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Headship After Hours: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Paul Collin
This podcast is for headteachers, executive heads and trust leaders who want to lead well without losing themselves in the process. I'm Paul Collin, former head and leadership coach. I talk about isolation, pressure, governing bodies, staff dynamics, attendance and the inner work of staying grounded. I also run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for heads in complex schools — for when attendance feels fragile and rests on too few people.
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- 1 weeks ago49 min
The Hidden Workload Problem School Leaders Keep Missing | Shawn Vanderhoven
Staff workload in schools isn't always visible — and even the clearest school improvement priorities can fail when hidden work consumes your team's time and attention.Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance.The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works.That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools.It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process:- On-site school visit- Detailed, school-specific report- Follow-up strategy session- Practical leadership tools for a clear 90-day planTypically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools.Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/In this episode of Headship After Hours, Paul Collin is joined by Shawn Vanderhoven leadership researcher and author of Pause: How to Lead Brilliant Work in a Busy World, to explore how school leaders can reduce distractions, create clarity and help staff focus on the work that matters most.Drawing on research across education, technology and other sectors, Shawn Vanderhoven challenges a familiar leadership assumption: that doing more, moving faster and responding to everything will produce better results.Instead, he argues that the best leaders create deliberate moments to pause, clarify priorities and protect the conditions needed for excellent work.Paul and Shawn explore:Why staff workload is often greater than leaders realiseThe difference between activity and impactWhy clear instructions aren't always understood as intendedHow to uncover hidden workload through the turn out your pockets exerciseWhy school improvement priorities compete with existing commitmentsHow leaders can make difficult decisions about what to stopThe importance of psychological safety when discussing workloadWhy giving staff permission to focus isn't enoughHow to protect deep work through sponsored monk modeCreating practical team house rules around emails, interruptions and communicationWhy productivity is a social problem, not simply an individual responsibilityHow school leaders can create the conditions for better thinking and stronger outcomesOne of the most important questions in this conversation is:When you introduce a new school priority, what are you taking away to make room for it?For headteachers, executive leaders and senior leadership teams, this episode offers practical ways to move beyond being constantly busy and towards building a more focused, sustainable school culture.🎙️ Headship After Hours with Paul Collin — honest conversations about school leadership, clarity, culture and the realities of leading schools.Guest: Shawn VanderhovenBook: Pause: How to Lead Brilliant Work in a Busy Worldlink to his book https://www.pausebook.co/LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnvanderhoven?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_iosExplore the guest's work and the leadership resources mentioned in this episode through the links in the show notes.00:00 Why Clear Communication Isn't Always Understood00:36 Introducing Sean Van der Hoven01:30 The Research Behind Pause03:25 Why Great Leaders Need to Pause06:51 How to Identify Your Team's Distractions09:09 Attendance and Leadership Resilience Check10:35 Why Clarity Matters in Leadership11:30 The Biggest Distraction: Unclear Priorities14:49 The Picture Gap: When Staff Hear Different Messages17:36 Turn Out Your Pockets: Revealing Hidden Workload22:10 The Hit-or-Miss Priority Matrix27:34 Why Schools Can't Do Everything31:02 Sponsored Monk Mode: Protecting Deep Work35:59 Establishing House Rules42:16 How Great Leaders Multiply Intelligence45:44 Sean's Advice to Headteachers46:25 Why Productivity Is a Social Problem48:43 Final Thoughts and Closing
- 2 weeks ago9 min
Your School Attendance Problem Might Not Be About Attendance
