In this episode we discuss a range of ideas and strategies for how primary schools can support the good mental health and wellbeing of their pupils.

We chat to three guests who work in three different schools. We hear their tenets of good practice when it comes to supporting good pupil wellbeing in school before discussing what wellbeing challenges they are seeing on the ground and at the chalkface in their schools.

We delve into some of the work taking place in our guests’ three schools and hear anonymised case studies of successful interventions they have had with pupils who have struggled.

We talk extensively about their approaches to mental health and wellbeing education – within PSHE but also more generally across the curriculum and in the classroom with lots of ideas big and small.

We look in particular at what we can do to support our pupils, including while they are waiting for CAMHS referrals, and we discuss what support we can access via other outside agencies.

Elsewhere, we discuss how we can build positive relationships with pupils and families so that we can better recognise the warning signs of emerging problems and intervene quickly.

In this episode we discuss tips, ideas, and strategies for protecting the wellbeing of headteachers – and other school staff – during Ofsted inspections.

Our guest is Paul K Ainsworth, who has held director of school improvement roles in four multi-academy trusts in the last nine years and in that time has experienced more than 40 Ofsted inspections.

We get Paul’s practical insights – both small ideas and more substantial advice – about how we can protect our mental health and wellbeing, and that of our school team, during inspection.

We get lots of tips for reducing and managing anxiety and hear useful anecdotes from Paul’s experience of inspection.

We hear about what inspection has been like this year in light of changes brought in after the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry.

Ofsted has brought in a number of reforms, including new complaints procedures, mental health training for inspectors and better support – we find out what this looks like on the ground and ask what headteachers can expect to see when they get inspected in 2024.

Paul offers insights for how we can prepare for inspection in such a way that will build resilience and confidence, including how best to prepare for the pre-inspection phone call.

Other topics include where headteachers can turn to for support during inspection, how to challenge inspectors effectively, and how to handle the emotional rollercoaster and exhausting nature of inspection.

In this episode, three schools talk about the impact of the cost of living crisis and their work to support Pupil Premium and disadvantaged pupils.

Our guests identify their key tenets of effective Pupil Premium practice and talk about specific approaches they are using in their schools. We delve into a range of strategies and ideas for addressing the consequences of poverty in the primary school, including tips for success and lessons learned.

We hear about what is happening on the ground in our guests’ schools and the particular impacts they are seeing of the cost of living crisis and increasing levels of poverty.

We look at different aspects of school life through the lens of poverty, including the day-to-day running of the school, curriculum design, wider school systems, and more.

We discuss how to track Pupil Premium interventions and strategies, how to evaluate our spending, and the key ingredients of an effective, high-impact Pupil Premium Strategy.

Other topics under discussion include pupil voice, raising aspiration, attendance, quality first teaching and more.

This episode looks at the effective deployment of our teaching assistants in the primary school classroom, offering advice for whole-school practice and individual teaching and lessons.

We ask how teaching assistants can enhance pupils’ outcomes and support inclusion and how teachers and teaching assistants can communicate and work together effectively.

We discuss school systems and structures that can support their effective deployment. And we discuss the training and development that must be in place for our teaching assistants.

We consider how teaching assistants should and – vitally – should not be deployed, both in the classroom and when leading interventions.

We look at the role of school leaders in establishing the appropriate systems, structures and working practices that ensure consistent and effective deployment.

We also consider the merits of the DfE-funded Teaching Assistant Deployment Review Guide and consider other useful resources, including the Teaching Assistant Standards, the EEF teaching assistant research evidence and the MITA (maximising the impact of teaching of assistants) project.

And amid a cost of living crisis when many other jobs offer better remuneration, we discuss the recruitment and retention of teaching assistants.

This episode looks at using instructional coaching as part of your school’s approach to staff CPD and improving teaching and learning.

Three experts discuss what instructional is and its core principles. We ask how we can best launch and develop this approach in our schools and how it can be used to enhance teachers’ knowledge and understanding of pedagogy while complementing whole-school CPD.

We consider the discrete stages of instructional coaching and also hear case studies and examples from our guests of where instructional coaching approaches have worked well practice.

