Empowering Futures: How Badock’s Wood E-ACT Academy Shapes Young Minds
Jonathan Arthur is the Executive Headteacher of Badock’s Wood E-ACT academy and discusses the complexities and rewards of modern education. Jonathan articulates that while the educational landscape is more challenging than ever, it remains profoundly gratifying to enact positive change in students’ lives.
He emphasises the importance of cultivating a nurturing environment where aspirations are not merely raised but made achievable through support and commitment. He highlights the necessity of building a learning culture that fosters continuous growth for both educators and students.
Jonathan passionately advocates for the integration of technology in the classroom, asserting that it should be embraced and used to equip children with the skills necessary for the future. Community engagement is important with schools serving as central hubs that inspire and empower their local populations.
Jonathan’s insights into behaviour management reveal his belief that all behaviour is a form of communication, often indicative of underlying discomfort or distress. He encourages educators to approach behavioral challenges with empathy and understanding, fostering an environment where students feel safe and respected.
Education is not just a profession but a lifelong vocation that requires passion, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to the betterment of each child’s future.
Takeaways:
- Education currently presents immense challenges, yet it remains an unparalleled vocation within society.
- The privilege of impacting lives and fostering aspirations in children is a daily reward for educators.
- Inspiring children to believe that their dreams are achievable is essential for their development.
- A culture of learning must be cultivated within schools, reflecting the continuous growth of educators.
- Technology should be embraced as an educational tool, promoting safety and future readiness among students.
- The importance of modeling expectations and being visible within the school environment cannot be overstated.
Website
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https://ilminsteravenueacademy.e-act.org.uk/
Teachers at Badock’s Wood use technology from ONVU Learning to record their lessons, share with colleagues and improve their teaching. www.onvulearning.com
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Transcript
Education's the hardest it's ever been at the moment, but it's the best job ever.
Speaker AAnd it is a privilege to walk into a setting every single day to be able to, you know, feel that you're actually making a difference, that you're changing lives.
Speaker AWe don't need to raise their aspirations, we just need to make them believe that what they do dream is possible.
Speaker AWe just try and make the whole place a learning culture, you know, and I start that off myself by saying, you know, I've been in the profession now for 17, 18 years and I'm learning something new every single day.
Speaker ARather than trying to scare people away from technology, let's embrace the technology and let's show the children how to be safe with it and how that kind of impacts on their future.
Speaker ACan't get people to buy into me if they can't see me.
Speaker AThey can't follow what they can't see.
Speaker ANothing's going to ever change or improve unless you're doing it.
Speaker AI want to create people who are genuinely want to go out and kind of shape, shape this world, shape the communities we're in and, you know, build new paths for themselves.
Speaker AAll behavior is a communication of that child being uncomfortable and not happy about something.
Speaker ATeaching is not a job.
Speaker AIt's not something that you just turn up and you do.
Speaker AIt's an occupation.
Speaker AIt's the way you live your life.
Speaker BHello.
Speaker BWelcome back.
Speaker BThat was Jonathan Arthur.
Speaker BHe's the executive head teacher of Badox Wood Academy and he talks about the wonderful work he's doing within that school and indeed a great across the Morte Academy trust.
Speaker BA child centered idea of education is so important to us here in the podcast and Jonathan really takes us into what that's like from a professional standpoint, an environmental standpoint for the children, the community at large.
Speaker BIt really is a wonderful insight, I think, into exactly how so many schools are working and trying to establish a great environment for our children.
Speaker BI must say a great thank you to the national association for Primary Education for their support and sponsorship of this show.
Speaker BWithout them, we wouldn't be able to bring you such great conversations.
Speaker BSo I really hope you get inspired by this.
Speaker BMy conversation with Jonathan Arthur.
Speaker BHello, my name is Mark Taylor and welcome to the Education on Far podcast.
Speaker BThe place for creative and inspiring learning from around the world.
Speaker BListen to teachers, parents and mentors share how they are supporting children to live their best, authentic life and are proving to be a guiding light to us all.
Speaker BHi Jonathan, thank you so much for joining us here on The Education On Far podcast.
Speaker BIt's great to chat to someone who's in school every day, someone who's literally on the coal face, so to speak, because to get that sort of insider knowledge from those of us who work in and around education, but not in that same capacity, is going to be fascinating for me.
Speaker BSo, yeah, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker AThank you very much for having me, Marcus.
Speaker AIt's a pleasure to be able to speak to you today.
Speaker BSo take us into exactly what your role is within the school in the academy and, and maybe a takeaway of exactly how inspirational it is to sort of to be a headteacher and what you can bring to the life of the pupils that you're supporting.
Speaker AI mean, I do a lot of talks with university pupils and students and trainees getting ready to take that next step into becoming a teacher.
Speaker AAnd I will openly say to them, education's the hardest it's ever been at the moment, but it's the best job ever.
Speaker AAnd it is a privilege to walk into a setting every single day to be able to, you know, feel that you're actually making a difference, that you're changing lives, that you're able to, you know, put a piece together that was missing for a particular child or a particular family.
Speaker AIt's a position that we shouldn't take for granted.
Speaker AAnd I think whilst it's difficult, I think all the best things in life are so ultimately, absolutely love coming to work.
Speaker AI love meeting with the children every day.
Speaker AMy role at the moment is an executive head teacher across two schools.
Speaker AOne in the south of Bristol, Badox Wood Ex Academy in Southmead, and then I've got another school in, sorry, Baydox in the north of Bristol.
Speaker AAnd then in the south of Bristol, I've got Aelminster Avenue in Nor West.
Speaker ASo my role's changed a little bit recently.
Speaker ASo what it should be is a little bit more strategic, bit more removed from the day to day front face, like you were talking about in your introduction.
Speaker ABut the.
Speaker AI can't help myself.
Speaker AI'm very much the kind of person that my role is to support children, support the teachers and the parents whilst I'm in.
Speaker AI can do the bureaucratic side, the strategic side outside of the working hours.
Speaker ASo very much like to remain on that shop front like you described it, like to be the person who's modeling expectations, who is kind of being that vision that I've got for the school and enabling that so that all the staff can, you know, there's something tangible for them to hold on to when they're working, when I'm not just saying a load of words in a briefing or in a meeting.
Speaker AIt's.
Speaker AIt's a tangible thing that they can see.
Speaker AThey can, you know, see me live every day.
Speaker ASo, like I said, it's.
Speaker AIt's an absolute privilege.
Speaker AIt's challenging at the moment, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaker BI love that.
Speaker BI think the whole idea, like say, of the modeling, being involved, being part and parcel of the community is.
Speaker BIs so incredibly important.
Speaker BAnd the Bristol thing really strikes me.
Speaker BIt's something close to my heart.
Speaker BI'm originally from just outside of Bristol, so some of those places you were mentioning is where I used to go in to do rehearsals for my music for bands, orchestras, those sorts of things.
