This week I chat with Jane James, the founder of Little Voices, about mental health, children’s activities and performing arts.

In this episode, Jane shares:

• Why she is so passionate about performing arts being taught in schools.
• The benefits and skills children will get from learning performing arts and how they will be useful in the future.
• Tips to help teachers who may not have the confidence to teach the performing arts.

If you’d like to learn more about Jane and Little Voices, you can visit:

• littlevoices.org.uk

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, I talk with Alice Westbury about bringing coaching tools and strategies into the classroom. Alice is an education coach who works primarily with young people but a lot of what she shares in this episode is so valuable to those who teach in primary settings.

In this episode, Alice shares:

• Why she believes using coaching tools can help pupils in the classroom and beyond.
• Why now is the time to start thinking about using coaching tools with pupils.
• Real actionable tips teachers can use now to start implementing coaching tools in the classroom easily.

If you’d like to find out more about Alice, you can visit:

• cluedupcoaching.co.uk
• alicewestburycoaching.co.uk
• linkedin.com/in/alicewestbury

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I chat with Dan Parker, the chief executive at Veg Power, about the upcoming Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign. Veg Power aim to get more children eating vegetables as a staggering 80% of children are not getting enough vegetables in their diets.

In this episode, Dan shares:

- What Veg Power and Eat Them to Defeat Them is.

- How the programme works in schools and the results he has seen from it.

- How schools can get involved.

If you’d like to find out more about Veg Power or the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign, you can go to:

- vegpower.org.uk

- https://eatthemtodefeatthem.com/

- https://eatthemtodefeatthem.com/schools

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with Heather Wright, a former teacher and founder of Reading Rocks, a project designed to develop the love of reading in children.   

Heather talks about her teaching career and the opportunities she’s had, with the support of her school, to promote the love of reading. She explains the different strategies she has established within her school to assist parents and children develop this. Heather shares some advice on how teachers, schools and parents can develop the love of reading as well as explaining the importance of reading. She outlines the CPD training Reading Rocks offers and explains how reading should be approached in schools and in the classroom. 

Heather and Claire explore the importance of reading and why it is the foundation for every child’s educational journey. They discuss some of the challenges schools and teachers may face with developing the love of reading as well as advice on how to overcome these.  

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Heather has been at the same school for 15 years and enjoys her role due to the district it belongs to and the challenges it faces. 
• She began her teaching career in Year 1 and moved on to teaching Key Stage 2. She was also the IT co-ordinator. After her maternity leave, Heather choose to work part-time and due to this she lost her TLR role. 
• As a part-time class teacher Heather’s headteacher saw the potential and creativity she had. With the support of her colleagues, they began reading research as they knew the impact reading for pleasure had on children’s future.  
• The ‘Year of Reading’ project started in 2014/15 as a whole school project to promote the love of reading within children. Children were exposed to various texts and reading materials to support them with their reading journey and ability.  
• One of the first campaigns within the project was ‘The Big Bedtime Read’ which is now well established and happens every year at her school.  

• When the idea was introduced to parents at the school, Heather anticipated around 30 parents, but to her surprise around 400 people gathered in the school field around the campfire, some in their pyjamas with a teddy and a book just simply reading.  
• Despite working at a school with a high percentage of Pupil Premium (PP) children and low parental involvement, Heather and her team were able to create an environment where reading was promoted and celebrated for parents and children.   
• Heather and her team contacted the local rabbit rescue centre and welcomed ‘Bug Bunnies’. Children in Key Stage 1 then read to the rabbits.  
• Throughout that academic year, Heather used social media as a platform to promote the work she was doing in her school. She also used this medium to contact and interact with authors and illustrators. 
• Heather held her first reading conference with an audience of 150 people. She held another conference due to high demand and this allowed the opportunity for schools and teachers to share their hard work.  

• These two conferences ran through the school’s administration but now the conferences are delivered by Reading Rocks and take place across the country.  
• To support children with reading and help them develop the love of reading, Heather suggests that we should read to children and find our own passion for reading and share that with the children. Young children’s interest should be linked to the text that they are reading or is being read to them. She suggests that girls and boys should not be classed as two separate groups. What is done for the girls should be done for the boys.  
• Books should be for all and everyone should be included.  
• She tried to incorporate STEM to develop the love of reading.  
• Heather suggests that we should reduce the pressure of reading i.e. not saying “we are sitting down to read rather” normalising and making it feel natural.   

• Children need to build a familiarity with the books they read.  
• Heather believes that the ‘love of reading’ cannot be taught, but the love of reading can be nurtured by modelling and preserving with it.  
• Reading corners – they must be used. Children should be given the opportunity to use them. They key is to having good books. The books must be valuable for them to have an impact.  
• The teacher’s attitude and approach towards reading can influence a child’s approach towards reading. It should be portrayed in a positive light, reading sessions and reading corners should be positively promoted in order for children to develop the love of reading.  
• Picture books for STEM links – Rosie Revere, Izzy Gizmo.  

• Support for classes with a lower reading ability can have books read to them but children need to develop their own fluency, stamina and involvement of reading. If the book has been read to them, they could then re-read it to develop fluency.  
• Most important reading skill: the skill of decoding. Solid decoding skills are essential to get to the rich fruit of comprehension. It is paramount that the enjoyment and engagement of reading runs alongside the skill of decoding.  
• Heather recommends that there should be an established time each day so there is a rhythm and routine where children know what is expected.  
• Non-fiction Friday – throughout the week children read fiction books at a designated time but on a Friday, everyone reads a non-fiction text.  
• Heather states that children should be given the time to read, it should be valued, it should take place every day at the same time so children can expect it and look forward to it.   

• Children must have the tools for this i.e. making sure they have the stamina, fluency and decoding skills.  
• Heather understands the budget restraints schools face. 
• Heather suggests having two designated reading times where the teacher is reading aloud to the children. They can take place in the morning and afternoon but she emphasis that they must take place every day during school hours.  
• Children should be encouraged to choose their own reading book but school staff (teachers or support staff) should guide them.  
• Whole class VS small group guided reading sessions – Heather suggest there is no right or wrong, it’s about what works best for you. Personally, Heather likes whole class guided reading for Key Stage 2. She believes teachers can effectively challenge the children by sharing a good quality text.  
• Tips for reading for pleasure at home – build the want and desire within the children. Parental engagement – bring the school community together and ensure they value it by using the resources that are available to them, for example a public library.  
• Reading Rocks Conference – 2 types of CPD events and it includes 3/4 keynote speakers, authors, education speakers and 2 workshops slots.  
• 3 biggest changes in education – paperwork, pressure from OFSTED, teachers communicating via social media.  
• Education in the next 10 years – revolution where teachers are and the profession is valued. The art and craft of teaching should be valued. Trusting practitioners who know what they are doing.  
  
  

BEST MOMENTS 

“If you cut them, they are like a stick of rock and the district runs right through them.” 

“It was the best year of my teaching career. I think it always will be.” 

“The overarching aim of the project was to drench the children in all things reading.” 

“We had about 400 people in the field.” 

“Don’t treat them as two separate groups.” 

“If we polarise them, by saying those books are for the boys and those books are for the girls we are doing them a disservice.” 

“You need to relate back to your own experience of reading.” 

“Reading is the key to everything in the curriculum.” 

“If children cannot read then they can’t access Science, Geography or other areas of the curriculum.” 

“You have to know your books, but you also have to know your children.” 

“They experience that endorphin; they experience that lovely bit of reading.” 

“Learning is not linear.” 

“It will click at different times with different children when they can access longer books.” 

“Reading is the film inside your head that’s why it is better than telly.” 

“There’s a special relationship between you and the author. Your version of that book is different to somebody else’s version of that.” 

“There is nothing wrong with over reading and using picture books.”  

“The sooner you can allow children to be choosing their own content the better quality reading you will get.” 

“Wherever it is, make it sacrosanct.” 

“We need to talk to them about what it feels like when a book is right for you.” 

“The list never ends. It is absolutely okay to drop one of those spinning plates.”  

“Prioritise your health and wellbeing.” 

“I would like to see the fear go.” 

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ 
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ 
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ 
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ 
Reading Rocks:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/heather-wright-reading-rocks-10957775228 
Love Reading for Kids:  https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/ 
Reading Rocks Conference:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/heather-wright-reading-rocks-10957775228 
Building an outstanding reading school:  https://cdn.oxfordowl.co.uk/2017/04/21/10/51/51/265/bp_osi_buildingoutstanding.pdf 

ABOUT THE HOST 
Claire Riley 

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide. 

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff. 

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend. 

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with Simon Hunt, a Year 4 teacher at Tottington Primary School in Bury.

Alongside his teaching, Simon has developed his own website ‘Mr Hunt from the front’, and built online social media feeds, from where he offers advice, resources and CPD for teachers and schools.   

Although arriving in teaching slightly later than normal, Simon has taught across all phases of Primary Education, and has worked in a variety of schools as a supply teacher and a permanent member of staff.   

Simon talks with Claire about how sharing some resources on a Facebook page ‘took off’ and led to him reducing his teaching hours to offer CPD opportunities and work on a number of different projects with schools and other organisations such as HP and BT.   

Discussing teaching in the classroom, Simon talks about the importance of giving children a purpose for their work, how beneficial it can be to take risks in teaching, and how technology can be incredibly useful if used well.  

Simon shares exciting stories from his career including how a video of him ‘flossing’ went viral, and how a unit of work in class around the film ‘Blackfish’ eventually led to him taking a group of children to Brussels to deliver a petition to the European Parliament, attend a red-carpet film premiere, and take on representatives from SeaWorld in a question and answer session.      

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Never be afraid to take risks and give things a go.
  The best lessons and most valuable learning experiences can follow from activities where a bit of risk is involved. Being risk-averse can also inadvertently mean we put a ‘cap’ on where activities might go without considering what could actually be achieved. Taking risks does, of course, mean that things might go wrong or not work, but it’s worth remembering that usually a lot will go right. 
• Remember that teachers should be facilitators of learning.
  In an ideal lesson, teachers should be able take a ‘step back’ with the children doing the work. While teachers do still have a role teaching and helping to guide what happens in their lessons, with a little groundwork, children can usually confidently guide themselves in their learning more than we might think. 
• There are no limits to where lessons can take you.
  By allowing children to take more of a lead with their learning, a lesson’s direction can go in an infinite, and exciting, number of ways. It can be surprising and enlightening to see where children can take the direction of a lesson and what learning opportunities present themselves.
• Teaching children how to be resilient, to think critically and how to analyse arguments are incredibly valuable skills in the modern world.
  With almost constant social media exposure and pervasive factually incorrect reporting, giving children the skills to critically analyse what they are told and be resilient enough to deal with negativity is crucial. While there are many valid reasons for us to be wary of, and keep a watchful eye on, use of social media, it should not be something to shy away from using as it does offer many opportunities both through opening up teaching and learning points, but also for building links with other individuals or organisations who can offer valuable opportunities.
• Work with a purpose.
  Keeping the work that children do purposeful and valid will be a powerful motivator for them to continually do their best. Writing to or messaging real people or companies (in particular authors) who can look at the children’s work, give interviews or write back to the class will give the children a reason for their work and encourage them to put their best into tasks knowing that the result might be seen by others outside the school.
• Learn from mistakes.
  Things do go wrong or just don’t work as intended – particularly where risks are taken. Teachers can be especially self-critical, but we need to learn to be ok with it when this happens. Even things that go wrong are learning opportunities and, as long as you’re learning, it’s worth it.
• Tap into creative writing by allowing children to write for themselves.
  It can help to promote interest in writing where children can experiment with language and can write for themselves without worrying about it being assessed and marked. Having their own ‘draft’ book or ‘jotter’ just to have a go at writing whatever they want can take the pressure away from feeling like they should only write if it is going to be their best.
• Use technology wisely.
  Technology in the classroom can be incredibly useful and can really enhance learning. However, it shouldn’t just be used for the sake of it or because it’s there. Tablet computers which are just used day-in-day-out for internet research are not making the best use of that technology. Likewise, loading 60 apps onto a tablet that people don’t know how to make the best use of will likely go unused.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS
“It’s great because I get four days in class which is still the favourite part of my week.”

“When I do CPD sessions for example, or when I go into schools, everything I talk about that works, I can say I know it works because I did it last week or I did it the week before. I think teachers relate to that because I’m still in the classroom, I’m still in touch with what’s going on.”   

“I’m glad I took that risk. If I hadn’t have done I wouldn’t have known about these other things that could have happened. I would have still loved it in my class, I’d still have been in class full-time but I wouldn’t have had these opportunities that I’ve had. I love teaching. I think it’s the best job in the world and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”    

“It was the best lesson I’ve ever done. I literally just stood in the corner while the children had a full-on debate and discussion with a scientist - someone that’s been on TV.”    

“That saying ‘whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’... schools should have the opposite effect. Whatever happens in the classroom should go out of the classroom. That really explains what I’m about. By giving children the tools to look at both sides of an argument and make their own viewpoints, it’s just a skill to have no matter what you look at.”    

“Sometimes things don’t always go well, but I think you learn just as much from those things that don’t go well as something that does.”   

“A lot of the children say they want to be a YouTuber [when they’re older]. That’s one of the number one things. As a teacher you can either just ignore that or you can tap into it a little bit. When we do poetry we always record it because poetry is supposed to be performed. Whenever we do lessons we record it and put it on YouTube.”    

VALUABLE RESOURCES  

Mr Hunt from the front:  https://www.mrhuntfromthefront.com/
https://twitter.com/simonjameshunt?lang=en
https://www.facebook.com/mrhuntsideas
Mr Hunt flosses: https://twitter.com/tps_pri/status/976519244333580291?lang=en
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ 
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ 
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ 
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ 

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley   

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.    

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.  

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.   

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with Lee Parkinson also known as Mr P, a part-time teacher, entrepreneur, technology guru and trainer. Mr P starts by explaining how he started his teaching journey as well as juggling his home life with triplets and a stepson!

Mr P and Claire explore the importance of technology within education today. He discusses how schools can embed and incorporate technology within their curriculum and how this can support to reduce teacher’s workload.

