Paul Banks is our second volunteer for EduTalk, and we are very glad that he has offered to be involved.

When the Government's White Paper states an ambition to have every school in a Trust, we really need to ask what the advantages and disadvantages are.

Paul is an ideal person to have that conversation with, as the Chief Executive Officer of the Chelmsford Learning Partnership. He has the experience, but he also has objectivity, openness and balance.

This makes for a rich conversation full of insight and genuine debate.

Useful Links:

Unfinished Business: The life and legacy of Sir Tim Brighouse

There are an increasing number of conversations about leadership in our schools, but they are getting quieter!

In this conversation, we discuss Kind Leadership with Joanna Povall and the wonderful Jill Berry, whose book Making the Leap offers practical advice which will be invaluable to anyone considering headship.

We also discuss Calm Leadership and Quiet Leadership, both recent titles in the Crown House Armory but, it should be noted that it is lively and inspiring leadership that is what comes through from this conversation!

Mentioned in this podcast:

Making the Leap by Jill Berry

Kind Leadership by Joanna Povall

Unfinished Business edited by Mick Waters, Steve Munby and David Cameron

Calm Leadership by Patrick Cozier

Quiet Leadership by Andrew Marsh

The Rethinking Education Podcast with James Mannion and David Cameron

Teaching Autonomy by Sophie Smith -Tong

Imperfect Leadership by Steve Munby

The Teaching Life by Robin McPherson and Kate Jones

The A-Z of School Leadership by David Woods and Tim Brighouse

Another very timely podcast from EduTalk.

We all need to think about AI and how we use it in schools.

This episode does exactly that.

It covers many bases through Gemma Clark who is a primary school teacher and the author of Artificial intelligence in the Primary Classroom, Lord Jim Knight, formerly Minister for Schools and Learning with a remarkable track record beyond that and Priya Lakhani, the Founder CEO of CENTURY Tech, an artificial intelligence education technology company that develops AI-powered learning tools for schools, colleges, universities and employers across the world. Jim and Priya contributed chapters on AI to Unfinished Business - The Life and Legacy of Sir Tim Brighouse.

The conversation is rich and deep and well worth your time!

Priya's TED Talk can be found here: https://www.ted.com/talks/priya_lakhani_this_is_how_kids_should_be_learning_with_ai

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Careless-People-explosive-memoir-doesnt/dp/1035065924

If you are interested in a rousing conversation about class, inequality and what we really need to do to provide a better education for young people, regardless of their background, this is the podcast for you.

Prepare yourself for true stories, passion, brilliant references and genuine radicalism. All of this is inspired by Andy Griffith and Matt Bromley's book The Working Classroom, wonderfully championed by Andy in this conversation.

Other books mentioned in this episode:

The Working Class by various

The Magic of Metaphor by Nick Owen

The Tyranny of Merit by Michael J Sandel

The Wire - HBO Tv series

The Best Job in the World by Vic Goddard

Making School Unmissable by Rachel Macfarlane and Paul Jenkins

You can access Professor Danny Dorling’s website here, which has lots of resources about inequality

An introduction to Andy's course, mentioned in the episode, can be accessed here

The Scholars' Programme document can be accessed here

It is always a pleasure to record the Crown House EduTalk podcasts, but this one is particularly special.

We get the opportunity to talk to one of our educational heroes, Michael Fullan, who has been purveying common sense and inspiration based on sound research for decades. Added to that, we are joined by Fiona Millar, journalist, campaigner and someone who was at the heart of New Labour in its heyday. Fiona is always clear, direct, perceptive, well-informed and very smart.

We also owe a special thank you to Richard Bustin, author of What Are We Teaching?, who holds his own in this elite company.

If you are looking for a half-term report on the Government’s performance in education that comes with breadth, balance and insight, this is the podcast for you.

Other publications mentioned in this episode:

Unfinished Business edited by Mick Waters, Steve Munby and David Cameron

Youth matters: Your national youth strategy

The Curriculum and Assessment Review

Every Child Achieving and Thriving

The New Meaning of Educational Change by Michael Fullan

Failed State by Sam Freedman

This is a different podcast for us in lots of ways. Nikos Savvas contacted us and expressed an interest in being on the show, and we do love a volunteer!

Nikos was particularly intriguing because he is a Trust CEO, and someone who is established and successful in the education world and yet is still asking questions about that world.

Like many of us, Nikos is concerned about threats to democracy and the rise of extremism in British society and has very clear ideas about what we need to do about it. It was an irresistible offer, because the issues are timely, pressing and important, and the perspective that Nikos has is important. He is not some radical offering a critique from outside the system. He is someone who is making change within his own Trust and who thinks that we need to be making these changes much more widely. Listen and enjoy!