Speaker BSo it's great to chat to somebody who sort of involved in that part of the world.
Speaker AI mean, the communities are something really, really special.
Speaker AAnd it's.
Speaker AI think you hit the nail on the head, really, Mark.
Speaker AYou know, we are.
Speaker AWe're not just an education facility.
Speaker AWe're not just somewhere where children are going to come in and, you know, get knowledge and move on.
Speaker AWe need to be a hub, we need to be a central force for.
Speaker AFor that whole area, really.
Speaker AWe need to be a spokesperson, somebody who's going to fight a pillar for the people who live there.
Speaker ABecause, you know, economically, socially, things are really challenging for the communities at the moment and, you know, lots more is being put on schools, but we've never had more power to help than we have right now.
Speaker AAnd I think like you said, the communities that we work in are, you know, they're absolutely amazing places, but they've got challenges.
Speaker AWhich is.
Speaker AWhich is, you know, what we've kind of, within the act we've built a kind of reputation on, is going into some of the most deprived areas and being able to go in there and give some real support and real help and try and make a difference.
Speaker ABecause I really hate this notion that you go to a place like Norwest or you go to a place like Southmead and they don't have aspirations to kind of go and be something.
Speaker AYou know, you keep getting this phrase turned around in education at the moment, around raising aspiration.
Speaker AWe don't need to raise their aspirations, we just need to make them believe that what they do dream is possible and try and get them.
Speaker ASo, you know, the message that we do to staff all the time is, you know, if they come in with a dream, whether it's a sports person, whether it's to be a superhero, whether it's to be an astronaut in reception, our job is to make sure that that dream's still alive.
Speaker AIt might have changed a little bit, but that it's still alive by the time they leave us.
Speaker ASo, you know, we can't do that alone.
Speaker AWe have to work with the community to do that.
Speaker BAnd where did your sort of passion for learning, education sort of be involved in teaching come from?
Speaker BWas it something that you had from an early age?
Speaker BIs it something you, you kind of sort of found yourself sort of into?
Speaker BWhat's that journey look like?
Speaker AYeah, I think I was, I was always a bit worried about what I was going to do actually.
Speaker AI think my parents were as well to.
Speaker AAt a point they were thinking, you know, what is.
Speaker AI didn't really commit to anything particularly, but I got a teacher in secondary school who just turned a really challenging subject on its head for me and it, you know, made me see.
Speaker AAnd I had such admiration for this person because he didn't, he wasn't just a teacher.
Speaker AHe came out and he really supported like the wider person that I was and helped me socially and things like that.
Speaker AAnd I just thought, wow, you know what, it must feel amazing for that, that teacher to feel, you know, if he knew how much I respected him and how much I, how much I, you know, appreciated his time and effort.
Speaker AI just thought that must be a really amazing feeling.
Speaker ASo I thought, you know, I kind of went away and said, oh, you know, that'd be great if I could do that, if I could inspire somebody in the same way, if I could go on in and give somebody who's finding education or finding life a bit tougher another chance.
Speaker AAnd so it kind of went from there.
Speaker AMy parents jumped on it really as soon as I said, you know, mentioned the word teacher, they thought, oh, brilliant.
Speaker AI was the first one in my family to go to university, first one to go on and kind of tread that path.
Speaker ACome from a very working class family.
Speaker ASo I think as soon as I said that I wanted to do something like that and go to university, they're like, that's it, get him on there, you know.
Speaker ASo everybody we met then, it was like, oh, John, John wants to be a teacher, he's going to do this.
Speaker AAnd it kind of just kept going and I've just.
Speaker AWhether it's because I'm immature or not, Mark, I don't know, but I've always really, you know, found a way to relate to children and be able to get on really well with them and seem to, you know, understand some of the kind of the more intricacies I guess around, you know, why they do what they do and you know, giving them opportunities to, to be the best they can be.
Speaker ASo that's kind of where it came from and it never looked back.
Speaker BAnd I can really identify with that.
Speaker BSome of the really inspirational teachers that I remember were ones that were integral to, to my learning.
Speaker BSo, you know, as a musician, it was my music teachers.
Speaker BThey, they were so much fun, there was so much opportunity, so much activity going on, but at the same time they had the nuance of, you know, where's the line?
Speaker BMaking sure that we were doing the best we could, having the respect.
Speaker BBut also friendly is probably not the right word, but you know, the human to human contact in the most respectful way in terms of, you know, staff and pupil was there.
Speaker BAnd it's very hard to identify what that is other than just I think a real joy from the people that were doing it and us really sort of reveling in that and therefore wanting to sort of reciprocate it back from our point of view.
Speaker AI think that's it.
Speaker AI mean, when I first got into teaching, there was, there were teachers there that like, I'm a teacher so, you know, you should automatically respect me.
Speaker AAnd I think gone are those days now, you know, the, the children have got access to information and technology that we never had.
Speaker AAnd so gaining the respect when they can go and see people on the TV earning millions of pounds and doing, you know, all these different roles, I think is really challenging.
Speaker ASo I love the words you use there.
Speaker AYou know that they're two of our school values across the school, kind and respect.
Speaker AAnd I think respect is earned both ways and we need to prove that we can earn those children's respect.
Speaker ABut I think that nuance you're talking about is you can't teach teachers.
Speaker AI've had some amazing teachers come through my schools in the past decade or so.
Speaker ABrilliant, brilliant teachers.
Speaker ABut the one thing you can't teach them is to care.
Speaker AAnd I think the thing that made the difference for me, and I think what you were alluding to there and the nuances were that you can have a really good teacher who knows the subject brilliantly, who can go through a lesson, who can take you from A to B and you get there and you're like, yeah, okay, I've really got that now.
Speaker ABut there's a different kind of teacher that can do that and they've got that genuine Passion, that genuine care.
Speaker AThey genuinely want to give you more.
Speaker AThey generally want to, you know, help to make you the best person you can be, not just fill you full of the knowledge which is, which is incredibly useful for obviously moving on in, in life, but they generally have a care about making you the best possible person.
Speaker AAnd I think that's the difference.
Speaker AAnd that's something that, you know, when we're going through recruitment, when we're doing things like that, you're not necessarily looking for the person who's going to come in and teach the best lesson.
Speaker AYou're looking for the relationship, aren't you?
Speaker AYou're looking for, you know, can that person inspire?
Speaker ACan they, can they, you know, go in, go and convince that child, go and, you know, build a relationship with that child so that they, they feel that school is, is somewhere they want to be and a place they enjoy rather than, you know, somewhere that they dread coming.
Speaker BAnd I don't know if this is a good analogy, but I often think of schools and sort of educational establishments, sometimes a bit like football teams, because I've seen schools that have gradually grown, you know, maybe a new head comes in, like, say the recruitment starts to change the, the ideas of what they're trying to do.
