This week we talk to Alan Eathorne, Headteacher, Husbands Bosworth CofE Primary School, and Stef Edwards, Trust Leader, Learn Academy Trust about how they have worked to build a collaborative culture and develop research informed practice. 

We discuss how the trust has built relationships, capacity and ways of working across a group of 10 primary schools. 

This podcast has been created in partnership with The Teacher Development Trust and is part of a series of interviews with school leaders who are working to develop great teaching. 

This week we talk to Kate Atkins, Headteacher, Rosendale Primary and Research school and CEO Great North Wood Education Trust about how they have successfully used evidence informed practice at their school.

We discuss what it means to be a Research School and how to bridge the gap between academics and the classroom. Kate shares her advice on how to start involving staff in research and implementing new ideas. We also talk about the various approaches to teaching and learning they use at Rosendale including mixed attainment grouping and ReflectED the Metacognition programme they have developed. 

Our apologies, but we had some audio issues with this podcast. We’ve cleaned up the audio as best as possible, but you may hear some crackle.

This week we talk to Anna Trethewey, Executive Director at The Centre for Education and Youth about flexible working. 

We consider the differences between part-time working and flexible working, the culture needed for it to be successful and the increasingly important role flexible working could play in teacher retention. We also explore the role tech can have  in helping schools to arrange timetabling and deliver staff CPD more flexibly and how schools can go about trialling some of these innovative working practices. 

This week we talk to Mike Glanville, Director of Safeguarding Services and Martin Baker, CEO of MyConcern about trends they are observing in safeguarding. We also explore the challenges of fulfilling the role of DSL in the face of increased complexity and scrutiny. 

Mike and Martin, both former senior police officers and school governors, offer some practical advice about working with external agencies, how governors can support a school’s approach and share their thoughts about future changes to safeguarding policy and practice.

This week we talk to Dr Sam Baars, Director of Research at The Centre for Education and Youth about their  report “Inside the black box: How high-performing schools create a positive culture.” 

We discuss how during the study of several schools researchers got ‘under the hood’ of school culture, and uncovered some big trends around the impact of  consistency, use of data, governance and parental engagement on shaping a positive culture. Sam also offers some suggestions on how school leaders can evaluate their own school culture.

This week we talk to Toby Baker, Programme Manager - Education, at Nesta about their work to close the gap between the creators of technology and the users in schools.

We discuss the use of Ed Tech in schools and how schools can participate in Nesta’s EdTech Innovation Testbed project. For further details click here.

This week we talk to Mandy Coalter, CEO of Talent Architects and Former Director of People at United Learning. 

We discuss the role HR can play in making your school a great place to work and employees’ changing expectations of the workplace. Mandy also shares some practical tips about recruitment, retention and flexible working.