Books you may like to read:

Unfinished Business

About Our Schools

The Kindness Principle

Independent Thinking on Restorative Practice

The Working Class

A brilliant opportunity to speak with Patrick Cozier!

His book, Calm Leadership, is really useful for anyone involved in, interested in, or curious about school leadership.

In a world where burnout is far too frequent, Patrick brings longevity in post and stability, and he is prepared to share how he has managed that. He is very open about the challenges that he has faced, both personal and professional, but he has worked really hard at finding ways to deal with them. He is full of advice and warmth and creates a realistic conversation, constructive and practical.

Listen and enjoy! And listen out for the shameless Unfinished Business plug!

This is a timely podcast with Justin Robbins and Karen Dempster, based on their book The Four Pillars of Parental Engagement, which offers practical guidance for schools seeking to strengthen parent links.

In under an hour, they outline the value of positive engagement and share actionable strategies. Helpful resources and a thoughtful discussion await below—listen in!.

Free Four Pillars self-evaluation: https://tally.so/r/3jdbD1?mc_cid=0f033fb12b&mc_eid=UNIQID

Free resources on our website: https://www.fit2communicate.com/blog-resources

'How to build communication success in your school – a guide for school leaders':

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Communication-Success-Your-School/dp/1138240877

'The four pillars of parental engagement’: https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/the-four-pillars-of-parental-engagement

Our parental engagement masterclasses: https://www.fit2communicate.com/service-page/the-four-pillars-masterclass

Our online guided programmes (just one for now but more in the pipeline): https://www.fit2communicate.com/product-page/online-programme-building-trusted-relationships-with-parents

This is not so much Part 2 of our tribute to Juliet Robertson, but more of a separate podcast in its own right.

We found that Mark Paterson had so much to contribute to our first episode, that we never managed to fit it all in, so we invited him back!

Mark is the curator at Aberdeen’s Cruikshank Botanical Garden, and you can hear the story of how he and Juliet met and how they worked so perfectly as a team. Between them they have made it a real centre of learning.

On this episode Mark is joined by Mandy Tulloch, an outdoor learning specialist in Aberdeenshire who runs Mud Pie Adventures, weekly nature classes for 2 to 5-year-olds and works in four primary schools in Aberdeen, using their grounds to support children’s development and learning.

Given that background we focus on outdoor learning, but, inevitably, we range more widely. It is another warm, lively conversation that really adds to our earlier tribute to Juliet.

Find out more about some of the things we mention here:

Mud Pie Adventures: https://www.mudpieadventures.co.uk/

Cruikshank Botanical Garden: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/about/campus/old-aberdeen/cruickshank-botanic-garden/

Juliet Robertson, awarded honorary degree by Queen Margaret University: https://www.qmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/20240702-outdoor-learning-trailblazer-juliet-robertson-awarded-honorary-degree-by-queen-margaret-university/

Part one of an exceptional edition of the Crown House EduTalk Podcast

One that marks the amazing contribution of Juliet Robertson, one of the most effective and successful authors with whom we have ever been associated.

Juliet wrote three books for us. Dirty Teaching and Messy Maths are both outdoor learning titles which have seen tremendous success and capture much of the wider work that Juliet did to promote outdoor education

Blood Lines our first poetry publication was a significant departure, both for Juliet and for us. It is a collection of poems describing her experience of living with terminal cancer

We believe that all of these books are remarkable, but we know that Juliet’s contribution to education went far beyond the printed word. She was a teacher, a headteacher, a trainer, a mentor and campaigner. Her website https://creativestarlearning.co.uk/ was a groundbreaking source of advice, resources and support and is now managed on her behalf

Juliet’s death in December unleashed an outpouring of admiration, appreciation, love and grief and we wanted to honour that with our own tribute to her life in education as a friend, colleague and supporter

It took two podcasts to even begin to capture who Juliet was

This first one features Ian Gilbert, founder of Independent Thinking. Juliet was an associate with Independent Thinking and part of the family of consultants that Ian values enormously. It also includes Dr Cathy Francis from the University of Aberdeen who knew Juliet from her time in teaching and who sees her as a seminal influence on education in Scotland and beyond. Finally, we have contributions from Juliet’s husband, Mark Paterson who brings a wonderfully deep personal element to the conversation. We are grateful to all who took time to share their memories and anecdotes

This is an episode full of joy, a genuine and moving celebration of an amazing educator and lovely person, please listen and then enjoy these links:

The Last word: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002pqgs

The Out of Doors Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002k306

The Juliet Robertson Interview with David Cameron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH4lshDoUWE

The Taking Action with Juliet Robertson: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1uEnoyCz3mvuahdMhMCD6x?go=1&sp_cid=7cb39b058bbdaa10b9bfa681609d9317&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1&dlsi=94e1eada5c1a46c6