Movers Netter just talking to teachers talking to teachers about academic research and evidence-based practice with continuing professional development at PNA 1977 on Twitter Schnatter. Just talking to teachers hello and welcome to another nail is Ngata in association with a teacher development trusts and just to start with a huge. Thank you for all the positive comments about last week's podcast with Matt Pinkett and It felt to me and I'm sure to your lot of you are really important episode of one in which I opened up a little bit more than usual. So thank you for allowing me to do that. Matt really really enjoyed speaking to you and it also appears that off the back of that we could seem to be getting bigger in Australia. So lots of messages from Down Under so, you know without sounding like Alan Partridge, you know g'day all and thank you for tuning in. So this week I mean conversation. We're Sam Strickland aka the Stricker Master AKA Jason Statham if you listen to previous guest Mark, lehane and he's we're talking about his new book education exposed and we've also got in the podcast pedagogy section. So I'm going to be revising and or revisiting even a classic following our discussion on class with Matt last week and I've also been reading as I mentioned other podcast last week law Born By Kerry Ellis. So this week I'll be recommending the road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell and it will surround at the time of 70 years since Eric Blair's death. So we will go into Parts one and two and look at how much or indeed how little as Jane's in the eighth decade since its publication on apparently according to Twitter correspondence and other messages my music and film reviews are being well received and not claiming to be an expert and merely trying to promote the idea that as teachers. We need to enjoy our free time and make sure that we're using it wisely. So I'm going to continue those so I'm going to be It's been a bit of a grandparent or over the cortinas more again forever. And I'm going to give a recommendation for the Sam Mendes or sir Sam Mendes directed 1917 film. We've also got plugs for the upcoming research ads and we've got a new blog or I've got a new blog coming out on Friday the first on a series of behavior plot a Blog. So this week we're looking at the meet and greet routine and this should be added to the website. That's Well as NASA dot U k-- later today. So without further Ado orbits of my interview with Sam Strickland. Ok. So hello Sam and welcome to the podcast. Hi there. How are you? Yes good. Thank you. And as we're recording this, we just conversation before we came on air to stay with both back to school. So above, you know, it's Christmas seems like a long time ago way. With the bank and back with a bang indeed and yes and you have an inset day and we've had two full days straight back in Blackpool. So I know messing around strating so and to energize us further on this January evening. We're going to be talking to you about your new books. I'm gonna be talking about education exposed. So that's leading a school in a tampon certainty before we get into some questions around that Sam. Is it? Okay if we start with our usual question, which is just a gentle introductory question. So you tell us a little bit about you your Say to this point and I guess how you came to be writing this book. Yeah, no problem at all. So, of course, I started it started out as a trainee teacher under Christine Council many many moons ago. And that was at the University of Cambridge in secondary history are then moved on to become a history teacher at kind of in my own right so to speak and that was interesting in the first few years because I taught eight different. Subjects five of them were up to a level standards as a name cutie at second and third year teacher then became a head of History within the same school and the lead practitioner for teaching and learning and also a Workforce kick Consulting training to trainee teachers myself. I then moved to the assistant head teacher in charge of it sick form in an all-girls school, which was completely different to my first school, which was a a mixed comprehensive upper school and I did that role to nearly five years. I hated upper Consortium arrangement with two other schools within the town where I was working for the Post 16 kind of Consulting that we have in play and then I moved on to become a vice principal within a trust and work there for five and a half. This year's and wear every hat you can imagine so safeguarding Behavior student Care Sick for Trick kid in school Improvement. I was a trust wide safeguarding lead as well and I was acting head for a year. And then I moved to where I currently am, which is the dust and school which is a big all through school starts with early years goes all the way up to post 16 and I'm the substantive principle kind of in effect the exact head as well as the school because it's a single Academy trust in terms of the school itself. It was not a great. Placement it's okay over it. It was a cause Improvement school that had been outstanding for a few years at then being downgraded and when I joined and probably as you heard when I spoke at rugby, the the behavior was diabolical it was like the wild west the curriculum wasn't in a great place either is a very very skilled biased curriculum. There were lots of gimmicks and fads across the curriculum, especially with year 11. There was almost 400 500 thousand pounds of intervention pumped into your 11 from December to June to try and get kind of the Year group over the line. But also to put them through high-speed courses, so every student was doing e CDL as one example to try and reinforce bucket 3 and it was IGCSE Central everywhere and the approaches to teaching across the school were misguided and it's a shame because we've got early cracking staff within the school and kind of in terms of what I've done since I've been there spent the first I could imagine April 2017 spent the first six weeks. Just getting to know everybody meeting everybody individually meeting groups of pupils and then spent the next seven weeks in post to the second half of summer term training everybody in a new approach to student care and a new Behavior system. And in the first year in post kind of September to September was solely about I'm getting the culture the climate the source of the behavior of the school, right? Because I don't think you can really talk about anything else until you've got that secure and where you need it to be the second full year in post is very much about the curriculum and moving fully