They discuss the challenges schools face with funding, society, accountability, workload, curriculum, social media and pressures of delivering technology lessons. He explains the various CPD and INSET training he provides to teachers and schools with technology and computing as well as support on how this can be integrated into the curriculum on a day to day basis.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Mr P has been teaching for 12 years.
• He explains how the headteacher at his school encouraged him to take leadership roles and advised him to take on PPA cover to enable him to broaden his experience across the Key Stages.
• His headteacher encouraged him to develop his curriculum area, which at the time was ICT.
• Mr P. explains how he progressed in his role as ICT co-ordinator and the challenges he faced with the lack of resources at his school.
• He asked the school for better technology and bought a class set of iPads. He then worked with each year group for a half term and looked at how mobile technology can enhance learning.
• He then started a school Twitter and Facebook page to help engage with pupils and the wider world. He saw a positive response from the social media accounts as there was lots of engagement from his audience.
• Julian Woods recommended that he should start a teacher Twitter account.
• He started sharing ‘How to’ videos and blog posts on the teacher page.
• In 2012, he created a Facebook page and by the end of that academic year he was asked to do training sessions.
• Alan Peat contacted Mr P because he was interested to bring someone on board who can look at technology. They both then worked together to build each other’s businesses and ideas.
• Mr P goes on to explain that he learnt a lot about the business side from Alan. They continued to work together and wrote a few books together.
• He continued providing CPD training in schools and shared blogs on his pages. He continued to see the success of this and began to create more videos including comical and light-hearted videos of life as a teacher.
• The growth and success of his blogs and pages was increasingly rapidly.
• He explains the advantages of social media and the support it provides to teachers. It opens the world for teachers to communicate and discuss issues that they be having as well as the opportunity to seek advice from each other.
• Nonetheless, he mentions the undesirable aspect of social media as people can be negative online.
• It is important that the curriculum is meaningful and purposeful for your school and pupils.
• Although Mr P has been working with developing technology within schools for the past 5 years, he doesn’t think it has moved forward as much as he would have liked it to.
• The main focus of his training is getting teachers to look at ways they can use technology and helping them to use it more efficiently. He would like technology to be used more creatively but this requires a big culture change as well as the time for teachers to develop and understand this.
• He believes schools don’t utilise technology enough to justify the cost.
• He narrates that a school has saved up to £10,000 in two years, by using ideas from the technology training which has ultimately reduced paperwork, printing and teachers’ time outside of the classroom.
• He believes there should be a lot more education and coverage on technology particularly social media.
• He believes there is a taboo around social media for schools, whereby teachers believe they cannot discuss or talk about social media with children as this may encourage them to use it. He disagrees with this as he believes we need to prepare our children as it is part of the world they are growing up into.
• He suggests that teachers should raise awareness of social media amongst children as well as help them to understand it. He suggests that this does not ultimately encourage children to use it.
• Mr P has moved his CPD online on to his website (see valuable resources for website link).
• Teachers and schools can subscribe to his website where he offers support and training on app tutorials, looking at ways at how apps can enhance the whole curriculum etc.
• It is not a resource website; it is a CPD website for teachers to access and understand how to use technology more effectively.
• He explains that teachers need to move away from using technology as a consumer i.e. browse the internet, watch videos, read e-books etc.
• We need to move from being consumers to creators where we can create videos, designing e-books etc. This allows us to go from engaging to empowering.
• Mr P focuses on children using technology to create and where this can be adapted in different ways.
• Book creator – an app that allows children to create their own e-book, embed video, pictures, auto-draw option. This app can be used for any topics across the curriculum.
• We focus on the what, not the why! Children need not only to be taught the what, they must be taught the why. The application of the skill is vital to ensure children develop a deeper understanding of the programme/context.
• Focus of a skill should be seen in context, whether that be in technology or within writing, mathematics or other areas of the curriculum.
• Technology should not replace what we are using rather it should enhance what we are using.
• Mr Ps social media handle has now become a hobby where he can engage with his followers.
• Mr P narrates a lesson he delivered to a Year 4 class where he filtered and edited his selfie on an app. He explains the changes he made to the image. He then explains the discussion the class had about why people do it and why people shouldn’t do it. Details about this lesson are on Mr P’s Facebook page.
• For most of the working week he travels to deliver training, CPD and INSET days to different schools. At the end of the week, he continues his role as a part-time teacher.
• He now offers a year group cluster training whereby schools can cluster up with local schools, book him for 7 days and receive training for each year group over the course of the 7 days.
• Mr P would recommend the following computing schemes: Barefoot Computing, Mr P’s website will also have resources available, Code it, Hour of Code, Code.org, Digital-Literacy, National Online Safety (see Valuable Resources for website links).
• The computing lessons that Mr P delivers in his schools focuses on the Computer Science (decoding, programming etc).
• The Digital Literacy objectives are covered with the rest of the curriculum. This work is then published on the school’s social media page which demonstrates how to be a positive, responsible digital learner in a purposeful way.
• One thing in education Mr P disagrees with is the accountability in schools. He suggests that is due to the society we live in and the ‘blame culture’.
• Leadership should let go of the accountability. Schools focus should move away from books and book scrutinies. This creates a mentality for teachers where they are led to believe it is all about the books and it also narrows the curriculum.
• The book scrutiny at Mr Ps schools is called a ‘Learning Review’. They look at the books and Seesaw app on the iPads. He states that Seesaw has the biggest impact on workload at his school because it works as a digital exercise book for children.
• Children can log in to Seesaw by scanning a QR code and evidence their learning using the app. This opportunity allows children to evidence their learning online which embeds the Digital Literacy skills.
• Mr P’s number app that he would recommend is Seesaw. Tutorials on his website (see link in Valuable Resources) are available.
• Mr P recommends that schools should buy every member of staff/teacher an iPad and for the first year they should solely focus on exploring and using the iPad to understand how they can use this within their teaching. How can it help them with their planning? How can it be mirrored to the board? How can the work be evidenced through Seesaw?
• Written text is an integral part of technology. All ideas must be written down for them to be developed and progressed into any form of technology.
• He believes that the reason why teachers are leaving the profession is due to workload. Workload is directly linked to wellbeing and because schools are not managing their workload effectively the wellbeing aspect has turned into a token gesture.
• If the labelling culture from OFTSED was taken away it would be a game changer.
• The three biggest changes he has seen in education; change in government, change in curriculum and focus on accountability.
• He would like education to be funded sufficiently, trust should be given back to teachers, get rid of OFSTED and technology should be used more effectively.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“I am so grateful for the support both him (Alan Peat) and Julian gave me in those early days. It was just incredible.”

“No matter wherever you are teaching in the world, there’s that universal life as a teacher that we can appreciate and have a laugh at. If we didn’t laugh, we would cry.”

“I am contracted to work to one day a week but if I am free, I’ll go in and help out wherever I can.”

“As teachers we only see the problem within our own school, we can lose sight and not appreciate how could we have got it in certain ways.”

“The curriculum is so unique to your school in lots of ways. One school’s curriculum is going to very different from your school.”

“Funding is the biggest reason why schools don’t make as much out of technology at the minute.”

“The Great Hack on Netflix is a must watch.”

“Data now is more expensive than oil.”

“You cannot be creative without knowledge.”

“If we don’t give children the opportunity to create and apply that knowledge creatively, what’s the point?”

“SATS isn’t assessment.”

“My must haves would be a TA.”

“Education is a political ball game.”

“Technology is not an overnight thing.”

“Don’t call them book looks because that winds me up, how you have got to make everything rhyme in education.”

“If it doesn’t have a direct impact on the kid’s learning, stop doing it.”

“Vlogging is such a powerful tool, we don’t utilise it enough.”

“Writing is the starting point to absolutely everything.”

“Writing is so incredibly important, but we can now use the technology to go a step further with the writing.”

“The only universal way to in which we can improve teachers’ wellbeing is to give them time.”

“Stop the faff, stop the nonsense.”

“OFSTED don’t raise standards. OFSTED check standards to their own subjective views.”

“Social media has an impact on teaching.”

“Technology is all about balance and making the right choices with it.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/
Mr P’s website:https://www.mrpict.com/
Mr P’s Podcast in a Pod: http://www.2mrpspodcast.com/
Simon Sinek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
Read Write Perform: http://www.readwriteperform.com/
Seesaw app Website: https://web.seesaw.me/
Alan Peat: https://alanpeat.com/
OFSTED Guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/801429/Education_inspection_framework.pdf
Barefoot Computing: https://www.barefootcomputing.org/
Code it:http://code-it.co.uk/
Hour of Code: https://hourofcode.com/uk
Digital Literacy: https://digital-literacy.org.uk/curriculum-overview.aspx/#yr2
National Online Safety: https://nationalonlinesafety.com/

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with Alison Philipson, an independent literacy consultant who works predominantly in Yorkshire and the North West of England.
Alison discusses how she supports schools and teachers with their English teaching focusing on strategies to develop reading and writing - in particular, how schools can help children to improve with their spelling.

Claire talks with Alison about how she moved from working in a wide variety of different jobs - such as telephone sales, finance and advertising – to enjoying a volunteer role in her local school which ignited her interest in teaching. Alison discusses how becoming a Leading Literacy teacher led to her working for the Local Education Authority’s English department supporting schools and then, ultimately, leaving to create her own consultancy company. 

Alison also reflects on aspects of other educational roles she has held such as being a moderator and assessment lead for the Local Authority. She shares her thoughts on these roles and gives some tips for schools and teachers based on her experiences.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Modelled, Shared and Guided writing.
  Modelling writing while children observe can be incredibly useful. Plumbers or electricians new to their jobs would initially learn by seeing more experienced people, and this is the same for children and writing. It is also useful as a way to model the best use of resources in the classroom such as Working Walls. However, it is also one of the more difficult aspects of teaching because teachers have to be good writers. This can be more difficult if it is not your passion.
• Guided writing has fallen out of the spotlight
  Guided writing was quite a big aspect of teaching writing in the 2000's but seems to have taken a bit of a ‘back seat’ since. However, it can be very useful as it allows teachers to spend time focusing in more detail with groups or individuals about how to improve their work.
• Children can’t learn to spell if they don’t practise.
  Spelling is a particular concern in a significant number of schools. But how often do children practise and apply their spelling knowledge? A ‘real world’ parallel would be putting up a tent: watching someone put a tent up a few times probably won’t help someone learn how to do it well. However, having a go putting a tent up, and then practising doing it regularly afterward will help the knowledge stick. It is the same with children’s spelling. Ten to fifteen minutes a day focusing on spelling is needed to allow knowledge to be regularly taught, applied and embedded.
• For key assessments, don’t be hesitant to use the strategies you can.
  For assessed and moderated pieces of work, while children can’t ask the teacher for help, there are things they can do. Seeking support from each other, passing books around to share ideas and using spelling banks are all examples of pupils being independent learners which are permitted.
• Spelling has a big impact on assessments.
  Children can have the most fantastic and creative ideas, and can be great writers, but their assessments will not reflect this if they are poor at spelling. Schools starting a regular focus on spelling lower down in school can really help to make a difference by the end of the key stages.
• The number one area for CPD in writing should be supporting teachers to develop themselves as writers.
  It is really hard to be a good writer while modelling ‘on the spot’ for children. Teachers are generally natural readers, but very few teachers write for pleasure and can find it difficult.
• Writing alongside children in lessons can be powerful.
  Having a go at writing what you expect the children to write alongside them can be really useful to compare and look at the positives in all pieces and enable children to see how you have approached different aspects of the work.
• Giving the children time to practise is important.
  The new curriculum has been good for promoting a focus on the consolidation of learning. With the significant number of things teachers need to fit into a term, it can be easy to end up cramming lessons in and squeezing out the time children could use to just ‘have a go’ at putting into practice what they have learned. Children do need time to broaden their understanding of what they cover and embed their learning.
• The curriculum now is much less subjective than it was before.
  The statements in the curriculum are what makes a child age-related. It is not best-fit as it once was. A key problem which teachers voice is how best to judge writing for Years 1, 3, 4 and 5, which can be tricky as the main focus of assessments is aimed at Years 2 and 6. A good knowledge of the statements for their year-group is what teachers need, and there are resources (see https://apliteracy.com/) available to help with this. 

BEST MOMENTS

“I don’t ever consider myself as having left teaching because that’s why I’m here today: because of my love and passion for it.”

“It is awful having to say to a teacher, ‘Yes, they’ve got great ideas, the punctuation is there, the grammar – fantastic – but the spelling’s not there.” 

“Teachers get reading more because most teachers are readers – we read for pleasure, so we get it. Whereas we write lists, we plan, we might write WAGOLLS, but we don’t write for pleasure. We don’t practise. We don’t do it day in day out.” 

“I often ask on my courses ‘who writes for pleasure’? Very, very, very few people put their hands up.” 

“It’s all about the pace of learning, not the pace of teaching.” 

“I would never say, ‘Throw all that out and just do it my way.’ Keep what works and adapt it to work even better.” 

“I have really missed working with children… but I do love what I’m doing. I try to think of the all the teachers I work with, all of their children as my children.” 

“I do fervently believe that [the work/life balance] comes from within a school: the philosophy and the trust of the leadership team with the teachers.” 

“I go into schools where [staff well-being] really is a top priority and that’s absolutely brilliant, especially for new teachers who haven’t got the experience to know what’s important and prioritise.” 

“If you feel valued, and that you are important, you are going to learn and get to where you need to be.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

Alison Philipson - AP Literacy: https://apliteracy.com/
Assessment resources: https://apliteracy.com/resources-2/writing/
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ 

ABOUT THE HOST 
Claire Riley

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide. 

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff. 

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend. 

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with James Holmes, owner and developer of MarkMate: a software-based marking system that enables teachers to significantly reduce the time they spend marking by enabling them to quickly give high-quality feedback on their pupils’ work.

Claire talks with James about his journey from starting out as a Year 1 teacher, through to working in Key Stages 2 and 3, and how the excessive demands on time for marking prompted James to develop his new system. James discusses how, without an I.T. background, he self-taught the programming skills he now has, and how his revolutionary new software featured on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den show.

James also discusses the wider implications of the current drive within schools to improve workloads by changing marking processes – including schools that are looking at removing it entirely.

In addition, James shares his thoughts on other ways he feels schools could improve workloads and work/life balance, the biggest changes he has seen in his time in education, and what the school system could look at to improve for the future. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If you’re interested in it, anyone can learn programming skills.
  While technology – and in particular programming – can seem scary or confusing for those who do not have a background in the area, if you have the time and the drive to get into this field, there is a wealth of resources and support out there, and anyone can self-teach themselves.
• Technology can enhance all kinds of things.
  Although there has been a big drive to give computing a higher profile in the classroom, it has started to take more of a backseat again. However, the benefits of teaching children about technology and programming go way beyond the computing curriculum. Children can pick up and develop a wide range of skills which can be applied much more widely and are not necessarily linked to technology, such as logical thinking and considered approaches to problem-solving.
• Exposure of ideas will help get them ‘out there’.
  For any teachers (or entrepreneurs in any field) who have developed a revolutionary idea, it can be really hard to get your idea to ‘take off’. Getting your idea out there and showcased can make a huge difference.
• Teachers are being given more trust now than they have for quite a while.
  While teachers might say that it still feels as though there is a significant hill yet to climb, schools do seem to be giving more scope for trying things out in the classroom, even if it doesn’t end up working. A big difference now is that an increasing number of educational leaders will listen to those ‘on the ground’ about what works and what doesn’t, and what could work.
• Engaging pupils with marking, and making feedback as personalised and specific as possible, can encourage and motivate pupils.
  Marking with little or no engagement by pupils is not time well spent for teachers. Having a system which allows teachers to give useful, personalised and worthwhile feedback, and then allowing pupils time to do something with it, will see gains in learning. Pupils will be much more motivated to improve their work where they feel that it has been valued, and where they can see a benefit to following up on comments and suggestions.
• There could be a danger that ‘no marking’ policies might end up working to the detriment of pupil progress.
  Although there is definitely a place for on-the-spot verbal feedback, classroom conversations and one-to-one discussions about work, it is really hard for teachers to do this effectively with a significant number of pupils and for these approaches to have the desired impact. Teachers do work very hard to move children on, but there is a concern that ‘no marking’ policies might end up reducing pupils’ engagement with their work where they feel it is not valued or worthy of effort. James believes that MarkMate helps maintain a ‘conversational’ feel to marking which keeps pupils engaged, but also keeps teachers’ workloads to a minimum.
• School budgets are tight but, when looking for solutions, how are priorities balanced against money being spent?
  Decisions in schools will, particularly at the moment, always come back to money. While it can feel easier to dismiss ideas or possible solutions on the basis of cost, if something will demonstrably improve an aspect of the school, it can be worth additional consideration because the long-term benefits could well outweigh the cost.
• There are parallels between the skills teachers use and those needed in the business world.
  For any teachers wanting to make a leap into the commercial sector, many of the processes and skills that they regularly use in school can be really helpful: starting with desired outcomes and planning ‘backwards’ to achieve them, being target-orientated, and having good organisational skills are all very useful in a business environment.

 BEST MOMENTS

 “The students felt like their teacher was talking to them when they were reading [the marking comments] because it was almost conversational.”

 “When I was marking books, I knew what I wanted to say, but I would condense it as much as possible to fit it onto that piece of paper.”

 “Schools work in different ways and you don’t want to up-heave everything and change everyone’s systems. One personal bugbear… from when I was a teacher was the frustration with schools and higher-level bodies to allow change in policies if there’s something that has a positive impact.”

 “From personal experience, I’m hearing a lot at the moment from schools about going down the ‘no marking’ policies. On the surface of it it’s a fantastic approach for work/life balance and teacher retention and it’s a real positive step that people are listening. But for me there was always huge value in the marking I was doing because of the way I delivered it and the way I allowed the students to respond to that marking.”

 “[MarkMate] helps with that evidence… Anyone can pick that book up - supply teacher, TA, LSA can pick that book up - and see exactly what’s happened in the last week, in the last month… If you’re going away from written feedback, how is that going to be passed on to other adults? You don’t want to be going in an repeating the same things.”

 “There’s a huge emphasis at the moment on teacher retention and work/life balance and well-being which should have been there from day one. It’s not a new concept.”
“I’m so grateful that I got into teaching… for so many different reasons. I've taken so much away from that even down to the way that you meet new people and talk to new people.”

 “I wouldn’t be here doing this if I didn’t honestly know that it makes marking quicker… I had that light-bulb moment when I marked my first set of books. A set of English books would have normally would have taken me 2 or 3 hours, and even my feedback then would not have been not that great quality if I’m being honest with myself. And then when I marked with [MarkMate] it was 41 minutes.”

 “You love teaching for being in the classroom and for working with those students and having that impact however big or however small. What I don’t love is all the other stuff that goes along with it. There was a real turning point when my daughter was born and I was spending more time on other people’s children than I was on my child.”    

 VALUABLE RESOURCES

MarkMate: https://www.markmate.co.uk/  
Barefoot Computing: https://www.barefootcomputing.org/ 
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/    
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley

 Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.

 Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.

 Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.

 The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Teachers’ Podcast episode, Claire meets with Becky Lambton, the present Commercial Director at iTCHYROBOT. Becky’s background and experience lies within strategic marketing; having graduated in marketing and spending several years in the commercial world honing her skills, she later joined iTCHYROBOT in 2014 where she was tasked with helping grow and develop the business. iTCHYROBOT’s main goal at this point was to help businesses improve their processes or efficiencies by utilising their websites to their fullest potential.  

Becky notes that it was during this same year (2014) when iTCHYROBOT ended up working with their first school, subsequently creating their first school’s website. It was at this point where she experienced ‘a lightbulb moment’ and concluded that the benefits that businesses gained from improving their communications for commercial usage would also prove to be extremely beneficial to the educational sector.  

Since iTCHYROBOT’s website, the company has grown massively and have gone on to develop a web platform on top of school websites in order to help improve overall efficiency in the school environment.    