School attendance problems aren't always caused by a lack of motivation. Sometimes they're caused by barriers that build up throughout a pupil's day.In this solo episode of Headship After Hours, Paul Collin introduces the idea of attendance friction and challenges headteachers to look beyond attendance percentages to understand why pupils struggle to get through the school gate.A pupil might be anxious about an unfinished homework task, worried about being late, struggling with transport or concerned about how adults will respond when they return after an absence.Individually, these may seem like small problems. Together, they can make attending school feel overwhelming.Paul explores:Why attendance data doesn't always reveal the real barriersHow small difficulties accumulate into persistent absenceWhy attendance letters and rewards don't solve every problemThe importance of the school gate, reception and first lessonHow to conduct an attendance friction auditWhy vulnerable pupils experience school systems differentlyHow school leaders can remove barriers without lowering expectationsWhy better attendance strategies begin with understanding the pupil's experienceA practical challenge for your SLT:Choose five pupils whose attendance is declining. Map their journey from the previous evening through to the first 30 minutes of the school day.Where is attendance becoming harder than it needs to be?Because improving attendance isn't always about pushing harder. Sometimes it's about removing the barriers that make getting to school difficult.Paul also discusses the Attendance Advantage programme and the Senior Attendance and Leadership Resilience Check for schools seeking strategic support.Find out more through the links in the show notes.🎙️ Headship After Hours with Paul Collin — practical reflections on school leadership, attendance and creating schools where pupils can thrive.00:00 – The Attendance Problem That Isn't About Attendance00:51 – How Small Barriers Become Big Problems02:18 – Why Attendance Strategies Can Miss the Real Issue02:39 – How to Conduct an Attendance Friction Audit03:38 – Why More Letters and Rewards May Not Work05:40 – Remove Barriers Without Lowering Expectations06:26 – Why Vulnerable Pupils Experience More Friction07:09 – The Five-Pupil Attendance Exercise07:51 – Why Small Changes Can Improve Attendance08:11 – Attendance Advantage: Finding the Real Barriers
- 3 weeks ago45 min
What Schools Still Get Wrong About Great Teaching | Tom Sherrington
What does great teaching actually look like — and are schools sometimes turning good ideas into rigid routines?Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance.The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works.That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools.It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process:On-site school visitDetailed, school-specific reportFollow-up strategy sessionPractical leadership tools for a clear 90-day planTypically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools.Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/In this episode of Headship After Hours, Paul Collin is joined by Tom Sherrington, former headteacher, author, educator and creator of Teaching WalkThrus, for a wide-ranging conversation about teaching, professional development, behaviour, inclusion and what school leaders need to understand about improving classroom practice.Tom explores the continuing influence of Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction — and what Rosenshine might think about the way his ideas are being implemented in schools today.The conversation goes beyond individual teaching strategies to a much bigger leadership question:How do we create enough structure for every child to participate without turning good teaching into a compliance exercise?Tom argues that structure and warmth aren't opposites. In the strongest classrooms, clear boundaries can create the conditions for freedom, relationships and joy. Paul and Tom discuss:What Rosenshine's Principles actually meanWhere schools can misinterpret researchWhy implementation often becomes mechanical before becoming sophisticatedRetrieval practice and instructional coachingWhy inclusive teaching requires structureBehaviour, boundaries and relationshipsWhy strict classrooms don't have to be fearful classroomsOracy and pupil participationChecking the understanding of every learnerFormative actionWhat great teaching could look like in 2035Why professional development needs to move away from judgementCreating a culture of collective professional improvementTom also makes a powerful case for systematically involving every student, rather than allowing classroom participation to be dominated by the pupils most willing to volunteer. For headteachers and senior leaders, this conversation is ultimately about creating the conditions in which excellent teaching can happen consistently — without losing professional judgement, relationships or humanity.