away from a skills-based creek into a knowledge based curriculum. We took the school from minus 0.3 in terms of progress 80.2 9 this summer as in the summer 2019 with the best. Jessie results in the school's history a-level results are gone through the stratosphere as well. We're now in the top 5% of all schools nationally for our a level progress outcomes, which is amazing and 6/6 subject areas in the top 1% Now nationally almost can't believe kind of how much progress we've made and obviously a massive challenge now is trying to stay where we are which is no mean feat having its own right and to keep the school moving forwards and Ticking forwards and very much this actually Academic Year the theme for the Improvement plan for the school and the approach is to do the same but better so it's to keep everything as it is, but just to make it better to embed what we've done so far. We don't need to keep changing changing changing. So I think we've done the big hard changes that needed to take place and start a really on board with you. Couldn't you couldn't hope for really or hope for more from them. So yeah, that's kind of where we're at. Come from and where I am and where I'm at. Okay, thank you. So just there I mean that sounds like the perfect recipe for a book in terms of sharing this wisdom with other people because I mean just to go back to the start there. So I mean I was you know, it was already impressive start so studied under Christian Council and then it works in every kind of school in every phase of school in every position within a school. So now and and then obviously when you know, you've got to the peak of that and then you went and took over a school that had been great and it was an experience. Some difficulties and then you made some massive differences there. So there's a lot of wisdom to share here Sam. So can we get into the book and the chapters if that's okay? Yeah. Yeah. And so the first thing I mean I suppose and you said it there just when you were introducing your sort of Journey that the first thing that people going into a school will look to try and to you know, improve and challenge is the behavior. So another one of your chapters is about Behavior. So I guess what were the first things that you looked at? How did you kind of establish those those routines and rules that you've got in place? And you know, how did you get the staff to come along with you and the pupils equally? Yeah. Yeah Andy, it was just sound like I did nothing but the first few weeks I just watched what was going on across the school, which is so difficult to kind of hold your nerve when you can see that everything that could be wrong is wrong. So to give you a few examples every lesson there would be 60 to 70 people's walking the corridors because the We stopped excluding for nearly two years students were free telling teachers to go forth and multiply for want of a better phrase and there were regular fight taking place as well. So in terms of what I did with it, but at the end of the the kind of first full week in post I sat down with the chair of the trust and we talked about a number of non negotiables for which we would exclude just simple red lines. So swearing at teacher bringing illegal substances fighting. All those kind of massive oxide behaviors. We just needed to kind of decapitate those in many regards to make the school safe actually more than anything else because the other thing I faced when I joined was that a third of the teaching staff were leaving is I was joining a sort of question whether that was my aftershave to begin with but yeah as with any choice that sinking ship. Yeah, I can understand why people would be heading for the hills. So partly only to try and retain the staff I did have It is to recruit people in so we brought those non-negotiables in then spent quite a lot of time actually talking to people's to find out their perspective and what what what they felt was wrong with the school and what they felt was needed as well as the staff and everybody was saying the same thing basically that somebody needed to get a grip of the school get a grip of the behavior and turn the ship around in effect, which is then what we spent. Over the next seven eight weeks really trained staff and how to do so, we really kind of harness the position that the role and the importance of the tutor within the school so and change the structure of the school day so that you have time starts starts the day and end today. So we talked until our day with a tutor time we brought in a series of centrally planned activity to chooses to do so, we have five things that basically Actually two times the morning around one is a literacy kind of big reads. So we have a big reach before you leave Dustin. So we start quite low brow with things like The Hunger Games and then his pupils progress through the school will go into a kind of the penguin Classics like your doll you and Grace we have a weekly numerous to challenge a weekly knowledge organizers are review a weekly assembly and a weekly wider Global Studies to time as well. And that that's brought about a real degree of consistency to that. Part of the day, but the tutors are integral to the overall student care model that we have and they're integral also to the behavior system that we have as well. So if you're too if a student receives a behavior point then it shoot their their tutor will speak to the end of the day about why they receive that point and then the expectation is that student will go and apologize to the teacher to rebuild the bridge with the teacher that they've had misbehaved for. We distilled all the rules of the school. They were hundreds of these rules when I joined in people coating different balls at me as a few pools and I had no understanding of what he's wrong. He's actually really meant so what really simple really clear rules don't be late to school because that result in a same-day centralized attention mobile phones with sounds pretty serious, but will confiscate them for a week including the weekend because I want the school to be mobile free and and it is you can't see mobile phones around the school at all with the aim of visited. It and then three really clear classroom rules one around the teacher being the expert one based around doing all the work to the best of your ability without distracting anyone else and the other one is to arrive fully equipped with all of your homework completed and if a pupil breaks those rules, they receive a behavior points not a sanction as in a detention, but if and when you get one point, that's kind of your warning for the day if you get