After welcoming Kelly Bubbins from Willows High School in Cardiff to our studio a year ago, we're delighted to be having a chat with one of Kelly's colleagues. Nicola Lo Celso is literacy coordinator at the school, and has been responsible for developing the school's literacy policy.

Listeners who remember our discussion with Kelly last year will know that Willows have a strong view about how they want to do things, and we've always found it rewarding to dig into that and see how the school's vision leads to specific things happening in classrooms.

Nicola tells us about the school's potentially controversial emphasis on booklets for all subjects, while explaining how she works with subject specialists to make this happen, and outlining the nuts and bolts of what's going on when they are designed.

Thanks to Nicola for coming in - with literacy a perennial hot potato, it's always good to hear from someone who's making decisions on the front line.

----------------------------------------

Recorded in Studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 25th June 2025.

It's time for our notoriously long and self-indulgent Christmas special, in which we bring in strange, interesting and (sometimes) festive things we've found, to see what others make of them.

This year we also welcome Emma's stunt-double, Sian Wickersham, who's standing in for some episodes this season, to join in the fun.

We've got everything from poems to articles, festive food and unsung heroes of music (of course), and we hope it whiles away a bit of washing up or a long walk for you over the break.

We'll be back in 2026 with our normal service. Merry Christmas from all of us at the podcast!

-----------------------------------------

Recorded in studio D0.12 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 23rd July 2025 (yes, really...)

For this episode, we’re delighted to welcome back our colleague Kerry Bevan who runs the PGCE Secondary Languages programme here at Cardiff Met. Kerry’s here to contribute to our occasional series of episodes on individual subjects in the curriculum.

It’s always fun to geek out about the subject we love, and Kerry’s got plenty for us on the purpose of languages in the curriculum, what the subject looks like in the classroom, and the various issues, myths, challenges and opportunities that characterise languages as an important part of the educational experience.

Thanks to Kerry for joining us, and as ever we’ll be back in a fortnight with more!

——————————————

Recorded in studio D0.12 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 21st July 2025

One of the principles underlying the Curriculum for Wales is that we should situate learning within authentic contexts in order to make it more meaningful. We thought it was worth digging a little more into what that might actually look like, so we convened a panel discussion for our PGCE Secondary student teachers, bringing in guests with experience of doing this from different perspectives.

While logistical pressures on the day meant we weren't able to record the panel discussion live, two of our guests kindly agreed to come in front of the microphones afterwards for a chat about what we'd discussed.

Katie Berrisford works for Money Ready, a charity providing financial education to young people in schools, and Elizabeth Berry is a headteacher working in a primary school in a socio-economically deprived area on the outskirts of Cardiff. Their different perspectives were really helpful to get our secondary student teachers thinking about what's possible, the benefits and the challenges of making learning authentic.

Thanks to both for taking part!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Recorded at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus in studio B2.15 on 15th April 2025 (Katie Berrisford discussion), studio B2.10A on 11th July 2025 (final section) and at Bryn Celyn Primary School on 3rd July 2025 (Elizabeth Berry discussion).

For this episode, we welcome back Professor Brendan Cropley, and since we’re no longer in the grip of Covid restrictions, we can actually meet face to face this time!

Brendan works at the University of South Wales where his background is in sport psychology, and his particular specialism is reflective practice. Digging a little deeper into the specifics this time, we wanted to look at what the world of sport makes of reflective practice, and what that world can tell us over in education.

Brendan’s got lots of clear, straightforward things for us all to think about (which is why we like to book him to speak to our students whenever we can!) and hopefully there’s something for everyone in here.

—————————

Recorded in studio D0.12 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 22nd July 2025

The autumn term is a long one, and to mark half-time in the long march to the Christmas break, we like to kick back with one of our 'light' episodes (though to be fair they're not always entirely light!) in which we bring some randomly-selected pieces of content with which to surprise, delight and horrify one another.

Regular listeners may remember that we will be hearing less of Emma during season 8, so this is an ideal opportunity to soft-launch her 'stunt double', Sian Wickersham into a low(ish) stakes environment, so this is our first three-presenter episode.

We've got a mix of hardcore educational content, musings on the personal qualities of teachers and thoughts on AI amongst other things. We hope you find something interesting in there to pass some time during the half term break. We'll be back with our normal service in two weeks' time.

--------------------------------------

Recorded in studio D0.12 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 22nd July 2025

It’s time to take another dive into what makes a classroom subject tick, and this time around we’re going for art. In a slight twist to the usual format, we’ve paired a discussion with a subject specialist with an excellent example of how professional enquiry coupled with top-notch subject knowledge can lead to meaningful impact on pupils.

We’re joined by Daisy Wilson from our friends at Yr Athrofa, an ITE partnership at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, to discuss what art is all about as a subject, what it’s for, and where its red lines, myths and misconceptions lie.

After that, Jack Siddall, who has just graduated from our own PGCE Secondary Art & Design programme, joins us to discuss what happened when he decided to spend some time to develop an art curriculum bringing his pupils into contact with artists whose lived experiences they could identify with. Jack’s ability to avoid heavy-handed tokenism while using his in-depth knowledge of the subject to engage pupils had profound impacts on the pupils he taught, as you’ll hear in this episode.

Thanks to Daisy and Jack for joining us, and we’ll be back in two weeks’ time.

——————————————

Recorded in studio D0.18 on 28th November 2024 (Daisy Wilson discussion) and in studio B2.15 on 20th June 2025 (Rest of episode) at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus.

Planning and evaluating lessons is at the core of what teachers do. Deciding what we want our pupils to know or be able to do, how we'll know whether they've managed it, and how we'll be able to tell is the key to selecting a sequence of activities that will get them there and allow us to judge how they're doing.

But this is one of the hardest skills for a new teacher to grasp, as an experienced teacher looks like they're just stringing together activities and it's all just happening as if by magic. Breaking down those complex thought processes is hard, and supporting student teachers to think about the learning of their pupils is a vital part of the work of those who look after them in school (as well as us in university).

We sat down with some colleagues from both school and university to make some materials that student teachers and their school mentors can watch or listen to to help get them thinking about the best ways to make it happen. Today, we're brining you a taste of those materials and discussing why planning and evaluating is such a vital part of the magic of teaching.

Whether you work with us at the Cardiff Partnership or not, you're very welcome to take a look at all our resources to support mentors at https://studio.youtube.com/@cpmentors

Thanks to James Wise from Cardiff High School, Kate Haynes from Danescourt Primary School and Dr Anne Hodgson from Cardiff Met for their sterling work in the studio.

-----------------------------------------

Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 29th April 2025 (resources) and 18th June 2025 (main episode)