Frank and Stan Chat SPOTLIGHT No.29

Frank and Stan Chat SPOTLIGHT No.29

It was a pleasure to welcome Jill Munday to the Frank and Stan Chat. Jill has had a varied and interesting career and met Frank when they were Assistant Divisional Managers working on local authority inspections with Ofsted. Since retiring Jill has been a passionate supporter of The Malagiri School in Nepal. This Spotlight chat covers how she got involved, how she currently supports their work and what she has gained from the experience. She’s visiting the school again in November. It is a fascinating chat and enables us to consider the lessons for English education at a time of challenge and change. If you would like to donate to the school, there is a link on their website www. https://malagirischool.uk ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Frank and Stan Chat No. 257 Part 2

Part 2 of the chat due to a power cut during the recording. Stan is away this week so Frank had the chance to chat with Dave Smith, a former colleague in the Coop Group Press and Media team, someone Frank worked with frequently when he was the CEO of the Coop Academies Trust. Our relaxed chat covers how best to use the media, including social media, for the benefit of the school and how it is really not acceptable to have a head in the sand approach. Dave offers some straight forward advice and tackles the problem where a few headteachers consider themselves to be great communicators when in fact they are not. As with many things in this area it is important to know what to do in advance of a problem arising. We also cover how a proactive approach can support the handling of the increasing number of complaints schools are receiving. There is a link at the end to a chat Frank had with Joe Dundas about marketing and communication a few years ago. The video has had nearly 400 views and can be broken down into chunks. Enjoy. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Frank and Stan Chat No. 257 Part 1

Part 1 due to a power cut during the recording: Part 2 follows. Stan is away this week so Frank had the chance to chat with Dave Smith, a former colleague in the Coop Group Press and Media team, someone Frank worked with frequently when he was the CEO of the Coop Academies Trust. Our relaxed chat covers how best to use the media, including social media, for the benefit of the school and how it is really not acceptable to have a head in the sand approach. Dave offers some straight forward advice and tackles the problem where a few headteachers consider themselves to be great communicators when in fact they are not. As with many things in this area it is important to know what to do in advance of a problem arising. We also cover how a proactive approach can support the handling of the increasing number of complaints schools are receiving. There is a link at the end to a chat Frank had with Joe Dundas about marketing and communication a few years ago. The video has had nearly 400 views and can be broken down into chunks. Enjoy. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Frank and Stan Chat No. 256

Both of us look forward to Aelwyn's annual visit to the Frank and Stan Chat. Always well prepared, challenging and at times controversial Aelwyn is, as my wife says, a proper HMI. After over 20 years of working for Ofsted in various roles, he retired a few years ago, but he remains committed to his desire for all children and young people to succeed. Stan gets things rolling as he considers a couple of complaints about services he has received recently. The difference in the way he felt after both of them is quite striking. He considers whether schools can learn from the starkly different outcomes. Aelwyn then considers how strongly schools are committed to enrichment activities and how things have changed over time in terms of what some staff offer to their pupils. He recalls in detail his attempts to coach a rugby team when his talents were possibly better suited to music. With time short, Frank lays a marker down for the next chat when he draws attention to the manager positions at his beloved Southend Utd and Southampton FC. There is much to learn from those two situations at the moment. And yes, we are chatting to Aelwyn about another appearance in May 2027. Enjoy, cos it's a belter. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Frank and Stan Chat No. 255

Frank began working with Alice when she invited him to be the co-leader of a leadership programme with her for Forum Strategy. They struck it off straight away and enjoyed a few years collaborating and sharing connections to improve the impact of their leadership work. Alice is driven by a desire to share and listen to others and her relaxed approach comes across very strongly in this week’s chat. She has recently commenced a new role away from Forum Strategy so it was good to catch up. Stan gets things rolling by reflecting on the recent SPOTLIGHT chat with Malcolm Greenhalgh who challenged us to think more carefully on the importance of transition and the need for, what he called ‘Inclusive Flexibility’. Stan digs into the available research to determine whether the aspects he considers to be fundamental to good transition are borne out. He confirms they are but reflects on the academic descriptions used to explain quite straightforward approaches. Alice considers the recent local election results and their potential for change in the short and longer term for education and those leading schools, Colleges and settings. We consider whether the achievements of the current government have been explained well enough and Frank expresses a belief that a lack of radical approaches to press and media ownership are not helping. Frank brings the chat to a close by reflecting on the PM’s work and how he is trying to manage conflicting advice. He relates this to the work of a SLT in schools where there is a need for private dissent but public support for leaders. If this is eroded then those being led begin to feel an erosion of power and influence. Frank and Stan found the chat fascinating. Alice was a great guest and brought the best out of the hosts. She will be back in w few weeks as a SPOTLIGHT Guest with another colleague, and we can’t wait. Enjoy. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.