to but Behavior points or more you'll then as same day centralized detention after school. Was a big change that we made and we saw an absolutely seismic kind of shift in behavior in a really short period of time equally within classrooms with sat everybody in rows predominately widths a people's boy girl because again through my observations of the school Behavior wasn't wasn't where it should have been we had pupils arguing where they should sit and in get and in many regards people's were just having a little chat to one another and not really engaging with the teacher. That doesn't happen now. In fact to be fair. It didn't happen after about two days of making this change across the school students that then realize they had to engage in the learning and what we actually found fairly quickly. Was that the typical lesson or PowerPoint whatever it might be able to take an hour the taking teachers half an hour just to teach us how to plan more. So expectations increased and the overall Pace within lessons increased as well in terms of the diet of delivery if that kind of makes sense, So yeah wewe toughened up on the but on behavior and very purposefully really the majority of people are screaming out for that staff were screaming out to that and culturally that you can just a huge huge change in to anybody that would question those approaches because I'm sure that won't sit comfortably with everybody that listens to this podcast. My kind of at all would become of visitors come and have a chat with staff and pupils in my school. Now, I mean, you know, I'm not going to offer any opinions on that the kind of either way to be honest, but you know, obviously it's made the difference for you and for your school, so, you know, it's a lots of people can learn from that and I tell you I was taking that did strike me some when I came to see you at research at rugby is how much the staff were behind everything that you were doing and you were surrounded weren't you? I mean, you know, yeah lots of your staff came along and people don't do that. Do they on a Saturday in their own time if you have not got the stuff back in. So how did you go about getting that kind of stuff? Bye. With you know the behavior, but also, you know with some other changes that you wanted to make. Yeah, I don't I'm not trying to downplay this but overall overstate this but I actually think that spending so much time warm to one with every member of staff member of staff at the start was really important getting to know them getting to understand from their perspective where the school was at what needed to happen to it, but then actually responding to what was being said so it Wasn't just you know Des is you're nodding your head and going to the okay. I hear what you're saying, but actually actioning what people were telling me. So to give you an example when I met with all the middle leaders again 1 to 1, they all cited how little training they had in what it was to be a middle leader. So we gave them and we have to you know to today so to speak really targeted training and support in what it is to be a really highly effective middle leader. And I think they've appreciated that with staff. It was to bring in really clear routine to learning. So the expectation was the school is Staff will meet and greet pupils. They will engage people's in a dune our activity which is a retrieval practice staff to four five or starter for ten. We got rid of learning objectives across the whole school and we use big questions, which is saved teachers masses of time and then teachers will explain the context of lesson and get straight into into Learning but again, it's responding I would argue too kind of what staff tell you and being really agile and listening to what goes on across the school in real time all the time and I make a kind of in a bit you'll habit now of meeting with every single member of staff at least once if not twice in an academic year just to talk about them and their professional development, but we also spent quite a lot of time thinking about workload not in a cheap sense. In a very genuine sense, which staff has appreciated I would argue and but also to think quite seriously about professional development across the school. So we give give you again another example, every member of staff is full ring-fenced CPD days in addition to the five statutory that we all should have to do whatever is relevant to then depending on what their role in their position within the school. Is it just again as there's another example, and we found that the tension is really really strong. Now, you know I said a few minutes ago that a third of the staff were leaving as I joined the end of the First full year in post any two people left in the summer last summer five people left and most of those were for promotions or to relocate somewhere else in the country. And we're now in a position where whenever we advertise a roll, we've got people chomping at the bit to come to work for us, which is great. Absolutely and you know and what you have done as well in terms of you've been quite willing and quite often for people coming. You but I know that equally you haven't they have the attitude that you know, you've got it all sorted and you've been out and visited lots of other places as well. And you know, then I know that you're quite recently up in Blackpool as well weren't you? Yeah, that's right. So, you know, there's a lot of sharing and learning from each other in this. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, we're not a closed closed book. I'm more than happy to host anybody that wants to come and visit the school and yet absolutely with the same token not just myself but my senior team and my staff as a whole I've been out on the road and visited lots of schools to try and gain as much information understanding ideas as we possibly can bring them back to the school and think where will they fit our context and we know we're not the finished article and when you can never be the finished article, but we're not arrogant enough to say, you know, we're so good. We don't need anybody else's support and we're not prepared to support anybody else either. Yeah, that's certainly not the way in which we operate the school where I operate the school. So, I mean that's great in terms of the behavior chapters. And that was that sweated our appetite for more when we got that. So like I said at the beginning the books coming out pretty soon. So as people listening to this the book, I'll probably be out. So renovate the 20th, if we move into you said at the beginning about the curriculum and when you came