Speaker BThe community builds, the, the enthusiasm for what everyone's trying to do pulls together and it kind of lifts it above and beyond, like you say, the individual people that are there in the same way.
Speaker BIt can disappear overnight almost when that thing happens as well.
Speaker BSo is that kind of your experience as well?
Speaker BThere's sort of, sort of, there's definitely a growth sort of hockey stick kind of feel to sort of bringing those, that ethos in, like, say, not because it's not about good teaching or the quality of what's going on, but there's kind of a joint energy or method or understanding which kind of sort of brings everybody together for the greater good, if not for a better word.
Speaker AYeah, I think it's massively about that, Mark.
Speaker AI think I've made a career over the last eight, nine years where I've not stayed in one school longer than two years.
Speaker ASo you go into a school and that first year is all about creating the vision, creating the vision, building the culture.
Speaker AAnd like we talked about earlier, making sure that you're living that culture.
Speaker AThere's no point saying, oh, yeah, we've got a culture of being really respectful and being really kind and then locking yourself away in an office all day or every time you get the opportunity to speak to a child kind of Be like, no, no, I don't have time, I've got to do this, I've got to do that or you know, taking a certain approach.
Speaker ASo it's about, I think the thing that I found that works the best with culture and it's certainly, you know, it builds and it builds and it grows is you've got to believe it yourself and you've got, you've got to do it and you've got to be seen even on your worst day when you're tired and you're exhausted or you've had a, you've had a really challenging conversation.
Speaker AYou know, you never, you never let it drop, you never, you know, you're always, you're always that, that person.
Speaker ABecause if it's not an act and it's something which is natural, then it doesn't, doesn't need to be something that takes a lot of effort.
Speaker AAnd I think obviously then to build that culture and create that kind of atmosphere where you said like, you know, the building, that the setting is greater than the sum of its parts is making sure that you've got those like minded people around you.
Speaker AYou know, there's no point in you going, saying we're, we're going to do this and we're going to do that.
Speaker AIf you know, you've got a member of staff, whether it be a caretaker, whether it be a cleaner, whether it be a member of your SMSA team at lunchtime, whether they're not buying in.
Speaker ASo you've got to sell that vision and you've got to give the rationale as to why, what are we doing it for?
Speaker AWe all went to school, we all went to education, we all came out of it with different experiences, things that we like, things that we didn't.
Speaker ABut we're all here to make a difference.
Speaker AWe all want to give the children an amazing experience.
Speaker AWe want them to come away better than when they joined us.
Speaker AAnd so, you know, that's the rationale, isn't it?
Speaker AUltimately, you know, when I sit, when I sit down and I talk with my teams, it's about why are we here?
Speaker ALet's just break it back down to those simple facts, you know, those simple points, what we're here to do, we're here to inspire, you know, we're here to kind of change lives.
Speaker AWe're here to go and give those children the tools that they need to go and be successful in modern Britain, which is changing beyond, you know, we're preparing the children for a world that we don't know what it looks like yet because we don't know, things are changing so much in three or four years time.
Speaker AWe don't know what it's going to be.
Speaker ASo.
Speaker AAnd once you get that there's this almost, it's this ambience, this kind of aura that happens within a setting then that you kind of walk around and it's effortless and things just happen because that's what people do and that's what the system's in place doing.
Speaker AYou know, certainly in Badox at the moment.
Speaker ABecause although I'm working across two schools at the moment, when you walk into Baidox, that the first thing people say is that it feels like a really, really special place to be.
Speaker AYou know, it's completely, I mean, it's a throwaway comment nowadays, but it's child centered.
Speaker AYou know, everything that we do is with the, you know, with the child in mind.
Speaker AYou know, the way that we talk to the children.
Speaker AWe started off having to be quite specific with scripts and things like that that we want, but now it's just, it's a setting where you walk in and children have a voice and you know, they're respected and there are boundaries because they have to be and they're consistent and they're firm, but there's care and there is love in the building as well.
Speaker AAnd you know, we talk about ourselves as a family, as a very big and dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless.
Speaker AAnd we talk about how, you know, families are all different and you know, we all think different things but ultimately that's what makes us special.
Speaker ASo we've kind of stopped almost talking about ourselves as a community and more about, you know, we're part of the Baydox family now.
Speaker AAnd you get that feel when you walk through and all the staff have kind of through four years of recruitment now, like everyone we add is, is only going to, you know, add to that kind of that picture that we've got.
Speaker AThey're going to add to the kind of the feel of the school.
Speaker AThey're not going to be somebody that we're going to have to do lots of work around, know, oh, we need you to, to feel like this because it's really hard to teach somebody to have, have that kind of that inner care inside of them.
Speaker ASo yeah, yeah.
Speaker BI mean, there are a couple of things that strike me there.
Speaker BThe, the idea of a feel of a school I think everyone can identify with because if you've had children starting school or changing schools and you go and walk around, there are Certain schools where you go, yeah, I completely love this place, or this was great, but I'm not quite sure what it was.
Speaker BAnd like I say, it's a.
Speaker BIt's a million little pieces that actually form the overall feel of it.
Speaker BAnd sometimes it can be initial.
Speaker BVery, very sort of sensitive to what these things are.
Speaker BYou can't necessarily pinpoint what each.
Speaker BAny one of those things happens to be, but it's a combination of all of those things, like you say, that comes across as part of that family.
Speaker BI think that's a beautiful way of being able to do it because it kind of really gives you that sense.
Speaker BLike, I think everyone can really understand what that is and the essence of that.
Speaker BAnd my.
Speaker BMy second point was going to be related to sort of how teachers support each other and how you kind of bring all that together.
Speaker BBut I guess in lots of ways you sort of answered it by like, saying, if you've got systems in place, you're having these conversations, everyone's on the same page.
Speaker BBut then once that starts to take shape, then it then just morphs and grows.
Speaker BIt's not a question of changing anybody when you get, like, say you have the recruitment or whatever, because they're going to naturally walk in and feel what that's like, and they're going to adapt to it in a very positive way.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd I think what we've done, you know, positives and negatives to it, but what we've done is we're very invested in, like I said to you at the start around, you know, supporting trainees from universities.
Speaker ASo what we do a lot with our recruitment is that, you know, we pick people who've been with us for a period of time, who know our values, who know our culture, who we've seen kind of really embrace that.
Speaker AThey go the extra mile.
Speaker AAnd then, you know, when somebody leaves, we just slot somebody else in who.
Speaker AWho knows us.
Speaker ASo very rarely at the moment are we recruiting from, you know, outside where, you know, somebody's coming in completely new and going, all right, you do that.
Speaker AAll right, you do that this way.
Speaker ABut I think.
Speaker AI think the greatest thing around the, like you said about that, that feel is that, you know, initially, like we talked about, it is about walking the walk, and it's about, you know, making sure that you're modeling that and you're living that.
