The We Lead Well Podcast maguirevvm

In this episode of the podcast, I chatted to Alan Taylor, the headteacher at Newton College, part of the International Schools Partnership in Alicante.  If you're wondering what it might be like to lead in an international school, or you're just interested to learn more about the experience of international leadership, this is the episode for you!  Born and raised in Manchester in the UK, Alan first completed an aerospace engineering apprenticeship with British Airways before going on to attain a first-class honours degree in Secondary Science Education at The Manchester Metropolitan University. He went on to teaching and leadership positions across the North of England including North Tyneside and Trafford. Alan’s passion for creative learning experiences led to published work in the UK School Science Review Journal. He was later selected as one of five UK school leaders to research and re-design future science learning spaces as part of the National Project, ‘Project Faraday’ (part of the UK Building Schools for the future initiative). As part of his leadership development he successfully completed his National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). He moved to Laude British School of Vila-real as Headteacher in 2016 and in 2019 he began Headship at Laude Newton College where is currently enjoys leading the school of more than 1300 students and over 200 staff. He is also a registered Lead Inspector for The National Association of British Schools in Spain (NABSS) and has led training events at their National Conference.
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For this episode, I chatted to Neil Jurd all about leadership. Neil is a former army officer and RMA Sandhurst instructor. He served in several operational theatres, including the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Yemen. Since leaving the army he has worked in leadership development and coaching for more than a decade, a passion which has now developed into a small but busy training company delivering residential and online training courses to a number of clients.
Neil has an MA from Cranfield University, is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Lancaster University. He was awarded the British Citizen Award in 2020, and appointed OBE in 2021.  In his spare time Neil is Director Initial Officer Training for the Army Cadets UK, and is the Founder and Trustee of the Michelle Jurd Trust, a charity funding character education for young people.
https://neiljurd.com/
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On this week's episode, I chatted to John Magee AKA The Kindness Coach and Founder of Kindness Matters.  John has been teaching kindness and wellbeing to school children and teachers since 2010.
His motivation and passion for education began after the credit crunch of 2008, when he lost my family business, his marriage broke down and he battled bankruptcy and consequently deep depression.
John was given the opportunity by Community Business Partner CIC CEO, Amanda Meachin, and Darwen Community Academy Headteacher, Brendan Loughran, to speak at an event called Inspiring Communities.
Looking back, he never could have imagined the impact this talk would have across the UK in raising awareness around mental health.
The talk gave John the visibility and opportunity to create an AQA accredited PSHE course, to quickly become a best-selling author of Kindness Matters, be recognised as an inspirational speaker and develop online courses that would go on to transform staff and pupils’ wellbeing with kindness at the heart of staff professional development and pupil interventions.
In 2012, John formed Kindness Matters to share that knowledge with others, to lead healthier and happier lives inside and outside of school.
www.kindnessmatters.co.uk
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This week on the show, I chatted to Atyia and Rebecca who were participants on the very first cohort of the Women Lead Well group coaching programme.  We talked about some of the challenges facing women in leadership and how the group coaching programme has helped both of them to develop both personally and professionally.  If you're wondering whether the group coaching programme is for you, or if you have female school leaders in your school who you think might benefit from being part of the programme, this definitely the episode to listen to.  It's also for you if you want to hear about the experiences of other women in school leadership, the challenges they have faced and how they have, through coaching, overcome them.
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Cleo de Jong is a deputy head at a high school in North London and mum of 2.  I first heard Cleo on the Diverse Educators podcast talking about her experience of being a senior leader and mum and the challenges she had faced.  This resonated with me and made me feel quite angry that things haven't moved forward that much since I was first pregnant 20 years ago.  The good news is that Cleo now works in a school with a forward thinking head who has allowed Cleo the flexibility that supports her to be a mum and a deputy head.  We talk about the challenges of being a mum and a school leader but also the ways in which it can work to the benefit of everyone involved - including the school.
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The findings from the 2022 Teacher Wellbeing Index were released on Friday and they are shocking!  They are evidence that we are heading towards a catastrophe in the education sector.  The number of staff in schools suffering from mental health issues is too high.  The findings also suggest that there are too many toxic schools in which staff wellbeing and morale are at rock bottom and a staggering number of school staff are seriously considering leaving, with many of them currently actively looking for other roles outside education.  So what can we do about it?  In this episode, I summarise the key findings in this report and discuss how we can try to turn the tide.  We can only do that with a concerted effort from all school leaders to do things differently, to really understand what good wellbeing is and create schools that focus on staff first.
https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/media/zoga2r13/teacher-wellbeing-index-2022.pdf
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