In this special, quick and easy episode, Adele hands the mic to guest Dr LJ Ducksbury, who shares a deceptively simple but powerful idea: before you worry about pupils, staff or parents, you have to manage your own state. Dr Ducksbury walks through a three-part “state triangle” made up of physiology, focus, and language to transform how you show up in classrooms, meetings and beyond.

Hosted by Adele Bates

Guest: Dr LJ Ducksbury

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this unusually gentle, quick and easy episode, Adele does something a little different. Instead of another fast-paced strategy, she offers five minutes of calm. Drawing on her research into how the brain needs downtime to learn. The episode becomes a small, practical reminder that pausing, especially in hectic school seasons, is not a luxury but a tool, giving both body and brain a chance to reset before you dive back into the work.

Hosted by Adele Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this quick and easy episode, Adele shares how she won the Best Storyteller 2025 Speaker Award. Drawing on her early years in theatre and opera, some painful rejections, and a wobble of self-doubt over one lukewarm feedback comment, she shows how backing yourself and applying anyway is the real difference-maker and invites you to consider where you're ready to step forward next.

Hosted by Adele Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this quick and easy episode, Adele shares a simple way to engage the student you know is likely to disrupt – before they do. With this simple tip, she turns potential disruption into purposeful participation. It’s about offering a genuine reason to be in the room, building a connection early, and changing the tone of the lesson from the outset.

Hosted by Adele Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this quick and easy episode, Adele shares a simple but powerful relationship strategy - deliberately building positive contact before any behaviour issue or tricky conversation arises. She also shares how small, consistent habits, like ending the week by reaching out with genuine positives, can quietly shape relationships over time. The same principle applies to colleagues and to parents and carers, so that when a difficult conversation does come, it lands on an existing foundation of trust rather than arriving out of the blue.

Hosted by Adele Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this quick and easy episode, Adele poses one deceptively simple question to school leaders: “Who is responsible for behaviour in your school?” The episode walks through how asking this one question exposes gaps in systems, processes, and accountability. Adele’s challenge to leaders is to not assume you know the answer. Check the data, listen to your people, and use what you find to tighten up behaviour culture across your school or organisation.

Hosted by Adele Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this quick and easy episode, Adele talks about the messy side of behaviour change, that uncomfortable phase where old habits have stopped working but new approaches aren’t embedded yet. If you’re in the messy bit, it doesn’t mean it’s failing. What you need is extra support, extra time, and extra grace, for yourself and your community, while the new patterns take hold.  

Hosted by Adele Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this episode, Adele and Keith dive into the messy, very human reality of difficult conversations. Drawing on their own challenging discussions as a live case study, they explore how disagreement, when approached with honesty, respect, and curiosity, can strengthen relationships and practice, whether between these co-authors, staff teams, or teachers and parents.

Hosted by Adele Bates

Guest: Keith Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this quick and easy episode, Adele provides you with a behaviour tip you can use to build a relationship with someone you find difficult. It’s a two-minute ritual to interrupt negative shortcuts, and softens defences on both sides. Try this ritual and watch the relationship shift. 

Hosted by Adele Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John

In this episode, Adele and Welsh Associate Keith share a leadership framework for behaviour and inclusion, from staffing structures and systems to policies, CPD, and the “feel” of a school. They dig into why data beats anecdote, how cross-school consistency is built, and what it really means when a school claims to be “inclusive”

Hosted by Adele Bates

Guest: Keith Bates

Recorded via Riverside

Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram

Production Support by Susan Outlaw

Operational Support by Hannah John