NetSupport Radio

Welcome to another episode of Insights with NetSupport!

In each episode, we aim to bring you an interesting guest who shares their wealth of expertise, knowledge and insights around a relevant topic. 

Our aim is simple: to inspire and equip you with new insights that will empower your teaching and learning or leadership activities. So, get ready to dive into this conversation, which builds upon a recent recording of Insights with David Weston from the Teacher Development Trust around teacher CPD. 

In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Deputy Head at Beckfoot School, Nikki Sullivan. 

Hot on the heels of her recent sharing at the national ResearchED event in London, Nikki talked us through lots of insightful thinking and chalkface action. Balancing theory and practice is never an easy endeavour and here, Nikki shares openly about the approaches that take place in her school and the research which underpins it. 

Practical in what she shared and measured in the context of her school, Nikki referenced the work which has informed the practices around professional learning she leads on. So, expect conversations around sustainable logistics, long-serving structures, impactful mechanisms, social support and ways to achieve it, culture-building and the importance of a coherent curriculum. There are so many insights shared, you’d better bring a notebook along! 

Putting staff and students at the heart of her strategy, Nikki clearly knows her stuff and this episode is a must-see for anyone in education with an interest in learning more about culture, motivation and professional learning. 

Standing on the shoulders of giants, Nikki also took the time to pay tribute to those who have impacted on her work such as Nick Hart; Zoe and Mark Enser and their book: The CPD Curriculum; Shaun Allison and his Perfect Teacher-Led CPD book; Sarah Cottingham and Dylan Wiliam, among others.

You can find Nikki on Twitter @Nikki__Sullivan and more about her work and sharing on her blog: https://lovetotalktandl.wordpress.com/

Resources shared:

EEF CPD report - https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/effective-professional-development 

In each episode, we bring you an interesting guest who shares their wealth of expertise, knowledge and insights around a relevant topic. 

Our aim is simple: to inspire and equip you with new insights that will empower your teaching and learning or leadership activities. So, get ready to dive into this conversation, exploring exciting topics such as school leadership, learning and the importance of parental engagement and the impact it can have on progress.

In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Dr Alexandra Gray who is an author, researcher and consultant working in the Alternative Education sector. She is also MD at Huis Technologies and co-founder of LearnTrek, an MIS for Alternative Provisions and Independent schools. 

Alexandra advocates strongly for no-restraint approaches to behaviour management and supports “unregistered” provisions to work with the most vulnerable learners in the UK and beyond. 

The 2023 SEND and alternative provision improvement plan won’t have escaped the attention of people involved in education and, in the show, Dr Gray examines some of the good and potentially problematic areas highlighted in the plan. 

On top of that, Alex shared a variety of insights into innovation in Alternative Provision around curriculum, and her own innovation responding to a need found in her workplace. She discovered that there wasn’t really an MIS fit for purpose for those settings that has a tighter focus on tracking and supporting learners who don’t always conform to the mainstream norms; it was interesting to learn about how she and her husband have developed LearnTrek, an MIS for Alternative Provision settings. 

Dr Gray wrapped up the episode by sharing her secrets to success in alternative provision, which, for those working in the sector and beyond, made so much sense – you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out more!

You can find Alex on Twitter @GrayHuis, on LinkedIn here and more about her work on her website here: www.huistechnologies.com/learntrek 

In each episode, we aim to bring you an interesting guest who shares their wealth of expertise, knowledge and insights around a relevant topic. 

Our aim is simple: to inspire and equip you with new insights that will empower your teaching and learning or leadership activities. So, get ready to dive into this episode’s conversation, exploring exciting topics such as school leadership, learning, the importance of parental engagement and the impact it can have on progress.

In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Co-CEO and founder of the Teacher Development Trust, and former Physics/Maths teacher, David Weston. 

With 10 years at the chalkface and having been running the Teacher Development Trust exploring exactly what effective teacher CPD looks like for more than 11 years, David’s insights are helpful for any teacher or school leader looking to know exactly what effective CPD looks like.