in, you know that yeah of fads and a lot of interventions and almost a kitchen. So yeah thrown at you 11 and as a new, you know, I had teacher go in a must-win quite tempting for you to kind of make sure that the scores and the doors were great the first year. And so how did you go about making those changes? What kind of changes did you make and you know, how did you get people again on board with that? Yeah, the biggest kind of of Rim so to speak where to have to clear routine to learning which are job ready trying to reference which is kind of very the mauve Rose and shine orientated the idea of a teacher meet and greet in the pupils having a retrieval practice starter using big questions as one example Actually moving away from the skills based curriculum as a whole brought many many members of staff on board staff was screaming out actually to move away from that skills driven approach that we had but don't because it didn't really make any sense. We had the PLC approach when I joined with you these giant Place Maps which are very grated from emerging to Mastery for a whole series of skills for any one given subjects and Its own right that is a very time consuming activity for member of staff to engage in to have tours a great those for every single people. So we've moved to retrieval practice assessments which are marked against a rule Mark and the percentage that's really easy to understand in terms of normal marking. We do whole class feedback, which is safe staff hundreds of hours. I would argue in terms of teaching we've tried as best we can to reduce Zeus lots of things that distract teachers so data drops emails at weekends and mailed over holidays as just a couple of examples to free up time for staff to think about the curriculum this subject knowledge. So in any one half term, we would give for five about deep of our meetings lots to departments the middle leaders to run the show basically and to work with their team on their curriculum on this subject knowledge If Department ex wants to bring in, you know, an examiner for people want and kind of making it up, but I'm not I'm more than happy that they do that if they want to co train one another because they've all been on different calls. His writing ages. You got you got six different p teachers who've all learn learn a new sport and they want to train one another. I'm really happy that they do that. But I think by giving you that level of autonomy back to Department that's gone down really really well with staff and with middle leaders and we spent a lot of time. Training middle leaders and hinting Department in just what the curriculum actually is. So I am not showing saying this but I've ripped apart Mary my textbook the curriculum lots of Tom sherrington blogs lot of Christine council's work and any other kind of big thinker that's out there and turned it into kind of a bespoke package of trainings and middle leaders in what the curriculum actually is. So my staff understand what progression model it means they understand the The hinterland is terms. They understand what they want their pupils to know by the end of any one given lesson week month year how that links to the National curriculum Etc. No, I mean it's fascinating stuff and some of those people that you talked about there. You know. I've been lucky enough to speak to and to have conversations with around the curriculum and I find that, you know exactly as you said, it's giving it to the best CPD for me to be able to speak to you know, marry my at Martin Robinson people at that about you know about the Rick ulam and then you know take that back into you sort of the day job as it were yeah. Yeah. Okay. So underpinning all of this is obviously leadership. Now you talked about how you came up sort of through the ranks really didn't you in terms of you know, you done? Yeah assistant head teacher you're done and the deputy headteacher. We've got all the different roles and one all the different hats. So obviously you're bringing a lot of experience to leadership. But I mean in the chapter about leadership what other kind of key takeaway is that you're putting in the book there. Yeah. I think kind of key things one is to roll up your sleeves and actually to get yourself involved that you're not so far removed from everybody that you're kind of sat in an ivory Tower what everyone gets everyone else gets on with it. Another big aspect in terms of leadership to me is that every every leader in terms of the senior team is responsible for Behavior. So it doesn't just sit with one person and you kind of see the official assistant head that's flogged to death that you know that does behavior on their own. It is a team effort and we're again in terms of context that I mean we change the roles of the whole team and internally promoted a couple of assistant principals to be Vice principals so that I've got for vice principals within my within the secondary phase of the school one leads on key stage 3 1 is Heather key stage 4 1 as head of key stage five. And one is a director of Education that does whole school Improvement and then the assistant principals that I have kind of map around those Vice principals to drive each part of the school kind of acting is meaning get heads and Deputy heads, you know in their own right kind of then reporting in to me, but if you notice your questions also kind of deviated a bit there that high-level disability and you can have two types of visibility in my mind around the school one, which is toxic. Which is where your your about but all you're doing is watching people and and scrutinizing and criticizing which is the one I don't subscribe to and the other is to actually be positively helpful by being a positive Presence by going in and out of lessons making sure that everything is okay that teachers are happy that teachers are supported if they feel that they need it and but you're not doing it from the lens of scrutiny and criticism. You're doing it from a genuine. 