The podcast touches upon the use of deliberate practice as part of teacher development and we also discuss when instructional coaching should not be used in the school context.

Finally, we look at how instructional coaching should be separate to line management, quality assurance and performance management.

This episode looks at how primary schools can best support the education and development of pupils who use English as an additional language (EAL), including refugee children.

The podcast features three experts and opens with each guest offering their three tenets of best practice for EAL.

We discuss what primary school leaders can do to ensure effective whole-school provision for EAL pupils, including effective teaching and learning approaches.

We talk specifically about how to support refugee and asylum-seeking pupils given the arrival in recent years of children from Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere.

The podcast discusses EAL pupils’ English language development, including what our panellists think about the use of phonics versus language immersion techniques? And how can we best assess early levels of English fluency and use assessment in general to understand progress?

And we also tackle the challenge of integrating mid-year arrivals (and their families) into the school and school life, especially in years 2 and 6 when SATs are looming – how can we best support pupils while also preparing them urgently for assessments.

The podcast includes expertise from The Bell Foundation and signposts to a number of free resources to support the work of schools.

This episode looks at best practice for delivering phonics programmes and teaching early reading in the primary school.

Two experts discuss how phonics supports early reading and what the high-quality teaching of early reading looks like in practice.

We ask what a high-quality phonics programme should offer schools and how we can ensure maximum impact with the scheme we are using.

How can we move pupils from learning to read to reading to learn and how can we instil and inspire a love of reading in our pupils to last a lifetime?

Elsewhere, we ask what Ofsted inspectors look for when they judge reading and phonics teaching in primary schools and dissect what an ambitious and enriching reading curriculum looks like.

Finally, we discuss how we can engage parents in the process of phonics and early reading and what kind of advice we can offer to families to help them support reading at home.

This episode offers crucial advice and lots of practical tips to help primary school headteachers – especially those new to post – to survive and thrive in the top job.

We speak with three experienced school leaders who draw on their experiences and the ups and downs of their careers to offer their tips, ideas, and advice to others.

We ask what our guests wish somebody had told them during the early months and years of their headships – a question that yields lots of quick wins as well as more in-depth, long-term advice.

Our guests also describe some of the challenges they have faced during their years in the hot seat and the – often inspiring – lessons learned from how they managed these challenges and overcame them.

We set out some specific wellbeing advice for school leaders and we discuss how we can ensure we survive and thrive both in the short-term – the early months of headship – but also the longer term.

We look at how we can build capacity in our teams – a key aspect of long-term survival – as well as building relationships with colleagues, the benefits of coaching, and where we can turn if we need further support.

This episode of the podcast considers how school leaders can successfully navigate difficult conversations that often need to take place with staff, parents and others.

We discuss common types of “difficult conversation”, some general principles for how to handle these discussions, and how we can best prepare ourselves and others for these conversations.

We discuss the crucial role that school and leadership culture plays in creating the right conditions and thus taking the sting out of these conversations.

We look specifically at handling difficult conversations with parents, including how school leaders can display empathy and build trusting relationships that pre-empt potential complaints and what we can do should relationships break down or become toxic.

We also look at conducting difficult conversations with staff, again offering general tips for handling these professionally and sensitively, especially for things like performance and capability.

Ultimately, we ask how school leaders can deliver a message that is clear and results in a positive outcome, no matter who the difficult conversation is with.

This episode discusses simple and effective ways of conducting high-impact self-evaluation in order to support and drive school improvement.

Three primary school leaders discuss their tenets of best practice for effective self-evaluation. We talk about the self-evaluation cycle, what it should look like, and how it fits into the wider process of school improvement.

The panel includes a practising Ofsted inspector and we discuss Ofsted’s view on self-evaluation and how we can meet Ofsted expectations for our self-evaluation practice. We also discuss how the Ofsted inspection handbook and framework can be used as a way of RAG-rating progress and impact.

Who should be involved in compiling the self-evaluation form (SEF) and what format should you use? Which formats are best? How can schools ensure the SEF is impact-focused rather than descriptive, and plays a key role in moving a school forward and raising standards? How do you ensure your SEF is a “live” document?