Heads & Tales

Oppidan Education

Heads & Tales is a podcast series from mentoring company Oppidan Education where leaders from the world of education discuss their life and career.

  1. Toby Seth

    4 DAYS AGO

    Toby Seth

    Toby Seth is Whitgift's 30th headmaster, back in his South London roots having been educated at Dulwich College. A linguist by training with a degree from Trinity Cambridge, he's held leadership roles at Wellington College, Godolphin and Latymer and Pocklington before returning south. Now midway through his first year at Whitgift, Toby shares his passionate case for languages as a way of becoming more human in an AI age, explains how sport can counter machismo in boys' schools and reflects on the strategic work underway to define Whitgift's vision for the future. He also offers a mantra for every educator: the child in front of you is the most precious thing in someone's world.

    25 min
  2. Jesse Elzinga

    15 APR

    Jesse Elzinga

    Jesse Elzinga has been head of Sevenoaks since 2020, leading one of the UK's flagship IB schools. A dual US-UK citizen raised on a farm outside Detroit, Jesse sold apples at farmers markets before winning a place at Harvard with a generous bursary, then a scholarship to Oxford. That journey drives his ambition to have one in three Sevenoaks students on a free or assisted place by the school's 600th anniversary in 2032. In this episode, Jesse makes a passionate case for the IB as the best 16-18 education in the world, explains why dropping maths at 16 is not okay, and delivers a surprising controversial opinion: GCSEs are actually great.

    26 min
  3. James Monaghan

    8 APR

    James Monaghan

    James Monaghan is the CEO and founding principal of GEMS School of Research and Innovation, the group's new flagship in Dubai which opened in September 2025. With 30 years in international education spanning the UAE, UK, USA and South Korea, this is the third school James has opened from scratch. In this episode, he explains what makes launching a school so uniquely challenging, why teacher training hasn't kept pace with technology, and how SRI is investing in dedicated innovation time for staff. James shares his controversial view that busy students are the most successful, and describes taking pupils to build biogas units in rural Nepal with no wifi, no phones and no air conditioning.

    25 min
  4. Helen Pike

    1 APR

    Helen Pike

    Helen Pike is the first female master in Magdalen College School's 500-year history. Originally from Preston and the first in her family to attend university, she read history at Christ Church, Oxford, just 300 yards from where she now leads one of Britain's top day schools. In this episode, Helen shares what she tells sixth form girls about imposter syndrome and why confidence is the trait most correlated with success. She explains why she asks prospective parents to find out how much a school sings together, offers advice for aspiring heads on building teams, and delivers her controversial opinion: not everybody can be good at everything, and accepting that might be a relief rather than a burden.

    25 min
  5. Richard Jones

    25 MAR

    Richard Jones

    Richard Jones never planned to be a teacher. He studied economics, worked in recruitment, rented out custom-wrapped camper vans to backpackers, and only discovered teaching after spending a week shadowing his best friend in a classroom. Now he's head of Bryanston, one of Britain's most distinctive schools, having made the leap from senior deputy to headship in just 15 months during Covid. In this episode, Richard explains the Bryanston method of giving students real independence from Year 9, shares his frustration with league tables that reduce schools to exam results and makes the case for scrapping school uniform: "Instead of saying tuck your shirt in, I'm saying how's your day going?"

    22 min
  6. Henry Faber & Walter Kerr

    18 MAR

    Henry Faber & Walter Kerr

    This week marks Oppidan's 10th birthday, and we're turning the microphone around. Chief of Staff Adam Goodbody, who has worked alongside the founders for eight years, puts Henry Faber and Walter Kerr in the hot seat. They share the real origin story: a kitchen table office, a dad in a dressing gown and a phone call to a headteacher that launched their first school programme days later. Henry and Walter reflect on the summer camps that were "magic but financially ruinous," the China disaster trip, surviving Covid and why they've come to believe that every child, regardless of background, has remarkably similar needs when it comes to mentoring.

    19 min
  7. Dr Mary Asabea Ashun

    11 MAR

    Dr Mary Asabea Ashun

    Dr Mary Ashun is CEO of Ghana International School, one of West Africa's leading international schools, where she's spent over 12 years building what she calls "talent architecture" - pipelines to grow Ghanaian teachers and leaders rather than relying on expat hires. A scientist turned educator with degrees from London, Toronto and Buffalo, she's also a Klingenstein Fellow from Columbia and an author of children's books. In this episode, Mary shares the remarkable story of a teacher who swims through crocodile-infested waters to reach his classroom, explains why England poaching 2,300 Ghanaian teachers while offering education aid feels like a contradiction and delivers a powerful challenge: with Africa set to be the demographic centre of gravity, a curriculum where just 6% of texts are African is failing our children.

    26 min
  8. Dr Kelly Fradin

    4 MAR

    Dr Kelly Fradin

    Dr Kelly Fradin is a pediatrician, childhood cancer survivor and author of Advanced Parenting. Now chair of pediatrics at Atria in New York, she's spent her career at the intersection of healthcare and education, from public schools in the South Bronx to supporting families globally. In this episode, Kelly shares her nuanced take on the ADHD diagnosis debate - why we're both overdiagnosing and missing children who need help - and explains the delicate balance between advocating for your child and stepping back to build their resilience.

    24 min
See All (102)

Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Heads & Tales is a podcast series from mentoring company Oppidan Education where leaders from the world of education discuss their life and career.

Information

  • Creator
    Oppidan Education
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    102
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Oppidan Education
  • Show Website
    Heads & Tales

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