40 standpoint and for me that probably the big takeaway is that sense of positive visibility and that's where the interesting point is. I'm so out. How do you balance? So you like you said at the beginning of the podcast that you know, the first thing you did was you went in and met with all the staff and then you know, you thinking somebody who's listening to this who's you know into a new into a a head shape or Deputy Chief or whatever it is. How do you kind of balance that making sure that you get around all the staff but equally making sure that you're out on the doors in lessons and doing all that sort of stuff. Was that a conscious thing that you kind of map trial spend this number of periods in lessons this a lot of time with with staff or is it more sort of flexible in that there is a conscious effort to make sure that in any one given day. I'll go out at least half a dozen times across the school equally, I've got the failsafe does knowing that we've got a duty voter among the senior teams. They're always two if not three senior leaders, but Walk the corridors of the school. So if sake of argument, I'm in a half a day long meeting which can happen. Of course. I know that I've got senior leaders that are presents presents that are visible that are across the school because they're going to sort of say this in a sycophantic sense, but they're an embodiment of me in many regards as part of the leadership team. So there's always a leadership presence across the school, but you know as much as I possibly can I will go out and about and and walk the corridors. I think that's so important. And on meet-and-greet pupils at the start of the day and Main reception, which is Again part of our institution approach. We say good morning to every single pupil as they come into the building's I like you're lying. These said that behavior is everyone's responsibility. And you know, I mean, I just took that away. I just thinking you almost kind of visualize the person like me said the sacrificial assistant head lamb who is running around and trying to smile while everyone bring staff say have you got a minute kind of just kind of you know, that kind of thing. Yes, that's a really interesting. In kind of Shifting, they're not saying that they're not responsible. But that everybody is going to feed into them. They have to be a collective responsibility. I think the danger is if you've got one senior leader that is in charge of behavior and no matter how good they are they're going to drop the ball at some point not because they're inept or incapable just because the volume of of issues that arise in a normal school day in any school day. You only need two or three safeguarding issues and it's you know, that's your day gone. Could be a week on potential if you've got to fit in Neha as another example, that's half a day gone. So it does need a big investment I would argue and I personally feel that's one of your biggest school Improvement drivers as its you get Behavior right teachers can teach things then click into place. Yeah, and I suppose that you making that you know that it's very clear what the expectations were and having that Clarity around expectations means it's easier for everyone to be responsible for Behavior because when you've got a Get it Behavior system that people don't know whether they're doing right or doing wrong or if they intervene was something they're undermining somebody else. It becomes really problematic. So actually distilling you kind of policy down to quite a few bullet points and living that. Yeah, it makes it a lot easier for everyone to buy into it doesn't actually in that and that's what we've got simple bullet points which are on display in every single classroom across the whole school understood by everybody and it makes life really easy. So just we got jumping around a little bit. But obviously the teaching was linked to the curriculum. So I'm interested. We you kind of model for lessons there. So you talked about meat on door and you meet and greet then you then you go into do you say it was a do Now activity and then yeah. Yeah just tell us a little bit more about the kind of the structure of lessons and you know, what kind of things are using to kind of inform your teaching or learning policy? Yeah. So as I said teachers will meet and greet. It was at the door said of say good morning Etc. There is an instant series of do now retrieval practice questions. There's no me five or ten that kick off any one given lesson pupils will then be given the answers and they'll either sell for peer Mark so they get instant feedback on their answers and very often that will be linked to their homework, which is to read their knowledge organizers and then the teacher will introduce the big question for the lesson. Which is kind of the hinterland in in the Christine Council sense of the kind of the framework to which all of the core disciplinary knowledge that's going to be discussing that lesson will hinge around teachers will introduce the the context of the less until take maybe one or two minutes to do that. And then they go into the lesson delivery itself. We haven't prescribe how teachers should do that across the school because my view is that every subject is different. So what's there is an Institutional kind of rude. Team to begin the lesson what then happens is up to the teachers themselves, but we have put visualizers across the whole school with and we've trained staff in how to use those and we're moving slowly but surely towards the use of workbooks across the school as well. So we started in year 10 and it's a five-year kind of curriculum drive that each year. We will go with a another year group and in bed workbooks into that year groups a next year. It's year. Even then we'll bounce down into your 7. Then your rate then you 9 so we're in for a bit years time the whole school will have workbooks. And but what we found is that department have have really taken to those in year 10, and actually they're starting to creep into you 11 12 and 13 already. Yep and Scholars working out previously had kind of gone down that road as well. And I found that really useful for numerous things because it did reinforce the routines because the retrieval practice was built into that it reinforced the kind. Recapping previous knowledge the rose and shine then, you know principles of instruction it then made it clear what the overview was in terms of the big learning across the topic and ensured that consistency of you know of content at least and hopefully, you know where some CPD as well the consistency of the delivery of the teachers and it was really really good. So it's not something that I would look up if you know moving forward. Can I just ask you as well in terms of the through school? So I mean I spent a lot of time working across primary schools as part of the T DT role that I've had for. A few years and you know, one of the one of the difficulties with you know, the new sort of focus on curriculum and obviously Primary School teachers, you know, you know, I don't know how they do it in terms of the breadth of knowledge that they need to have a teacher cross, you know, right right for me. Why our first Key Stage 1 Key Stage 2, but do you think that being a through school has helped