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Tips for schools: How to make your website stand out from others. 
  A school website should be reflective of the entire school, for example, the school’s values. Many existing school websites tend to be more template based, with the same, generic information located on the school’s home page. A school’s website is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate what makes it unique and should bring focus on the celebration that is happening ‘inside’ of it. Ultimately, it should be a ‘showcase’ or a ‘window to your school’; parents and the larger community may never get the opportunity to see the amazing things an insider does, so it is important to make these things apparent. 
• Statutory Publishing and the influence of this on websites. 
  When schools first started creating websites, it was purely done in order to publish statutory information (a checklist of regulations given to schools by the Department of Education). This includes a variety of things such as how Pupil Premium and Sport Premium Funding is spent, Governance Information, Curriculum Content and OFSTED reports. It is important that a school website is viewed more than just a means of publishing statutory documentation, and more as a platform in which schools can promote themselves. For example, by using the information from Statutory Publishing, things such as key quotes from OFSTED reports can be used to help promote a school and their values. Statutory Publishing, therefore, needs to ‘look exciting’ in order to encourage visitors on the website to ‘want to find out more.  

• Exciting developments for iTCHYROBOT and schools in the future.  
  iTCHYROBOT have set themselves an ambitious goal for the future; to be the sole solution for communication, engagement and compliance for schools in the UK and beyond. The reasoning for this specific goal is that currently, schools are using a variety of different applications, communication tools and platforms to meet a range of different needs. iTCHYROBOT aims to integrate these systems, where possible, in order to create a single solution on one single platform, thereby solving multiple needs all at once. 
• What this means for schools and staff workload.  
  A school website should almost act as a ‘bespoke service’ where it looks at how the school runs and how it communicates. By providing this, the workload of staff should also, hopefully, lighten. For example, instead of inputting the same information multiple times across different platforms, it can be uploaded once and then automatically outputted to where it needs to be shown. This can already be a particularly difficult thing within businesses and schools; by having the website act as a ‘central point within a school for all communications’ overall efficiency and communication should improve dramatically. 

• A school website is only as good as the content on it. 
  A school website needs to be a whole school approach where everybody is supporting it and views it with the same value, including senior leaders, teachers, pupils and parents. There are various elements to the running of a website and an emphasis on ‘shared responsibility’ is a necessity. This does not necessarily mean creating more work for staff members but emphasise that the website should be a central point where everybody will both contribute to and benefit from. 
• Experience with using iTCHYROBOT in the past is not needed.
  When starting out with a website with iTCHYROBOT, advise and support will be given. Web statistics is also something that is offered by iTCHYROBOT which tracks the number of hits on different pages on the website. For example, if the Statutory pages are the most frequently visited in a short span of time, there is even an opportunity to pre-empt visits from certain individuals. The use of statistics and ‘hits’ could also be used to encourage pupils to get involved with the website; pupils could be encouraged to run small campaigns to see who can get the most ‘hits’ on a page, which could even be integrated with the curriculum by linking it to statistics in Maths. 
• A school website should be used properly, effectively and bring real value. 
  iTCHYROBOT supports schools with advice, marketing and communication strategies (both internally and externally). It is noted how various elements on websites are often missed, e.g. the admission pages for perspective parents. Limited information is often a key issue which may deter potential new starters. Similarly, staff pages and vacancy options are often left out, which means school could lose out on key visitors such as potential new recruits. 
• Schools are moving ever closer towards a business model with the implementation of academies. 
  Learning from people from the business sector has never been more important due to the dramatic change in how schools are run. It is imperative that those in the education sector utilise the lessons from business professionals and experts. Ultimately, a school website is more than just complying with one market, it should serve a variety of different people where the information provided is useful to all visitors. Artificial intelligence, virtual schools and digitisation has enabled more people to access education in more ways than ever before so the information on a website should be both important and vital to visitors. 

BEST MOMENTS 

“In 2014, we worked with our first school and did our first school website, and something sort of, I don’t know, a light bulb sort of turned on and thought ‘well, we’re doing all of this to improve efficiencies and adding value and improving communications for commercials, this is really what the education sector and schools need to start doing as well.” 

“Since our first website, we work now, grown massively and we have developed a web platform on top of the school website so schools can do the parents’ evening online, there’s lots of integration with management information systems, to improve efficiency in the school environment.” 

“…for me, it’s all about making the school website reflective of your school. I think a lot of the school websites that we do see tend to be more template based, they’ve got the same things on the home page. I think a school website is a really good opportunity for you to celebrate why your school is unite, the difference in your school and it should be a celebration of everything inside the school...” 

“…back when schools first started with school websites, it was purely for that purpose – to publish statutory information on the website… a checklist of regulations that have been given to schools by the DfE that they’ve got to publish on their websites…” 

“…you do go onto a school website and it looks exactly like that statutory content, where for me, don’t just publish your OFSTED report, identify key quotes from your OFTSED report and say what OFSTED found unique about your school, again, to fit with your school values and that celebration of your school that you’re trying to portray on your school website…” 

“…what we’re trying to achieve from our product is to enable people to enable something once and automatically output that information to where it needs to either be published or to be shown, to stop you from suffering.” 

“…run a competition to see who can get the most hits on the school website, integrate curriculum within it, your maths curriculum, anything to look at statistics and analyse the usage of the website! Encourage them to sort of run little campaigns to try and encourage use and visits to the website.” 

 “…there’s a lot of talk about people leaving education, but education is still a fanatic industry… but there’s never anything on the school website either about how they support their staff. If you go on any business sites, there’s a careers section and it’s got… investors in people and the benefits and I never see anything like that. One of the key visitors that will come to your school website are potential new recruits…” 

“A school website is more than just compliance for one market. You’ve got lots of different people looking at the website and you’ve got to have something that is going to be useful to them.” 

“I always ask the question, well, ‘Do they know that it exists?’, ‘How do you communicate with them?’, ‘Do you tell them that you’re putting your newsletters on the website?’, ‘Is it easy to find?’, ‘Is your website easy to navigate?’.”  

“If you’re going to use you’re website as a communication tool, first and foremost, is it on every single letter than your sending out to your parents?” 

“To me, it’s all about those unsung heroes… I go into schools and obviously speak to them about their vision and values and thing like that, and they always a have a really nice story to tell… the teachers will take time off out of their own school holiday time to go into the school because some of the children still need that place to go and that support… inspiration wise, it’s those people who are making that difference.” 

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

iTCHYROBOT: https://www.itchyrobot.co.uk/ 
GOV.UK - Guidance for Statutory Publishing https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-maintained-schools-must-publish-online 
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ 
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ 
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ 
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ 

ABOUT THE HOST 
Claire Riley 

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide. 

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff. 

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend. 

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire chats with Elizabeth Davison, Headteacher at Thornton Primary School in Bradford, about her journey through education and teaching, and the challenges of leading a large primary school in a time of austerity and financial pressure.  
School leaders and teachers across the country are regularly reporting how they are finding it increasingly difficult to run their schools and classrooms effectively with dwindling budgets, but also alongside ever-increasing accountability.  

Elizabeth shares her perceptions on these issues and discusses how she is leading her school in a challenging educational climate so that it continues to provide a good education for the pupils while keeping morale up, and maintaining a life/work balance for all staff.   

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Make the most of any leadership experience you can get.
  While being mindful of how much you take on, if you have your sights set on being a future leader, any experiences of leadership you can get can be valuable and useful opportunities.
• Academy funding is, essentially, very similar to Local Authority funding.
  The differences in the amount the school receives will generally be negligible. What makes the biggest difference is the effectiveness of the support a school gets from its Academy Trust for the share of the funding they take.
• Insufficient school funding is causing significant issues. 
  With staffing costs being the greatest expense for a school, that is generally where savings will end up being made for most schools who are facing serious funding concerns. A lack of staff will, ultimately, negatively impact the pupils in a school in a number of ways. The expectations of OfSTED and of those in charge of education have not changed and have arguably been raised, which leaves schools facing an uphill struggle to maintain standards despite having to lose the very people who help to make the standards achievable. 
• More pupils than ever are in need of support, but some will lose out.
  With schools losing staff and local services being cut, tough decisions are having to be made about which pupils can be supported effectively, or, more worryingly, at all. Where support is not legally required to be given, and there is no capacity to provide it due to lack of funding, schools might have very few options left to them.  
• School staff are key.
  Keeping the school functioning as effectively as possible and providing a good education for the pupils depends entirely on the staff you have. Where staff have been lost, those who remain are picking up the workloads which are no longer being covered, and schools are increasingly relying on the hard work, effort and goodwill of these people. 
• As a leader, do what you can to make the life/work balance manageable.
  Teachers are, generally, very committed to their schools, and will usually ‘just work harder’ to cover lost staff or increased workloads. But even the little things leaders can do will help. Reducing unnecessary workloads wherever possible can make a significant difference: only collecting data when absolutely needed, reduced marking, paperwork and admin, time off where convenient and motivating CPD experiences. 
• Be led by the interests of the children.
  To engage a class, you have to be passionate about the subject you are teaching; but that isn’t usually enough on its own. Teachers have to find a way to stir that enthusiasm in their children or make their subject relevant and closely linked to the interests of the children.

BEST MOMENTS
“I felt that I really was sort of 'in the deep end' if you like. And again, it was something that I really relished. I don't look back and think, 'oh, that was dreadful', I look back really fondly. They were very exciting times, you know.”  

“The workload for staff has increased in line with the dwindling budgets.”

“While schools are returning budgets that are in surplus, the government has a stronger argument to say everything's okay. But what they don't see are all the cuts that we're having to make and all the choices that we're having to make and the impact that it's having on the children.”  

“Staff will, just, they're so committed, they will not let the children down.”  

“If I can look back and think that I have tried my best for the children, for the staff, then I'll be happy.”  

“We can't employ more staff and we just have to manage, and we are managing really, really well, but I do worry about the future.”  

VALUABLE RESOURCES
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ 

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley  

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.  

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.  

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.  

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with Laura Lodge, a former teacher and now a Literacy/English Consultant for One Education. She explains her experience with leading Literacy and supporting schools within her cluster.

As a consultant, Laura continues to support schools predominantly around the North West as well as other areas of the country. Laura discusses her passion for reading and helping schools with English and Reading.

Laura and Claire discuss the importance of understanding the different methods and strategies schools use and how diverse yet effective they are. They share their experiences of observing the different strategies employed within schools and how they work towards the success of the respective schools.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Shortly after completing her NQT year, Laura worked as a Literacy and Key Stage 2 lead. She continued to work within these leadership roles to support her cluster schools as a Literacy lead.
• After some time, Laura decided to take a different route of supporting schools and became the Literacy and English Consultant at One Education.
• As a Literacy and English Consultant at One Education, Laura visits a variety of different schools on a weekly basis.
• As a former supply teacher and consultant, Claire and Laura discuss the opportunity of observing the different practices employed by schools. They discuss how this understanding has helped them within their teaching career and current job roles.
• One Education is an education consultant and services company. A company to support School Development.
• One Education helps schools to make change in order to support children.
• Laura mentions the four areas One Education is split in to, they are; School Business Management, SEND, Welfare and Teaching and Learning.
• One Education will try to support schools by providing expert advice from both in house and external agencies. They endeavour to provide specialised and focused support to each individual school.
• Although Laura is working at One Education, she continues to work and teach in the class by team teaching, supporting a small group, coaching or modelling lesson. She can spend between 90 – 100% in school each week.
• Reading Gems – One Education’s structure for teaching reading. One Education have adapted the content domains for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and have made them child friendly to support children when answering questions. These question stems can then be used in reading sessions such as Guided Reading.
• A simplified version has also been created for Early Years Foundation Stage by One Education.
• Laura mentions the importance of providing children the skills to read. Children should retrieve information and make predictions, but it is essential that they have skills for these tasks.
• Laura suggests when teaching children about inference it should be broken down into stages, for example what can be seen, heard, what they know? This can then be developed to what do they think?
• Reading award is a set criterion. It looks at good reading teaching. It is split into 3 strands; reading for decoding, reading for understanding, reading for enjoyment.
• Schools can work towards the award and use the criteria to inform their teaching. It promotes a holistic approach that covers the objectives from the National Curriculum.
• Over 70 schools are working towards the Reading Award around the country.
• Schools can work towards bronze, silver or gold for the award. Schools can choose the award they wish to work towards.
• It is One Education’s 4th Annual Conference. The Literacy Conference is on the 9th October 2019. The theme for this year is Literacy Across the Curriculum.
• A choice of workshops will be available on the day as well as the opportunity to listen to 3 keynote speakers. Every delegate will get to listen to the keynote speaker and attend 2 workshops of their choice. Details about the event are available on the website.
• LIFEWorkBalance – funding. If we can make sure our schools are sufficiently funded it will give schools the opportunity to make sure that staff can have less contact time, time to plan at work and meet, time to complete marking and feedback and make a difference to the children outside of their home life.
• Laura suggests giving all teachers 80% contact time but understands that this may be different for teachers with other responsibilities for example SENCO, English lead etc. She mentions that schools try very hard to ensure subject leads are giving their management time, but it is never enough.
• Schools should look at the teachers’ responsibility and ensure they have the appropriate realise time within the school day to be leading the subject effectively. They need the time to monitor, assess and support staff.
• Teaching is about everything you must do to support children every step of the way throughout school.
• The new OFSTED Framework has the capacity to be the biggest change. If the focus on curriculum and teaching of the individual child rather than data filers through it could prove to be a huge change in education.
• Education should more pupil centred. Presently, it is very much a child is a number. It should be a celebration of everything that child has achieved over school. As an education community, we should be working together to develop ideas on how to support the children, so they become socially responsible adults.
• The introduction of mental health is working in the right direction of supporting children.
• Building the awareness of mental health and issues that affect children is very important. Ensuring teachers are giving the appropriate training is vital.

 BEST MOMENTS

“Definitely! I really miss the kids.”

“I learn so much from going into all different schools every day of the week.”

“You pick up so much from each school no matter whether they’re good, outstanding or requires improvement or inadequate.”

“In one school the things you do might not work the same way.”

“It is good to see how other people do it.”

“Our motto is – putting children first.”

“Every single school I go into is completely different to another.”

“We pride ourselves in being bespoke.”

“We need to understand how it is for a teacher to be able to give them advice that they can actually run with.”

“We believe that Guided Reading teaching it has to be about giving children the skills to read.”

“Reading is such a fundamental skill. It is a key skill for life.”

“Inference is not reading between the lines.”

“Which is why it is so important to constantly model going back to the text.”

 “You are always spinning plates as a teacher. You try your hardest to do  everything as equally well, but you can never keep all those plates spinning at the same time.”

“I wish I had known how I wasn’t just going to be a teacher.”

“It is so much more than teaching.”

“I don’t think at the moment, our curriculum necessarily spends time on those social aspects as it could, for example money.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES
One Education - https://www.oneeducation.co.uk/

ABOUT THE HOST

Claire Riley

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with Mungo Sheppard, Headteacher at Ash Green Primary School in Halifax and a National Leader of Education.

Mungo talks about how his career has developed from volunteering at a local primary school to qualifying as a teacher and then getting a job at Ash Green where he has remained ever since.  

As well as overseeing the growth of Ash Green Primary School, which now involves leading two split-sites, Mungo has also been a National Leader of Education and is a firm believer in sharing good practice and collaborative working helping other schools and leaders.  

Over the course of his career in teaching, Mungo has seen significant changes both locally in and around his school, but also in the wider educational landscape. He discusses how these changes have had both negative impacts, but also some positive benefits, and how his school, and his outlook on education, has likewise changed over time.    

