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 experie...
Apr 20, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 24
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 Storm...
Mar 30, 2021•40 min•Season 2Ep. 23
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 approac...
Mar 23, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 22
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 inv...
Mar 16, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 21
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...
Mar 09, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 20
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 co...
Mar 02, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 19
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 educati...
Feb 23, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 18
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 a...
Feb 16, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 17
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...
Feb 09, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 16
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 TAK...
Feb 02, 2021•16 min•Season 2Ep. 15
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 changi...
Jan 26, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 14
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 bran...
Jan 19, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 13
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Caroline Allams: founder of Natterhub, a gated, child-orientated social-media platform where children can interact safely while learning about online safety. Caroline talks about how she always knew that she wanted to be a teacher recalling how, as a child, she enjoyed ‘bossing people around in the garden with a whistle’. Having always enjoyed going to school and feeling as though there was something ‘magical’ about teachers, she felt that going i...
Jan 12, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 2Ep. 12
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Lisa Lea-Weston: a drama therapist and the founder of Talking Heads. As a child, Lisa wanted to be an actor and went on to study drama in London. It was during her time at university that she decided she would go on to study to be a drama teacher. However, during a holiday job where Lisa supported children to access mainstream play schemes, she changed her mind and, instead, turned to working with children and young people with learning disabiliti...
Jan 05, 2021•53 min•Season 2Ep. 11
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Andrew Whitehouse: a specialist and consultant for neurological diversities who provides training and support for professionals, parents and young people. During his childhood, Andrew was viewed as ‘odd’, ‘eccentric’ and ‘funny’. Despite his outer confidence, he had a feeling of being inferior to his peers and his goal, he says, was ‘to be like everyone else’. Andrew was in his early fifties before he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperacti...
Dec 08, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Season 2Ep. 10
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Clem Studholme: National Creative Manager at One Day Creative Education. Clem comes from a performing arts background and, after spending some time teaching English in Italy, he developed his appreciation of using performance to provide a purpose for learning. Clem went on to work for a charity involved in youth work and explored social inclusion and bringing different communities together. Further work involved social action projects and outdoor ...
Dec 01, 2020•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 9
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, following their hugely popular season 1 podcast episode, Claire talks again with Hollie Hindle and Jenny Wood from Alfresco Learning. Hollie and Jenny, both from teaching backgrounds, share a passion for learning outdoors. In this episode they discuss the challenges and benefits associated with providing activities in outdoor environments. As a result of the coronavirus restrictions currently preventing school visits, Alfresco Learning now provide training videos, ...
Nov 24, 2020•40 min•Season 2Ep. 8
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Sue Atkins: a parenting expert, author, speaker, coach and broadcaster. Sue previously worked as a teacher and deputy headteacher for over twenty years; however, a period of reflection and re-evaluation whilst walking her dogs lead Sue on to a different path to becoming an author, parental coach and broadcaster. Sue is passionate about supporting, nurturing and helping parents to raise happy, confident and resilient children. As a practitioner and...
Nov 17, 2020•36 min•Season 2Ep. 7
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Scott Cranfield: author of ‘The Wise Bear Stories’ which are a series of children’s books focusing on personal development. Scott talks about his background as a professional golfer and how this led to coaching the sport and a growing fascination with human behaviour. Scott’s collection of children’s books focuses on a range of emotional principles, based on real events, which supports readers in gaining more understanding of feelings and possible...
Nov 10, 2020•46 min•Season 2Ep. 6
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Lauren Barratt: a teacher and wellbeing consultant. Lauren talks about how her own first-hand experience of going through the education system as a teenager led her to becoming a qualified teacher herself. By her own admission, Lauren was someone who struggled with her behaviour and concentration in many of her lessons and was regularly ‘kicked out’ of classes. However, she had realised that her passion lay in physical education and she would regu...