Speaker AAnd in terms of that collaboration, you know, as teachers, we can be quite sensitive when people walk into our classrooms and this.
Speaker AThis notion of observation, this notion of kind of CPD and professional Development can often be a bit of a challenging concept for us sometimes because, you know, you put so much of yourself into a classroom and it's so much of you in terms of the way you lay it out and the way you deliver that sometimes it can become quite a challenging thing.
Speaker AIf, you know, you're getting observed once a term and then you're getting that feedback and you're thinking, oh, you know, so like I said, I don't, I don't take an approach of being in an office or timetable in once a term.
Speaker ARight, I'm going to go and I'm sitting in your room for half an hour.
Speaker AWe just, we just try and make the whole place a learning culture, you know, and I, I start that off myself by saying, you know, I've been in the profession now for 17, 18 years and I'm learning something new every single day.
Speaker AI'm learning it from the trainees walking straight out university.
Speaker AI'm learning it from the ECTs who are in their first year.
Speaker AYou know, everybody brings something different to the family, to the community.
Speaker AAnd if you can't be that person who can open yourself up to it and go, wow, if I, you know, I didn't, I didn't, never saw it from that point of view, that's going to make me a better practitioner.
Speaker AIt's going to make me more of an effective leader because I'm going to be exposed to broader opportunities and broader experiences.
Speaker AI think by not, not staying in an office or being secluded and being able to walk around and being able to, you know, pop into classes, have that kind of instantaneous coach and have those conversations, but not phrase them as if you were doing this really poorly, like we're doing now, having it as a conversation, going, oh, I'm really interested.
Speaker AWhy, why did you choose to do it that way?
Speaker AWhy, why have you, why is that like that?
Speaker AAnd then just have a conversation about it and coach and model.
Speaker ABecause I think we've got into this, this habit and I think it's time within education where, you know, observations now very much are coming.
Speaker AI'm going to sit as the senior member of staff.
Speaker AI'm going to come in, I'm going to tell you all the things I don't think you were doing too well.
Speaker AAnd I'm not going to, like, tell you what, how to do them different.
Speaker AI'm just gonna say, well, you need to improve that.
Speaker ABut if I, if I didn't know I was doing it in the first place, I wouldn't be knowingly Making, making, you know, decisions to, to kind of take away from the educational side of things.
Speaker ASo I think what I try to do and what, what all of my leaders do through, through kind of working alongside is, you know, we're just very conversational about what we do.
Speaker AWe go about, we drop in quite regularly.
Speaker AWe make it a very uninvasive process.
Speaker AWe talk about little things, we talk about, you know, polishing little things at a time rather than going in and giving Everybody, you know, 10 things to work on.
Speaker AAnd then through that, through that collaboration, that conversation, that kind of, that coaching, you know, things just start to happen.
Speaker AYou get that trust, don't you?
Speaker AAnd I think you know that that's part of the feeling that you were talking about when you go into a school is that when every member of staff is completely at ease with what happens within the school, everything is transparent.
Speaker AThey're not worried about what's going to happen next or I've got this coming up because it's just the environment is one where it's supportive and you know what's coming and it's, you know, you know that even if you have a bad lesson or something doesn't go right, that it's going to be a conversation and that somebody's going to be there to support and coach rather than kick you when you're down.
Speaker AIt just builds that like real culture and that climate of well, this is a place where you can come and you can, you can grow.
Speaker AAnd I think that's what we expect the children to do.
Speaker AWe expect them to put themselves, you know, in situations where they're uncomfortable, outside their comfort zone.
Speaker AWe expect them to challenge themselves, test themselves on things they don't know.
Speaker AAnd yet as teachers, I think sometimes we're really reluctant to do that ourselves within our own, our own day to day lives.
Speaker ASo you know, by creating that culture and having teachers who are willing to take risks and put themselves out there, that feeds through then to the children and you get this amazing culture where it's a learning culture, it's a learning climate and you generally are there then all of you to, for the same purpose, you know, and you're all modeling that to each other so there'll be.
Speaker BLoads of people listening going, that sounds amazing.
Speaker BAnd we often talk on the show about the silver bullet that changes certain parts of education for the, for the better and how that can be.
Speaker BBut you're working in the same education system.
Speaker BIt's maybe the people who are thinking, but that's not the way observation works.
Speaker BFor me, or it's not the way that I'm finding my sort of continual professional development working or whatever.
Speaker BSo it's obviously not a system error, as it were.
Speaker BIt.
Speaker BIt's more like, say it's an approach.
Speaker BIt's an understanding and a way of communicating.
Speaker BSo how is it that you've been able to bring this in and, and support that where other people will be thinking, but I've never experienced that before.
Speaker BIs, is it kind of what, the way you've liked to do it, what you understand works?
Speaker BTell us a little bit about that.
Speaker AYeah, I mean, it's a good question.
Speaker AAnd I've been asked quite a few times when people come in and it's, you know, you're looking for that one magic answer in terms of, you know, what's going to make this work.
Speaker AAnd I don't want to disappoint all of your listeners, but I don't have the answer.
Speaker AIf I did, I think I'd probably be rich right now because I'd be able to sell it to everybody and go, this is what you need to do.
Speaker AI think the thing that I would say that, you know, that's worked for me and I think every leader has got to find it themselves.
Speaker AWhich is probably not the most helpful for you, Mark, in terms of, you know.
Speaker ABut I discovered really, really quickly.
Speaker AI was on a course once and they said, oh, you know, once.
Speaker AOnce you're ready to be a leader, once you're ready to be, you'll start to get your own ideas about what you value, about where your moral compass is.
Speaker AAnd I ask my leaders, whenever we're doing the coach and when they first join the leadership team is what three, three characteristics or what three things do you want to be known as, as a leader by the people that work for you.
Speaker AAnd I've got the three things which are really, really important to me.
Speaker ABut once you've found that and once you've got that, it's about making sure that every decision that you make is centered around those values and that you might work in different organizations, you might work with different people, you might have different strategies.
Speaker AYour trusts or your independent school might do things in a different way, but it's about sticking true to the beliefs that you've got around education and making sure that even when it's really difficult, staying true to who you are.
Speaker AAnd I think integrity for me is a big one in education.
Speaker AAnd I think what I try to do is make sure that I don't change direction like the wind that's not going to be an arrogant statement either to say that I'm not willing to bend into a way to see things moving forward.
Speaker ABut I have a set of principles in the way that I believe education should be and very, very passionate about that.
Speaker AAnd I make sure that all the decisions I make in the way that I lead the school on a day to day basis is done through those lenses and making sure that even if people don't get on with me or they don't agree with me or they don't like what I do, that ultimately they can come back and say, well, yeah, actually those three things are things that you can't question about the way that I lead the school.
