The We Lead Well Podcast

Julia is a lifelong learner and leader of learning.  She is the Director of Boundless Learning Ltd, specialising in bespoke consultancy support for leadership, learning and wellbeing, organisational development, staff development, coaching and supervision.  Julia is also a committed and passionate School Governor. Her extensive experience of research and development in education across a broad range of expertise is rooted in enabling emotional and cognitive development, oracy and communication, metacognition and the impact of a growth mindset on motivation and promoting self esteem so that everyone is a leader of their own learning.  Julia's research journey and learning have always been rooted in the promotion of EQ, developing motivation, oracy and language and the promotion of positively managing emotions and wellbeing across communities. She now works extensively in this area leading individual, organisational and group wellbeing provision across whole communities with Boundless Wellbeing. https://boundlesslearning.org.uk/ @boundlesslimited vicki@weleadwell.co.uk @WeLeadWellPodc1 www.headteacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com

@WeLeadWellpodc1 Vicki@weleadwell.co.uk www.headteacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com www.teacherswell.com In this episode of the podcast, I chatted to Megan Corcoran all the way from Australia! Megan is passionate about supporting schools and organisations to become wellbeing communities. She believes that all members of a workplace can contribute to the wellbeing of the organisation and Megan can guide teams through practices and processes to have the skills to do so. Megan’s practice is trauma-informed and grounded in Wellbeing Science. She is an experienced workshop facilitator, coach and consultant, and is open to consulting and collaborating with schools, organisations and Not For Profits. Megan is also Co-Founder and Lead Facilitator at Teachers' Well Megan spent over eleven years teaching and leading in alternative schools for young people who have experienced trauma and/or significant disadvantage. During that time, Megan worked as a school leader in Australia’s largest alternative school, with an enrolment of 340 young people. As a leader, Megan prioritised staff wellbeing and professional practice, ensuring those choosing to do this work are well supported while developing and refining skills. Megan spent time volunteering as an English teacher in the West Bank, Palestine. She studied a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology, investigating how belonging can provide healing and improve outcomes after experiences of childhood trauma. In 2020, she completed the Teach to Lead fellowship alongside twenty other Victorian school leaders.

Simon Antwis is an experienced head and Estyn inspector and in this episode we chat to him about the impact of the pandemic on our pupils and STEER and how it can help you identify the pupils who are the most vulnerable and at risk of facing mental health challenges. steer.education vicki@weleadwell.co.uk @WeLeadWellPodc1 www.headteacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com

On today's show, we welcome Dr Rachel Briggs. With over 30 years' experience as a class teacher, senior leader, in-service trainer and education researcher, Rachel has practical experience and a theoretical knowledge of the education system and the associated benefits and risks to educators’ wellbeing.  Rachel offers coaching and supervision (reflective and safeguarding), as supportive dialogue to improve practice/competence and wellbeing which buffer against burnout and compassion stress injuries. Her practice is informed by a ‘mobile-balance’ model of educator psychological wellbeing, developed utilising her doctoral and masters studies and research, as well as her teaching and leadership experience (SENCo, DSL, deputy/acting HT), mostly gained in mainstream schools in challenging circumstances. She also offers training to school staff, governors/trustees and universities/ITEs where she shares the ‘mobile-balance’ framework to enhance understanding of workplace psychological wellbeing. This can facilitate more focused and informed conversations in schools, and individuals can be supported to identify personal stressors and wellbeing enhancers so that development and support opportunities can be tailored to individual needs. Rachel can be found on Linked In and on Twitter at @drrachelbriggs @WeLeadWellPodc1 vicki@weleadwell.co.uk www.transformeducationcoach.com www.headteacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com  

Drew Povey is back! This time he's come to tell us all about his brilliant new book, 'When the Clouds Come' a book about how to overcome adversity and face all of the challenges that life and leadership present.   You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09THQYWTZ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 @WeLeadWellPodc1 @drewpovey vicki@weleadwell.co.uk www.transformeducationcoach.com www.headteacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com  

It is one thing for a school to talk about values. It's another for a school to make them a living, breathing part of every aspect of school life in a way that transforms the entire community. Such is the power of Values-based Education (VbE for short), something that Julie Rees brings to life in the schools she leads and why so many people flock to visit her school to see for themselves. And come away entirely moved by the experience. Julie is an experienced and successful primary school leader who fully embraced the concept of Values-based education when she first came across it several years ago in her previous school. It totally transformed that school – a small village primary school – and she was then keen to apply such an approach in a more challenging environment, a large market town primary school with many issues relating to rural poverty and deprivation. And it worked, transforming everything almost overnight. The process in many ways is quite simple and starts with identifying seven core components to be followed across the school: Authentic modelling by adults of positive values Developing an 'inner curriculum' of thoughts, feelings and emotions Ongoing reflective practice The creation of the Values-based Education environment Building the Values-based Education curriculum Developing quality leadership The development of an ethical vocabulary These components are embedded by taking any of a number of values - from honesty and friendship to trust and responsibility – and exploring them in depth and across the whole school on a month-by-month basis. In this way they become embedded not only in the school but in every member of the community, making that community all the richer as a result. @julierees100 @WeLeadWellPodc1 vicki@weleadwell.co.uk www.transformeducationcoach.com www.heateacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com  

