The Alternative Path with David Robson

In this episode, we speak to Franck Corrido, Headteacher of Hopewell School, an independent special school in Dagenham. Franck shares his story, including his French heritage, his journey into teaching and his experiences in France and the UK. Throughout our conversation, Frank's warmth in character, his passion for inclusive learning environments and commitment to his school, staff and young people were very clear to see.

We hope this podcast brings you some useful takeaways but most of all, you enjoy our conversation.

Enjoy

David and Roger discussed the transformation of Ripple Primary School into an emotionally available school, emphasising the importance of addressing staff's emotional well-being first to better support students, and the impact of relational approaches over punitive measures in education.

Roger's passion for inclusive education which will enable every young person to thrive was clear to see.

We hope this podcast brings you some useful takeaways and most of all that you enjoy our conversation.

Enjoy

Sharon who is the Director of Educating Horizons is an award winning strategist with over 20 years' experience working in schools and focusing on children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and those who were in Alternative Provision (AP) such as Pupil Referral Units (PRUs).

We hope you enjoy our conversation.

In this episode, I spoke to Clare Baker from Restlessminds UK an organisation that provides bespoke person centered support to young people and adults.

Clare has experienced varied types of education throughout her career. We also discussed Clare's experience of Unschooling and her diagnosis of ADHD as an adult.

We hope you enjoy our open and honest conversation.

Restlessminds UK

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In this week's episode, I had the absolute pleasure of talking to Adam Dabin. Adam is the former Head Teacher of Sir Bobby Robson School in Ipswich and since then has moved on to be a Director of SEND for Unity Schools Partnership.

In our conversation, we discussed balancing work and family, SEMH, Mainstream SEND and the importance of relationships and school communities.

Enjoy!

In this podcast, Jack and I discussed his journey through education and his experiences. Jack was excluded from mainstream education in his middle school years, Jack discussed his experiences through his school years and throughout our conversation, he speaks about the work that was done to turn his life around once he moved to specialist provision.

As someone with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) he discusses the fact he was aware that mainstream wasn’t for him and holds no hard feelings and is pleased that he was placed into specialist provision.

Jack also talks about his passion to start a career within education where he wants to follow his dream to help others who may be experiencing similar journeys to himself.

I hope you enjoy it.

In this episode, I had my second chat with Stu Evans who is the Headteacher of New Leaf Inclusion Centre in Walsall. I first spoke to Stu around the first lockdown and it was great to speak to him about the ongoing work that has been in place since he arrived at what was, at the time an 'Inadequate' rated Pupil Pupil Referral Unit.

In this podcast, James Lowe and I discussed his journey into education and the journey he has been on so far as the Founder/Director of both EdStart and Next Level Learning.

After teaching sport, public services and social policy in different sectors across Manchester, James registered the school alongside Chris Irwin and a small team. From there he has been responsible for the growth of the school from its original site, to the several centres across Greater Manchester. Having led the school to successive 'Good' Ofsted inspections his aim is to further strengthen the offer to the region's young people. James has supported several local authorities in developing the landscape of alternative provision, most recently working on the successful DfE 'Alternative Provision Innovation Fund' bid for Salford City Council.

Established in 2014 Next Level Learning was aimed at ‘closing the gap’ in education. Our founding Directors identified a need for outreach tuition in the alternative provision field as students were not attending any education offered to them for several reasons. Our first approach was home or in school support tuition and from there it has developed into sessions being delivered in various settings to young people with a variety of different needs. Now we cover areas across Greater Manchester and the North West, delivering to students from KS1 through to KS4. We have grown purely through hard work, commitment and recommendation which gives us pride in what we have achieved and ambition for future goals.

Rebecca Harbord – Social Channel and Brand Manager at Woodmor Foundation C.I.C

In this episode I chatted to Rebecca Hardbord who is the Social Channel and Brand Manager at Woodmor Foundation C.I.C. The foundation provides unique employment initiatives which showcase employability skills for our participants. We do this by creating a digital CV called a ‘Me Movie’ which supplements traditional CV’s and helps gain purposeful paid employment for disabled, disadvantaged or vulnerable individuals.

In our conversation Rebecca discusses having Bipolar Type 2 her journey through education as a young person who was suffering from depression. Rebecca is proud to be part of a foundation that has such strong values and beliefs when it comes to helping those with a disability.