Speaker AAnd I think it's also about, I'm one of those people that I'm never satisfied.
Speaker AI'm always looking at, yeah, okay, it's good, but what can we do moving forward?
Speaker AHow can we make it better?
Speaker AAnd I like to include my leaders in that.
Speaker AI like to empower them to be part of the decision making process.
Speaker AAgain, I think when you're talking about effective schools, it's not where you've got one person in a room who's making all the ideas and thinking of all decisions.
Speaker AIt's about bringing the expertise in when you need it.
Speaker AAcknowledging where there are people with certain skill sets and communicating your idea.
Speaker ANo, no idea, no grand plan was ever delivered with one person in isolation.
Speaker AYou know, all the greatest thinkers across the last couple of decades have been people that they might have an idea, but then they go to different places to grow that idea.
Speaker AAnd I think making sure that, you know, there's a collaboration, there's a joint approach to the work that we do.
Speaker AWe use, we're trying to be on the forefront with technology, we're trying to be on the forefront with kind of being on the cusp.
Speaker ASo a couple of years ago, before we were inspected, we really focused around, I felt like all of our curriculum work was really, really good.
Speaker AWe were developing a really inspirational curriculum.
Speaker ABut I was missing the why, why were we doing it?
Speaker AAnd we went back to, even though we're only a primary set and we wanted to inspire people with.
Speaker AI wanted children to leave us going into secondary ready to know what kind of careers to go through.
Speaker ASo we started to build a careers curriculum in Badox.
Speaker AAnd then when we were inspected, it was one of the highlights of the inspection.
Speaker AYou know, they kept going back to the fact that we're preparing children at such an early stage in that we're giving them really hands on, tangible kind of experiences of different careers that could be used and we're making sure that each piece of learning has got a purpose.
Speaker ASo we did that and then we started to look at speech and language in the school was something that was a bit of a focus.
Speaker ASo we went and looked at oracy and we started to really explore or my head of school managed to get us the RSC center of Excellence thing award within about nine months, which was incredible.
Speaker AAnd now we're an incubator school for Microsoft because now we're looking at.
Speaker ARight, well, rather than trying to scare people away from technology, let's embrace the technology and let's show the children how to be safe with it and how that kind of impacts on their future.
Speaker ASo I think rather than there being one, one specific thing that I can go back to and go, oh, this is what, what makes that work?
Speaker AI think it's, it's about having that, that ability to constantly reflect in a setting and environment where time is so precious.
Speaker AHaving time to reflect with your team is, is really challenging.
Speaker AAnd I think, you know, not that it's a great health warning, but because I spend a lot of the time in the day kind of working with the team, I'm able to do that and I'm able to be that.
Speaker ABut what that then means is that, you know, I do a lot of work at home because I kind of want to be with the team, I want to be with the teachers, I want to be coaching, I want to be doing that.
Speaker ASo that's the way I do it.
Speaker AThat's the way I combat the kind of, the lack of capacity, the kind of funding challenges that schools have got is that I make sure I'm very, very visible as a leader.
Speaker AYou know, I can't get people to buy into me if they can't me.
Speaker AThey can't buy into what they, they can't see, they can't follow what they can't see.
Speaker AYou know, and I want to make sure that I'm not just flicking on a video from a website which says, this is how you do it.
Speaker AI want to make sure that they're seeing people in the real world in their school, with their children, with their challenges, with the, the characters doing it.
Speaker ASo I think it's a lifestyle choice and it's one that I've been happy to make for the last kind of 12 to 15 years is to, you know, you sacrifice a bit of the work, you know, the time at home and you kind of catch up on the Emails and the more bureaucratic side.
Speaker ABut on the day to day, I'm there on the shop floor with everybody else and I'm contributing and we're making sure that it's, you know, every aspect of school improvement is, is something that we all take really seriously.
Speaker AIt's not something that you've just got the SLT team that sit in an office every once a week and they kind of figure out the ideas.
Speaker AIt's something that we all take ownership over.
Speaker BI think for me, in the beginning of all of that, you said, you know, you don't have the answer, as it were, or the one thing you can say, but I think the flip side of that is the most positive thing to come out of it is the fact that the talking about being, having integrity, about having your ideas, about having two or three things which you're sort of hanging your hat on, which are the essence of everything that you do.
Speaker BAnd then your school, your family, community becomes the personalities of the people in it and it grows in that particular way as well.
Speaker BAnd I think that's incredibly powerful because every school's different.
Speaker BEvery school has a different community in terms of the makeup of their school, whether it's geographically or culturally or whatever that happens to be.
Speaker BAnd so it's so easy to get into that rut of I must get it right or I must tick this box or I must do that.
Speaker BAnd actually, if you're, if you can stand far enough back to go, look, this is what's important.
Speaker BThis is why it's important.
Speaker BI'm able to demonstrate and model it like you talked about.
Speaker BThen actually from there it gives you the freedom, I think, to sort of, I don't know, relax into what it is that you're trying to support and lead and model in that way, which I think from a mirroring point of view, it's exactly what you want children to do because you don't know their future, you don't know their, all of their background or how things are going to go and what their life's going to develop, but you want to give them the skills, the understanding and the freedom to grow into that.
Speaker BAnd I think it's.
Speaker BThere's a.
Speaker BThere's a really sort of beautiful kind of 360 view there of, of what you're doing and wanting to put into place, which is then going to be so supportive for them as well.
Speaker BLike I say, even if it's not, this is what you need to do.
Speaker BLet me write a book in one chapter kind of thing.
Speaker BBut I think, like I say, it's not that straightforward.
Speaker BIt shouldn't be that straightforward.
Speaker BAnd that gives us the individuality within our schools and our communities to be able to really flourish.
Speaker AYeah, and that's it, Mark.
Speaker AI mean, I think, you know, like, like I say, I mean, I don't, I don't, you know, preach to kind of have all the answers within, within what we're doing.
Speaker ABut like I said, we, we stay true to certain things and it's not that we're not ambitious for our children.
Speaker AYou know, I, I regularly, you know, have a dialogue where I talk to the children about, I know you're going to go on and do amazing things.
Speaker AYou know, we start to really narrate the positives for the children.
Speaker AFor children who maybe don't hear that enough or don't hear, oh, you could go on and do this or you could be this.
Speaker ATo go and narrate the positive for them is really important.
Speaker AAnd our curriculum is incredibly ambitious.
Speaker AYou know, we want the children to kind of reach a really high level of knowledge, but the most important thing to us and the thing that we've kind of keep coming back to as a staff is, yeah, but all that knowledge is great.
Speaker ABut if they, if they're not ready, like you said, if they're not able to go into these communities which provide them with challenges and put them in situations which are going to test them and they can't come out of that, and they can't have the strength of character to make the right choices in those situations, or they can't be strong enough to take the right path, then all of that knowledge is for nothing.