you in terms of designing your curriculum and maybe Staffing that across the school and expose your chapter on CPD, you know, have you used secondary and key stage five teachers to be able to come into Key Stage 2 and 3 and Yeah help teachers there. Yeah, I mean if I'm really honest about where we're at the next thing we've got to develop because we only go up to the top tier 5 at the moment. We're yet to get your 6, which is next year. So the primary phase within the school isn't all it hasn't fully fully grown. So there is the next the next bit for us is to develop the key stage 2 to key stage 3 crossover for our own school and to have that all through curriculum. Just for the Dustin school, but that said we are very mindful of what is taught at Key Stage 2 or and we've trained middle leaders to really consider that to think very carefully about what are the starting points of the Year sevens when they come up into the secondary phase from across the array of schools that we draw from that party five different schools. So it's hard obviously to gain control so to speak over over those but we've sent secondary staff. Out to those primary schools to see what they do within the context of our own School. We've got secondary phase staff that teach within the primary face so their understanding of what the year 2 year 3 year 4 etcetera capable of has really increased and really developed and that's really helped us to think really sharply about our year 7 and a year a curriculum in many regards kind of The Next Step again would be that year five in year six teachers overlap. Twenty seven and eight within the secondary phase of the school and I think there are still lessons we can learn from the primary and side of the school that perhaps we haven't tapped into enough and that again is that he's come to the next developmental phase for us as a school in many regards and that's really exciting speaking of exciting. So you've got a chapter on CPD and and workload and we we mentioned earlier on how much kind of outward facing stuff that you do and obviously, you know, I mean, I do quite a lot of it would facing stuff now via this podcast and Yes, it does that but you know that really does have a positive influence doesn't it in terms of that the staff because you're finding out, you know Twitter for all the good and bad parts of it is extremely good CPD. So tell us a little bit about what you talked about in the chapter about CPD and workload. Yeah. So in terms of CPD, if you start with that that bit again or try and relate it to what we've done with the staff here. I am actually which is to give staff. For ring-fence days in any one Academic Year talk a little bit about the the nature of the training that we've done internally through the curriculum and how we've tried to train middle leaders in the curriculum equally how try to train staff in general around the curriculum in its broadest sense. But also to think about I mean one area that it takes about a year to really effectively train people and how to use them all big questions which it which is a big Going to step away from learning objectives and it takes a while for staff to get that head around how to do that. But that's another area again in terms of training that with retrain staff in Behavior being another area that we spend a lot of time training staff and I relate to a refer to that within the book as well. And then in terms of work clothes, it's the the assault a of different things. We've done to try and meet workloads more manageable for Staff so reducing the number of data captures. The number of mock exams the email use that we have across the school the approach to marking the approach to co-planning in the workbooks that I've that I referenced a few minutes ago as well giving kind to departments to be able to think about the curriculum and getting rid of all the kind of other fluff and something you referenced a few minutes ago. It was the that kind of ticking in pressure when you join to get results and to go for that. of intervention circus of Madness in year 11 which which can happen in many schools are actually really rationalize that right when I joined and restricted it to kind of almost a blitzkrieg mentality of a 10-week countdown following kind of February half-term to the exams where we then put quite a lot of intervention into our year 11, but it was more academic and credible using my own staff to deliver claps timetable days to the year 11s the same maths English Science big lectures with another thing that we have and is kind of really embedded within the school now. So quite literally is a case of taking half the year group the year group into main hall and delivering them University style a big lecture on whatever topics we want to deliver to them as another approach and we found that that's helped not just the pupils but also to upskill staff. So to give you an example in English, they will deliver a big lecture kind of did Fifth lesson within their curriculum delivery and you've got the absolute expert within the team who's kind of put themselves forward as knowing everything about the context of Jekyll and Hyde the sake of argument and you've got in cuties in their feeding off that member of Staff you that CP in its own right? You wouldn't get that if you went to add a course in London for sake of argument. So there's a few examples. No, that's really good never thought of that. I mean that's that's a win-win in terms of the pupils are benefiting from The Specialist knowledge of the team. Teacher but also the teachers, you know, we can't all be experts across all of the field. Can we so it's not real life CPD, you know there and then in front of the pupil such that's a really interesting take on that. Hmm. So to the workload, you mentioned a couple of things that you mentioned the emails you've mentioned. Yeah, you know that the data captures, you know, I spoke to cat Howard about you know to her book, which is probably it's out now - fact as we speak so that's not talking about well-being. So, you know, obviously you're living that kind of thing. Rather than just, you know talking about it occasionally. So are there any more examples of things that you did in terms of workload? Yeah. I mean, we've got a actually features and cats booked if he said that we've got a workload Charter. It's almost like a new that sound of six high as another example. I'm a fairly liberal in terms of giving staff. Time to go to its their five year olds Christmas Nativity. They're never going to get that again. I'm quite happy that we know we will let them do that or there's an immovable dental