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The current funding difficulties faced by schools are compounded by a lack of funding in many other areas.
  Although the lack of funding to schools is causing significant issues with staffing and resources, it is being exacerbated by a lack of funding to councils and social care organisations. The costs of these services, which in many cases were at one time free, are either non-existent, very difficult to come by, or are no longer free. The additional or rising costs of services still have to be met by schools who are already struggling. Poorly funded social care services are also having a knock-on effect where schools are finding it almost impossible to support families due to a lack of services.
• Funding problems are making teacher recruitment and retention much more challenging where some teachers realise that the job is ‘not what they signed up for’.
  Keeping new teachers in the job has, historically, always been difficult with a certain percentage leaving within three years. However, at the moment, it is much harder with more teachers than ever finding that the core job – teaching a class of children – is made much more challenging and exhausting because of all of the additional tasks and increased workload that comes with the role.
• Change can be good.
  Education is an ever-changing field to work in, and almost all of the people who work in schools expect this. Things will change all the time, even for those teachers and leaders who don’t change jobs or schools. However, these changes can be really positive if they are framed and viewed as development opportunities – which they can regularly be - and should be seized as a way to grow as a teacher or leader.
• Leaders being ‘around and about’ in their schools is essential.
  Leaders regularly being in classrooms and around their schools is really useful, not just for the leaders who get to see what’s going on day-to-day and keep themselves in sync with their schools, but also for the teachers and children who get to see that the leaders are not detached from the daily life of the organisation. Pupils’ behaviour can be improved, and teachers will see leaders’ presence as a positive rather than an observation or monitoring activity to be worried about.
  Where leaders are able to take on a teaching commitment can also be hugely beneficial because they can keep abreast of developments in education and be more aware of what is going on around them.
• Developing good middle and senior leaders is key for Headteachers.
  Schools cannot just rely on a handful of key members of staff. At any point, people can move on, so getting well-run systems in place, and maintaining them, is vital for a school to succeed. Good middle and senior leaders are also important for keeping the Headteacher up-to-date and keeping an overview of what is happening in the school.
• Schools are more outward looking and more willing to share good practice than ever before.
  Sharing good practice is essential. Linking with and working collaboratively with other good and outstanding schools is valuable and helps schools to learn from each other in lots of ways.
• As long as the children are benefiting, there is no right or wrong approach to teachers moving or staying in year-groups.
  Where leaders look carefully at the skillsets of their staff, the team dynamics, and, ultimately, consider these alongside the needs of the children, teachers can regularly move year-groups or ‘stay put’ for as long as necessary. If it works, why not do it?
• Delegation can be hard to do – particularly for new leaders.
  Teachers and new leaders find delegation difficult, particularly as teaching is a profession where people feel driven to do as much as they can. Delegation is vital for maintaining a leadership life/work balance as well as for growing and developing new leaders.
• Despite efforts to address it, there is still an unhelpful target-driven culture.
  Organisations such as OfSTED are starting to move in the right direction, and there has been a change in the ethos in this regard, but saying to schools ‘improve your life/work balance’ alongside ‘your results must be at x percentage’, and with both demands alongside dwindling budgets and loss of staff, it just isn’t going to happen. 

BEST MOMENTS
“The Department of Education will give you the figures that shows that school funding has gone up a little bit. And it has. But quite simply not enough. So if we knock off the billions, which is 43 billion this year and 42 billion last year, and I was to say, well I gave you 42 pounds last year to do the shopping and this year I will give you 43, why aren't you pleased? That's because the shopping is now costing 50 pounds.”  
“You will see an awful lot of teachers who don't stay in the profession that long because it's not quite what they signed up for. But you will also have teachers who have been in the profession for longer who are now thinking this is getting more and more difficult. This is not the job I had before.”  
“People are having to work harder and harder than ever before. Now somebody might say… 'well, people should work as hard as they could ever work.' But they're perhaps not realising that teachers are going well beyond that and they're going beyond breaking point. And it's not reasonable to expect that people work for 70 or 80 hours a week.”  
“For me, a lot of Headship is not about what I'm doing. It's about making sure that I've got the right people who can inform me what's going on as well. So to have outstanding leaders, as we have here, and outstanding wider leaders means I've got an absolute hotline to what's going on.”  
“I think what… I do try to do, is look at ways to support senior leaders or look at ways for them to support teachers so that they have a better life/work balance.”   “You know, it's not rocket science. If schools have not got enough resources, and they haven't got the staff that they need, then life/work balance is never going to take place.”  
“I think that everybody who comes into this job has got to come in into it thinking, 'well look, it's not going to be a bed of roses. We get reasonably paid but not well paid enough. You're going to work really long hours.' If you know all that, but you're still going to be really passionate about working with children, then come in because it's going to be one of the greatest jobs in the world.”  
“Let me say, categorically, I'm a huge fan of collaborative working and, where the best Multi-Academy Trusts are working, it must be a dream because you've got schools who are intrinsically linked to one another who could support each other through strengths, through weaknesses, etc.”  
“I think the biggest inspiration for me are the children of Mixenden, and there's no doubt about it because otherwise I still wouldn't be here.”  

VALUABLE RESOURCES 
Ash Green Primary School: http://ashgreen.info/
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ 
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ 
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ 
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/    

ABOUT THE HOST 
Claire Riley  

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.  

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.  

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.  

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with Heather McAvan, a former teacher and now founder and director of Mrs Mactivity, a website full of creative, original and uniquely designed learning resources. Heather talks about her journey to becoming a teacher and, beyond that, the events in her life which led her to enter the field of business culminating in her building her own educational resource company. Having worked in schools both in England and abroad, Heather discusses how attitudes and approaches to education in the UK compare to those internationally, and shares her thoughts on what could be done to improve both the perceptions of education by the wider public and the work/life balance for teachers. 

As qualified educators who have both successfully started their own businesses, Heather and Claire consider the similarities and common themes in their experiences, along with their shared desire to help and support hard-working teachers and educators as much as they can.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Don’t write-off educational trade shows. Although some of the wares on offer at educational business shows can be much less useful than they might initially appear, there are also a lot of companies out there who are creating really useful and well thought out products. Spending that little bit of extra time searching can uncover some ‘hidden gems’.
• A lack of respect for schools, press negativity and disproportionate scrutiny are still causing problems. There are some stark differences between England and other countries whose educational systems are seen as more successful. The level of respect afforded to teachers in other countries by parents is usually significantly higher. This can be influenced by, amongst other things, the negativity of press reports which involve education. This can sometimes go hand-in-hand with the excessive scrutiny and monitoring of education: something which is rarely as involved (or sometimes even existent) in other countries who trust their teachers and schools.
• Although it has received some criticism, the National Curriculum has a lot in its favour. Many international schools deliberately follow the English National Curriculum because of its scope, breadth and its considered design. It is highly regarded abroad and, while it might still have its flaws in some areas, it provides a well-thought-out basis for schools to design their own bespoke curriculum relevant to their school and children.
• Teachers can be their own worst critics. It is not unusual for teachers to go through a crisis of confidence in their own abilities. At some point, either short-lived or for a longer period of time, almost all teachers will feel as though they are ‘imposters’ and are just ‘pretending’ to be a teacher. At times like these, relationships with colleagues can be key and having close links with others in school is vital to be reminded that you’re there for a reason, and that you wouldn’t be there if you didn’t deserve it.
• Feeling confident enough to say ‘no’ is as important as saying ‘yes’. Teachers, by nature, are generally some of the most helpful and considerate workers. Many teachers, especially early on in their careers will take on more and more work – either willingly to be helpful, or because they are wary of saying ‘no’ to senior staff. However, teachers must always be mindful of the amount of work they take on, and the benefits of the tasks they do. There are ways to say ‘no’ to either preserve mental health or to challenge approaches and initiatives which might not serve an obvious purpose.
• Marking is still one of the most time-consuming tasks for teachers. Although there are movements in the right direction in this regard – in particular with OfSTED’s clarifications in their expectations – the time teachers spend marking is still, in many cases, disproportionate to the gains made from the use of that time.
• Teacher well-being and work/life balance problems won’t be solved with token gestures. The approaches some schools are taking to improve teachers’ well-being and the work/life balance – namely those that are not actually reducing the workload for teachers – are failing to tackle the issue. The root cause of stress for teachers is, more often than not, their workload – in particular with marking. Initiatives such as yoga or staffroom treats, while welcome and meant with a genuine desire to lift morale and improve well-being, do not reduce the time teachers spend working or remove unnecessary tasks. 

BEST MOMENTS
“I just want to do everything I possibly can. Use all my knowledge and experience of this sector and as a teacher to help as many people as possible. That's what drives me. That's why I get up in the morning. That's why I come to work. That's why I work X number of hours a week. I'm just absolutely tenacious and really passionate about this industry.”
“I think the teachers I worked with were amazing. They didn't need watching over. They didn't need to be checked up on, and they would have been appalled if they had have been. Because they just thought, they just assumed that they would be trusted and they were professional, and that was just how it was.”
“Do your own research, think outside the box… that's something that I've always done.”
“There's no other job where you can make such a difference and have a genuine laugh every day and work with amazing people and make a difference. And it sounds really cheesy, but it's true. And that's why so many people go into teaching. They don't all stay in teaching but it attracts nice people.”
“I think that teachers, more than anybody, they need that that break from the classroom and from the job because it is all encompassing.”
“It's frustrating, when you're doing things that you know are just pointless. And sometimes you think you don't want to do something, it takes four times longer… It makes you angry as well and then you're less effective as a teacher. And I just wished I'd had that confidence to say, ‘you know what, let's try something different.’”
“In teaching, when you say 'work smarter', it just means 'just stop complaining about it'. I'm not going to take any work away. Just work faster.”
“The issue is workload… you can have as many birthday cards and chocolates, hot chocolates and whatever, and a bunch of flowers on your birthday as you like, but it won't make a difference to teachers' lives. And that's what needs tackling, and tackling properly, not just token.”
“People complain about the 2014 curriculum, I think it's all right. I think it has got some interesting aspects to it. And even the SPaG stuff, I must admit… if you learn French or something, it's really useful to know all those terms. And maybe we didn't focus on that enough before.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES
Mrs Mactivity: https://www.mrsmactivity.co.uk/
Kapow Primary: https://www.kapowprimary.com/
Fit2teach app: - Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fit2teach&hl=en_GB - Apple App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/fit2teach/id1272072750
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I chat to Brett Wigdortz. Brett is the founder of Teach First but in this episode, he chats to me about his latest venture, Tiney. Tiney is working to create  better opportunities for early years educators to work in the sector where they can earn professional salaries while working from home and fitting it in to their family obligations.

In this episode, Brett shares:

• The inspiration behind starting Tiney.
• The reasons why he believes there's not enough early years practitioners.
• Why he is so passionate about levelling up the status of early years education.

If you’d like to find out more about Brett and Tiney you can visit:

• tiney.co
• https://twitter.com/Wigdortz

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Claire meets with Lee Peckover, a former primary school teacher and now Proofreading Manager at Classroom Secrets.

Lee discusses how he started his teaching journey, coaching Muay Thai boxing as a teenager, which ignited his interest in helping children learn. From that, he volunteered at a local primary school before gaining his teaching qualification and gaining experience from working in schools.

Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, Lee made the decision to move out of teaching; he discusses his keen interest in Early Years Foundation Stage and the current developments within this area. Lee also discusses the changes and transitions between year groups and different phases of education – in particular, from Nursery to Reception and then the transition into Year 1 standardised learning.

Lee and Claire explore how Classroom Secrets has started to provide EYFS resources for teachers, and the inspiration behind the development and creation of these resources.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• One of the main reasons for leaving teaching was the workload. Although it was a childhood dream and ambition, the strain and workload was having a detrimental effect on his health, which ultimately contributed to Lee’s decision to leave full-time teaching. Nonetheless, working at Classroom Secrets full-time, enables him to stay connected to the education sector, whilst studying for a Masters Degree. He has also begun to research and read materials towards a thesis, in order to move on to studying at a doctorate level.
• He is interested to see the transition from EYFS to Key Stage 1 – observing children move from play based learning to more formal instruction and standardised learning.
• Early Years enables children to become confident learners and enables the teacher to observe the passion and enjoyment children get from their school experience. This can be different to the learning that takes place in other Key Stages which is why Lee is so passionate about this particular learning stage.
• Lee notes that by the end of a child’s academic year in Early Years, they will have spent a quarter of their life in education.
• EYFS has a different curriculum – The Statutory Framework for EYFS is so different and broad to the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2. It is important for the curriculums and objectives to be different to allow children to explore in open-ended tasks.
• The opportunity to have open-ended investigations and play-based learning is not limited to Early Years and when adapted in Key Stage 2 it has worked very well.
• Early Years allows children the opportunity to learn constantly. They are learning by communicating with others and seeing the adult intervene in their learning. This setting also allows the adult to be removed from the situation, whilst learning continues.
• Early Years learning is focused on experience and play-based learning, rather than standardised, formal learning; freedom and choice should be given to all learners in every Key Stage instead of the adult planning every element of the lesson.
• There are many parts to consider in a lesson for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, for example, input, mini plenary, second input, final plenary, key vocabulary etc., but in Early Years this has never happened - the learning is still taking place.
• It may be beneficial to take the play-based learning forward to Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 rather than have a trickle-down effect of; if Year 2 have formal learning then Year 1 should also be formal.
• It is important to give children a reason to want to learn in Early Years. The more frequently this is done, the more this will support learning for Key Stage 1. This opportunity allows children to then be excited for their learning in Year 1 as they have a purpose and understanding of why they are learning and what lies ahead.
• A longitudinal study that took place in New Zealand, measures the practitioner’s knowledge and the engagement of children in the tasks they were undertaking. Children should be given something they are already interested in and by allowing them the opportunity to finish something as well.
• The outcomes of the study showed that children who progressed the most were the ones who felt that sense of achievement, who knew they had completed something and who knew they have done something worthwhile.
• The opportunity to complete and finish the task/activity instead of moving on and cutting it short is important.
• It is important to give teachers and practitioners the choice of how they would like to use resources and enable them the ownership to be able to adapt them.
• A Scotland project focuses on age appropriateness of Early Years education. It pushes on a movement towards the idea of starting education at the age of seven. It looks at the impact of starting education at such a young age, right into adulthood and how much of an impact it has on a person’s mental well-being, as well as the pressure it puts on children.
• PISA tests, the outcomes and testing numeracy rates have shown Shanghai to be near the top including other Asian countries. It fails to be mentioned that learners in China also start formal education at the age of seven. Even at the age of seven, children do not start primary, they go to Kindergarten which is completely different and separate.
• Most successful education systems have children starting formal education at the age of six or seven, not four. It is important to consider the real long-term impact we are having on children by going the way that we are; by having children start formal education at such a young age.
• Lee wants to focus on the areas of what comes before phonics, understand what impact removing some of the formalisation has on children at that age group and how much it alleviates pressure further on in school.
• Early Years can be improved by improving funding. More staff and more importantly, better trained staff will have an incredible impact. It is important to ensure that adults can attend CPD courses.
• LIFE/Work Balance – reduce paperwork. Although some statements and tracking systems are not used; there is an undeniable pressure that if work and learning is not evidenced, it didn’t happen. More trust should be put on the professionals and their judgments who work with children on a day to day basis.

BEST MOMENTS

“I still have more free time than I did when I was teaching and I'm still healthier and having fewer seizures. It's a little bit of a worry for teachers I suppose”

“I think there's a maybe, maybe I'm completely wrong about this, but it's, in my own experience, the minute you start at a school, they kind of have an anticipation that male teachers are not necessarily going to be that keen to be in year one and reception.”

“I don't know how much you get that end of the year groups compared to early years, how much you get that just kind of unbridled joy where a child comes in and feels that they're playing, they almost don't even realise that they are learning.”

“There's no structure and yet they're still learning everything.”

“Working with a child who's three years old, that year they spend with you, taking them up to the age of four is a quarter of their life.”

“It's a quarter of that entire experience of the world. 25% of everything they know, has been potentially learned in that one year spell.”

“So you can teach children to tell the time by just having a constant focus on what time of the day is at that point. Knowing for themselves, what time they go for break and knowing sort of when the end of the day. So they constantly are aware of the time and telling time. You never then have to do lessons on it, but EYFS is kind of all that.”

“But you, often times you can remove the adult from the situation and the learning doesn't stop.”

“Giving them a reason to want to learn to read.”

“Not one of the resources that we've made so far has looked at just one outcome.”

“Confucius said that, 'real wisdom is knowing your own ignorance'”

“China starts formal education at age seven as well and it seems to just be completely overlooked.’”

“The board, are the ones where children's start their formal education at age six or at age seven.”

“Being open to finding new things and being really open minded to changing things and trying out different things I think is really important.”

“There's almost a pressure of people feeling that if it's not on paper or if it's not evidenced, then it didn't happen.”

“'How would you evidence that?', and I think the evidence is that the child now has learned something.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/
The movement in Scotland I reference without naming - Upstart Scotland: https://www.upstart.scot/
A consultant and blog I recommend for CPD etc - Alistair Bryce-Clegg: https://abcdoes.com/
The longitudinal study I reference - Wylie, Cathy. Competent Children at 6. Wellington: ERIC, 1998.
Another site and hashtag mentioned - EY Matters: https://www.eymatters.co.uk/

Other sources for further reading either referenced or recommended - 

Neaum, Sally. What Comes Before Phonics Exeter: Learning Matters, 2017.
Bruner, Jerome S. The Culture of Education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Laevers, Ferre. Making Care and Education More Effective Through Wellbeing and Involvement - Experiential Education. 1994
Gibbs, Graham. Learning By Doing. London: FEU, 1988.
Rogers, Sue. Rethinking Play and Pedagogy In Early Childhood Education. London: Routledge, 2011.
Siraj-Blatchford, I, K Sylva, S Muttock, R Gilden, D Bell. Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years. Oxford: Department for Educational Studies, 2002

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our first ‘live’ Teachers’ Podcast episode, Claire meets with Mitch Hudson, Assistant Headteacher, Head of English, and founder of ‘Grammarsaurus’, an online resource-bank offering a wide range of learning materials for teachers and schools. 