Speaker AYou know, we put a real focus on the personal development.
Speaker AAnd that's like, you know, those, like you were talking about, those, those characteristics, those, those kind of, those traits, that kind of real solid core to people, and we make sure that all the learning comes back to that in the end.
Speaker AYou know, what does, what does.
Speaker AThe tale of Henry VIII in history, what does that tell us?
Speaker AWhat does the Great Fire of London tell us?
Speaker AWhat life lessons, what do we learn as people?
Speaker AHow does that, you know, shape us as people so that all of these experiences, all of this knowledge we're giving children, yeah, it's going to be great.
Speaker AAnd it, you know, it might get them into certain sets within secondary school, but ultimately we want them to be able to go out and question something.
Speaker AOh, yeah, go and do that for me.
Speaker AWhy?
Speaker AYou know, and be brave enough to kind of not just fall into the social norms, into the social stereotypes and you need to ask questions and to be brave enough to challenge, you know, us as teachers, even, you know, when we're saying something, okay, you've said that, sir, but, but how do you know that or why, you know, challenge the, the norm because, you know, nothing's going to ever change or improve unless you do.
Speaker AAnd I think it was Einstein, wasn't it?
Speaker AHe said the definition of insanity is just doing the same thing over and over again.
Speaker AYou know, I don't want to, to create a load of robots.
Speaker AI want to create people who are, genuinely want to go out and, and kind of shape, shape this world, shape the communities we're in and, you know, build new paths for themselves and don't just, you know, don't just fall into a track that, that is going to take them down a route that has been trodden, you know, 100 times before them, you know, so, yeah, and like you said, Mark, I think it, we asked them to be brave and I think it takes a brave leader to do that in education at the current time and to get that balance right between, you know, that real approach on them as people, but then also still making sure that that's coming out in outcomes for, for them.
Speaker ABecause it's all well and good, me sitting here and saying, oh, we believe this, that and the other.
Speaker AIf at year six, I'm sending 20 of children out at the expected standard ready for reading, writing and math.
Speaker ASo it's got to be the, the balance.
Speaker ABut I think every leader's got the, you know, they've, they've got the, the power, they've got the agency, they've got the autonomy to be able to, you know, lead in, in a way that they see benefits their communities the best.
Speaker AAnd like you said, you know, academically, there's, there's schemes that you can use, there's schemes of work.
Speaker AThere's lots of different people telling you how to teach and how to do that.
Speaker ABut I think a lot of leadership for me and a lot of the way that a school feels and the way you get that, that those kind of outcomes and you create those places which really are just, you know, hubs for, for learning is, is, is around, you know, bringing it back to principles and bringing it back to kind of a, you know, a few simple things and what you want to, what you want those children to be and then you build from there.
Speaker BAnd I guess the combination of all these things that we've spoken about sort of feeds into the attitude of the children and the Behavior and all the things that go with that.
Speaker BDo you just find that all.
Speaker BThe sum of all of that just means that you're in a position to kind of offer this opportunity, feel within it, which then affects the overall feeling of what the children, how they behave, what they want to do, their engagement.
Speaker BAnd you mentioned it early on about having, you know, boundaries and all of those sorts of things, which are obviously incredibly important.
Speaker BBut I would imagine that having this sense of growth and wanting to be involved in engagement means that actually some of the behavior that maybe some schools have to deal with isn't necessarily something that you see as often.
Speaker AYeah, and I mean, I mean, Badox, when I first went to Baydox, the behavior there was incredibly challenging.
Speaker AAnd then obviously coming to Ilminster a couple of years ago, the behavior is.
Speaker AHas been a challenge there for, for a couple of years as well.
Speaker AAnd the one thing I would say about that is I completely agree.
Speaker AAnd I think that the processes that we go through definitely mean that, you know, Badox went from, you know, behavior that was.
Speaker AWas really, really challenging.
Speaker AAnd now you walk in and it's, you know, you barely notice that.
Speaker AIt was an issue a couple of years ago, but it takes time.
Speaker ALike, I think, I think education is a kind of a sector at the moment where everyone's dead set on quick wins.
Speaker AAnd, you know, I want to, I want a quick result to that, and I, I need to, to get that done.
Speaker AAnd, you know, we need to get that done within the next few weeks.
Speaker AAnd you can't, you can't do that with behavior because behavior is about relationships.
Speaker AAnd it, you know, like, with an adult, if I meet somebody for the first time, I'm not going to suddenly go, oh, do you know what?
Speaker AI trust you to be really open and honest with you.
Speaker AI'm going to go and, and let myself be open to you, and I'll let you be able to kind of guide me in that way.
Speaker AIt doesn't happen.
Speaker AWe don't do that as adults.
Speaker AYou know, as people, naturally, we have to build a relationship.
Speaker AAnd so the strategy that we put around, you know, part of the culture is this.
Speaker AYou know, we're very much.
Speaker AWe focus on zones of regulation for the children.
Speaker AWe do a lot of emotion coaching, but we give them a voice and we listen to the mark and we don't, you know, it's really easy for me to see a child making the wrong decision and go straight over to them and go, do you know what?
Speaker AThat's this.
Speaker ANow you're going to get this consequence.
Speaker ABut what we do is, you know, we put really firm boundaries in place.
Speaker AWe make sure there's a conversation, and we make sure the children understand where they're going wrong, and we make sure that the staff in the school know that, yeah, that child might have been a bit disrespectful at that point.
Speaker ABut let's unpick why.
Speaker ALet's see what it was.
Speaker ABecause all behavior is a communication of that child being uncomfortable and not happy about something.
Speaker AAnd ultimately, if we shout at them or we lose our temper and we go, right, you're doing this, this, and this.
Speaker AWe're not modeling to them that when you're feeling an emotion which is quite strong, we're not modeling how to deal with that.
Speaker AWe're not showing them in a different way.
Speaker AAnd it's really hard, you know, for teachers to remain emotionally regulated for a whole day.
Speaker AYou know, they're dealing with different things.
Speaker ABut what you'll find when you come to Bay Docs and.
Speaker AAnd what you'll find even more so now at Illminster is that once you build those relationships, the children can get.
Speaker AThey can dysregulate, they can have a moment where they need a bit of support, but they just turn it around really quickly, and they don't reach that point where the behavior escalates to a point where they're kicking and screaming, because they know that there's strategies and there's people they can go to, and they talk to them.
Speaker AAnd we talk all the time.
Speaker AWe say, you know, I'm a person.
Speaker AI get cross, I get annoyed, I get frustrated.
Speaker AI feel all the same emotions as you, and I label those to them so that they understand what they're feeling when they're feeling it.
Speaker ABut then we'd say it's fine to be annoyed, but it's not fine to do this or it's not fine to do that.
Speaker AAnd so, yeah, I think people sometimes when they.
