Doing away with the Ofsted style of management - Jeremy Hannay's marking policy, favourite book & research; his blog; and the external support Three Bridges couldn't have done without
This is the free We Are In Beta Podcast Newsletter - written by me, Niall Alcock. We - the education community - Are In Beta - always learning. Sign up to learn how school leaders are tackling the big issues in schools.
Despite being the latest (and final) one to be released, Jeremy Hannay’s episode of the pilot season of the We Are In Beta podcast, has already become the most popular.
He’s captured the hearts and minds of educators up and down the country at a time when we’ve needed a bit of a lift.
Thank you, to everyone who’s already listened to the episode. Your feedback’s been amazing. If you’ve listened already and enjoyed it, please can I ask you favour? Please can you forward this email to your colleagues and friends? The more people who hear it the better. Thanks.
If you haven’t listened to how Three Bridges Primary School in west London did away with the Ofsted style of management on their journey to outstanding…
For the resources I promised you last week, read on.
What are you saying about it?
Check out Jeremy’s interview
👂 Listen on Spotify | iTunes | Stitcher | Libsyn | TuneIn 🔉
👀 Read the full transcription 📖
If you’re a new subscriber, thanks for joining us. Catch up on previous We Are In Beta interviews here.
The best ‘In Beta’ bits
The We Are In Beta Newsletter is a positive space where we can all learn from each other. So, as always, here are the best ‘In Beta’ bits that have come up via Jeremy’s episode:
Three Bridges marking policy about which Jeremy said:
“The policy in our school is if written feedback, as a professional, you believe is the best kind of feedback for that child, or that context, or that lesson, or that situation, then use it. If you don’t, then don’t.”
The book that’s had the biggest influence on his career:
“Because it provides a compelling alternative to the common narrative present in England - that there is another way. And nicely outlines what that can look like already in practice in successful systems.”
His blog series where he asks:
“If the question is: what do we do instead of all of that [monitoring, scrutiny and accountabilities]? The answer is: a bunch of stuff and nothing at all.”
His favourite piece of research because:
“The article moves us away from the common narrative that leaders should be inspirational, charismatic, etc etc - traits based - and this looks at leadership from a much deeper perspective and has implications for training, experiences, recruitment, etc.”
The links to the external support that has been vital to their success at Three Bridges:
Three Bridges’ leadership coach.
“…he knows the school, and he knows the people, and he’s able to ask questions that allow them to drill down into their own strengths and their own weaknesses”.
One, two and three groups of schools Jeremy admires and their leaders here, here and here (who was also the first ever guest on the podcast).
The maths programme and the literacy programme they use and how they support other schools to implement them via their support school.
Want to know what he says about them and why Jeremy couldn’t have done without their support?
That’s it for now.
Thanks for making education the place we all know it can be.
Thanks for reading!
Speak soon.
Get involved
Thank you to everyone who has nominated colleagues to tell their stories in season 2 of the podcast - out in the Autumn. I really appreciate it and am humbled by your willingness to share them. I can’t wait to release them.
But the podcast would be nothing with out them and there are lots more tell. So…
🙋🎙️ If you’d like tell your story or nominate a school with an incredible story to tell on the podcast check out the topics we’ll be exploring or let me know what you’re working on here.
🙋📰 Not ready to share your story on the mic but still want to share what you are doing in your school with the community? Let me know and I’ll include it in community news.
❤️ Please take a moment to “like” this post (the button is at the top of the mail). It helps others discover We Are In Beta. It’ll make my Sunday too.
👍If you found this newsletter useful hit that forward button to share it with your colleagues so we can benefit from more wonderful, collective knowledge.