🎙️ Headship After Hours — honest conversations about school leadership and the realities of leading education.Timestamps00:00 – Why Discipline and Warm Relationships Can Coexist00:58 – Introducing Tom Sherrington02:34 – Tom's Journey From Physics Teacher to Headteacher04:06 – What Are Rosenshine's Principles?08:44 – Are Schools Getting Rosenshine Wrong?13:10 – When Good Ideas Become Too Mechanical17:42 – Why Inclusive Teaching Needs Structure20:20 – Behaviour, Boundaries & Relationships22:33 – Can Schools Become Over-Engineered?26:51 – What Will Great Teaching Look Like in 2035?28:09 – The Future Is Inclusive Teaching30:20 – Why Oracy Matters32:58 – From Formative Assessment to Formative Action35:30 – The Ideas Influencing Tom's Thinking Now42:18 – Tom's Advice to School Leaders44:44 – Where to Find Tom
- 4 weeks ago48 min
What Great Headteachers Refuse to Accept | Dame Alison Peacock
What happens when school leaders refuse to put a ceiling on what children can achieve?Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance.The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works.That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools.It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process:- On-site school visit- Detailed, school-specific report- Follow-up strategy session- Practical leadership tools for a clear 90-day planTypically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools.Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/In this episode of Headship After Hours, Paul Collin is joined by Professor Dame Alison Peacock, founding CEO of the Chartered College of Teaching, for a conversation about leadership, high expectations, research, school culture and creating schools built around possibility rather than limitation.Alison traces her journey from the classroom to taking on her first headship in a school in special measures — and eventually to founding leadership of the Chartered College of Teaching.One idea has remained consistent throughout that journey: moral purpose.Alison shares why she has challenged assumptions about fixed ability throughout her career and why leaders need the courage to ask whether the language, structures and expectations within their schools are expanding children's possibilities — or quietly restricting them.In this episode:Taking on a school in special measuresLeading through moral purposeWhy Alison challenged ability grouping and fixed expectationsResearch-informed school leadershipCreating a genuinely listening schoolPupil voice and democracyOracy, cognition and learningWhy potential shouldn't be treated as fixedMaking school “irresistible”Attendance, belonging and anxietyDesigning environments around possibilityWhy culture must include staff as well as pupilsHolding high expectations without compromiseThe language adults use about childrenWhy headteachers shouldn't carry leadership aloneAlison also shares the story of a young pupil who profoundly influenced her thinking about possibility and expectations — reinforcing her belief that when someone genuinely believes in a child, extraordinary things can happen. Towards the end of the conversation, Alison offers a particularly important message to headteachers:Don't think you've got to do this on your own.Leadership can become isolating. Strong schools are built collectively.🎙️ Headship After Hours — honest conversations about leadership, education and the realities of leading schools.00:00 – Building a Listening School01:00 – Introducing Dame Alison Peacock02:12 – Why Alison Challenged the Status Quo05:05 – Taking on a School in Special Measures12:34 – Leading From Moral Purpose15:38 – The Child Who Changed Alison's Thinking20:24 – Why Schools Need to Listen to Pupils23:11 – Oracy, Cognition & the Research That Matters27:23 – Rethinking What Educational Success Looks Like31:49 – How Would Alison Design a School Today?36:21 – Why Belonging Is Foundational38:08 – High Expectations Without Compromise43:24 – The Language That Limits Children45:54 – Alison's Advice to Headteachers
- Sep 25, 202611 min
Does Your School Have an Attendance System — Or Just a Person?
