About this podcast

The guests this week are Alan Braven and Anthony Benedict.

Anthony is CEO of Ambition Community Trust and Executive Head Teacher of Tameside Pupil Referral Service, with 27 years of experience in education.

Alan is a recently retired Executive Headteacher of Endeavour Federation, which provides specialist SEMH (Social, Emotional, and Mental Health) provision in Manchester. They are co-authors of the book ‘Educating Everyone: An Introduction to Relational Inclusion in Schools’

This week’s chat about education and leadership includes the following issues:

1. Should Martin’s Law, when introduced in 2027, be a shared responsibility between the Headteacher/CEO and the Governing Body /Trust Board?

2. An FOI to the DfE reveals what they view a successful school to be. It’s a disconcerting and deeply troubling picture.

3. The White Paper may be a signal of a step forward, but the Inclusion Hubs appear to be poorly thought through.

4. Can we have a commitment to inclusion when we still expect parents/carers to buy school uniform that is so expensive?

An engaging, lively and respectful chat between colleagues feeling comfortable with each other.
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Meet the Host

Frank Norris and Stan Johnson have been friends since 1995. Both have had successful and lengthy careers in education. Frank was a very senior HMI with Ofsted for 11 years and was CEO of the Coop Academies Trust for 6 years.

Stan was seconded to Ofsted for a year and then returned to headship before working as a senior adviser with Lancashire LA. He has latterly led a successful education consultancy in the North West. Prior to Covid-19 the two colleagues would meet in Manchester for a pint or two but the pandemic put an end to that.

On 1 May 2020, they recorded their first video chat as a way of recording their emotions and reactions to the pandemic. After putting the video on Youtube as a safe place to store their discussions they realised that some followers began to appear and were interested in their leadership perspectives. Now, with over 170  weekly episodes and usually an eminent guest joining them, they have a growing and increasingly influential following.

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