group and blogs frequently on Medium and other platforms about the professional and adult experience for Neurodivergent individuals. David has a wealth of professional experience and navigating professional networking is something he speaks and advises on frequently. A late diagnosis of autism in his mid twenties, whilst wo...

Hannah Wilson , previously a secondary school Executive Headteacher, is a Leadership Consultant, Coach and Trainer, talks to me about how teachers can strategically manage change, difficult conversations and create opportunities for diversity and inclusion within schools. A podcast aimed at teachers and school leaders, this practical and valuable conversation walks teachers and leaders through cre...

Matt Messias , Leadership and Resilience Coach at Matt Messias Impact Leadership , former Premier League, FIFA, UEFA and Football League referee, AND a headteacher who has led schools internationally in the UK and New Zealand…I couldn’t think of someone more perfect to talk to about what the athlete mindset is and how students can develop the mindset we all know is the key to their success. In thi...

In this episode, Michaela, founder of The Prosperity Project , explores how schools can have conversations about anti-racism and embed anti-racism proactively and consistently in schools. It's not as simple as an anti-racist, equality policy; Michaela advises on how schools, teachers and students can take an intersectional approach to anti-racism work. We also discuss practical things students and...

Nic Ponsford , Co-Founder and the CEO, Education, of the Global Equality Collective , a movement and community of over 15 000 and a Collective of over 450 diversity, equality and inclusion subject matter experts, joins me to talk about how schools can integrate effective diversity and inclusion education in a sustainable and effective manner. The GEC has designed and launched the world’s firs...

Meena Wood , MBA Ed Leadership, FRSA, is an Education Consultant & Trainer, former HMI Ofsted Inspector, Secondary Academy Principal, Principal of Adult Education, DfE & LA Education Advisor. Meena joins me to talk about what makes a great school culture and how schools can embed healthy, effective and successful school cultures into their everyday working practices, environments, staff bo...

Anusheh Attique is a teacher, mentor and innovator in curriculum design and training and development in Pakistan. This conversation is such an energetic, lively, engaging and authentic discussion of everything school should be: learning about different perspectives, unlearning our biases and understanding to listen and empathise with compassion, curiosity and an open mind. Anusheh speaks to me abo...

This week, I speak to Harry Moore, Business Management graduate with a Masters in Psychology...and a fitness professional of over 10 years. Harry is founder of Team for Never Lean , a platform of over 19k subscribers, that aims to discuss and centralise topics and discussions that can often make the fitness industry feel like an uncomfortable place. Team For Never Lean is are centred on research a...

Noor-ul-Huda Sheikh and Liberty Thomas , both university students join me to discuss Linda Scott's excellent book, The Double X Economy, in which Scott explores the level of global, female 'economic subordination'. In her book, Scott draws upon an array of sources from her own research and data, to her own exchanges with women in Ghana, Bangladesh and in the US. The book is fascinating and a wonde...

Bilkis Miah is Co-founder and CEO of You Be You , an award-winning organisation working with primary schools and parents to address and break down gender stereotypes and encourage students to embrace their individual identities. Bilkis explores how teachers and students can address gender stereotypes from as young as 5 and why schools need to challenge gender stereotypes if we are to create e...

Sarah Ledger, Director at Lexonik , talks to me about how we can teach literacy skills and education in schools and how we can make literacy about more than just spelling, punctuation and grammar. An award-winning company that works with schools, students, teachers and homeschoolers, Lexonik provides unique resources and transformational programmes to ensure every single individual can access lite...

Louise is a university student, studying Business and Sociology. Currently on placement as a sustainability and business development intern, Louise has a keen interest in sustainability, micro choices we can make on a daily basis to have a positive impact on the planet and our lives. Sustainability and our need to take care of our environments and planet is an urgent necessity that all of us need...

Jack Allsopp an Oxford graduate with a first class honours in History and a master's in Global and Imperial History. He attended a leading grammar school and achieved an excellent set of grades. Nearly 5 years on and now part of a programme management graduate scheme at a fantastic company, Jack wrote a blog post for School Should Be, reflecting on his experiences as a student. The blog was honest...

Sharon Booth, founder of Solutions Not Sides , an organisation that facilitates a range of excellent workshops, resources and discussions for 15-18 year olds on Palestine and Israel. In this podcast, Sharon and I discuss the language students can use when talking about Palestine-Israel, some key points to note when the topic of Israel-Palestine comes up in classroom discussion, student and teacher...

Simranjeet Kaur Mann is a trainee solicitor for a top 20 law firm, a content creator and a vlogger. A previous Head Girl when at secondary school, Simran's YouTube channel has amassed over 100k views in one year, since she started it at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Simran's vlogs and content are predominantly to support, inform and advise future students interested in vacation schemes,...

Leila is a Human, Social and Political Sciences student at The University of Cambridge. An advocate for equitable rights, diverse and equal opportunities, Leila wrote an open letter to her school after the tragic disappearance and death of Sarah Everard, regarding the treatment of female students, addressing school culture and behaviour policies that can perpetuate misogynistic tendencies, common...

Uju Asika is an award-nominated blogger and founder of parenting blog - Babes About Town. She is also a creative consultant and founder of Mothers and Shakers, a digital consultancy building connections between female entrepreneurs and supporting women in business within the digital space. Most recently, Uju has written the wonderful and much needed book, Bringing Up Race , teaching parents, teach...

Aaron Pandher, Wellbeing and fashion blogger, final year university student and once a Head Boy at a leading secondary school tells us about how he has managed his wellbeing and academic success throughout his teen years. He explains why he thinks student centred wellbeing should be put before academic success, how he has achieved it and why other students should prioritise their wellbeing routine...

Sophie Morris , an introvert expert and coach , tells us all about the best ways to teach introverts in the classroom and how introverted teenagers learn best too . 50% of the population are introverts, yet we seem to operate in an extroverted world. Given that school is also a fairly extroverted environment, it's not good enough to say students need to speak up more in lessons, raise their hands...

Leo Carr , founder of Study Politics , a platform that provides A level revision and learning resources for all politics students and teachers, tells us about why students need to learn about politics at school and how it can have a positive impact on their perspectives, discussions and learning experiences overall . Leo was part of the first cohort of year 13 students to have their exams cancelle...