Episodes

  • Frank and Stan Chat No. 205

    Frank and Stan Chat No. 205
    Nov 22 2024

    It dawned on us as we were planning for this week's chat that we had never really covered the area of Youth Work in any depth. Well, we managed to put that straight this week through chatting with Owen Sedgwick-Jell, the Head of Membership and Programmes at the Woodcraft Folk. Woodcraft Folk is a charity that works with young people across the country offering a place where children can grow in confidence, learn about the world and start to understand how to value our planet and each other. It is celebrating its Centenary in 2025 and is keen to increase awareness of its work. Owen explains its connection with the cooperative movement and why it's different to other youth organisations. Woodcraft Folk is run entirely by voluntary donations so if you feel able to support they'd welcome the help. https://woodcraft.org.uk/donate/friends/


    Stan considers the lack of an education strategy at the moment and its impact on a range of issues. Owen then reflects on the increase in suspensions and exclusions and the possible reasons for this. Frank then points to a recent evaluation of the Behaviour Hub initiative that suggested pupils felt that standards of behaviour had deteriorated slightly whereas staff thought it had improved slightly.


    It's a great chat and ventures into new territory for the Frank and Stan Chat.


    Before we reach the closing credits Frank promotes the work of Russell Harvey, the Resilience Coach, who has been a guest on the chat many times. Russell has taken a short break but is now back and available for work. His details are russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk.


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    36 mins
  • Frank and Stan Chat No. 204

    Frank and Stan Chat No. 204
    Nov 15 2024

    A regular guest to the chat returns this week as we welcome Carolyn Eyre to discuss developments, insights and future changes to safeguarding arrangements. Carolyn worked in the Local Authority safeguarding arena for many years, first in Education Welfare services before becoming Child Protection coordinator for a large local authority. More recently, she was Head of Health, Safety & Wellbeing for the authority - combining also the roles of Senior Allegations Manager and Safer Recruitment lead officer. Carolyn is well known for her work with FE colleges and is regularly invited to speak at national conferences on topics ranging from 'partnership working' through 'creating a safe school culture' to the 'preventive curriculum'. Carolyn has a particular interest in the protection of children and young adults with disabilities; her knowledge and understanding of the complexities of safeguarding vulnerable groups has won her many friends in the special school sector nationally. She has been the safeguarding adviser to NASS and its members for more than 12 years. As a member of the Safer Recruitment Consortium task group, Carolyn was heavily involved in re-writing the national Safer Recruitment training materials launched in September 2014 and delivers T4T events nationally. So, she knows her stuff!


    The chat starts with Stan considering the reliability of Ofsted subject reviews which have been heavily criticised this week for the way research evidence appears to have been manipulated to offer a preferred view on pedagogy., Carolyn then explains the significant changes to the VAT arrangements for Independent Special Schools, many of which are not-for-profit organisations and support some of the most vulnerable young people. She then considers the many changes to safeguarding arrangements that are going to be introduced for Early Years settings next year. Frank then reflects on a chat he had with a prominent CEO of a charity where it became clear that more needed to be done to support the literacy and numeracy skills of adults.


    It's an enjoyable chat. We have already booked Carolyn for this time next year for another chat.


    Enjoy!


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    41 mins
  • Frank and Stan Chat No. 203

    Frank and Stan Chat No. 203
    Nov 8 2024
    This week the two gents chat with Maxine O'Neill, a Headteacher of a special school in Liverpool and her brother Prof Adam Boddison. They are co-authors of the book 'The Secret Life of SENCOs' and provide a clear insight into the practical and strategic challenges faced by school leaders and the government in improving SEND provision. The chat covers several themes from their book as well as the attention given to SEND by the Secretary of State this week and as Adam points out the focus on SEND funding in the recent Chancellor's budget statement. Stan reflects on the ability of academies to revert back to LA control. He believes it would be very difficult and challenging. Adam considers the National Audit Office report on SEND funding and how it is leading government thinking. Maxine brings us all down to earth by explaining the varied jobs she has had to undertake this week due to some severe staff shortages due to illness at her school. It's an illuminating chat and we believe will offer insight and a high degree of optimism for the future. Enjoy.