This week's episode sees the return of the brilliant Dan Edwards, Primary Executive Principal.  Dan and I discuss many of the aspects of educational leadership and how we can do things differently in order to support the wellbeing of our staff, including quality assurance and CPD. vicki@weleadwell.co.uk www.transformeducationcoach.com @WeLeadWellPodc1 www.headteacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com DanEdwardsword@wordpress.com #SaturdayEdChat @SaturdayEdChat

Jo Evans is CEO of St Christopher’s Multi Academy Trust, currently 18 primary schools across Plymouth, Torbay and Devon Local Authorities. Jo has been re-energising the organisation to work collaboratively, operate effectively and continue to grow in a sustainable way. Jo has a very strong research informed background, being part of the Cambridge Primary Review Board of Directors. She has been a leader in a range of rural and city schools, in which she has taken one school from Special Measures to Outstanding and the most recent from Good to Outstanding. This has been achieved through her resolve to provide a principled approach to education.  Jo has recently written a book chapter for Routledge, “Aims into Practice” and has been involved in the creation of the Church of England Professional Qualification for Headship. vicki@weleadwell.co.uk @WeLeadWellPodc1 www.headteacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com

Alison Kriel was born in South Africa and educated around Africa and in Ireland and the UK. She has worked in several schools, led two schools and have experienced all the education-related challenges and worked to transform the lives of thousands of children. After completing her teacher training she taught infant classes for three years before becoming a Year 6 teacher and maths coordinator at Gayhurst School in Hackney.  After one year she was appointed as Deputy Headteacher.  In 1999 I became the founder Headteacher of Betty Layward School, which was built in response to a sharp increase in the under-five population in Stoke Newington, London. The school grew to become a highly successful school, the most oversubscribed in the borough; noted for its dynamic curriculum and strong leadership. Due to her success at Betty Layward, during 2008, Alison was asked to go to the Local Authority-managed Northwold School in Hackney to act as Executive Headteacher before a visit from Government school inspectors.  The school was failing and had a high turnaround of leaders and teachers, with staffing attendance at just 64%. Thanks to the hard work of the team, under Alison's leadership the school grew from a failing school in the bottom 1% of schools to a highly successful school in the top 0.1%.  The school achieved high results and success throughout Alison's headship.  One of the key reasons that the school was so successful was that Alison believed in supporting staff wellbeing and, as a result, could recruit a talented team and sustain staffing attendance at 97% and above. When she left Northwold in 2017, after taking it through the academy conversion process, it was the highest performing school in the borough, third in London and 70th nationally. Since leaving Northwold Alison has been working as a consultant and speaker. She founded Above & Beyond in 2017. alisonkriel.com vickimaguire@weleadwell.co.uk @WeLeadWellPodc1 www.headteacherchat.com www.teachwellalliance.com

Mike Nicholson has over seventeen years experience in education as an English teacher and middle leader. Having worked in schools from every Ofsted category he has a wide range of experience across the educational spectrum and early in his career began to develop a reputation for his ability to have an impact on boys and young men deemed ‘difficult’ and ‘challenging’. Recognition of his work with this group led to a nomination for a Pearson National Teaching Award. In 2009 Mike took a sabbatical year to manage an education program called The English Language Improvement Centre in a rural area of Ethiopia, Africa. Whilst the conditions during this time were very challenging it provided Mike with a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience and a chance to change lives by developing the literacy skills of many who had previously been unable or denied the chance to learn. Over the years Mike became increasingly interested in how our male pupils’ understanding of masculinity played such a pivotal role in their attitudes and behaviours. Researching, developing and piloting an early version of the Progressive Masculinity Program allowed him to see how so many of our young men put on a performance and a mask of what they think it means to be ‘a man’ gleaned from films, games, social media etc. The refined version of the Progressive Masculinity Program is Mike’s effort to give our young men the freedom and confidence to remove this mask and, through open dialogue and practical activities, reconstruct a healthier and more open-minded understanding of what it can mean to be ‘a man’. www.transformeducationcoach.com www.headteacherchat.com www.progressivemasculinity.co.uk www.teachwellalliance.com vicki@weleadwell.co.uk @WeLeadWellPodc1