Stories of School Leadership

Leading in Education is a challenging but hugely rewarding role. Sharing our experiences, vulnerabilities and inspiration supports us to feel connected and fulfilled within the wonderful world of education. This podcast explores the journeys of inspirational guests through education, into school leadership and shares challenges, fascinating stories and hopes and dreams for the future. Come along for some light hearted, relaxed and fun discussion with amazing leaders.

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Episodes

Tuesday Jul 30, 2024

Full of joy and humour, this episode is a perfect way to finish the second season before the summer break. In episode 23 I am joined by Dariush Saheli who is a Headteacher currently in Brunei. Dariush shares his slightly squiggly journey into finding his passion for teaching and his incredible experiences teaching and leading internationally.
 
Dariush is an expert storyteller and had me crying with laughter as he retold some of the challenges he has faced in his roles. There are snakes falling from the sky, cows on the playground and much more in this episode. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did recording!

Tuesday Jul 23, 2024

In this Episode I am joined by vastly experienced senior leader Andy Downing. As he nears retirement Andy and I take the opportunity to revisit his career spanning over 50 years in the sector leading in schools and authorities. We explore the difference educators make to young people, how important people centred leadership is and what it’s like to take on your first headship closer to the end of your career than the start! 
Andy and I talk about the current challenges in leadership and explore the value of autonomy and trust. It was a pleasure to hear Andy’s journey, I hope you enjoy listening.

Tuesday Jul 16, 2024

In this episode I'm joined by Yvonne Hogarth, Education Consultant, Trainer and Coach. Yvonne shares her journey  into Education and leadership working in a range of roles and phases. We explore how challenging it is for middle leaders in education - particularly programme or curriculum leaders - who might be juggling teaching and leadership without a roadmap! 
Yvonne highlights the amazing possibilities for upskilling that being a governor can offer, and the transferable skills we gain in education including the many opportunities that there are across different sectors to use these skills. Yvonne is passionate about cross sector networking and so we dig into the power of sharing practice across different educational sectors.

Tuesday Jul 09, 2024

Episode 20 marks the halfway point in my goal of interviewing 40 leaders for my 40th year, and it felt only right to include someone at this point in the journey who knows me quite well… my former boss! 
 
Paul Jones, Educational Consultant, kindly joined me for a chat about his dedication to education including his work teaching the Travelling Community in Devon and his journey into leadership. We talk about what it was like to start one of the UK’s first Federation of Primary Schools! Paul shares insights into how and why collaboration is vital to support our developing profession, and how education and leadership has changed over time including the removal of autonomy for schools. Some great insights into Multi-Academy Trusts and what could have been, to share this week as we begin to hear what the new Government will be focussing on for the sector. 
 
I really enjoyed hearing Paul’s wisdom and reminiscing about some of our work together! I hope you enjoy listening, or watching!

Tuesday Jul 02, 2024

In Episode 19 I’m joined by Jonathon Nicholls, a former Principal and Executive Principal, who shares his journey into, and within, the Education Sector. Jonathan’s background in engineering features both as a key part of his journey, but also brings a fascinating angle in his reflections about education and leadership; the challenges and the possible future. We explore childhood, autonomy and disrupting the current curriculum. Jonathan shares insights into his leadership experience, which spans a vast range of settings, and his learnings about discomfort in challenge, the impact of coaching, and managing the balance of leadership and the rest of our lives!

Tuesday Jun 25, 2024

This episode is full of joy and understanding its importance. I am joined by the incredible Dr Jo Trevenna who shares her journey into education and in leadership. We dig into the challenges of the sector currently and Jo shares her fascinating research into the idea of Carnivalesque Leadership, its origins and how understanding its importance can have a huge impact on how we lead for ourselves, our staff and our young people. I learnt so much recording this with Jo, I hope you find new learnings to take into a more carnivalesque approach. Follow Jo for more information and to hear about the launch of her book when it arrives!

Tuesday Jun 18, 2024

In this episode I am joined by Early Years Consultant, inspector, colleague and friend Leanne Galloway. Leanne shares her experience of growing up in small village in the UK, finding her calling into Education and her passion for the Early Years. We explore the challenges of balancing teaching with leadership, experiences of International Leadership and what it's like to be an Ofsted Inspector!
 

Tuesday Jun 11, 2024

In Episode 16 I’m joined by the brilliant Nancy Lhoest-Squicciarini sharing her journey in education. She shares her own experience of connection at school, I think a record for bringing my teary eyes at just 5 minutes in! Nancy’s energy is infectious, and her insights into facilitation are incredibly valuable. We explore creating and embedding norms into cultures, bringing fun to meetings and training with the value of human capital, and the impact of collectives where strong facilitators are at play. Nancy’s insights into the responsibilities and development of middle leaders show the global challenges faced by those in these roles. We touch on some big issues for leaders - why job descriptions are so important for middle leaders, middle leadership training and, when meetings should just be emails! This is a great episode to challenge thinking for leaders at all levels - How can we do better for middle leadership?

Tuesday Jun 04, 2024

This episode touches on such a range of valuable topics. I’m joined by Alex Neophitou, former Senior Leader, now Freelance Education Consultant for his business New Education Outlook. As Alex shares his journey with incredible honesty, we explore how viewpoints of leadership evolve, finding joy in education and the importance of teams. He shares his decision making processes at key points in his educational career including trying to balance family life with leadership. Alex’s passion for curriculum shines through and we talk about subject leadership and how to manage the role when you’re not a specialist but seem to have landed a subject leader role sometimes off the back of a project you did in secondary school! I really enjoyed this discussion, you can tell because it’s over an hour long! But there’s so much value that Alex shares, I really hope you love it too.

Tuesday May 28, 2024

I’m joined by Headteacher Bob Benson, sharing his journey and insights spanning over 30 years in education. We talk about finding education and leadership when it wasn’t in the life plan, being a male leader in a girls school and championing the voices of women. Bob shares his pride in the impact his team has had supporting pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium funding, and the strategies they used. We discuss how educational leadership has changed and what needs to happen to make the role sustainable and joyful for future leaders.

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