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Creating a teaching approach designed for girls to thrive

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In May this year (2024) the Guardian published an article showing that pupils in girls’ schools in England outperform girls with similar records and backgrounds in mixed schools equivalent to 10% higher GCSE grades in 2023. In contrast, boys at all-boys’ schools received no exam boost compared with their peers at mixed schools. This is a remarkable statistic which shows the academic benefit (alongside the clear social benefits) of having girls in the classroom, and perhaps why more and more leading boys’ schools (such as Westminster ) are going, or have gone, co-ed. But what is it about an all-girls’ classroom that allows girls to thrive? This was exactly the question I asked myself when I became Head of Teaching and Learning at Woldingham two years ago. Woldingham prides itself on the range of opportunities it offers students, allowing them to ‘write their own story’ at the school, be it academic, sporting, music or any other interests or passions. I was tasked with capturing what
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How to become a coaching school

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In March 2022 I wrote a blog about creating a coaching culture at Woldingham, after 6 months of being asked to bring coaching into the school. Fast forward to March 2024 and I was reflecting at Graydin 's Coaching Day that we are now a coaching school , with coaching weaved into the fabric of all we do. So I thought I would outline what we have managed to achieve in 3 years to help others in their coaching journey. Why be a coaching school or business?  The best answer to this is to ask what type of people do you want in your school? Do you want independent individuals who know who they are, what they will become and what they want to achieve? If so, a coach-like approach enables that by putting the emphasis on what is important to the individual and supporting them with their ideas by great questioning and listening. This applies to teaching staff, administrative staff, parents and students. From a pastoral perspective we know the issues associated with a lack of control, especia
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Teaching tips to trainee teachers

This year, two of my Theology department colleagues have completed their PGCE with Buckingham University, and it made me think about when I did my PGCE 8 years ago. So, I thought I would revisit the notes I made and write some tips for trainee teachers.  5 top tips for all teachers:   Reappraise planning & resources throughout the year What has worked, what hasn’t? How can you improve it? This is something we can all get lazy at... and end up using the same resources with the same flaws the following year! My top tip is to colour it in red as you go along and write what didn't work in red to remind you to update it next year Feedback:  provide time in lessons for feedback.  Build it into planning.  Provide time to reflect on marking, make corrections and write targets for next time to allow them to grow and understand your feedback. This is particularly important for me as most of the pupils can't read my writing! Ask for feedback on your teaching. You can read feedback I r
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Encanto & Mental Health

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So I was very late to the Encanto party and only watched it last weekend (April 2nd) with my 6 year old son. Fortunately for me, he has ensured we have made up for lost time by watching it every day since then (three days on the trot!), with the soundtrack on repeat on every car journey, on Alexa in the house & even played on phones at bathtime. There is no escape from not talking about Bruno it seems. Whilst watching the film & enjoying the soundtrack, it made me think of the recent training I completed as a mental health first aider . So I thought I'd write about mental health, the thing people don't talk about in the same way ' we don't talk about Bruno' as the film's title hit espouses, and how Encanto's characters reflect us & people we know who might be struggling. It turns out I wasn't the first one to think of this as a quick google search shows . Even if you haven't seen the film, you can see in the picture below that on the sur
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Location: Epsom, UK
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Be the best version of you – creating a coaching culture

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In my last blog, I wrote about tips for being a good pastoral leader . The first tip I gave was to care. Caring is the cornerstone of good pastoral leadership and relevant for all leaders, but how can you best show that you care? For me, it is to truly listen to people. How good does it feel to be listened to? Or conversely, annoying, when you feel that someone isn’t listening to you? Last summer, my epiphany came when I completed a coaching course with Graydin , which taught me how to be a better listener, to ask better questions and through this to empower people to be the best version of themselves. Since then I have had so many better conversations with pupils, colleagues, friends, family and strangers. As a coaching convert, I can see first-hand its strength as a tool to transform people and organisations. I have been lucky enough to be responsible for making Woldingham School ‘coach-like’ by implementing Graydin Coaching methods. Since the start of the year, more than a third o
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Learning to lead: tips for being a good pastoral leader

Around this time 4 years ago I completed a course on Pastoral Leadership run by Jill Berry (@jillberry) and decided a pastoral role was the right choice for me. Originally I entered teaching purely as I loved my subject (Theology) and had no intention of a pastoral role, but seeing good people in the roles at my school (Woldingham) and the opportunity you have to make a difference in a young person’s life swayed me. I have since been Head of Year 9, 10 and now Year 11 and I love the job. I’m not writing this as if I have all the answers, but as an attempt to think about what good looks like, help me be better and to help people who are thinking of becoming Heads of Year.  So why be a Pastoral Leader? Two main reasons. First, is there another role where you have such an opportunity to make an impact on a young person’s life? You get to help people be the best they can be, empower them to achieve their potential or make a positive difference when they are struggling. No other role has su
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Teaching tips to thrive online

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  Teaching tips to thrive online I survived the first lockdown (and still feel very proud of myself for this!) but I didn’t thrive. This time around I really wanted to nail my teaching so I bought and read Doug Lemov’s book ‘Teaching in the Online Classroom’. I thought it was really useful so I’ve tried to summarise the best bits to help other teachers ‘thrive in the new normal’ or at least pick up some easy tips to improve their lessons.  A friend said that everything in here is just common sense… true perhaps but it helps to be reminded sometimes! I’ve certainly found some of these tips helpful to improve my online teaching.  My key takeaways:  Try to keep consistency between old world (teaching in classroom) & new world (teaching online). Do what you did before where possible! Get off to a fast start . Have them doing something straight away (first 3 mins is the rule) or they will sink into a passive role. Like we all do when we join online meetings. If we know we are going to
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