We Are In Beta Podcast

The We Are In Beta Podcast tells the positive, practical and personal stories of inspirational school leaders tackling big challenges in their schools. Each episode takes a deeper look at a different topic through the eyes of the people we speak to, capturing a range of voices - colleagues, parents and students - along the way.

When the penny drops 05/09/2021

When the penny drops 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/19034759

The First 30 05/01/2021

The First 30 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/18927644

Intrinsic Motivation 04/22/2021

Intrinsic Motivation John Camp is the Trust leader for The Compass partnership Trust. His views on how reward and punishment have changed over his career. When Katie Cutajar (Co-HT of Alderwood Primary) joined the CPT this was new to her. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/18821141

Teaching, Teaching 04/15/2021

Teaching, Teaching 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/18737423

Ma-tour-nity 04/08/2021

Ma-tour-nity 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/18649460

Risk and Reward 04/01/2021

Risk and Reward Many teachers that find themselves attracted to schools that have fallen on hard times, have come from the same kinds of schools /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/18566456

UN-Sustainable 03/25/2021

UN-Sustainable 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”. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/18464390

Through The Blackwall 03/18/2021

Through The Blackwall 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/18376100

Season 4 Starting March 18th 03/17/2021

Season 4 Starting March 18th The We Are In Beta podcast is back. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/18361208

Roadmap to Renewal 07/06/2020

Roadmap to Renewal 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/15099755

So how's it been? 06/29/2020

So how's it been? 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/15005228

Activism takes action 06/22/2020

Activism takes action 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? /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14908097

Attendance 06/15/2020

Attendance 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14809607

What's good online CPD? 06/08/2020

What's good online CPD? In this episode, we do something a little different. During lockdown, there's been a lot of online CPD. There's plenty of research about what good CPD and good online learning look like. But what do teachers who've attended these sessions say? We ask three teachers about their recent 145+ experiences . Hopefully, it will helpful for CPD leaders when delivering sessions. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14726036

Moving on Up 05/25/2020

Moving on Up 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14539721

Between the equal sign 05/18/2020

Between the equal sign 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 with parents, despite the distance and maybe because of the non-linear working. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14437229

Fund the lot 05/11/2020

Fund the lot In this episode, we speak to Mike Wilson - Headteacher of St. Edmund's Catholic School in Dover, Kent - about the 'digital divide' - the gap between students who have access to data and devices 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 realised they wouldn't be able to fully. Then they got a call. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14305505

Grading: a three step process 05/04/2020

Grading: a three step process In this episode, we speak to Amit Hathi - Headteacher of Wembley High Technology College. In the wake of the pandemic, school closures and cancellation of exams, teachers have to provide centred assessed grades for their students. Grades which they believe their students would have been most likely to get in the summer. But doing this fairly and consistently is not without its challenges. Amit explains the three step approach they are taking at WHTC and the methodology they have designed to rank students. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14259902

Remote Recruiting 04/27/2020

Remote Recruiting 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. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14148527

The most important thing is to listen 04/23/2020

The most important thing is to listen In this episode, we speak to Nicole Fowles, Headteacher at Coleshill Heath School, Birmingham. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14100818

Data and Devices 04/20/2020

Data and Devices We had this conversation 31.03.20 /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/14049455

Building the plane while flying it 04/13/2020

Building the plane while flying it We had this conversation on 25.03.20 This episode, we spoke with Shonogh Pilgrim - Principal of Ansford Academy - about how, without knowing it, her school has been preparing her students for school closure. She reveals how their recent school ski trip and the culmination of their 4 year programme of work to increase student independence coincide to to set them up to open as a virtual school. We also spoke about how Shonogh's staying in touch with her students and parents with daily videos. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/13866596

Tutor reading programme 04/09/2020

Tutor reading programme This episode, we spoke with Josie Mingay - School Improvement Lead, Greenshaw Learning Trust. We spoke about the decision between live or recorded remote teaching and their tutor reading programme. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/13866308

Skype-y days 04/06/2020

Skype-y days This episode, we spoke with Ben Layzell - Head of Atherton Community School, Wigan. We talk about taking care of staff first just before closing the school, the current generation of students being more socially conscious, and missing the structure of a school day. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/13856858

Touching Base 04/02/2020

Touching Base We had this conversation on 25.03.20 This episode, we spoke with Cassie Young - SENCO and Head of School of Brenzett Primary School, Kent. We talk about some of the expectations put on parents at this moment as well the importance of staying connected with the students while they're home. We host all episode resources on the We Are In Beta Community website. Subscribe to our newsletter. Join the conversation with @ModernCassie and @NiallAlcock with #weareinbeta /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/13802963

Getting meals to students 03/30/2020

Getting meals to students This episode, we spoke with Clare Fletcher - Director of Schools, The Yare Education Trust. We talk about some obstacles with food catering in the schools, getting meals to students at home, what her new work routine looks like and more. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/13750499

White Ally 12/22/2019

White Ally Picking up from the last episode on BAME leadership (which you should listen to first) we’re talking about what it means to be a ally to your BAME colleagues, what the purpose is and what it looks like when it’s not easy. We speak to Exec. Head Patrick Ottley O’Connor and Allana Gay about what they’ve done and would like to see done to promote an equitable education system for people from all backgrounds. We also hear from Pran Patel about power, the racist-anti-racist spectrum and his advice for al /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/12493226

Critical Mass 12/22/2019

Critical Mass This is an episode on BAME leadership in education. BAME stands for Black Asian Minority Ethnic. According to the Swan Report (1985) and a recent report by the Runnymede Trust (2017), BAME educators have more difficulty progressing to leadership in the English education system. We went out to hear some stories from BAME leaders about what it was like for them getting to their position…but we made a mistake. Learn what it was and what we did about it. Allana Gay -Head at Vita Et Pax School- shares her stor /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/12492518

He For She 12/15/2019

He For She Vivienne Porritt is one of the founders of the social equity group called WomenEd. She set us a challenge. She asked us to take a message to every man in education. Chris Hildrew is a contributor to the WomenEd book “10% Braver” and Headteacher at Churchill Academy. He charts his journey to becoming a HeForShe ally, from his early years in school to a speech he heard by Emma Watson at the UN. Later Chris would adopt some tips from Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In” to promote gender equity in his sc /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/12389447

Blind Recruitment. 12/08/2019

Blind Recruitment. Claire Cuthbert always wanted to be a teacher. She progressed quickly. The time soon came for her to apply for a headship in a mining community. Both interviewers and applicants for the role were all “middle aged white males in grey suits”. Perhaps this isn't surprising. But what happened next was. Now Claire is CEO of Evolve Trust. Her experience informed how they recruit. We also learn how she gives her team the space to look beyond their trust to design processes and get the culture right. /episode/index/show/weareinbeta/id/12309632

We Are In Beta Podcast

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