Recognised as a world expert in effective CPD, David unpicks the history of CPD across the educational landscape, what the research says, what the future holds and the ways in which AI can help with teacher CPD and coaching, along with a bunch of resources too - it’s an episode you’ll be sure to not want to miss!

You can find David on Twitter @informed_edu and more about his work on his website https://informededucation.com. 

If you want more information on the Teacher Development Trust and their work, you can access their site at https://tdtrust.org and you can follow them on social media @TeacherDevTrust.  

In this episode of Insights with NetSupport, we are joined by Nicole Ponsford , Founder of the Global Equality Collective (GEC) and Top50 Inspiring Women in Tech Europe.

View the questions we covered about diversity and inclusion below...

1. A big question, but can summarise the key challenges of diversity and inclusion in today’s world?
2. What is the impact of a lack of diversity and inclusion on young people?
3. What are your top tips to building a truly diverse and inclusive classroom?
4. Can you tell us about the work you do at Global Equality Collective?

In this Insights with NetSupport recording we are joined by Keren Mitchell, who is the Founder of SuperKind (www.superkind.org).

In this episode we explore with Keren importance of social action and philanthropy in education.

Questions:

1. Should schools be integrating social action and philanthropy into the curriculum and classrooms?
2. How would they go about implementing this/what are your top tips?
3. Can parents get involved?

In this episode of Insights with NetSupport we are joined by Jim Love, who is the CIO and Chief Digital Officer of IT World Canada (Canada's leader in ICT publishing and digital marketing). He's also the host of Hashtag Trending, a daily news podcast focusing on business and technology and author of Digital Transformation in the First Person.

In this episode we discuss the below:

Questions:

1. What are your thoughts about companies that have eliminated or reduced the emphasis on needing a 4-year college degree to apply for a mid-level or a high-skill job? Here’s an article on that topic.
2. What do you think might be lost by not pursuing a four-year college degree?
3. What do you think can be gained by not pursuing a four-year college degree?
4. I think it is an interesting shift in our mindset these days. It feels to me like - whereas 12 months ago it seemed like the average person was afraid of AI taking over the world - since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, it feels like that fear has faded. Do you sense that same shift happening?
5.  Do you find that your readership and perhaps your contributors and reporters have a sense for how IT and technology jobs might change now that LLM are accessible?
6. Most of our listeners are in education. What do you think that teachers and administrators should be working towards given some of these changes we have discussed today?

In this episode of Insights with NetSupport, host Al Kingsley (NetSupport's CEO) is joined by Canadian teacher, author and founder of CodeBreaker, Brian Aspinall.

They discuss about the topic of the moment – AI – and the opportunities it presents, as well as other technology developments happening in education.

Brian talks about CodeBreaker (a consulting and publishing powerhouse in the education space), how it challenges the status quo and seeks to "educate the whole child – mind, body and soul," – and chats about the great work currently going on in the Canadian education system.

To learn more and connect with Brian, follow CodeBreaker (@codebreakeredu) and check out the website, www.codebreakeredu.com.

Welcome back to Of Primary Importance! In this podcast series, we explore all things EYFS and primary with different topics and special guests each fortnight.

In this episode each attendee discusses with the group a maths topic of their choice and everyone finishes the discussion with a top tip for sparking passion in maths. This episode’s topics include: ‘Thinking and communicating like a mathematician’, ‘Supporting children who struggle with maths’ and ‘Making maths books meaningful for children.’

About our guests
Louise Pennington is the Professional Development Lead at Oxford University Press (OUP). She’s also the newly appointed Trustee for the Mathematical Association (MA) and chair of the MA PD Committee. A former Primary SENCO, lead maths teacher and Local Authority specialist teacher for maths difficulties. Before working for OUP, Louise led a Local Authority SEND Teaching Team. You can connect with Louise on Twitter at @pdLouiseP.