Speaker AThey see me with.
Speaker AWith children that they've perceived to be, you know, challenging look up and they go, oh, well, they listen to you because you're the executive head, or they listen to you because you're the head teacher.
Speaker AYou listen to you because you're this.
Speaker AAnd I'm like, if you think for a second that that child gives any.
Speaker AAny attention whatsoever to my job title or the fact that I walk around wearing a suit or that I get, you know, I'm the head of the school, you are wrong.
Speaker AIt.
Speaker AThat doesn't make a difference.
Speaker AWhat makes a difference is that I've given them time.
Speaker AAnd then what does that time mean by talking to them and building that relationship?
Speaker AIt's showing them that I care.
Speaker AAnd I then regularly, whenever I'm talking to children, just go, you know, I'm not doing this to be horrible.
Speaker AYou know, I'm doing it because I care.
Speaker AAnd we bring it back to again, three simple things.
Speaker AYou know, I'm having to talk to you because you're not being safe, you know, and then when you get to that point, you've got the relationship.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker ATalk to me.
Speaker AWas that, was what you're doing being very safe?
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AThat.
Speaker ANo.
Speaker AOkay, good.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AWhat should you be done?
Speaker AI should have done this.
Speaker ARight, okay, so what do we need to do next time?
Speaker AYeah, I need to do this.
Speaker AOkay, brilliant.
Speaker ASo, right, take a minute then.
Speaker AAnd then what you're going to go and do?
Speaker AI'm going to go and do this.
Speaker ASo.
Speaker ARight, brilliant.
Speaker AFantastic.
Speaker AOr, you know, I don't ever give the children their consequences anymore.
Speaker AYou know, I'm not the person who goes in and goes, yeah, you know, right.
Speaker AYou're going to have to miss your lunchtime.
Speaker AThen it's always right, okay, what have we talked about with this?
Speaker AYeah, I know.
Speaker ASo I should have done this.
Speaker AOkay, right.
Speaker ASo how are you going to make that right?
Speaker AWhat are you going to do to make that better?
Speaker AI think I should probably give 10 minutes of my time.
Speaker AI agree.
Speaker ALet's go now.
Speaker AYou need to go back and prove to me that you go and, you know, you're going to go turn it around.
Speaker AAnd I think turning it around is another really, really powerful concept that I think, you know, if a child's got trauma, if they've got those experiences which, which don't give them the resilience or anything like that.
Speaker AIf something goes wrong at 9 o'clock, that could be the day gone then.
Speaker AAnd you could be then having a situation where you're, you're, you're following that child around and you're kind of, yeah, you're at a bit of a loss then they've got to know that there's something to salvage.
Speaker AThey've got to know that all is not lost and what we try and do and, and again, it's, it's a fine line because a lot of, you know, we have lots of discussions around, oh, you're praising the kids that are being the most challenging.
Speaker ANo, we're not.
Speaker AWe're not praising them for their challenging behavior.
Speaker AWe're praising them more regularly for not showing the challenging Behavior, you know, and if that child only gets communicated to or only gets attention from you, or only gets your focus when they're doing the wrong thing, then they're just going to keep doing the wrong thing because at least then they, they feel like you're noticing them.
Speaker AWhereas if you start off by giving them small little things that, oh, I love the way you're doing that, oh, I was thinking about you the other day and how well you walk through the school, you know, focusing on those, those positive aspects, then you can start to get them changing and wanting the attention for a positive way.
Speaker AAnd you have to give them something that they want to be successful with.
Speaker AYou have to, to, to kind of be able to pick up on the things that they really like, you know, by having those conversations are, I know you really like football, I know you really like this TV program.
Speaker AI know you really like this.
Speaker AAnd you just build it in.
Speaker AGone are the days where you've got this one size fits all system around relationships within a school where you go, right, you've all got to conform to this and if you don't, well, you're the issue.
Speaker AWe very much take the thing like if a child's really struggling in school then we're not doing something right and we need to go and adapt our provision.
Speaker ASo you will constantly see staff at the end of the day having conversations around.
Speaker AHe got really frustrated with that today.
Speaker AWhat, what can we do?
Speaker AWhat was that?
Speaker ALet's unpick it, let's see what that was.
Speaker AAnd then we change the, we adapt the process, we adapt the, the kind of, the systems for that particular child.
Speaker AAnd so, you know, when you come in or if you come into Wilmingstore or Badox, you'll see so many different provisions going on at lunchtimes or so many different things happening within the school day.
Speaker ABut that's where we, we're just identifying that child really, really struggles with, with this particular scenario.
Speaker ANow we can carry on trying to fight that.
Speaker AWe can just push that child into the scenario and expect to him to suddenly, or her to suddenly go, oh, actually I'm alright with it now because you forced me to do it seven times over.
Speaker AOr we can go, what are we getting from that?
Speaker AWhat is the child getting from that?
Speaker AWhat are we teaching that child is that, you know, in life there's something that you might openly say that you don't like, but we're just going to keep pushing you into it anyway.
Speaker AWe as adults, we wouldn't do that, we wouldn't choose to do that, we wouldn't.
Speaker AAnd we would be.
Speaker AIf somebody within work or within a kind of a personal context was continually putting us in situations which made us anxious or worried about something, we would just want to stay away from that person or we want to distance ourselves from it.
Speaker ASo it's about adapting and seeing that as the best thing for the greater good and for the child, and actually making sure that, well, if that child's not dysregulated and running around the school shouting, then that's better for everybody.
Speaker AAnd through all of that, making sure that the boundaries and the expectations are always the same, no matter whether it's an SMSA talking to them or whether it's myself, we're all talking to them in a similar way.
Speaker ASo, yeah, I think if you do come into our schools, you'll see behavior, you'll see children that dysregulate, but what you'll see is how that really just doesn't escalate into something huge or doesn't escalate into something uncontrollable, and how the children have got the tools and they've got the scripts and they've got the vocabulary to be able to communicate and bring themselves out the other side.
Speaker BAnd I think for me, the fact that you're talking about it's a journey and there's time involved and there's relationship building in so many different ways is such a powerful thing.
Speaker BBecause like I say, it's not about tomorrow, it's going to be better.
Speaker BIt's about the next conversation is going to give us something that we can, we can work on.
Speaker BAnd also the reason why I love having conversations with people in different settings is the fact that I can have this conversation with loads of people, but to have it with somebody who's literally doing it day in, day out, and you're seeing the benefits and we're able to share that with other people, I think, is incredibly powerful because it means that in your hardest day, you know, that you're still making a difference because, like, say over a number of days or weeks or whatever, it's going to change as it goes through, which I think is really incredible.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd again, Mark, I think it's.
Speaker AIt comes back to that, that, that bravery thing, doesn't it as well?