Does your school genuinely have an attendance system — or does one highly capable person quietly hold the whole thing together?Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance.The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works.That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools.It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process:- On-site school visit- Detailed, school-specific report- Follow-up strategy session- Practical leadership tools for a clear 90-day planTypically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools.Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/In this episode of Headship After Hours, Paul Collin explores a hidden vulnerability in school attendance leadership: personality-dependent systems.Many schools have an attendance lead who knows the families, patterns, histories, anxiety triggers, sibling dynamics and which interventions are most likely to work.That expertise can make the system appear strong.But the more knowledge that lives in one person's head, the less knowledge belongs to the organisation.And that creates risk. Paul explores:Why an effective attendance lead can unintentionally become the attendance systemThe difference between individual expertise and organisational resilienceWhy knowledge needs to become shared practiceHow dependency appears in everyday school routinesClear attendance roles, thresholds and decision-makingWhy staff changes can suddenly expose weaknessesProtecting high-performing attendance staff from burnoutBuilding systems that survive absence, turnover and pressureCreating shared professional judgement across pastoral and leadership teamsPaul also gives leaders a simple stress test:Could a capable new colleague step in and understand enough of your attendance system within a week to keep it moving?If not, you may have a highly capable individual — but not yet a resilient structure. Strong attendance systems should be stronger than any one individual carrying them.🎙️ Headship After Hours — honest conversations about school leadership, attendance and the realities of leading schools.00:00 – Do You Have a System or a Person?01:30 – When Efficiency Hides Fragility02:18 – What a Resilient Attendance System Looks Like03:33 – When Knowledge Lives in One Person's Head04:29 – Building Shared Attendance Practice05:01 – The One-Week Stress Test05:54 – Turn Individual Knowledge Into a System06:11 – Protecting the People Carrying Too Much07:12 – What This Looks Like on an Ordinary Tuesday08:35 – Test Your Team's Alignment09:31 – Attendance Is a Whole-School Culture Issue10:05 – The Question Headteachers Need to Ask
- Sep 18, 202631 min
Why Great Headteachers Know When to Slow Down | Rob Connolly
What makes a school somewhere people genuinely want to belong — and stay?Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance.The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works.That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools.It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process:On-site school visitDetailed, school-specific reportFollow-up strategy sessionPractical leadership tools for a clear 90-day planTypically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools.Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/In this episode of Headship After Hours, Paul Collin sits down with Rob Connolly, Executive Headteacher of Harleston Sancroft Academy, to explore school culture, belonging, authentic leadership and what it takes to sustain yourself through the pressures of headship.Rob has spent 15 years serving the same school community. Today, he leads an all-through school spanning nursery to Key Stage 4, having led the process of bringing previously separate primary and secondary schools together. The conversation explores:Why Rob believes people must come firstBuilding school culture intentionally, every dayWhy relationships can't be reduced to a leadership strategyRecruiting the person, not simply the CVBringing primary and secondary cultures togetherCreating curriculum continuity from Early Years to Key Stage 4Belonging, trust, respect, care and love in schoolsHolding high expectations without losing humanityProtecting culture when leadership pressure increasesStaff retention and investing in peopleWhy leaders don't need to have every answerFinding an identity outside headshipWhy sustainable leaders sometimes need to slow downRob also shares a powerful lesson from more than two decades in education:'“Lead who you are. Teach who you are.” This is a conversation about creating great schools without losing sight of the people inside them — including yourself.🎙️ Headship After Hours — honest conversations about school leadership and the realities of leading schools.Chapters:00:00 – Building Community Through Relationships01:02 – Meet Rob Connolly03:10 – Rob's Journey Into Headship07:16 – Putting People Before the CV08:57 – The Challenge of Leading an All-Through School13:16 – How Do You Actually Build School Culture?18:41 – Protecting Belonging Under Leadership Pressure23:56 – High Expectations Without Losing Care26:09 – Finding an Identity Beyond Headship27:44 – Rob's Advice to New Headteachers29:46 – Lead Who You Are
- Sep 11, 202610 min
What Strong Headteachers Do in the First 10 Days