Mitch talks about how early in his career, he was able to utilise his grammatical skills and knowledge at a time of increased government focus on this aspect of English. Mitch shares his reflections on how his expertise came to be in demand and how this helped him rise swiftly through leadership roles along with supporting other schools, teachers and delivering professional development courses.   Throughout his career, Mitch has visited a wide range of schools and has shared his skills and knowledge at numerous training events. He has met, worked alongside and coached many teachers and leaders, and this has given him some unique perspectives into the similarities between the lives and working conditions of teachers which he talks about with Claire.   Mitch also discusses his thoughts on the future, his aspirations, where he feels education needs to go next, and how the life of Britney Spears can be an inspiration for all of us.    

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• To get the best from their children; schools must look after the staff.
  While children are rightly, at the heart of everything teachers and schools do, the only way to get the best from children is to have staff who are working at their best. Demoralised and run-down staff will rarely be able to effectively motivate and enthuse children, and this can be reflected in outcomes.
• You can learn from anyone.
  No matter where you are in your career, you can always learn something new from everyone you work with. Along with this, however much you might wish to, you won’t always get on with everybody you meet. An important lesson, though, especially those looking to take on a leadership role, is that people who seem to regularly disagree with you can usually be very useful. It can prompt deeper consideration of whatever courses of action you might want to take, and it can help to confirm that you are absolutely on the right-track.
• Any child can achieve.
  High expectations of all children – in particular SEN pupils – should be ‘the norm’. Labels can be unhelpful in terms of how pupils are viewed. SEN, as a label (along with ‘ability grouping’ pupils) can sometimes be seen as meaning ‘they can’t do it’ and should then be given easier work. Done well, scaffolding work, with the same expectations as the rest of the class, can quickly boost progress.
• Focus on the important things.
  The freedoms schools now have to design their own curricula can be a huge opportunity. Teachers should not be afraid to focus in on the key knowledge and understanding that their pupils need, and drop the elements that aren’t going to usefully serve their children.
• There is still work to be done to link primary and secondary curriculum.
  While there are positives with the new curriculum, more consistency in approaches – particularly between primary and secondary schools – is needed. Many pupils can find that methods and approaches between schools (or even between year-groups in the same school) can be quite different and confusing for children. This can set pupils up to struggle unnecessarily. The most effective practice sees schools who are closely linked work together to agree on how pupils will be taught, and then these approaches are broken down further within schools between separate year-groups.
• Repetition and revisiting key facts can really boost retention of key facts and knowledge.
  Some of the more complicated concepts and pieces of information, which can sometimes also end up being taught incidentally as ‘one offs’, can be easily forgotten by pupils if not repeated and regularly revisited. It can also really help pupils to retain facts if they are taught in unusual or ‘different’ ways, such as through songs.

BEST MOMENTS
“I just remember the writing moderation and everything we had to do that year. It was so strict. It was vile. That year, 2016, when I had to go into schools and say, ‘well sorry, you haven't got enough colons, they're below average.’ It was absolutely... it was vile. It made people cry. People really, really got down on that. And the fact that they've changed it just shows, again, the lack of preparation…”  
“I love getting someone to see their worth. Maybe when they think it's gone. And I've seen that in so many teachers that I've worked with.”  
“It's all about the kids. But the kids, in a way, you can't get to them if the staff are so undervalued and demoralised. And I think that with a lot of places I've gone to, it's just about hearing them, literally hearing them; not listening to them, hearing them and just making them believe that they've actually got that 'something' inside them that makes them be the best teacher possible.”  
“There have been obstacles along the way, but I'm happy for them because it's about climbing that mountain. And if you had an easy cable-car to the top, you'd miss out on all of the bumps and rocks… It makes you who you are and it makes other people you've worked with who they are as well.”  
“I don't think many people have had a lesson observation where they use Celine Dion… I remember the Headteacher saying, "Well, I've never seen Celine Dion used to this day. But that was very good lesson. Well done.”  
“She is to me the epitome of a success story. Rising from the ashes to go from being a success, to what happened to her, to come back again… I think that's a message that should be shared with everyone.”
“I understand both sides of the coin because Headteachers are under immense pressure to, you know, get results. To get where they're meant to get. But I think if you get too bogged down in that, you forget about actually why you're really there. And what matters more than anything is that the teachers come to work and be like, 'Do you know what? I love coming to work here because I feel like I can speak to people. I feel like I'm given the time.”    

VALUABLE RESOURCES
Grammarsaurus: https://grammarsaurus.co.uk/
Grammarsaurus YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMhWKrdwzFr994ZhwqG4nlA
Times Table Rock Stars: https://ttrockstars.com/
The Spelling League: https://thespellingleague.co.uk/
The Ambition Institute: https://www.ambition.org.uk/
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.   Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.  

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.  

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this introduction, Claire explains that the podcast is for all educators and that there will be elements of CPD, elements of entertainment and also elements of relatable experiences so that you are not alone.

VALUABLE RESOURCES
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.   Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.   Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.   The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, I talk with Andrew Lochery about the effects of global warming and climate change and how we can teach this to younger pupils. Andrew and I are both very passionate about tackling climate change and it really shows in this episode.

In this episode, Andrew shares:

- How we can explain global warming to young children and ensure the use of the correct terminology.

- The things we can do as individuals and things teachers can do to encourage pupils to make small changes.

- Why he is so passionate about tackling climate change and teaching pupils about it.

If you’d like to find out more about Andrew or the resources he discusses in the episode you can visit:

• phosphorescience.com
• https://www.facebook.com/GreenAPLEducation/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, I chat with Jenny Mills, a qualified cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist and teacher. Jenny has worked in schools for 18 years now and knows the common symptoms teachers experience due to stress all too well. After experiencing burnout herself, Jenny now works to help teachers build their resilience and avoid burning out.  

In this episode, Jenny shares:

- What cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy is and how it can help teachers.

- Where SLT can start in helping their staff look after their wellbeing.

- Activities teachers can implement now to help them build resilience now.

If you’d like to learn more about Jenny and her services, you can visit:

• recognition-hypnotherapy.com
• https://www.facebook.com/recog.hypno

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is our 100th episode! This week I chat with Jessica Nash, an education wellbeing coach. In this episode, we chat about stress and the impact it can have on your body. Jess is someone who knows all too well the physical effects and the consequences stress can have on your health, so now she works to help teachers recognise the signs and act before it’s too late.

In this episode, Jessica shares:

- Her own personal story of burnout.

 -What SLT and other leaders can do to help teachers in their schools.

- How to recognise what is causing stress and feelings of overwhelm.

If you’d like to learn more about Jessica and her coaching services, you can visit:

- https://urlgeni.us/instagram/jessicajoancoach

- https://urlgeni.us/facebook/jessicajoan

- https://www.jessicajoan.co.uk/service

- Join her Facebook group here: 
https://urlgeni.us/facebook/teacherworklifebalance

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I chat to Rosa Legeno-Bell, founder of Diverse History UK. A passionate historian, Rosa has worked in the education sector for 10 years, mainly in inner-city London comprehensives, as a history teacher, head of history and an assistant head. 

In this episode, Rosa shares:

• Why she feels it is important children receive a diverse history curriculum.
• What inspired her to start Diverse History UK.
• Why it is important to flip the narrative when teaching and celebrate at the successes of marginalised groups as well as looking at the persecution of these groups.

If you’d like to find out more about Rosa and Diverse History UK, you can visit:

• https://www.diversehistory.co.uk/
• https://www.facebook.com/DiverseHistoryUK
• https://twitter.com/DiverseHistory_
• https://www.instagram.com/diversehistoryuk/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I chat to Lesley Berrington, author of the Hattie and Friends series of books. Lesley wrote the series after realising there was not enough story books out there featuring children with disabilities where their condition wasn’t the main feature of the story.

In this episode, Lesley shares:

- What inspired her to create the Hattie and Friends series.

- Why representation matters in story books.

- Why the language we use with children is important.

If you’d like to find out more about Lesley and her books, you can visit:

• www.hattieandfriends.co.uk
• https://twitter.com/Hattiesfriends
• https://instagram.com/hattieandfriendsauthor/
• https://www.facebook.com/Hattieandfriendsauthor
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-berrington-0252b425/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I chat to Louise Fetigan, founder of the charity Little Troopers. The Little Troopers ‘At School’ project aims to support to the 70,000 military children in England by providing schools with information and resources.

In this episode, Louise shares:

- The reality of being a military family.

- The pros and cons some older children feel coming from a military background.

- What we can provide military children in schools.

- Why she is so passionate about helping children from military families.

If you’d like to find out more about Louise and Little Troopers, you can visit:

• https://www.littletroopers.net/little-troopers-at-school/
• https://www.facebook.com/littletroopersathome
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/557274674620911

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, I chat with Katherine Muncaster, an educational consultant, headteacher and author of Growth Mindset: Every Child a Learner and Thinking Classrooms: Metacognition Lessons for Primary Schools. Katherine is all about creating a culture where pupils and members of staff all feel they are learners and have the confidence to make and learn from their mistakes.

In this episode, Katherine shares:

• The different types of feedback that can be given.
• Why creating an effective learning culture is important.
• Why we need to bust some myths about pupils in the classroom.

If you’d like to find out more about Katherine and her work, you can visit:

• https://twitter.com/everychilda?lang=en
• https://everychildalearner.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I talk with Eileen Adamson. Eileen is one busy woman! As well as being a part-time PE teacher, she hosts her own podcast, co-hosts the BBC podcast Clever About Cash and runs her own business which offers teachers help and advice when it comes to money.

In this episode, Eileen shares:

• Why it’s important for teachers to get to know their pension.
• How to quickly go through your finances to see where you can make small changes now.
• Some ideas for preparing for retirement.
• Why she is so passionate about helping teachers understand their finances.

If you’d like to find out more about Eileen and what she does, or visit the sites she mentions, you can visit:

• https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/
• https://pensions.gov.scot/online-services
• https://www.yourmoneysorted.co.uk/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I am joined by Annabel Jeffcoate, the founder of Balance for Teachers. Balance for Teacher aims to reduce the amount of stress related illness in the education sector and one of their strategies for doing so is empowering their clients to say ‘no’.  

In this episode, Annabel shares:

• Why curiosity and asking questions can be a powerful tool in changing perceptions of how other teachers/colleagues work.
• Why breaking down the reasons why you’re feeling a certain way in your job can help you work out the solution.
• Why saying ‘no’ to yourself is just as important as saying it to external influences.

If you’d like to find out more about Annabel and Balance for Teachers you can visit:

• www.worklifebalanceforteachers.com
• https://www.instagram.com/teachersworklifebalancecoach/?hl=en
• https://twitter.com/balanceteachers
• https://www.facebook.com/balanceforteachers

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week I chat with Gemma Drinkall, an education wellbeing coach. Gemma talks to me about the importance of creating and protecting boundaries as a teacher. We also discuss tokenistic wellbeing practices and attitudes towards teachers and their wellbeing.

In this episode, Gemma shares:

- What an education wellbeing coach is and what they do.

- Why she is so passionate about the wellbeing of teachers.

- Tips for creating those boundaries and sticking to your non-negotiables.

If you’d like to learn more about Gemma and HeadSphere, you can visit:

• https://linktr.ee/GemmaDrinkall

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I talk with Andy Taylor. Andy is a teacher himself, who has worked with the DfE, Chartered College and TES to support NQTs/ECTs. His Twitter page (Mr Ts NQTs) is full of advice for teachers starting their career. Andy talks with me about when he took on the role of NQT mentor and how he came across a lot of NQTs and RQTs who had experienced a patchy induction. He also shares his thoughts on the Early Careers Framework and the role out of training for ECT mentors and induction tutors.

In this episode, Andy shares:

- Why it’s important for ECTs to have access the Early Careers Framework.

- The distinction between an ECT mentor and ECT induction tutors.

- Why he is so passionate about helping ECTs.

- Why building relationships with other colleagues can be so beneficial.

If you’d like to find out more about Andy, how he supports ECTs, or find the documents Andy mentioned in the podcast, you can visit:

• https://twitter.com/MrTs_NQTs
• https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/mr-ts-10-top-tips-for-your-first-term/
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/induction-for-early-career-teachers-england
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-career-framework-reforms-overview/early-career-framework-reforms-overview

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Education on Fire: Mark Taylor, presenter of Education on Fire podcast

This week, I chat with Mark Taylor, presenter of Education on Fire podcast. Mark has taught music in multiple schools and has seen for himself the wonderful things teachers for their pupils. Realising that the teaching profession needed a lift in the media, he launched his podcast in order to allow educators to share their knowledge far and wide.

In this episode, Mark shares:

- What he believes the foundations for learning are (FIRE) and why.

- Why these foundations apply to both teachers and pupils, and why it’s important for teachers to put themselves first.

- Reasons why educators might feel isolated but also how they can learn from each other and create teaching communities.

If you’d like to learn more about Mark and Education on Fire, you can visit:

• educationonfire.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 5 Steps to Wellbeing and How to Implement Them: Karen Gibb, director of Mind Marvels

This week I chat with Karen Gibb, founder and director of Mind Marvels, a company that supports young people with their mental health in schools, nurseries and online. Karen talks to me about the NHS 5 Steps to Wellbeing, what they mean to her, and how they can be implemented within the classroom.

In this episode, Karen shares:

- What the NHS 5 Steps to Wellbeing are.

- Why she is so passionate about giving people the tools they need to manage their wellbeing.

- Some tips on implementing the 5 steps in the classroom but also how you can implement these steps into your life.

If you’d like to learn more about Mind Marvels, you can visit:

• https://mindmarvels.co.uk/
• https://www.facebook.com/mindmarvels
• https://twitter.com/mindmarvels
• https://www.instagram.com/mindmarvels/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/mskarengibb/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the opening episode of the season, I chat with Karen McGuigan, founder of The Maths Mum and creator of Maths for Life. Karen is incredibly passionate about maths and her ambition is to ensure all children, regardless of their ability or any additional needs they may have, leave school armed with the mathematical life skills they will need in the future. 

In this episode, Karen shares:

- Why she is so passionate about maths and ensuring all children can pick up those life skills.

- Her journey to becoming The Maths Mum and where the inspiration for Maths for Life came from.

- Ideas for breaking down the objectives for those pupils who need extra support to get true understanding.

If you’d like to learn more about The Maths Mum and Maths for Life, you can visit:

• https://www.mathsforlife.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/TheMathsMum
• https://twitter.com/themathsmum
• https://www.instagram.com/themathsmum/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Grace Francis: Founder of DramEd, a company that delivers creative educational experiences in pre-schools and primary schools.

With a background in acting on both stage and television, Grace has a passion for making performing arts accessible to all children. Having experienced her own challenges with childhood poverty and taking unfulfilling work as a young mother in between acting jobs, Grace says what drives her is helping all children access high quality performing arts experiences.

Grace cites her month-long stint at a famous theatre school while she was 11 years old as being a key time that inspired her, developed her imagination, and nurtured her confidence. This is something she feels still motivates her to help all children, irrespective of their background and their experience the performing arts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Bring learning to life.
  DramEd’s sessions enrich the learning that takes place in educational settings. At the core of its practice is ensuring the arts feature in the curriculum and make the topics children are learning about an experience involving drama, music and dance.
• Families and pre-schools.
  Grace is passionate about giving young children the opportunity to experience performing arts. DramEd also provide creative experiences for families and children. The team of performers plan (with artistic licence) bespoke workshops. More details can be found on their website: www.dramed.co.uk
• The Batman Effect.
  If children have been asked to complete a task and are lacking in confidence or experiencing difficulties, they could be encouraged to pretend to be their favourite superhero. For example, Batman. Adults then encourage children to consider the characteristics of the alter ego: ‘How would we do that if we were Batman?’

BEST MOMENTS

“We use drama - or role-play should I say - in everyday life to prepare ourselves for certain decisions, certain challenges, a new job or a new role. Role-playing that out in our day-to-day life, even as grown-ups, and building our confidence and the public speaking and everything that performing arts brings is just necessary for children.”

“I feel what I do is not separating performing arts as a stand-alone topic. Even though it’s really good for that, it’s using the elements of what performing arts can do for children - the benefits of performing arts - bringing that into the classroom and integrating it into the curriculum where possible.”

“Performing arts develops a range of skills in children: it encourages their development of creative problem-solving skills; it improves their language and social skills; it fosters their decision making, their risk taking and inventiveness; it boosts their critical thinking and increases confidence. It’s a subject that has a lot of benefits for a holistic approach to living life.”

“Encourage the children to stand up and role-play. But that’s only going to work if you’re confident as a teacher to do that yourselves. So, stand up, take on a role and don’t be afraid of looking silly.”

“It’s literally just testing out situations. ‘What would happen if I do this?’ and playing that out. ‘What happens if it goes this way?’ and playing that out. It’s just building on that with children. That’s what I feel we do with drama and I’m really passionate about enriching children from their earliest years.”

“I don’t think that performing arts is necessarily in school just for those [disadvantaged] students, but I also feel like it should be in the curriculum somewhere for all children to be able to access, regardless of their background.”

“It’s not all about drama. We’re thinking about music and dance as well. Ask the children what they enjoy. Find out what they are watching and what they’re listening to.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Website: https://dramed.co.uk

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

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/dramedUK

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dramed_uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-francis-dramedltd/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Tim Ealing: Founder of Time Capsule Education.

