We Are In Beta Podcast

There have been people working on decolonizing the curriculum for a very long time now. In early 2020 after George Floyd’s death decolonizing the curriculum came to the forefront of the discussion. People who had never considered it, or even understood what it meant, had to grapple with its implications. This whole episode is about exactly that. Havelock Primary school was by no means behind the curve when It came to things like this but when they decided to decolonize their curriculum...

A few years ago Solihull was a small, relatively affluent borough in Southeast Birmingham, but they had one big problem. Many factors had aligned to create a situation where Solihull had more permanent exclusions than 90% of the country. This is when Stephen Steinhaus, the soon-to-be principal of this new school, caught wind they were building a new school in the borough. A school that was attempting to find a solution to their permanent exclusion problem. Making a school like that isn't...

One of the fundamental lessons teachers learn is ‘how to motivate their class’. Historically, For many, this comes down to the Skinnerian model of behaviorism, which is essentially positive and negative reinforcement. John Camp (the Lead of the Compass trust) was taught this too. He began to see things differently when his own headteacher showed him another way of motivation. One called intrinsic motivation. As Trust leader John has had the chance to share intrinsic motivation with his...

Classically, CPD brings all the staff together to learn about a single subject of improvement. By contrast, Instructional coaching has aspects that make bespoke to what each teacher needs at the moment. So this all sounds good in theory but how does it work? Where do you start? What do you do when it doesn’t go to plan? When Josh Goodrich became the head of teaching and learning at Oasis South Bank, he was determined to bring instructional coaching to life; but it wasn’t easy. BIG thank...

During Lucy’s first maternity leave, she felt alienated from her profession. People would tell her that she would lose interest in working full time but she didn’t. In her second MAT leave, she was determined not to be on the outside looking. While attending an event put on by the MPTP project, for the first time she became aware that she could go on school visits during her MAT leave. Over the next couple of months, Lucy goes on several school walk-throughs with her young child Roland. She...

Many teachers who gravitate towards schools that have fallen on hard times, have been taught in similar schools, and in this way, Sajid Gulzar isn’t very different. As a headteacher, Sajid has continued to be interested in the schools that require a lot of care; but doing this can eventually spread you too thin if you're not careful. As with most of us, there is a real tension between what needs doing and what WE can do. Sajid and Prince Albert Community Trust find themselves right in the...

Education should prepare students for the world they are going to live in. That world will require more awareness of the impact humans have on the planet and each other. In 2015 the United Nation set out 17 sustainable development goals, with their mission statement being, “A blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030”. Rachel Tomlinson and Karl Cross have become enthusiastic about making this goal a reality and developing their students to become leaders on...

Yamina grew up in the majority Bangladeshi area of Tower Hamlets. When her family moved to Canary Wharf things changed; 9/11 happened and the overt racism began. When she became a teacher years later, she didn’t go back to Tower Hamlets, she went to teach in Lewisham. It was in Lewisham where the prejudice she faced as a kid was still present in her students. This time she made it her responsibility to teach them, not only about English but also how to treat people with respect. BIG thank...

The We Are In Beta podcast is back. We -schools, Are In Beta- Always learning. Over the past year, we have done a lot of that learning very quickly and through our own trial and error. The WAIB podcast shares stories from the experience of teachers in schools, so we can learn from them, challenge our own thinking and see things from an others perspective. In this season we have stories of change. People changing others, people changing the system, and people changing themselves. From...

In this episode, we speak with Kiran Mahil - History and politics teacher in East London. Obviously, things have changed a lot due to covid19, but what might not be obvious is how we will regain the things we’ve lost over this period. Kiran and friend (and fellow teacher) Hannah Dalton, have come up with a document that allows schools to understand what has been lost and consider how they will respond. It’s called the Roadmap to Renewal. We talked to them about it. Learn more about our...

In this episode, we speak with Sharifah Lee- The Deputy Headteacher of Dorney School in Windsor. We spoke to Sharifah in a previous episode and she mentioned that they're opening their school to more students. That was a couple of weeks ago... We wanted to see what worked, what hasn't and how it's been. Learn more about our guests, their schools, the roles they are recruiting for, and access all resources and bonus content from episodes at www.weareinbeta.community.

In this episode, we speak with Chantelle Clarke -Head of Department at Frederick Bremer School, Waltham Forest. We talked about how recent events have led to more support of Black Lives Matter and similar movements. But what do we do with that support? Learn more about our guests, their schools, the roles they are recruiting for, and access all resources and bonus content from episodes at www.weareinbeta.community.

In this episode, we speak with Anita Woodward-Benn about her role as the trust attendance manager at the University of Brighton Academies Trust. You could say attendance officers have a reputation for being the rule keepers. But Anita thinks about it differently. She thinks attendance practitioners could and should be the front line of support for families. How? By focusing on building relationships with parents. Learn more about our guests, their schools, the roles they are recruiting for,...

In this episode, we do something a little different. During lockdown, there's been a lot of online CPD happening. There's plenty of research about what good CPD and good online learning look like. But what do teachers who've been attending these sessions have to say? We spoke to three teachers about their experience of attending over 145 online CPD sessions over the past few weeks. We ask them what makes for good online CPD in their opinion. This is not science but hopefully, it will helpful...

In this episode, we speak to Emily Reynard - Headteacher of MEA Central - about year 7 transition. Emily talks about why transition is so important and how it's not an isolated incident; a transition is felt by every year group. Learn more about the school, roles they are recruiting for, and access all resources and bonus content from episodes at www.weareinbeta.community.

In this episode, we speak to David Sammels - Headteacher of Mayflower Community Academy - about how the lockdown has sparked David's change from a linear way of working to a non-linear way. We also speak about how David has been feeling more connected to parents, despite the distance and maybe because of the non-linear working. Learn more about the school, roles they are recruiting for, and access all resources and bonus content from episodes at www.weareinbeta.community.

In this episode, we speak to Mike Wilson - Headteacher of St. Edmund's Catholic School in Dover, Kent - about an issue we discussed in a previous episode, the 'digital divide': the gap between students who have access to data and devices at home and those who don't. St. Edmund's Catholic School is one where this divide is significant. Around 10% of students have limited or no access. Shortly after schools closed, the staff at St Edmund's were preparing to take their school online but...

In this episode, we speak to Amit Hathi - Headteacher of Wembley High Technology College, London. In the wake of the pandemic, school closures and the cancellation of exams, teachers are being asked to provide centred assessed grades for their students. Grades which they believe their students would have been most likely to get in the summer if they had taken the exams. But doing this fairly and consistently is not without its challenges. Amit explains the three step approach they are...

In this episode, we are speaking to Will Mackintosh and Nat Nabarro - Headteacher and Vice-Principal of Ark John Keats in North London Since we've been working remotely we have had to change the way we do a lot of things. One of them is recruitment. Without being able to visit schools or meet candidates teachers and schools have to change their methods without necessarily changing what they're looking for. Will and Nat tell us what they've done in their school to change the way they're...

In this episode, we are speaking to Nicole Fowles - Headteacher at Coleshill Heath School, Birmingham. During the COVID19 crisis Nicole, like many other school leaders., has been dealing with fragments of information and sometimes conflicting messages. She’s been dealing with bereavement, supporting teachers and parents for home learning, and safeguarding challenges. She’s been dealing with staff anxiety and communication overload. She talks about the four reassurances she gave her team to...