procedures, you know, so it's going down there sort of the classroom, but we will give staff the the flexibility in the time to do that as well. We give every Department to faculty away days in the sixth car term of the Year where they can meet together as a team and discuss priorities. And plan and whatever it is, they need to do in anticipation of the new Academic Year the Twilight training time because obviously you've got your five statue training days of the year we do to insect days. And the rest we did was Twilight's but we will by and large we will take maybe half an hour of that time and talk to the staff and then give the rest of that time and this we've got a keynote speaker in so we've had Christian counselors when example time sherrington is Other Tom Bennett as another but we'll give the Lion's Share of that kind to departments to do things specific to their curriculum. And I think the other the other thing that's helped in terms of work that is communicating things out really really early. So to give you an example on Monday. I sign posted kind of loosely what the school Improvement plan for September would be and I'll do that in more detail just before Easter so staff have got the best part of the summer term to really think about it and then To action, whatever needs to be actions in time to September rather than I've been under regimes that have done this they'll tell you on Friday that the Monday this is happening. We don't do that with our staff. We give them lots of time to think about things and lots of time to question and it's necessary to challenge as well as his on something isn't right. I mean it's fascinating stuff. So and just to wrap it up if we can a little bit some now, so obviously like I said the books as we speak hopefully going to be out now. So it's education exposed leading a school in a time of uncertainty. So I know that you're involved in speaking it quite a lot of conferences in involving putting on your own conferences as well. So just tell us a little bit about where we can see you speaking next we can find out more information and I guess importantly where we can find the book. Yes, the book is available on Amazon and it's also going to be sold in water stones and Heifers and some of the other big book shops and that the publisher is John cats a junk a kind of everywhere as a publisher in terms of where I'll be speaking next. I've got blue red Northampton, which I think is the 8th of February of memory. I'll be talking with research Ed's rugby in May. And then again in October at sorry, we've also got Shameless plug here. But research Ed Northampton at the dust and school on the 10th of October and I will probably no doubt talk at that as well to fill one of the many many slots that will be there to fill so there's a few points within the year that I will be talking. Brilliant brilliant, so I know that that obviously is extremely popular when you do go out and speak about that. And I know that the book will be, you know receive really really well and I'm certainly got my pre-ordered copy ready to go. Thank you. That's really kind. Yeah, and I mean I was I mentioned this I'll be at the ready to start off the podcast. I started off by not saying too much about the day job, but I've just as listeners will know taking over as a deputy head. I'm doing Behavior. So it's definitely gonna be a real but I'm going to be reading and and living so that's why I was probably drilling down to a few of those questions because I'm The start of the journey but I'm very fortunate that I'm working with some great people who were really supportive and the pupils are really great so far. So it's it seems to be all going very well, but the book will be really useful to have your experience in terms of how you've done that and the success that you've had and look at those scores on the doors. I mean, I know it's not all about that. But obviously we're looking at outcomes and things for pupils and you know make it better for them. It's fantastic. So heartily recommend it if I don't get to go and see some speak then a hard to recommend that as well. And yeah, we'll look forward to seeing you. Ooh on the research head circuit at some point during the year. Thank you and best of luck with your new role and against a mistake if you ever want to come and visit your very well. Well, undoubtedly I said okay if I can get out. I mean, I'm at the stage where we talked about at the beginning which is you know, I'm on the corridors and I'm in the classrooms. I think that's at the moment. But yeah moving forward definitely something to do and I know that graiman and Chris at st. George's I think you've been to them my view of there being two you're involved. But yeah, but both ways they've been to my school and I've been As and they speak very highly of that. I've done a lot of work with the CPD there at st. George's it's fabulous school and Graham Chris a brilliant. So there they did a lot of the things that you are talking about as well. So yeah, if you're interested in that see those schools, but otherwise get the book which will be out now once it as we speak. Yeah indeed in DTF. Okay. Thanks for your time Sam tonight. Really? Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Take care. Just talking to teachers podcast pedagogy. And what is Phil reading this week podcast pedagogy listening to teachers? Never snapped urges talking to teachers. Okay. So after last week's discussion and I may have revealed my huge admiration / slight Obsession for all things George Orwell and I have to admit to having read all the novels even a clergyman's daughter and the essays alongside the more well-known Classics. I animal farm and 1984. So the reason to revisit this is that all Wells sort of logical investigations into the working class of Wigan Sheffield leads and other places give him an immersion into the Lives of the Working Class People of the north so he found true faith in the spirit decency and work ethic of the miners and their families and it changed for me for when our discussion last week as to whether we as Leaders fully understand the communities we serve whether in more disadvantaged areas much has indeed changed in 2020. So I'm not trying to or seek it to make any kind of political Point here merely samples to any of you not familiar with this book to have a look a little bit deeper so the book is Into sections and the first section having seven chapters. So I'll chapter one looks at the brook of family and their living conditions chapter 2 is all Wells immersion. So those of you that are familiar with all well, you know from Down and Out in