A Headteacher's perspective on navigating Parental Leave policies, with Andy Bowman

03/14/24 • 65 min

This episode is the first of a regular series of discussions between me and Headteacher Andy Bowman. Andy has bravely volunteered to appear on the podcast every series, to talk through his responses to the issue that we are thinking about, in the context of his own school and the wider community. In this episode, you’ll get some background on Andy’s career and the school that he now leads, before we deep dive into how maternity, paternity, baby loss and other stages of life are handled and could be handled better by his team.

During a career spanning 25 years, Andy has taught in a range of primary schools, writing and leading training as an Advanced Skills Teacher before becoming a deputy head in 2010. He is now enjoying his second headship leading Southville Primary School, a 620-pupil split-site school a stone’s throw from Bristol city centre.

Andy believes strongly in placing human connection and kindness at the heart of teaching, learning and leadership and promotes a values-driven approach to school development.

Sign up for our weekly email series, Strategy Sundays. Emails go out every Sunday, offering you the chance to get to grips with one tangible piece of change around equity in your organisation. You can sign up here https://beingluminary.myflodesk.com/mnl0u3o8gd

Nothing Without Us is presented by Angie Browne from Being Luminary.

It is edited by Big Tent Media and produced by Emily Crosby Media.

Andy believes strongly in placing human connection and kindness at the heart of teaching, learning and leadership and promotes a values-driven approach to school development.

Nothing Without Us is presented by Angie Browne from Being Luminary.

It is edited by Big Tent Media and produced by Emily Crosby Media.

Previous Episode

Baby Loss, Stigma and Return to work, with Katie Redden

Trigger Warning - As with all of our episodes, we are going to be delving into lived experience and in this episode, we will be discussing Katie's experience of baby loss. If this episode brings up anything for you that you would like support with, we encourage you to seek help from appropriate professionals or support groups, and we've listed a few below.

In this episode, I’m talking to Katie Redden, about her experience of baby Matilda’s death before delivery, and returning to work in the aftermath. We talk about the impact of loss, how her school, and her partner’s school handled their return, and what more could be done to help bereaved parents.

Katie studied English Literature and History of Art at Birmingham University. After teaching English abroad for a couple of years, she returned to London to complete her PGCE in English teaching at The Institute of Education. Katie taught English in secondary schools in Cambridge and Bristol. It was while teaching in Bristol that she became pregnant with her first baby. This pregnancy ended in her baby being stillborn at 40 weeks in October 2005. By Christmas, Katie had returned to school to work as a volunteer in the SEN department while technically still on maternity leave, until she felt ready to teach again. She then took a number of years out of teaching to be at home with her subsequent children before retraining as a school counsellor. Katie now works in a secondary school in North Devon counselling young people.

You can find support for dealing with miscarriage and baby loss from www.sands.org.uk and www.tommys.org/baby-loss-support

More about Baby Loss Awareness Week can be found here https://babyloss-awareness.org/support/

Nothing Without Us is presented by Angie Browne from Being Luminary.
It is edited by Big Tent Media and produced by Emily Crosby Media.

Next Episode

Thinking through policy change, with Leslie Medema

In this episode, I’m joined by Leslie Medema, who along with her team, is currently working through the Being Luminary programme. We discuss her reflections on the issues of maternity and paternity, the particular and unusual circumstances of her school, and how she can synthesize the wide range of experiences within her school community to create a more human set of policies.

In November 2011, Leslie Medema joined Green School and was responsible for spearheading the development and implementation of the High School program. Her role involved fusing project-based learning with a global skills and values-based curriculum. Additionally, Leslie was the Guidance Counselor and oversaw the post-graduation preparation programs and accreditation processes. After four years, she was appointed as the Head of Teaching and Learning (principal). In this role, Leslie led the entire Green School community (Pre-K through Grade 12) in the same process to develop specialized learning programs and manage day-to-day operations. She later took time away from Bali to support the establishment of new Green Schools in New Zealand and South Africa. In 2021, Leslie returned to Green School Bali as the Head of Campus.www.greenschool.org

Nothing Without Us is presented by Angie Browne from Being Luminary.

It is edited by Big Tent Media and produced by Emily Crosby Media.