The Headteacher Update Podcast is dedicated to supporting best practice in the primary school – with practical advice, discussion and tips for teachers and scho...
Headteacher Update Podcast: Managing SEN in the primary school
With the numbers of pupils with SEN rising year-on-year, this episode offers advice for primary school leadership teams (especially SENCOs) about the effective management of SEN across the primary school. Our expert panel begin by offering their principles of best practice for managing SEN. We then discuss how can school leaders can best support their SENCOs and what SENCO need in order to be effective in their role. We focus too on how SENCOs can best support teaching staff – what will empower teaching staff to identify and support pupils with SEN and where do the responsibilities of SEN lie between the duties of the SENCO and the duties of teaching staff? We talk about who should be on the SEN Register and how this is best managed and we focus on the management of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), discussing some basic principles of good practice. We finish the podcast with a focus on the most common SEN – namely autism and speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). This episode has been kindly supported by our friends at Speech and Language Link.
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1:16:17
Headteacher Update Podcast: School food
In this episode we discuss how to deliver excellent and high-quality school food on a budget in your primary school. We chat with two headteachers and the founder of the Chefs in Schools charity to explore ideas and options for how schools can deliver quality food experiences for pupils. We ask how we can work with families to improve packed lunches and also discuss how we can raise money via our food growing and education initiatives. We talk about what we can do to improve the take-up of free school meals, and we offer advice how we can deliver high-quality breakfast clubs that make a difference. We discuss food education. What should we be teaching about food and how? What does a good food curriculum look like? And we consider the impact that high-quality school food can have for children and their attainment and wellbeing.
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55:40
Headteacher Update Podcast: Executive school leadership
In this episode we take a deep dive into the different roles and models of executive school leadership, looking at best practice and how executive leaders can best support individual schools. Our panel of experts ask what different executive leadership roles exist and what purpose they serve; we consider the different structures and models of executive leadership, too. We discuss how executive leaders can effectively support the individual school leadership teams within each of the schools they oversee. We also detail the the main responsibilities for executive headteachers and their deputies and ask what processes and elements are required for executive leadership to thrive. We ask what skills make a good executive leader and hear examples of good practice and effective models from the experience of our three experts, including some of the challenges they have faced as executive leaders.
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1:02:31
Headteacher Update Podcast: Effective teacher recruitment & retention in schools
In this episode we look at the recruitment and retention of teachers in the primary school, including how to attract the best teachers and ideas and tips for how to keep hold of them. The podcast features three experienced school leaders who begin their discussion by each offering their three core principles of best practice for effective recruitment and retention. We then consider how we might go about finding the best teaching staff, including how we recruit effectively for specific roles, and what kind of things might attract high-quality candidates to want to work in your school. We also discuss what an effective recruitment process looks like. When it comes to retention, our panel considers in depth how to build a school culture that is “difficult to leave”, including how we integrate new staff, mentoring, professional development and support, systems of appraisal, and more. And we talk about effective systems of induction for new staff as well to ensure they can hit the ground running when they begin.
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54:39
Headteacher Update Podcast: Teaching oracy in the primary school
This episode focuses on how we can teach oracy and speaking skills in the primary school, with practical tips, ideas, resources and advice. Our expert panel discuss what oracy is, why it matters, and the impact we have seen on pupils’ speaking skills since Covid. We look at how we can teach oracy in the classroom and across the curriculum, including practical activities for the explicit teaching of oracy as well as ideas for authentic opportunities to encourage talk. We consider the role of vocabulary teaching, ask what high expectations for classroom talk look like, and hear examples of practice from two primary schools. And we address the important differences between “learning to talk” and “learning through talk” and the vital role of developing listening as well as speaking skills. We discuss whole-school strategies, including creating a culture where pupils feel able to speak-up, cross-curriculum planning for oracy, how to ensure consistent approaches, staff CPD, the role of extra-curricular clubs, and more. And we look at how we can engage parents in this work while also considering how we can best assess and monitor our pupils’ progress in terms of oracy. This podcast has been produced in partnership with Pearson. Visit www.pearsonprimary.co.uk/podcast
The Headteacher Update Podcast is dedicated to supporting best practice in the primary school – with practical advice, discussion and tips for teachers and school leaders across a range of topics relevant to your daily practice
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