The first 10 days of the school year can reveal an enormous amount about your school culture, leadership and consistency.Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance.The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works.That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools.It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process:On-site school visitDetailed, school-specific reportFollow-up strategy sessionPractical leadership tools for a clear 90-day planTypically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools.Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/In this episode of Headship After Hours, Paul Collin explores what strong headteachers do differently at the beginning of a new school year — and why trying to launch every priority at once can actually weaken your start.Behaviour. Attendance. Teaching. Safeguarding. Systems. Vision. Values. The improvement plan.They all matter.But when everything becomes a priority, staff and students can struggle to understand what matters most.Paul explores five leadership principles for the first 10 days: creating simplicity around a small number of high-leverage behaviours, purposeful leadership visibility, recognising what is working, listening without constantly changing direction, and responding calmly when the first inevitable wobble arrives. You'll hear practical questions for headteachers and senior leaders around:school culture and consistencybehaviour expectations and routinesattendanceleadership visibilitystaff alignmentrecognitioncommunication with familiesresponding when systems are testedbuilding credibility with staff and pupilsThe goal isn't to win the entire year in 10 days.It's to establish the conditions that make the rest of the year possible.Because school culture isn't built by how strongly you launch. It's built by what adults repeat once the launch is over. 🎙️ Headship After Hours — honest conversations about school leadership and the realities of leading schools.00:00 – What the First 10 Days Reveal01:21 – Why September Gets Overloaded02:08 – Strong Leaders Create Simplicity04:59 – Why Adult Consistency Matters05:55 – Visible Leadership With Purpose07:00 – Recognise What Is Working07:53 – Listen Without Losing Direction08:43 – How Leaders Handle the First Wobble09:34 – 5 Questions to Ask Before the Year Begins
- Sep 4, 202638 min
Why Behaviour Strategies Fail When Children Don’t Feel Safe | Neil Moggan
What if challenging behaviour isn't simply a discipline problem — but a sign that a young person doesn't yet feel safe, connected or regulated enough to learn?Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance.The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works.That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools.It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process:On-site school visitDetailed, school-specific reportFollow-up strategy sessionPractical leadership tools for a clear 90-day planTypically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools.Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/In this episode of Headship After Hours, Paul Collin is joined by Neil Moggan, founder of Future Action and author of Time to Rise Up, to explore trauma-informed practice, behaviour, relationships, mental wellbeing and the role movement can play in helping pupils regulate.Neil shares his own journey from PE leadership into trauma-informed practice, including how changing his approach helped reduce send-outs in his PE department by 95%, while attendance and predicted grades for some of the most challenging pupils also improved. Paul and Neil explore:Why safety and connection come before learningTrauma-informed approaches to behaviourWhy relationships should sit at the heart of school improvementMovement as a tool for regulation and belongingSupporting pupils with ADHD and additional needsMaintaining high standards without re-traumatising young peopleStaff regulation and teacher wellbeingHow leadership pressure can affect relationships with pupilsPractical strategies schools can use to create calmer environmentsWhy belonging matters for behaviour, attendance and learningNeil also explains the Rise Up approach and shares practical examples of how movement, inclusive activities, stress-busting strategies and relationship-led practice are being used across mainstream, specialist and alternative provision.One example comes from a specialist school where physical holds for one cohort reduced from 50 in Year 5 to 10 in Year 7 after the development of a Rise Up Sports Sanctuary and personalised regulation strategies. The central message is simple:Help children feel safe. Help them regulate. Then create the conditions for them to learn.🎙️ Headship After Hours — honest conversations about school leadership, attendance, culture and the realities of leading schools.00:00 – Safety Before Learning00:18 – Introducing Neil Moggan05:58 – What Is Trauma-Informed Practice?08:58 – Movement, Regulation & Belonging10:53 – The Rise Up Approach17:34 – What This Looks Like in Real Schools18:28 – From 50 Physical Holds to 1021:08 – Why Relationships Matter in Implementation23:25 – Education, Belonging & Human Connection24:47 – When Leadership Pressure Changes Relationships27:32 – Did Schools Get Behaviour Wrong After Lockdown?29:06 – Staff Wellbeing & Self-Regulation33:59 – One Simple Strategy Leaders Can Use Tomorrow36:19 – Neil’s Advice for School Leaders
About Headship After Hours
This podcast is for headteachers, executive heads and trust leaders who want to lead well without losing themselves in the process. I'm Paul Collin, former head and leadership coach. I talk about isolation, pressure, governing bodies, staff dynamics, attendance and the inner work of staying grounded. I also run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for heads in complex schools — for when attendance feels fragile and rests on too few people.
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