Hari Neocleous is a Primary Maths and Chess Teacher. A former Maths Lead and Number Count Teacher, Hari works across schools as a Maths Intervention Teacher. She also teaches chess and strategy games. She recently spoke at the London Chess Conference showing how problem solving skills can be developed through the theme of chess. You can follow Hari on twitter at @hari_neo21 or at @the_maths_nuts on instagram.

Sara Tilley is a Primary Maths Consultant whose company is called Curious Maths. Sara provides maths consultancy support, maths CPD training across three London boroughs and has recently developed a parent subscription service to show parents how we teach maths in primary school. You can connect with Sara at @curious_maths on Twitter or search for ‘Curious Maths’ on Instagram and Facebook.

Contact
Here’s the best way to get in touch with our guests!
●Louise Pennington: @pdLouiseP
●Hari Neocleous:  @hari_neo21 and @the_maths_nuts
●Sara Tilley: @curious_maths and www.curiousmaths.co.uk

You can follow me (Kat Cauchi) on Twitter at @ReallyschoolK. 
Check out #OPIP and #OfPrimaryImportance for more content and see all our previous episodes here. If you are interested in coming on the show or have a topic suggestion, send me a DM on Twitter or email [email protected]!   

May is Symptomatic Hypermobility Month and in this episode, Kat talks with Jane Green MBE all about ‘Understanding Symptomatic Hypermobility’ and Jane’s charity SEDSConnective.

Jane: “I am a disabled, neurodivergent, autistic parent carer for her eldest neurodivergent adult child, who left school at 16 with two qualifications and was told I was ‘dim.’ Yet, I have an MA Ed., Advanced Diploma in Education, Secondary PGCE, BSc Hons Psychology., and a QTS.”

Jane Green MBE is the founder and chair of SEDS Connective, as well as a non-executive director and a co-author (with Donaghy and Moore) on the peer reviewed paper, ‘Co-occurring physical health challenges in neurodivergent children and young people.’ She regularly presents at a variety of events including at Government conferences and she presented at the Global Learning Conference in Ireland in August 2023. Formerly, she led the Autism Education Trust (in the South East) and the National Autistic Society, and has been an assistant headteacher, LA advisory teacher and lead for ‘Autism Education in All Phases of Education.’ 

SEDSConnective is the first global neurodivergent (autism, ADHD, dyspraxia, Tourette’s’ +) and symptomatic hypermobility (Ehlers-Danlos syndromes EDS, Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders HSD) user led, voluntary charity. Their patron Dr J. Eccles and the team at BSMS provide the charity with evidence-based research.

Here are some of the questions I asked Jane:

1.       Could you introduce yourself to our listeners?

2.       Can you give our listeners a description of what hypermobility is?

3.       How can hypermobility be linked with neurodivergence?

4.       What are some of the common symptoms of hypermobility disorders and what should teachers be looking for as possible signs their students may have a hypermobility disorder?

5.       What kind of impact can hypermobility disorders have on learning, mental health and physical health?

6.       You’ve mentioned before that hypermobility disorders can be often be overlooked and misdiagnosed- can you talk more about that and why you think it’s happening?

7.       Can you tell us a bit more about SEDSConnective and how it started and why?

8.       You mentioned it’s ‘Symptomatic Hypermobility Month,’ what kind of things is SEDSConnective doing to raise awareness and how can schools get involved?

You can connect with Jane on…

Twitter: www.twitter.com/@JGjanegreen     www.twitter.com/SEDSConnective 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janegreenmaed/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sedsconnective/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SEDSconnective 

Her website: www.SEDSconnective.org 

You can also read her research paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13575279.2022.2149471 and check out her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHzgTdMyUTXvx8ElSV4ZcYg 

Check out #OPIP and #OfPrimaryImportance for more content and see all our previous episodes here. If you are interested on coming on the show or have a topic suggestion, send me a DM on Twitter or email contact@reallyschool