Speaker AYou know, I think, you know, as school leaders, you know, a lot of us are in situations where, you know, you get rap, you need to make rapid improvement, you need to make change, but it's got to be sustainable, hasn't it?
Speaker AYou know, You've got to be thinking, you know, you can't be putting a plaster over everything and going, oh, yeah, you know, well, we've kind of addressed it.
Speaker ABut I know that if that person isn't in, it's all going to fall apart.
Speaker AAnd I think, you know, the best.
Speaker AThe way that I know that, you know, the leadership strategies that I've employed work is that if I walk out of that school or I'm not in that school for a day, because I'm in.
Speaker AIn the other school, that I know that the, the behavior is not going to be any worse when I'm not there than it is when I'm there.
Speaker AAnd that's because, you know, it's.
Speaker AIt's an approach and it's a.
Speaker AIt's a kind of belief system rather than, oh, yeah, we're all relying on one behavior you monitor.
Speaker AAnd I think we do have to be brave and go.
Speaker AIt takes time.
Speaker AAnd, you know, you're going to have days.
Speaker AAnd I still have them now where you come away and you go, cool, that was a.
Speaker AThat was a tricky one.
Speaker AAnd you can get lost in it, can't you?
Speaker AYou can.
Speaker AWhen you're in it every day, you can be like, oh, well, that was.
Speaker AThat was that.
Speaker ABecause that wasn't perfect or that wasn't brilliant.
Speaker ABut then I stepped back in and an example, Mark, is.
Speaker AIs today.
Speaker AWe had 10 members of staff out today in the school that I'm in, we didn't have a single dysregulation all day.
Speaker AAnd if you went, and we've got less staff this year than we had last year.
Speaker ABut if you go back last year we had probably about seven or eight more staff, and we had everybody in.
Speaker AYou'd have had a day where there was really challenging behavior there.
Speaker AAnd today we had different people covering different children.
Speaker AWe had.
Speaker AWe had changes which are always complex with, with children with high needs, and yet they manage those change because of that kind of continual journey, having those same conversations, you know, being ready to sit down with that child who's calling you lots of names and being really, really unpleasant and be able to.
Speaker ATo go, I know you're not angry at me.
Speaker AI'm gonna, I'm gonna be here.
Speaker AI still care about you.
Speaker AI'm still gonna be the same with you tomorrow.
Speaker ABut we're gonna have the same conversation we had yesterday, because I know if I keep doing it and if I keep, you know, keep talking to you about that, that we're gonna start to turn that around.
Speaker AAnd that's what, what you see over time.
Speaker BAnd is there one piece of advice you'd like to share or even a piece of advice you might give your younger self maybe as, as a someone going through it, sort of the training as a teacher or anything that, that you think would be valuable for people?
Speaker AYeah, I mean I was, I was a very, I didn't have much self belief when I was, when I was kind of in the training and you know, I was one of those people that would physically shake when I was being observed within university.
Speaker ASo I think the thing that I would probably the bit of advice I'd give to myself is to, you know, believe, believe that you can make a difference.
Speaker AYou know, you don't have to be a certain way.
Speaker AYou know, there's, there's so many different ways to inspire and to, to do things.
Speaker AYou know, there's not.
Speaker AYou know, you read all these books by these, these well researched people and these, these theorists and it's amazing and, and, but you don't have to be those people to make it work.
Speaker AYou know, you have to find you within what you're doing.
Speaker AYou have to find the thing that, that makes you you and the thing that, that kind of makes you the person and the teacher that you want to be.
Speaker AAnd once you have a think about that before you start and try and make sure that you stick true to that really.
Speaker ABecause there's going to be days where you question it.
Speaker AThere's going to be days where you question yourself and what you're doing and are you set out for it.
Speaker ABut if you keep coming back to no, I can do this, I believe this and reflect and you know, you know, improve and keep kind of asking yourself those questions.
Speaker AI think you can get there in terms of one bit of advice for trainees coming into the.
Speaker AThe role is, is probably one around, probably around belief again.
Speaker ABut believe you can make a difference.
Speaker ABelieve that you can, you know, want to make a difference.
Speaker ADon't just go in.
Speaker ATeaching is not a job.
Speaker AIt's not something that you just turn up and you do.
Speaker AIt's.
Speaker AIt's an occupation.
Speaker AIt's the way you live your life.
Speaker AIt's a, it's kind of it for anybody who's been in it long enough.
Speaker AIt just, it consumes you and in a really positive way and it kind of becomes everything.
Speaker ASo I think, you know, make sure it's, it's what you want to do.
Speaker AMake sure that you're going in there knowing that, you know, you're passionate about what you do.
Speaker AAnd you're not going to allow somebody to say, oh, well, you're going into a school in that area, or good luck, or that's going to be this or that's going to be that.
Speaker ADon't.
Speaker ADon't allow yourself to be swayed by, you know, these stereotypes or these biases that we've got and, you know, believe that you can go into any setting and you can make a difference as long as you, you know, you stick true to what you know.
Speaker AYou know is the best thing for the children.
Speaker BAmazing.
Speaker BAnd just as we start to wrap up the.
Speaker BObviously, the acronym FIRE is very important to us here at Education on Fire.
Speaker BBy that, we mean feedback, inspiration, resilience, and empowerment.
Speaker BWhat's the one thing that strikes you when you see that either one word or collectively.
Speaker AAs a collective?
Speaker AI think they're words that I live by.
Speaker AWe've talked a lot about the feedback in constant feedback that you can only improve through feedback you get from other people.
Speaker AInspire.
Speaker AThat's the reason we're in the job, is to inspire and to make sure the children believe they can go on and do these things.
Speaker ABut like we've talked about, you have to be resilient because it's tough and it's hard and there's not a lot of funding around and there's lots of challenges within education.
Speaker ASo you've got to be ready to fight for what you believe in.
Speaker AAnd sometimes that's difficult.
Speaker ASometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do.
Speaker AAnd ultimately, you know, we want to empower all those people, like, we want to empower those future teachers to go on and be the next generation of people who are going to go in, you know, set education on fire and light the torch underneath the next generation of children.
Speaker ASo I think as a set of words, as a group of words, and as a podcast, I think it says everything that education needs to be.
Speaker BFantastic.
Speaker BJonathan, thank you so much for all those insights.
Speaker BIt's been absolutely incredible.
Speaker BIs there one place you'd like people to go and visit to find out more about you, about the school?
Speaker AYou can go to either the school websites and find out some more information, or certainly contact the offices in either school, which are on the school websites, and they can get hold of me if anybody wants to know anything else.
Speaker BFantastic.
Speaker BAnd we'll have links to those things on the show notes as well, so people can click through.
Speaker BSo, Jonathan, thank you so much indeed.
Speaker BI really appreciate it today.
Speaker AThanks, Mark.
Speaker AIt's been a pleasure.
Speaker BEducation is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.