Paris and London, for example, where he went out tramping. He also got immersed into the life of the workers in the mines went down the mind in Wiggins experience the conditions for himself chapter 3 looks at the social situation of the working people that and to me has Echoes of 20 and chapter 4 looks at the living conditions and with chapter 5 looking at unemployment but chapter 6 for me is the one that really speaks to us. We're talking about food and all well looks at their diet of the working class and the miners and understands why they would rather buy something tasty than perhaps something healthy to enrich their dull lives a little bit. So part two is not really the focus on education podcast with its controversial argument not least on the merits of socialism. So, that's all Up to you to decide for yourself on your political Persuasions, but if you'd like to read something following on from Matt's discussion last week, then why not start with one of the Great's of literature and and have your appetite wet, but every habitat sweated for some more then if you would like to look at this the road till we can peer is published by penguin Classics and is available everywhere. So this week into the music section. So as we know we are strictly vinyl on there as natus, so imagine the excitement when Ordered the cortinas new album, which is a nightmare for those of you grammar pedants out there. So it's more full start up again. Forever. And it's the sixth studio album by Manchester's cortinas having said, yeah, I've said before I ordered the vinyl last Friday at an old-school Indie man. I was very very excited about this and as you all know thanks to my vintage. I was at Uni for Wonderwall in the late 20s, mr. Brightside and already old by the time of the Arctic Monkeys. So I'm Steeped in the Indie genre the cortinas don't seem to come and huge headlines, but he dragged it a ticket for any of their shows. They regularly select pretty much immediately. So what of the new record, well, there are some more adventurous tracks including the Ferocious heart attack and the catchy heavy jacket and there are some big chorus sing alongs including the title track, which is an instant earworm for me and I'm humming it there to myself as we speak. There's also a couple of them all. Prospective thoughtful songs including Heaven Can Wait, which is really really great song So previous parties is a song which has a very interesting lyric and it's sums where the cortinas are up to. So the limit goes all we do is go to parties and talk about parties. We used to go to whereas. All I do is go to my children's friends parties and don't really talk about anything but in summary if you are interested in this album, it's a it's Very much a solid exactly what it says on the tin exactly what expect album definitely one for the gym playlist or maybe even a vinyl purchase. So more again forever is out now in terms of a filler recommendation. I'm sad to say that with a busy week. I have not quite yet got around to watching 1917, which is this Sam Mendes directed World War one Epic but here in great reviews for that and booked into going to see that later in the So hopefully get a chance to review that but if any listeners have been under a listen to the cortinas album, I've got any suggestions of their own or been to watch 1917 and would like to offer any correspondence there then I would welcome that alongside the usual comments on the guests and on their books. So anything you want via the website, which is nail as a matter dot cold dot U k-- Schnatter just talking to teachers. Podcast pedagogy. What is Phil reading this week podcast pedagogy listening to teachers? Playlist Netter just talking to teachers. So moving into the limited Shameless plug section this week and we have plugs for research at Birmingham coming up soon in March for the massive research at Blackpool which is well and truly sold out at 750 people coming soon. Just a big thank you to dude hunting for asking me to come along to research Edge rugby and speaking of dude. He is going to be doing a guest presenting job on there as natter, which will do an episode talking about educating links. We'll be coming up fairly soon. Speaking of guest host. We have Mr. Turner coming up fairly soon with a podcast with Sam twistleton, but in the next week's podcast, I'm really really excited about next week's podcast. I recorded it last Friday, and I put some things out on Twitter about that. So I had a really good chat with Tom Rogers, so that will be next week's podcast just again to say thank you very much for listening to nailers Nutter and we'll see you at the same time next week. Just talking to teachers talking to teachers about academic research and evidence-based practice with continuing professional development at PNA 1977 on Twitter. Snapchat urges talking to teachers.
This week I am joined by Sam Strickland, Principal of The Duston School . Sam describes himself as:Principal, martial artist, historian, believer in knowledge. Organiser of ResearchED Northampton. In this weeks podcast we chat about Sam's new book 'Education exposed' . The book is described as: The ultimate guide to understanding how a school can be led, managed and run, written by an author with extensive experience, and drawing heavily on research around knowledge-based curricula. Clearly and honestly stating the challenges of leading a school, Samuel Strickland focuses on approaches to the curriculum, teaching and learning, teacher workload, behavior, staff morale, leadership and Ofsted. The book is designed to serve as a dip in and dip out guide to a wide array of varying aspects of whole-school life, though it can be read in one full sitting, and the author is not afraid to challenge some of the suggested norms that educators are expected to accept as a profession or to consider how things can potentially be otherwise done. Each chapter is self-contained, providing a short and sharp insight into a specific aspect of school improvement. The book is divided into five sections, with each section taking a major driver for school improvement. Section 1 focuses on leadership, Section 2 on behaviour, Section 3 on the curriculum, Section 4 on teaching and Section 5 on workload and professional development. The natter: This was the first ever, unscripted natter with Sam more than happy to answer any questions I had! Podcast pedagogy This week, I revisit the seminal 'The Road to Wigan Pier' by George Orwell. I recommend More.Again.Forever by The Courteeners and in film we look at 1917. PS EDIT Lowborn is by Kerry Hudson, Kerry Ellis is a singer .......apologies! 