By Leaders For Leaders conference - May 2019

David Weston

The Founder and Chief Executive of the Teacher Development Trust started the mornings events by speaking about the development of professionals and the importance of
relevant, intellectually engaging CPD.

He cautioned against using methods which lead to
‘superficial compliance’ and instead encouraged 'openness, effective teamwork and meaningful, objective, consistent feedback that genuinely helps to improve teaching’. 

Joe Ambrose

The School Improvement Leader for Assessment and Curriculum at Greenshaw Learning Trust.

He started his talk by reading from ‘Leverage Leadership’
by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo and then went on to discuss the topic of ’more development, less monitoring’.

He emphasised methods such as ’10 minute Developmental Drop Ins’ and ‘Principles of Better Practice’ to help highlight to teachers what they are doing well and what they could do to improve, giving them the tools they need to develop without feeling constantly monitored. 

The final topic before the networking break was from Ben Parnell on creating and sustaining brilliant teams.

Ben Parnell

Ben has experience of successfully leading 9 secondary schools across the South of England and has worked for
some of the largest MATs in the UK.

He spoke about a relentless focus on teaching and
learning and about conversations that allow development combined with a drive to improve.

He advised ‘focusing on the micro to ensure overall performance of the school increases day on day’ and highlighted the importance of high performing teams, high quality line management and the ability to challenge colleagues where necessary. 

Leann Swain

The Headteacher at East Barnet School, spoke about disruption free learning - in particular about her successful implementation methods of removing mobile phones from her school environment.

Leann’s key messages were around absolute clarity of the message being sent, reinforcing this information through signage and communications and then consistently supporting staff and students to achieve the overall goal.

Using these methods, after only 3 days, East Barnet School was mobile phone free, and they have never looked back. 

Jill Rowe

Serving as the Director of Ethos and Formation, as part of the Oasis Group Executive Team. Jill’s talk was centred around directing the ethos - a very informative talk which can be applied to any school, organisation or business.

She spoke about ethos as being ‘fundamentally important to the way we do things around here’ and as a ‘declaration of intent and a description of the way you believe the world can be.’

It’s important that an ethos is not just a statement, but that it underpins the foundation of everything an organisation does. 

Dr Jon Rudd

Jon’s conference speech on Positivity and Marginal Gains was superb with lots of insightful thoughts on managing life in general, not just within the confines of school or sports. He highlighted that building resilience is key when dealing with a situation and that there should always be ‘realistic hope alongside controlled optimism’.

He spoke about how we should ‘control the controllable and be patient; things take time’ and that we should ‘enjoy what we do, not endure it - too much time is spent dwelling on missed opportunities’.  Jon ended his speech by taking a couple of questions and, at an audience members request, sharing an amusing Olympic story from London 2012. 

You're never actually ready for the best experience of your life.

Dive Deeper Days

Recently, Bushey Meads School offered a Dive Deeper Day
and their Executive Principal Jeremy Turner (a previous
BLFL conference speaker) expressed to the audience the
importance of collaborating with colleagues and how
helpful he found the day.

He then handed over to two attendees of his Dive Deeper Day; Sam Jones from Kelmscott School and Kirsty Aaron from Priory Community School to share what they had learned from their visit.

Sam’s school had adopted shared solutions; learning that whilst schools may be different in different areas, they still face similar challenges and Kirsty’s school has since implemented staff ‘thank you’s’ from year 11 students to help promote staff wellbeing and generate a tangible, powerful buzz. 

The final speaker of the conference was Manny Botwe, the Headteacher of Tytherington School.

Manny Botwe

Manny was originally due to speak at the January conference but unfortunately, due to his northern location, he was snowed in on the day, so could not attend.

It was well worth the wait though, as we heard about ‘keeping the main thing in focus’ and the importance of the school leader role in leading the community.

He emphasised the need to focus on the culture of the organisation, to invent traditions and excitement within the school and to establish a moral purpose, to drive everything you do.

He strongly advised the leaders that ‘if they had a great idea, to do it now. Don’t wait for September’ and cautioned them against becoming blasé about leadership.

Will Smith

Will spoke about the Ofsted priorities around the curriculum, raising standards and about authentic leadership. He highlighted the need for Intent > Implementation> Impact
and the requirement for less complexity and more clarity especially when it comes to leadership, ethos, culture, curriculum and collaboration.

He also stressed the importance of noting that ‘easy’ and ‘less complex’ are not the same thing and of a Raising Standards leader who can 'reduce the amount of data collected, stop over-marking and move the focus onto feedback and development rather than monitoring’.