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    34 mins
  • Frank and Stan Chat SPOTLIGHT No.11

    Frank and Stan Chat SPOTLIGHT No.11
    Nov 6 2024
    In the 11th SPOTLIGHT Edition of the Frank and Stan Chat we meet Phil Naylor, an experienced senior leader, author and advocate for working in the most challenging schools. His new book 'Some schools are harder than others' draws on the experiences of many brilliant teachers and leaders in some of the most disadvantaged communities across the country. Phil interviews these colleagues to help better understand why they are successful and what have they done that's made such a difference. Phil is honest and open about his own experiences and provides a useful insight into the qualities required to be successful in tough schools.

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    35 mins
  • Frank and Stan Chat No. 202

    Frank and Stan Chat No. 202
    Nov 1 2024
    With Stan away on other duties this week's chat is co-hosted by the amazing Kendra Allen. We are joined by a relative of hers, Alun Davies. Both colleagues have been guests on the chat many times so we venture into a host of issues including the need for young people to be given the chance to lead on major global issues such as the use and disposal of plastics, why its not worth anyone's time to consider whether chimps might (or might not) be able to write the works of Shakespeare given enough time and why we all need to consider whether the governance arrangements for inspectorates and regulators are sufficiently robust and independent. It's a belting chat. We hope you enjoy it. There are many upbeat elements to it, so it's not all doom and gloom.

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    43 mins
  • Frank and Stan Chat SPOTLIGHT No.10

    Frank and Stan Chat SPOTLIGHT No.10
    Oct 25 2024
    The latest Spotlight edition of the Frank and Stan Chat focuses fully on how to encourage more music, including singing in our schools. Today's guest is Charlotte Wicks, an opera singer who has sung around the world in some of the most prestigious venues, who's now turning her attention to encouraging children and adults of all ages to perform and sing together. As co-founder of Intergenerational Opera, a community based organisation, she has led the development of a programme that brings pupils/students of all ages together through music with older members of society. Charlotte talks openly about the challenges she faced in performing regularly at the highest level and why this forced her to reflect on what she wanted to do with the musical talent she possesses. Reaching out to smaller community groups led to a shift in her career which has seen the establishment of Intergenerational Opera and a Silver Award winner for this year's Pearson Awards. She has her fingers crossed for a Gold Award at the final event in November. The chat is wholesome, thought provoking and ultimately uplifting. If you want to know more about her work just go to www.intergenerationalopera.com.

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    40 mins
  • Frank and Stan Chat No. 201

    Frank and Stan Chat No. 201
    Oct 17 2024
    This week the gents are joined by Kathryn Loftus, Director of Education Alliance for Life Chances, a locally led initiative in Bradford that flowed from the work involved in the city's Opportunity Area. Kathryn explains how the alliance has brought together willing supporters of key service providers delivering for children, young people and families. The alliance understands the complex nature of children's services and how best they are delivered. This has led to a number of fascinating projects including three place-based programmes and a continuing focus on data analysis to ensure services are what the community wants and needs. Kathryn is a strongly committed and principled leader and provides a very reason for greater investment in community programmes. We have limited time for the 'what caught your eye this week?' section but Stan covers the crazy suggestion that young children should not be writing words that they have not yet been formally introduced to. Kathryn references research that links premature death to weak education outcomes while Frank finishes off the chat by covering the government's attempts to strengthen online safety for children and young people. Great chat. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

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    40 mins
  • Frank and Stan Chat SPOTLIGHT No.9

    Frank and Stan Chat SPOTLIGHT No.9
    Oct 11 2024

    The Teachertoolkit website is one of the most visited teacher development websites in the world with over 20 million hits. Ross began teaching in 1991 and taught for 26 years in London's national-challenge (secondary) schools; 20 years as a school leader. Today, he works with teachers and schools worldwide, enhancing teaching and learning, reducing workload and improving teacher mental health. A multiple award-winning teacher, in 2015, The Sunday Times featured Ross as one of the ‘500 Most Influential People in Britain’. He remains the only classroom teacher to feature to this day, and is the author of 11 teaching books.


    We reached out to Ross and he was keen to chat about his work, why he decided to move from teaching into blogging, writing books and offering keynotes to schools around the world.


    Our chat covers a lot of ground but focuses on being an entrepreneur, taking the plunge away from a settled career into an unknown future, what shapes his current thinking and how he sees teaching in the future.


    It's a friendly, relaxed and informed chat and we hope you enjoy it.


    www.teachertoolkit.co.uk


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    44 mins