Nov 03, 2020•49 min•Season 2Ep. 5
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Juliet Adloune: a school improvement adviser and mental health expert. Juliet had always wanted to be a teacher and, from a young age, had planned ahead mapping out her own journey through education by working out what she needed to achieve at each stage in order to be able to train as a teacher. Juliet talks about how, having been born and brought up in Manchester, she had experienced many positive influences on her life through being exposed to ...
Oct 27, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 4
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Stuart Tiffany: teacher, history consultant and founder of the ‘Mr T does history’ website. Stuart talks about his journey through education from being fascinated by history as a child – even declaring to his grandfather during a tour of a castle that history was his passion in life – through to training to be a teacher and working in primary schools himself. Stuart shares how, following some difficult struggles with anxiety, he left full-time tea...
Oct 19, 2020•58 min•Season 2Ep. 3
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Helene Cohen: an experienced teacher and special educational needs expert. Helene talks about how her own first-hand experience of special educational needs – growing up with dyslexia without realising it – has given her unique perspectives on ways to make education and teaching as inclusive as possible. For a significant period of her life Helene labelled herself as ‘stupid’ seeing her classmates and others around her seemingly reading and unders...
Oct 12, 2020•1 hr 41 min•Season 2Ep. 2
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Greg Bottrill: a specialist in early years education, consultant, author, and strong advocate for play in teaching. Greg begins by talking about how he had always wanted to be a teacher and, initially, was more drawn to working in key stage 2. However, after working in early years, he quickly realised that this was where he belonged. For just over a year, Greg has travelled around schools offering consultancy services and training and development ...
Oct 05, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 1
EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks over the internet with Steve Bladon, headteacher at Horncastle Primary School, a large 3-form entry school in Lincolnshire. Steve talks about his background in education and his route into teaching from undertaking an NVQ after leaving school and, at the same time, working as a teaching assistant before moving into teacher training at what is now the University of Cumbria. After gaining his degree, Steve worked as a reception teacher before becoming Ea...
Sep 01, 2020•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 58
In this episode, Claire talks to Alistair Bryce-Clegg, a former headteacher and now founder of 'ABC Does', a consultancy company that delivers training promoting the importance and power of play-based learning. Alistair talks about the significance of play-based learning in Early Years settings and Year 1, as well as how it helps children develop cognitively, academically and socially. He starts by explaining his teaching journey and how his family of teachers inspired him to take the same caree...
Jul 15, 2020•1 hr 51 min•Season 1Ep. 57
In this episode, Claire talks over the internet with Bryn Llewellyn, founder of Tagtiv8, a company which specialises in creating resources to enable pupils to learn through physical activity. Bryn talks with Claire about his background in education: from growing up in South Shields close to the coast and developing an interest in environmental issues, to gaining a degree and working in an urban studies centre in Newcastle, to then becoming a teacher and deputy headteacher in Bradford. Bryn discu...
Jul 08, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 56
In this episode, Claire talks over the internet with Dr Victoria Carr, headteacher at Woodlands Primary School in Ellesmere Port. Victoria discusses how her difficult and sometimes distressing childhood meant that she would spend a lot of time reading and learning on her own before she even started at school. This head-start gave her a good grounding and the words of her reception teacher, ‘this girl is university material’, stuck with her and motivated her throughout her educational journey. Al...
Jul 01, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 55
In this episode, Claire talks over the internet with David Sherriff, headteacher at Lawton St. Mary’s CE Primary School in Warrington. David talks about his journey in education and teaching including how, from a young age, he always knew that he wanted to be a teacher. Starting in year 4, David soon moved to teaching year 6 and, as well as leading maths in his school, was also given responsibility for leading all of Key Stage 2. After ten years, David decided to move to a different school where...
Jun 10, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 54
In this episode, Claire talks over the internet with Georgia Hibberd, well-being consultant and founder of The Happy Child Agency. Georgia talks about how she began her teaching career a little later than usual following work in science, marketing and sales. Having been involved in the Brownies organisation and then seeking work experience in a school, Georgia found that she loved working with children and went on to gain her teaching qualification at Manchester University. After working at seve...
Jun 03, 2020•1 hr 41 min•Season 1Ep. 53