During his time as a primary teacher, Tim was a subject leader for English. In 2016, he set up his own business: Time Capsule Education. Tim refers to himself and his business partner as ‘historical interpreters’ working in the heritage industry for clients such as English Heritage. Tim also works as a creative writing consultant in schools across the country.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Make contexts for writing relevant to help children build connections
  It is important to ensure children have a level of understanding of the subject they are writing about. Children need to feel connected to the context. The quality of what children produce - across a range of abilities - can be greatly improved when they have experienced the context first-hand.
• Scaffolding
  Relevant and meaningful experiences mean writing is purposeful to children. If they can build on what they already know, it allows for more creativity to develop.
• Children pick up on teachers’ interest in the writing context
  Children are intuitive. They will detect if teachers are not invested in the teaching content. To encourage quality writing, teachers need to be enthusiastic about what they’re asking their children to write about.

BEST MOMENTS

“I worry greatly that all the joy and fun in writing has been sucked out of it because we still have an awful lot of people who are bothered about whether they are using the dreaded ‘fronted adverbials’.”

“I would certainly like to see more emphasis on drama activities, storytelling and building stories with older kids. I’m a key stage two specialist more than anything else and I think, over the years, because of time constraints and the pressures of curriculum and all sorts of other things, that we’ve ended up not letting big kids play.”

“At the end of the day, my first love in school and outside of school is teaching history. As a historian I could extol the virtues of teaching history and why we should teach history but, actually, what it boils down to is that schools are judged mostly on the teaching of English and of mathematics and writing.”

“You can’t write a historical story, you can’t write a story set in Tudor times, unless you understand a little bit about Tudor times. You need the language, you need to know what people wore and ate, what they did and various other things.”

“I want to be able to facilitate and help teachers make their writing experience that bit more interesting, engaging and relevant to the kids. And it should be fun.”

“We’re always going to be needing to have our kids improving their writing; and the one thing that is really important about this is that you get terrible writing if there’s no experience. You get pretty awful, ordinary writing if you focus on just the technical things.”

“I like primary school to be the place where kids get lots and lots of different experiences to find that ‘thing’ that really gets them going. Whether it’s sport or music or dance or drama or art or history or whatever.”

“As a primary teacher, it’s impossible to keep up that level of excitement and passion in every single subject you teach. I fell into English teaching… and I just have so much fun doing it. I’m a frustrated writer. My hook to most kids when we give them stories to start is, ‘I started writing this story and I don’t know how to finish it, so I need you to finish it for me.’”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Website: https://timecapsule.education/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimeCapsuleEd

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

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Rezina Kelly: former primary school teacher, safeguarding adviser and now education consultant.

Rezina discusses the importance of safeguarding and how, in her varied roles over the years, safeguarding has been at the core of all of them. From being an educational trainer to a member of the youth offending team in a prison, Rezina believes that building trust and developing positive relationships is crucial to safeguarding children and young people.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Be curious, get to know your students well.
  Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. If we get to know our children really well, it helps us to notice times when they might be struggling or when things might not be quite right for them. Knowing our children well means that we can identify any subtle changes or indicators and, subsequently, support them.
• Beware of getting used to it.
  The time to walk away and consider working in a different field is when cases of safeguarding no longer shock and upset us. We should be affected; to not be suggestions an element of becoming detached. Our emotions, and wanting what is best for children, means we care and drives us to want to implement change.
• Coping strategies.
  Children and young people who experience academic challenges will still be taught. They won’t be reprimanded for not having acquired that knowledge yet. The same should apply for emotions and behaviour. We want children to operate in school as future adults in society and handle their emotions appropriately. Sometimes children present with emotional and behavioural needs because they don’t have the skills to regulate their own emotions yet. They need to be taught coping strategies and appropriate ways of responding.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“You are sometimes the person who sees that child more than anybody else so you are more likely to be able to spot those little indicators that something is not okay.”

“The last year has taught us more than ever that we need to be curious. We need to be interested in what’s going on for children and that’s how we will start to get a grasp of who they are, where they are and what’s going on for them.”

“Every interaction is an intervention.”

“Especially in the world of education, and the job that we do in schools, we have such a responsibility. It’s actually just common sense to say, ‘I need to be in a good place because then I can help these children be in a good place too.’”

“It’s taking that time to go ‘School is a safe place. It’s the place where, actually, we’re here to make sure you learn and you’re educated but also we give you an opportunity to be happy, to be safe and feel like you can be you and that somebody’s got your back’, I think that’s a really important aspect of safeguarding.”

“I think we forget sometimes that even the quietest children, or the children who present with the most challenging behaviours, they’re the ones we need to champion the most.”

“If you’re an adult who isn’t emotionally regulated because you’re exhausted or you’re overwhelmed, or you’re tired and you just haven’t done that stuff that makes you feel okay, you aren’t in a position to have a positive relationship with that child who is struggling either.”

“That ‘meet and greet’ - that really simple step - for those children who find school a place of anxiety, it’s reassuring them that I’ve been noticed. Somebody knows I’m here. Somebody would notice if I wasn’t here.”

“Some children will be really looking forward to holidays and some children approach them with nothing but dread because school is their safe place where they feel most comfortable. They don’t want to be at home 24/7. Holidays are a really key point for safeguarding to just have an eye on your children.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Rezina Kelly Consulting: https://www.rezinakellyconsulting.co.uk

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RezinaKelly

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rezina-kelly-7ab1a1139/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Arnav Rawat: Founder of the Books2All charity.

After graduating from the University of Cambridge and returning home, Arnav came across a vast collection of books from his childhood. His fond memories of being transported to worlds that exist only in books, along with the appreciation that books helped him on his path to achieving his academic goals, prompted Arnav to donate his books to schools and to children who needed them.

However, due to the pandemic and lockdown restrictions, this was challenging; so Arnav founded Books2All and created an app-based scheme where book donors and schools are linked and then set about further developing this modern, more efficient process.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Educational inequality
  Arnav views inequality as being a difference in the number, or quality, of the opportunities an individual receives due to their background, their income and other factors that aren’t necessarily, as he says, ‘their fault’. In terms of education, whether that be having the right resources to prepare for an exam, having access to the right materials to find the job you want, Arnav considers there to be instances of educational inequality right across the UK.
• Reading reduces loneliness
  One in five readers find reading books reduces loneliness. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when social contact has been so limited, reading can support children in feeling less alone.
• Make the app work for you
  Arnav encourages listeners to get in touch via the website www.books2all.co.uk  and share any further ideas. Arnav and the team are passionate about helping schools increase children’s accessibility to books as much as they possibly can.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“A child from a disadvantaged background is typically 18 months behind their peers when they sit their GCSEs. So, at the age of 15, you’re already one and a half years behind. That’s 10% of your life.”

“Books2All is a very new charity. We were founded in June last year and our aim is to reduce educational inequality in the UK through the provision of books. The way we want to do this is to revolutionise the book donation process to schools.”

“For us, we don’t see our app as a way for a school to get hundreds of books. We see it as getting 10, 15 or 20 books that actually really matter and will really be used heavily at that school.”

“Because 1 in 8 schools don’t have a library, those students at those schools don’t get that opportunity to either read for pleasure or research and find things they’re interested in.”

“I remember when I was growing up, it wasn’t necessarily the first book I opened and suddenly fell in love with reading. It took me a while. Then, all of a sudden, I found the genre, the style of writing, that really suited me.”

“I’d go onto the app, I’d log in, I’d say where I am and how far I’m willing to travel… And then I’d scan in the barcode of each book and those books would automatically be uploaded onto our database. On top of that, I’d also send in a photo just of the front cover so that the school gets a bit of an idea about the condition as well before they receive it.”

“Some schools have libraries with a certain amount of books that are plentiful, but other sorts of genres and other writing styles that aren’t so plentiful. Essentially, what the librarian can do is go through the app and select exactly which books they want.”

“On our blog we also have authors doing some Q and As and giving their insights into how they got into writing and reading and how you can use their ideas in the classroom.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Website: https://books2all.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Books2All

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Books2All

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/books2all/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/books2all/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnav-rawat-853aba149/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Victoria Bagnall who is a director and one of three founders of Connections in Mind: a company that provides coaching in executive functions.

Victoria left teaching in 2011 and, after tutoring students who had additional needs, she turned her focus to neuro-education and executive functions. Victoria discusses the importance of executive functions are and how they are the skills of self-management that allow people to live a healthy and fulfilling life. She also talks about how Connections in Mind works with and supports students, adults and teaching professionals and shares some thoughts and advice about how to develop confidence and encourage sustainable success not only in education but also as a part of our professional and daily lives.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• What are they and why do they matter?
  Executive functions are in the part of our brains that helps us to regulate our emotions, to manage our time, and to organise ourselves. It’s the part of our brain that, from an evolutionary aspect, is the most developed. Essentially, it is the bit of our brains that helps us to be part of society and to accomplish tasks. As the name suggests, these executive functions are about executing tasks and getting things done.
• Identify and praise adopted strategies.
  For students who experience difficulties focusing on tasks, or for those who are disorganised in terms of their belongings and might be experiencing problems with emotional regulation, working on executive functions can be instrumental in their progress. Talking about the strategies and normalising them for everyone can really impact positively on the culture within the classroom. It is always useful to remember that anyone can have these challenges, not just students with ADHD or dyslexia. Identifying strategies that students are using and giving feedback draws attention to the behaviour and reinforces it for others. Having this self-awareness and a set of strategies that work for us can be the key for everyone reaching their potential.

• Verbal vs written.
  A lot of young people with executive function challenges have no issues with their verbal skills and can actually excel with this. They can talk at length about a range of subjects but, when it comes to writing answers or longer pieces of text, can find that they experience difficulties. This discrepancy between verbal and written performance can be a real indicator that there is something going on around the executive functions.

BEST MOMENTS

“What a wonderful set of skills to leave school with: to know how we best get started on tasks; what to do if we’re struggling because the task is not particularly motivating or interesting for us.”

“Executive functions play into so many different areas of life.”

“The executive functions are the brain processes that enable self-regulated learning to take place. When we understand these brain functions as teachers, we can help young people to develop the skills that sit alongside these executive functions so that they can become self-regulated learners.”

“Often we’re asking children to do quite cognitively advanced tasks at school and we need to scaffold those for young people.”

“If children are struggling to get started on tasks, or if they’re really struggling to answer the question that’s set, what’s going on for them? What’s getting in the way of their learning? What’s the bottleneck?”

“Remember that working memory, being able to hold information in our head, is something that we, as adults, take for granted.”

“Often, I feel like the school system is set up to reward those people who are abnormally strong in their executive functions and, actually, neurotypical or average brains really struggle because of the developmental process of this.”

“The things we often examine in assessments – you need to be able to sit still and concentrate; you need to be able to do your revision; you need to be able to memorise what the question was – all these things are executive functions. But we don’t spend that much time working on those specific skills.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Connections in Mind: https://cimlearning.com

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@ConninMind

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/connections-in-mind-ltd

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, I talk with Dr Keith Watson, an educational consultant and personal development coach who has over 30 years of experience working in education. Keith chats about creating cognitively challenging classrooms and how teachers can provide a challenge for all pupils.

In this episode, Keith shares:

• What a cognitively challenging classroom can look like.
• Why he is so passionate about creating classrooms that challenge all pupils.
• Some tips on how to create this challenge culture in the classroom.

If you’d like to find out more about Keith and his work, you can visit:

• keithwatsoncoaching.com
• https://twitter.com/DrKeithWatson1

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Noureen Lakhani, a trainee Educational Psychologist to discuss the impact of trauma on children’s learning.

For over three years, Noureen has explored her interest in child psychology: in particular looking at how children’s brains develop and investigating the barriers which might impact on learning and education. Noureen discusses the effects of trauma on children and young people’s lives and how professionals can better understand these experiences.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Trauma: a reaction to an event outside the range of usual human experiences.
  If a person reacts to an event in a way that is unusual to other people, or the individual is very distressed, then they have experienced trauma. It may be just one distressing event that an individual encounters, but the effects of that can be vast and could influence many areas of that person’s life. The traumatic experience might occur in childhood but a person might not see the effects of it until later in life.

• The importance of building relationships with children and young people.
  Invest time to allow children to become more comfortable and confident with engaging in conversations, and repeat these experiences. Over time, children will understand that their teacher cares about them, notices them, is interested in hearing what they have to say, and this will hopefully lead to them feeling safe and secure enough to talk about their experiences.
• Have your say in a national research study.
  Noureen is currently carrying out a research project exploring teachers’ views on working with children who have experienced trauma. Anybody working in a UK state-funded nursery, primary or secondary school can participate. The ten-minute survey can be completed online and the link can be found below or via Noureen’s Twitter page: @noureen_lakhani

BEST MOMENTS

“At the tip of the iceberg you might see someone whose behaviour is confusing or someone who is not progressing at the expected rate of learning. However, when you get underneath the surface of the iceberg, you will see there might be a whole range of unmet needs or gaps in the foundations as a result of the early experiences of trauma.”

“Every behaviour that a child is using is a form of communication to us as the adults, as the teachers; and it’s really our ‘in’ to see if we can find out what they are trying to communicate to us.”

“Be aware of your own thoughts, your own views, your own biases towards trauma, towards systems, your own beliefs, your own privileges, your own responses to things. All of these are incredibly important.”

“It’s so important to know that you cannot pour from an empty cup. As teachers, we need to be reflective and introspective and look after our own needs especially if we’re working with children who have experienced trauma.”

“[Trauma is] a very emotional wound. It comes from a very shocking event, repeated life threats, or frightening experiences that might cause very negative, long-lasting effects. It can start from childhood and it can have such huge impacts on your academic functioning, your emotional relationships and the way you respond to everyday situations.”

“What’s important to realise is that not everyone who experiences adversity or a difficult situation will experience trauma. The reason why something is traumatic is whether you are supported by an attuned or caring other [person] through the adversity and the experiences that you’ve had.”

“What’s important to remember is that traumatic events can lead to difficulties with our education and with our learning. It’s really important that our teachers, our educators and our education professionals have an awareness of trauma so that they can adopt strategies to support children in the classroom.”

“Make time to talk in the classroom. Whether it’s small conversations when walking in the corridors or longer times such as having a dedicated space in the day. Maybe just after registration in the morning or in the afternoon where you can have these emotional conversations and make it really well known to your pupils and to your children that there is a safe and brave environment in the classroom for discussing things that might be worrying.”

“Trauma is not something that’s going to go away overnight. It’s something that so many young people have. It’s such an important part of the government’s work at the moment to really make sure mental health is at the forefront of so much of our work. If we can make sure our teachers are part of the solution then we’ve really done our bit.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Noureen Lakhani – Twitter: https://twitter.com/noureen_lakhani

Noureen Lakhani – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noureenlakhani/

Children’s trauma research: opinio.ucl.ac.uk/s?s=70548

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Darryl Walsh and Dr Martin Yelling, founders of Stormbreak: a registered charity promoting movement and physical activity to improve mental health in primary schools.

Despite their quite different backgrounds, Martin and Darryl came together with a shared interest in using movement to equip children with sustainable, transferable skills and coping strategies that can be drawn upon to promote good mental health into adult life. The result was Stormbreak which works with schools, children and staff to deliver training and coaching programmes to up-skill teachers and equip children with a variety of useful strategies and inclusive approaches.

Martin and Darryl discuss how important movement and physical activity within schools is and how useful it can be for the development of good mental health for both children and adults. They share some great tips and advice including addressing some of the misconceptions around movement in education and how some activities in school might be adapted or further developed.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Little and often is best for long-term gains.
  Rather than just having mental health focus weeks, or infrequent wellbeing activities or days, building in discussions about mental health within day-to-day teaching and normalising conversations on these topics can have real long-term benefits. Too often, mental health and wellbeing can get lost, forgotten or be inadvertently treated as an ‘add on’. The key is considering what needs to be in place to achieve sustainable improvements rather than have a ‘sticking plaster’ approach.

• Get teachers to be confident with movement.
  There can be a perception that you need to be ‘good’ at sport or physical activity to be able to bring movement into your teaching or routines more generally and beyond the elements found within PE. However, there is no such thing as being ‘good’ with movement, especially in regards to introducing it as something that can benefit mental health. It should be something that all teachers can feel confident with doing at any point.

BEST MOMENTS

"It was really clear to me that that teachers get very little or no training on mental health at all in their in their training. Yet the prevalence of need for children within schools was quite high."

"For me, there needed to be something different. Something sustainable. Something that looked at prevention at scale. Something that looked at supporting children and giving them a toolkit: skills and knowledge to be able to support themselves with their mental health as they work their way through childhood to adulthood."

"We work with five different mental health concepts: Self-worth, self-care, resilience, relationships, and hope and optimism. And you can't work with those concepts with the children, talking about those things with the children, without reflecting on them for yourself."

"What we see when we do our programmes with teachers is they say to us, 'I need this so much for my own wellbeing.'"

"Why do we wait until we are grownups to realise that [movement] is a benefit? If we see movement through the right lenses, and we're helped to understand how it can support us in so many different ways, then we can build it in to our life."

"As adults, we often rediscover that movement is something that is helpful to support our mental health. But why should we have to wait until we're adults to be able to know that?"

"What we see is that when you place wellbeing at the heart of the life of the school, other things really flow as well."

"A really important thing about moving is there's no need to be good. What is good? There shouldn't be an elitism around movement. You don't need to be 'good'. You just need to do it."

"I don't care how fast you run a mile. I don't care if you keep going or not. What we care about is 'what's the quality of the conversation you're able to have with your friends around you?'"

"Teachers are under intense pressure at the moment. Teachers' lives are busy and children are coming full of uncertainty and anxiety. The emotional feeling in the classroom is charged in a way it's not been charged before. One thing a teacher can do is just allow themselves the opportunity in that day to have a small window of time to listen."

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Stormbreak website: https://stormbreak.org.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hellostormbreak

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

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/darryl-walsh-5a29b32b

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shahana Knight - EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Shahana Knight: founder and director of Therapeutic Teaching. Shahana is at the heart of this mental health and wellbeing service supporting children all over the UK with both complex and lower-level needs.

Shahana discusses the importance of helping children to recognise their emotions and shares some tips and advice for teachers and school staff on how they can support this by making conscious yet subtle changes in their approaches with all of their pupils.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Focus on feelings
  Changing our language and how we speak to children can make a significant difference in how they learn to deal with their emotions. It’s a skill educators should practise with all children - not just for those who might be struggling - and involves picking out feelings, identifying them and reflecting on the situation. The dialogue supports children in recognising what is going on for them and why they are feeling this way. If we avoid going into the automatic ‘teacher response’, for example highlighting what has occurred and the consequence that will follow, and instead reflect back on how the child feels, it makes all the difference. Language such as ‘you were really anxious’, ‘you’re feeling overwhelmed’ and ‘I can see this is really heard for you’ is really powerful.
• Influences on learning
  Many children come into school dealing with a range of challenges. These may be related to abuse or neglect, families being separated, or even associated with spending too much time on technology and social media: all of which can affect children’s ability to learn.
• Become more aware of, and acknowledge, the science
  We may be aware of children who experience difficulties with friendships or who may be distracted in the classroom and not be able to maintain attention. We possibly know of children who become angry, disrupt the environment and leave the room. We, as educators, are missing the point if we purely focus on academic outcomes. There is so much more we need to do surrounding emotional intelligence. Encouraging children to explore and understand feelings and behaviours helps them to learn how to self-regulate and helps them to understand their triggers. Practitioners acknowledging children’s feelings and explaining why they reacted in a certain way helps them to develop an awareness of themselves and goes a long way in shaping adults of the future.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“We’re seeing a rise in difficult behaviour, or a rise in anxiety in children, or hyperactivity in children, or really emotional children and we’re not skilled enough yet to really be able to approach that and guide them through that.”

“We’re still in a society, we’re still in a pattern, where we often don’t give children the skills and awareness about their own mental health and wellbeing and insight into their feelings and why some of their experiences might be affecting their behaviour and their thoughts.”

“When children have been through any type of trauma, low-level or high-level, or they’re struggling with anything emotionally, they cannot actually physically learn. It shuts down the learning part of the brain and it fires up the survival part of the brain.”

“Let’s try and stop rejecting children for having difficult feelings. I think we’re so stuck in this pattern where we send them out, or we give them time out, or we ask them to write down what’s happened, or they get told they’ve got to go the headteacher’s room, or whatever our strategies are. That’s all about rejection and what children need is connection.”

“We have to start teaching children that we’re there to guide them through what’s hard for them. Not punish them for having difficult feelings because that’s part of being human.”

“Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes and I think we cannot forget the impact of children’s experiences as they’re growing and how much they need to be guided through those.”

“I just think we’re getting it wrong in education. I really do. And I think we are so lucky. We’re in such a wonderful position. We have children coming to the classroom every single day for most of the year. Those children find solace in that classroom because a lot of them are struggling at home and we’re not giving them the experiences that we could be. We are so diverted because of the outcomes and because of what Ofsted asks us to do [that] we’re missing real opportunities just to teach.”

“We don’t want kids to swallow down their feelings because they think they’re going to get told off for them. Because then we’re just creating a culture where people hide what’s really going on for them.”

“You know you’ve done something wrong. So if you get that validation, at least you know that person is going to guide you through it rather than tell you off for it. Similarly, we all have feelings and the reasons we behave in a certain way is because of that. Let’s inform the children and teach the children so they’ve got that awareness.”

“Look at your environments. Often we have children coming into school who are overwhelmed. They’re overwhelmed with technology. They’re overwhelmed with experiences that have gone on outside of school. Often, they’re tired because they’ve been gaming all night [or] watching TV all night.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

TPC Therapy: https://www.tpctherapy.co.uk

Shahana Knight – Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shahana_tpc

Shahana Knight – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahana-knight2020/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with returning guest Dr Victoria Carr: Headteacher of Woodlands Primary School. Victoria’s school was recently inspected remotely by Ofsted and she talks about how their preparations stood the school in good stead for their monitoring visit.

The school had previously focused on improving attainment in maths and English so, when Victoria became headteacher, she led the staff in creating a whole new foundation curriculum. A lot of time and effort was invested in planning a thematic approach which provided enjoyable experiences for children and ensured they were happy and engaged in their learning.

This overhaul of the curriculum, which began in 2019, ensured coverage and progress in all subjects. Leaders created progressive statements of expectation within the theme-based provision and these were transferred onto the school’s tracking system to assess pupil attainment.

Once she had received ‘The Call’, Victoria briefed her staff over Zoom and provided an opportunity for everyone to remind themselves what they had done, as a school, since the last inspection. This realisation of how much work had already been completed allowed staff to feel more prepared for the inspection.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Ofsted will access a school’s website prior to making initial contact.
  During the initial telephone call with Ofsted, the school’s website formed a key part of the discussion. Here, Victoria talks about schools needing to have their remote learning provision outlined on their website. Ofsted may well, and are very likely to, peruse a school’s website long before they notify leaders about the inspection.
• “If you train hard, then you fight easy.”
  Victoria knew that, unfortunately, the monitoring visit would not change the school’s Ofsted grading. Whilst this was disappointing, she realised the benefit of this ‘dress rehearsal’ and that the work involved over the next four days, both in preparing for the inspection and the inspection itself, would be worthwhile.
• The importance of preparation.
  Victoria discusses how being prepared beforehand - in terms of being able to retrieve saved work to send to inspectors, or by pulling together evidence - was instrumental in avoiding additional stress following the notification of an imminent inspection.

BEST MOMENTS

“You can’t buy a real Ofsted experience. People can come and do ‘mock-steds’ until the cows come home but it’s not relevant until you feel that level of pressure and manage that really in a sensible way.”

“The inspector explained to me they wouldn’t be in in person unless they had any specific safeguarding concerns, which thankfully they didn’t. Everything was conducted remotely.”

“It wasn’t a deep dive where Ofsted dictated to us who they wanted to talk to; they were very pragmatic and very understanding of some of the constraints that we had.”

“These remote inspections are limited, naturally, because they’re not able to just pick things up in a classroom or wander around school.”

“It was quite hectic, that first bubble closure, because it was quite a shock to everybody. But we managed it, which then informed us for how we would do it in January when we actually locked down as a whole school.”

“Our art teacher was actually off school with Covid and not teaching at all. I thought a nice way of involving her in the process was to submit to the inspectors her overview of the subject, the progression statements that were on our tracking system for art and some of the exemplar of the work that had been created as a result of her curriculum plan.”

“I wanted to show our school off in the best possible light. I wanted to give people a chance to talk [to the inspectors] and go through that experience as a coaching experience.”

“We were already quite far on in our journey, despite Covid [and] despite the lockdown.”

“The staff said they’ve never felt more ready. Which is great because they’ve said that in the last two inspections I’ve done with them.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

School website: http://www.woodlands.cheshire.sch.uk

Dr Victoria Carr – Twitter: https://twitter.com/HappyHead74

Dr Victoria Carr – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-victoria-carr-0190157b/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Paul McGee, founder of the SUMO principles about what the SUMO approach is and how anyone can use it as a tool to achieve better results in life.

Paul talks about how his background in behavioural and social psychology led him to running training seminars and coaching courses. It was an audience heckle during one of these sessions that introduced him to the acronym SUMO which he has since adapted and developed into a way of helping to get the best out of ourselves, the best from others and the best from life.

Paul shares and discusses some great ideas linked to the SUMO principles including ‘checking your chatter’, being aware of avoiding ‘passive moaning’ to improve your mental diet, and always looking to invest in yourself.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Look after yourself to be able to help others.
  While we do need be resilient with facing challenges – an inevitable aspect of life – it can be very easy to unintentionally dismiss or side-line the negative and debilitating effects of stress. You are your number one priority. It is also easy to overlook that wellbeing leads to welldoing and, if we are not ‘right’, we won’t be inspiring and anywhere near as effective as we should be with those we teach.

• Invest in yourself.
  As teachers, we can all too easily focus our attention on the development of others without thinking about developing ourselves. Being inspired by others is a great way to motivate us to be inspiring.
  As a part of self-development, consider time to reflect. It is great to have a degree of distraction built into our days - such as audio books or exercise - but it is also good to have reflection time to focus on yourself.

BEST MOMENTS

“In 2007 we banned smoking in public places because of the effects of passive smoking. Well I think we need to be mindful of the effects of passive moaning.”

“This phrase I use, 'to be at your best, you need to rest'; that doesn't mean work yourself crazy until the next half-term. It's building in a little bit of rest time even during the day or in the evenings. Rest is not the opposite of work; it's work's partner.”

“A metaphor I use in life is, 'sometimes life is like a game of snakes and ladders'. If you want to win the game, the likelihood is you might land on a snake. But that's not a time to quit. It's a time to roll the dice, go again and keep looking for the ladders.”

“Who's the most important person you can talk to? It's actually yourself.”

“Sumo is a word in Latin. So, not as an acronym, but as a word, means 'to choose'. Drew Povey, a leadership speaker and former headteacher, says 'every day is a choose-day'.”

“That phrase 'manage your mental diet'. We think about the word 'diet' and we think about food, but I just think it's really important what we feed our minds with.”

“If you want to help the kids, you've got to help yourself.

“Teachers are obviously in the world of education; in the world of learning. But I think it's really important that we don't just think, 'well we're trying to teach kids'. We're also trying to teach ourselves.”

“For me, the number one priority is actually about investing in yourself.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Website: https://www.thesumoguy.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSumoGuy

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUn8r9hCk8ewTXHapv1-Ngg

Books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-McGee/e/B001JOWPYU/

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

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Sam Strickland: author and headteacher at The Duston School in Northamptonshire.

Sam and Claire discuss some of the key themes from Sam’s book ‘Education Exposed 2: In pursuit of the halcyon dream’ in particular what the halcyon dream of teaching is and some of the practical approaches that leaders can take to work towards achieving this.

Sam shares his thoughts on a range of strategies schools might use to help improve and grow including using coaching alongside performance management to hone in on just one element for professional development, eliminating distractions such as unnecessary e-mails, and more effective use of directed time and staff meetings to reduce workload.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The classroom is absolutely at the centre of what matters in schools.
  The classroom and the teaching that happens here should be the main focus of school improvement. Getting that ‘quality first teaching’ in place and happening every day is the number one priority. Everything else – while still important - is mostly secondary to this. While other aspects of education still require attention and focus (for example, the curriculum design) these generally support achieving the ultimate aim of making sure what happens in the classroom is worthwhile and valuable.

• Strip away what is not important.
  Teaching should be as undisturbed as possible and allowing teachers to do their jobs in their classrooms effectively is key. The best teaching will take place when teachers don’t fear things going wrong, or are not concerned or distracted by matters outside the classroom.
  Part of a more general distraction can be performance management – particularly where this is ‘results driven’ because the numbers can become the focus of a teacher’s thinking rather than the quality of what they do each day. Here, a coaching model rather than a data-driven model can reap benefits.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“The halcyon dream is that: it's that ability to teach children without a lot of the nonsense and the white noise that gets in the way of it.”

“It's giving staff the time to do the actual job rather than all the other stuff that we think is important but, actually, is a detraction from what we're trying to achieve with children.”

“Ultimately, the person that makes the biggest difference, or the people that make the biggest difference, are the people in the classroom with the children: the teachers and the TAs. Everything else is kind of superfluous in many regards.”

“Sir John Jones describes [teaching] as the 'magic-weaving business' and I completely agree with that. This is where the magic happens: in the classrooms.”

“To my mind, the thing that's going to make the biggest difference to pupil outcomes, to pupil experiences, to pupil enjoyment is that interaction with the teacher in the room which is undisturbed by anything else.”

“I guess it's the accumulation of marginal gains in a business sense that if every single teacher is improving one element of their practice, but doing it properly and doing it with real intent rather than giving it lip service because we've given it 30 seconds to think about, then institutionally that actually makes a huge difference.”

“Our improvement plan, even in this COVID universe, was 'doing the same, but even better'. And that was the thing for the year.”

“I guess it's putting your money where your mouth is. Is something a priority, or is it not? If something is, you've got to give time and, indeed, money to making it a priority. And if you don't, then it's not a priority.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Strickomaster

Education exposed 2: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1913622169

School website: https://www.thedustonschool.org/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Mungo Sheppard, headteacher at Ash Green Primary School in Halifax, about how remote teaching is currently working and how it has changed over the last year for his school.

Reflecting on his school’s experience with the move to remote teaching during the lockdowns, and what they have done to overcome the varied challenges these raised, Mungo discusses what has worked for his school and staff.

Mungo also shares his thoughts on the future of education and what the legacies of the lockdown might be following our increased use of technology as a means of facilitating home learning.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Preparation and flexibility are key.
  While we hope there will be no more lockdowns needed, it is far from certain that it won’t happen again. Having preparations in place for this possibility is important including making sure staff are clear on their roles and making sure the technology is in place should it be needed.
  Flexibility is also a crucial element because the unexpected can always occur, and a one-size-fits-all approach is rarely a reality. Within reason, and being mindful of workload, allowing staff or parents to find different ways for them or their children to work can mean the outcomes are better for everyone than they might otherwise have been.
  
  

• The future of education.
  The sudden and significant increase in the use of technology to enable home learning to take place opens up myriad possibilities for the future of education. It is very likely that the systems we have put in place and developed in terms of remote teaching will be expanded and built upon further to improve the ways we work within schools. Once schools return to ‘normal’, there are many opportunities for using these systems to enhance practices such staff development, moderation of work and standards, and continue the use of technology as a way of better reaching parents and allowing different ways of learning in class.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“I think, at the moment, where you've got a lot of children and families who you're not seeing each day, you've got to try and come up with interesting ways to still connect and make sure that those relationships are maintained.”

“I don't think that actually teaching live all day is that useful. You lose feedback. You lose the work for the children who are not accessing it. You lose the work for the children who are in school. You'll lose some of the other things as well.”

“Virtually every child is motivated by praise and reward. Not all, but virtually every child. What are the little things that you can do?”

“Morale is still very high amongst the teaching staff, remarkably, and I think that the way we're doing is enabling that to happen. And I have got to give a massive shout out to the support staff at this school because they are phenomenal.”

“The things that come my way... people reporting things that are going on in the community? Where does your remit begin and end? It’s a very, very far-reaching job at the moment. It’s very, very challenging.”

“Don't get carried away so that this is going to take loads of teachers’ time as well. I've heard some really sad stories. You've got to look very carefully at your staff deployment. Look at work-life balance.”

“Be flexible and be individual and personal and all those things you'd do in the classroom. Because you'd never teach the same learning style in the classroom for all of your children so you can't do that through remote learning either.”

“I think the big difference this time is every member of staff has got a really defined clear role. Class teachers are being used much better.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshGreenHead

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshGreenPrimary

Website: https://www.ashgreen.info/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks about overcoming the barriers to remote teaching with Emma Handisides, deputy headteacher at St Joseph's Catholic and Church of England Primary School.

Emma talks about how her school has approached remote teaching over the last year including how they have maintained a positive determination in both preparing for, and working to overcome, the varied challenges that have emerged.

From her school’s experiences, Emma shares some tips and advice and she and Claire discuss how other schools can continue to improve and develop their remote teaching provision.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Benefits of proactive preparation.
  Although schools will now almost certainly have their remote teaching provision up-and-running fairly smoothly, it is always beneficial looking ahead to consider what might change. This could be adaptations to the ways schools are expected to work or new government policies, for example. While it is impossible to predict exactly what will happen, looking at the direction things are moving in and having ideas for possible courses of action can really help.
  Likewise, considering what has worked and what has not been as successful as hoped during the recent lockdowns can help improve and overcome those barriers if or when it happens again.
  
  
• Nothing is ever the finished article.
  It is almost a certainty that no matter what we do, and no matter what systems we put in place, there will be unexpected challenges or barriers to learning that appear. To keep moving forward and maintain positivity, it is key that your vision for what you want it to look like, and the ‘why’ this vision is important, is continually communicated so that staff have that deep understanding and are all on board no matter what setbacks might present themselves.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“Being able to see those children in school who you are face-to-face teaching and those children at home on the big board who you are remote teaching, learning together, as one class, is the most immense feeling.”

“It's the most amazing feeling to actually be able to overcome those barriers of school closure and to say, ‘we're still all together. We're still learning the same things. We're still learning all together.’”

“We've booked in some museum sessions where the children are on tours. We've booked in some art workshops where it's been streamed out to the children. We're just really, really trying to continue to enhance the curriculum as much as possible because there are things out there that are accessible.”

“You could see it coming: lockdown two, school closures. Obviously, you hoped it wouldn't come. You hoped there'd be a change of path. But we just anticipated it throughout. I think the key there was that anticipation that this will happen again and that we want it to look very, very different next time.”

“We still have barriers. But whatever it is that comes at us, [we're] just trying to find a solution so that all children can be engaged.”

“It’s having that determination, that resilience, that positivity, that 'why are we doing this?' Well we're doing this to give the best for those children, and keeping that at the forefront of your mind.”

“It's not always easy. You are remote teaching. You are face-to-face teaching. Technical glitches happen all the time. But, actually, having that positivity and that determination is so key.”

“We just wanted to make sure that the provision can be the best it can be. And that is something, again, that we're working, continuing even, to work at.”

“If there is a non-attendance at the remote teaching sessions, we are straight on the phone. I did say to the children right from the start, ‘we will be on the phone. We will be knocking at your doors. We will be. Because it's not an option. We need you to be there. We need you to be engaged.’”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Emma Handisides - Twitter: https://twitter.com/handisides_emma

Saint Joseph's Primary School - Twitter: https://twitter.com/stjs_staveley

Emma Handisides - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emma.shore.754

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Helen Clare, founder of ‘Class Yoga’, about the benefits of yoga and mindfulness for staff and pupils in schools.

Previously a primary school teacher, Helen now teaches yoga and mindfulness to adults and children and talks with Claire about the advantages of bringing in yoga and its related techniques into schools: including how it can improve wellbeing and mindfulness.

With over 10 years’ experience, both internationally and in and out of schools, Helen has some great advice on how yoga can be established as a regular tool to help children with their behaviour and health, and also shares some tips for how other aspects can be used throughout the day to help improve focus.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The benefits of yoga.
  Yoga has a range of benefits, not least of which is its use as an effective way of finding a mindful state. Yoga is also an encompassing and inclusive activity: anyone can do it and there is absolutely no element of competition or judgement involved which can be encouraging for less confident pupils. It is also generally easier to find a calm and mindful state through the movement element to yoga than could be achieved by simply sitting and thinking.
  Yoga has been shown to improve focus and concentration along with developing mental and emotional wellbeing among participants and, for children, it can provide a toolkit that they can then draw on throughout their lives.
  
  
• Breathing.
  Along with the movement element, breathing is an important part of yoga. We can usually find ourselves breathing only from the top of our lungs – particularly when anxious or busy - and not taking deep enough breaths. Starting the day (and occasionally throughout the day) with a few calming deep breaths can help to boost energy levels, confidence, and even our posture.
  
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“By offering appropriate yoga and mindfulness tools to children, we’re really giving them a toolkit to draw upon that they can use throughout their lives to help regulate emotion; help calm themselves down; to feel more confident and more resilient.”

“If we can find tools to help us become more mindful, it means that we are staying more in the present moment. It means that our thoughts aren’t constantly whirling around in our head. So the end result, the end feeling, is one of calm, peace, ease, lack of stress, lack of worry.”

“There’s a lot of yoga out there. There’s a lot of kids yoga out there and I don’t think they all take quite the same approach as I do. I’m a primary school teacher by background. This method that I’ve come up with is drawn from that experience and it’s quite an authentic approach to yoga, but in a very engaging way that is fun for children, but that maximises the benefits of yoga.”

“My top recommendation, for teachers, would be to start your day with a few calm, deep breaths. Yoga is just as much about breathing properly as it is about moving properly.”

“Essentially, yoga is one method of reaching wellbeing. It’s the holistic approach to finding improved physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. We could also call it ‘moving mindfulness’ and it’s such a great practice for children. It can actually be a more effective way of finding a mindful state than just seated mindfulness practices.”

“As we know, teachers quite commonly lose their voice and get sore throats. One of the reasons for that is breathing through the mouth which makes the throat very dry. It can take a bit of practice, and time, to start consciously breathing in and out through your nose only, so that would be something else to practise.”        

“I would say the majority of children enjoy it the first time because it’s usually new. It’s usually different. If it’s taught well, then it’s engaging and they feel the benefits early on. It’s a very inclusive practice. It can be very fun; very enjoyable.”

“On my trainings, I teach you how to teach to the children. I teach how to respond to what the children need in terms of energy levels. Whether we need to make it more engaging, energising, or more focusing or calming it down and finding a more relaxed class to help bring more of them in. There’s almost always a way to engage all children.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Websites: https://helenclareyoga.com and https://classyoga.com

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/class_yoga

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-clare-b8904a53/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Koren Sanderson about the realities of remote teaching.

Koren is a Year 6 teacher in a school in Staffordshire. She is a member of the middle leadership team, has a shared subject responsibility for English and is the reading coordinator for the whole of her school.

Koren discusses her experiences of the move to remote teaching and learning and shares some tips and advice based on what has worked and been successful for her and her school.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Have a clear structure and realistic expectations.
  Share a timetable with parents. If it needs amending during the course of the week then send out an updated version. This is particularly important for children with SEND (special needs) who may struggle with change, or for those who may be finding a lack of routine challenging. Sharing a timetable allows children to know what to expect.
  
  
• Safeguarding and wellbeing checks.
  Have the expectation that children are visible on cameras, even if just during registration. Make time for informal chat to maintain their wellbeing.
  
  
• Be strict with your time when you’re not working.
  Parents may well message at a time that is convenient to them but teachers need to make sure they turn their devices off, and log out, at the end of the working day. Make use of the ‘quiet hours’ featured on the platforms used by schools. If parents have effective means of contacting school during the day, most will appreciate that their concerns and queries will not be answered in the evenings, but they will receive a response at the next available time.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“The main thing that we wanted to get across is that this is a new thing for everybody. It’s a scary process for a lot of people and there [are] so many challenges that people face with technology, with delivering the lessons.”

“Be flexible. Be adaptable. Take a relaxed approach and listen to what the families are saying to us because it’s not easy – especially if you’ve got more than one child at home or you’ve got poor internet access.”

“Because we’ve got really good communication with our school community, [parents] know they can get in touch with us on Dojo, they can e-mail our ‘corona support e-mail’, there’s a member of staff available at all times during the working day, so the feedback has been really, really positive.”

“If parents are struggling, we want them to be okay. We don’t want them to feel under pressure.”

“If systems are in place and you’re communicating effectively with each other, sharing good practice, talking about what’s working well but also just giving each other a punch on the shoulder and just saying, ‘You’re doing a wicked job. It’s not easy and you’re doing a fantastic job.’”

“It’s really important to be kind to yourself. We’re not superheroes. We’re not infallible. It’s possible to be an absolutely fantastic remote teacher without having to run yourself into the ground. It’s just about that organisation and communication and making sure that those systems are in place.”

“[It’s] having the confidence to say, ‘This doesn’t quite work for me. Is there a way that we can adapt it?’ Having those professional conversations with your colleagues and asking, ‘Is there anything that you’re doing that I might do?’”

“My life is really busy and I want to enjoy my family as well as work. I love my job, I’m passionate about it, but it is my job. I want to give 100% to that, but I also want to give 100% to my family and if I’m feeling down and miserable, and pre-occupied with what I’m not able to do, it doesn’t benefit anybody.”

“Accept that [parents are in] working families and the pressures that they’re under are enormous as well. We’ve got to come together and support one another. I do think they really appreciate that.”

“For grammar, punctuation and spelling, and sometimes for the maths, I use the Classroom Secrets resources. They’re fantastic, they’re differentiated, they come with answers, they come with PowerPoints and I can upload those with the teaching slides as an assignment on Teams. It means the kids can go back through it if they’ve not quite got anything.”

“Especially now, it’s so crucial to get that work-life balance and if you want to cut down on your workload, don’t re-invent the wheel. It’s out there. It’s okay to use it. Of course, adapt for your own class and to the needs of your children but don’t start from scratch when you’ve got such a good basis to use that someone else has done already.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sanderson_koren

HRTV – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChCltEbCeBGr2l5ZdG215Hw

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, I chat with Kim Griffin, an occupational therapist who is currently based in Australia. Kim has been working with pupils with SEN for almost 20 years and is on a mission to help teachers and educators understand the ‘why’ behind the way children behave when they have sensory processing difficulties.

In this episode, Kim shares:

• How choice can have an impact on the way children with sensory processing issues behave.
• Why it is important educators understand how sensory processing can affect behaviour.
• Why she is so passionate about educators learning more about sensory processing.

If you’d like to find out more about Kim and her work, you can visit:

• GriffinOT.com
• https://www.facebook.com/kim.griffin.71697092
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-griffin-ot/
• https://twitter.com/Griffin_OT

Kim also shared some texts that anyone who wishes to learn more about sensory processing may be interested in reading:

• Sensory Processing Challenges – Effective Clinical Work with Kids and Teens by Lindsey Biel (2014)
• Sensational Kids by Lucy Miller (2014)
• 100 Ideas for Primary Teachers - Sensory Processing by Kim Griffin (2020)
• For Parents: The Everything Parent’s Guide to Sensory Processing Disorder by Terri Mauro (2014)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Rebecca Leek, an executive headteacher and director of strategy for ASSET Education Trust.

Rebecca discusses how, as a result of the coronavirus restrictions along with local and national lockdowns, her school has adapted including the move to more remote teaching and learning practices. Rebecca also talks about the importance of maintaining balance within schools and amongst staff – particularly in light of how much more quickly things are changing within the world of education.

Claire and Rebecca share some really useful tips and ideas as to how senior leaders, teachers and everyone involved in schools and education can work towards making the most of the situation we are currently in.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The importance of a supportive culture
  Although we have been living with the pandemic and its disruptive effects for almost a year now, the situation and ways of working are still changing and adapting. Teachers and school staff – particularly those for whom understanding technology does not come naturally or where teaching online is out of their comfort zone – could well always need additional time to adapt. It is important to make sure all staff, but especially those who might feel less confident with the new ways of working, are supported and can feedback freely on their successes and challenges.
• Look to innovate
  The lockdowns and restrictions have brought about (and continue to bring up) entirely new scenarios and changes to our ways of working for many. However, while being mindful of the impact on individuals and wellbeing, this is an ideal time to experiment and try new things out. Empowering teachers and school staff to innovate and give things a go could yield great benefits including better ways of working or inventive ways of using technology.
• Tips for remote working
  With the move to being online much more, it is important to remember to take time away from the screen and be disciplined with this. Set alarms or reminders as it can be very easy – particularly if working from home – to realise that you have been staring at a computer screen for much longer than you might have thought. Also, don’t seek to reinvent the wheel where it is not needed. Share and use resources from others rather if there is something out there that does what you’re after. Finally, online teaching in whatever form cannot replace being in a classroom with pupils and being able to spot and respond more readily where children might be struggling. With that in mind, ensure modelling is as clear as it can be and, where you can, over-scaffold to help with this.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“If you can have that kind of empowering, unleashing way of doing things… honestly, it's endless what you can achieve.”

“I think we've got to be cautious not to underestimate the effect that [the lockdown] has had on some people. It is really tough. But, if you can look for the opportunities, it will make it easier; and reach out if you are struggling.”

“We always say, don't we, in leadership, if you don't look after yourself, you can't look after everyone else. That is it: look after yourself and then you can look after everyone else.”

“We are more than the sum of our parts. I do really know that that's true. If we can get through this healthily and supportively, while innovating at the same time, our schools are going to be better at the end of it.”

“We must keep reminding ourselves that we're doing many new things for the first time all the time; and some of us do thrive on that. But not everyone [does].”

“We are innovating at breakneck speed and, if we don't stop and reflect about how much we're doing, and actually congratulate ourselves and celebrate what we are achieving, then things will get very tough and go wrong.”

“If you can make a really simple set of rules - we just must do this and then it doesn't really matter after that - that helps with everyone's anxiety.”

“We're enriching childhood. We're not just preparing them for adulthood. We are at a place where children spend a lot of their childhood, so it must be fantastic.”

“It’s so complex. Teaching is so complex. You're never going to just hit one button and know it's done.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebeccaLeek_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-leek-702a825b/

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

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE NOTES

In this episode, Claire talks with Hayley Lamb: Founder of Positive Ewe, personal and professional coach and educational leader.

Hayley previously taught English in Thailand and, after completing her PGCE in the UK, went on to teach in Dubai and Egypt. During her time working in a huge international school, with 80 classes just in the primary sector, Hayley became Deputy Head and had a leading role in the wellbeing and coaching of staff.

Hayley was instrumental in setting up a brand-new school from ‘the ground up’: working with architects to design indoor and outdoor spaces and cites this as her proudest career achievement to date.

In 2019, Hayley returned to the UK to set up ‘Positive Ewe’. She works with students and young people, leads sessions for schools and is a personal and professional coach for individuals.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Invest in time to think on a deeper level
  Whilst it can be quick and easy to think about things on a ‘surface level’, people don’t generally give the time needed to consider things more deeply. Teachers invest the time needed to complete work activities - such as marking books and putting up displays - but they won’t necessarily invest that time in themselves. In coaching, the coach only needs to ask a few questions and often the person comes up with a solution themselves. It doesn’t always involve a lot of ‘deep digging’ and, with questioning, it’s finding that time and getting used to thinking on a different level.
  
  
• Our labels: how useful are they?
  We carry a range of labels such as ‘successful leader’, ‘top of the class’, ‘bright’ or ‘driven’. These labels are either given to us, from our childhood or workplace, or we give them to ourselves. If we try and adhere to too many labels, or our circumstances change that prohibit maintaining all those labels, then we need to consider whether these labels actually serve us. Your values can change - for example, when having a family - and it isn’t always possible to continue as we have done before. Hayley discusses how she would like to make coaching compulsory for anyone who has had a child. Continuing to live our lives in accordance with our old values can become very challenging. We need to stop and reflect.
  
  
• Focus less on the desired outcome and acknowledge the effort
  Rather than being very focused on an end result, for example a score to be achieved in a test or a specific level to reach, recognise and process the effort made. Results don’t just happen. Favourable or otherwise, look from a more internal perspective and acknowledge what you did, or didn’t do, for that result to come about. Take comfort from knowing that you tried your best and put in a lot of effort rather than putting yourself under pressure to achieve a certain outcome.

BEST MOMENTS

“A lot of the time it’s our inner self-talk as well that’s holding us back or telling us that we can’t do something, or we shouldn’t think in a certain way.”

“Naturally, we do compare ourselves. We’ve got this sort of thing of we should be doing this at this point in our lives, or I should be doing this as a teacher. You know – work/life balance – ‘I should be doing this’, and it’s really not helpful.”

“Listen to yourself. Listen to your body. Listen to your mind. If something doesn’t feel right, follow the scent of it, go with it, talk about it. Very often, mental health problems arise when someone’s become quite a closed book or keeps going.”

“Be true to yourself and your values. Try something new. By that, I mean so many people are either stuck in their ways or stuck in their thinking. The saying ‘can’t see the wood for the trees’, it’s because you’re not necessarily looking for it, or you’re not used to looking for it.”

“When something happens, or you’re thinking or feeling in a particular way, take a step back and think, ‘What lens have I got on today? Have I got a positive lens on? Have I got a brooding lens on? Have I got a catastrophic lens on?’”

“A lot of the time we will give ourselves a label: ‘an outstanding teacher’. That’s a really good label to use as an example. So, if you’ve got the label of ‘you’re an outstanding teacher’, then you have to conform to that label at all times. So, at night time, … your label of ‘you’re an outstanding teacher’ holds you back and stops you from actually living your life. Because you’re an ‘outstanding teacher’ you’ve got to mark these books and they’ve got to be perfect because you can’t be anything but this ‘outstanding teacher’.”

“Encourage [children] to process all the effort they’ve put in. I didn’t just do well in GCSEs because I was naturally clever because of my ‘label’. I did well because I was really studious, I went to school most days, I did all my homework, I revised… It didn’t just happen. It happened because of all of the legwork that had been put in and all of the effort.”

“They say to fulfil your wellbeing you should be continuously learning or have that feeling of learning. It could be to read a book, but why not mix things up a little bit? It doesn’t have to be learning around your job. It can be learning in anything; anything that might bring you joy.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Positive Ewe website: https://positiveewe.com/

Positive Eve on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/positiveewe

Positive Ewe on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PositiveEwe

Hayley Lamb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayleylamb/

Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk

The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/

Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/

Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST

'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley

Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing. 

Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide.

In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance.

Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion.

In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.