The Well-being Classroom
Welcome to The Well-being Classroom—where we turn the challenges of school life into practical, real-world solutions for student, staff, and leadership well-being.
Episodes
What does it truly mean to lead with empathy, protect staff wellbeing, and uphold ethical integrity in international schools?
Today, I’m thrilled to welcome back Noah Beaumont for Part 2 of our deep dive into the defining, positive leadership experiences that have shaped his international career. Noah is a primary school principal, seasoned international leader, and experienced IB Primary Years Pr...
What if the biggest barrier to school improvement is the way leaders think about leadership itself?
Today, I’m delighted to welcome Michael Nelson and Dr. Peter DeWitt, co-founders of the Instructional Leadership Collective and two of the most respected voices in educational leadership today.
Michael has spent more than four decades in education as a teacher, principal, superintende...
What happens in the brain before a child truly learns?
Today, I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Erwin Bryan Utchanah to the podcast. Dr. Utchanah is an international educator, Art Teacher, and a practicing artist with over four decades of teaching experience, including more than 25 years in international education. He holds a Doctorate in Education with a focus on Affective Neuroscience and Education, a...
Can nature teach children about life, loss, and hope better than we can?
Today, I’m delighted to welcome Caroline Young, an experienced educator, coach, author, and former international school leader whose career has taken her from bustling London classrooms to the rainforests of Brunei and beyond. Through her work with educators and school leaders, Caroline champions the power of connection, comm...
Can empathy be taught?
Today, I’m delighted to welcome Ed Kirwan, filmmaker, former teacher, and founder of Empathy Studios. After beginning his career in education, Ed became fascinated by a simple but profound question: how can we help young people better understand themselves, others, and the world around them? That question ultimately led him to create a global movement that uses the power of ...
Why are adult relationships often the hardest part of school life?
Today, I'm delighted to welcome Jennifer Abrams, an international educational consultant, author, speaker, and self-described "voice coach" who has spent decades helping educators navigate some of the most challenging aspects of professional life. Jennifer is the author of several influential books, including Having Hard Conversations, H...
Can kindness and accountability truly coexist in leadership?
Today, I'm delighted to welcome Joanna Povall, an award-winning international school leader, author, and global education consultant with more than 30 years of experience across the UK, France, and the UAE. Joanna is the Principal of Wales International School in Abu Dhabi, a Lead Improvement Partner for COBIS, and the author of Kind Leadershi...
Can one act of kindness change the course of a life?
Today, I'm honoured to welcome Toby Gorniak MBE, culture transformation specialist, keynote speaker, founder of The Gorniak Method™, and recipient of an MBE for over two decades of service to communities and young people. Born into the Roma community in Poland, Toby endured severe racism, violence, and exclusion, including being beaten into a coma at the age of eleven. After arr...
What does authentic, reciprocal networking look like in education, and how can strong communities empower teachers to step into leadership with confidence?
Today, I’m thrilled to welcome Ben Hobbis, an Assistant Headteacher at a North London primary school, speaker, and social entrepreneur with a deep passion for developing people and building communities. Ben is also the Founder and CEO of Step U...
Strategic Strategy, Real-World Action: Setting Up Staff for the Year Ahead
As we launch into a new academic year, prioritizing staff well-being is essential for building a thriving school environment. In this compilation episode of The Well-being Classroom, we bring together insights from two exceptional leaders to explore both the theory and practice of supporting educator health:
This special compilation episode brings together the core of two standout discussions: Episode 5 featuring Dr. Helen Street and Episode 24 featuring Xavier Woods. Centered on what students really want from teachers, Helen speaks in regard to older, secondary school students with thoughts derived directly from research, whilst Xavier focuses on younger ones by bringing his former students directly onto the podcast to share their exp...
How can international schools stay ahead of rapidly evolving AI threats to protect their students' safety and emotional well-being?
Today, I’m delighted to welcome Sian Jorgensen back to The Well-being Classroom for Part 2 of our two-part special within the AI in Education mini-series!
As the Director of Encompass Safeguarding, Sian partners with schools around the world to build co...
How can international schools stay ahead of rapidly evolving AI threats to protect their students' safety and emotional well-being?
Today, I’m delighted to welcome Sian Jorgensen back to The Well-being Classroom for Part 2 of our two-part special within the AI in Education mini-series!
As the Director of Encompass Safeguarding, Sian partners with schools around the world to build co...
What separates leaders who leave a lasting legacy from those who simply stay busy?
Today, I’m delighted to welcome Janine Stratford back to The Well-being Classroom. Janine is the Founder of Coaching Focus, recipient of the 2024 Most Influential Educator Award, and a highly respected leadership coach, career strategist, and consultant.
With 28 years of experience in education, she h...
In this episode of The Wellbeing Classroom, I sit down with Professor John Hattie, one of the world’s most influential education researchers. His Visible Learning work has shaped evidence-based practice globally and had a profound impact on my own approach to teaching and leadership.
This episode concludes our Adaptive Teaching mini-series and features powerful questions from previous guests, brin...
What if staff wellbeing isn’t about reducing workload—but about how valued people feel at work?
In this episode of The Wellbeing Classroom, I sit down with Dr. Helen Kelly, a leading voice in educator wellbeing and school culture, whose experience as an international school principal, researcher, and former workplace health and safety lawyer brings a powerful and unique lens to one of the mo...
Is human thinking becoming the most valuable currency in the age of AI?
Today, I’m joined by Miguel Rodriguez, founder of MR | ThinkLab, where he designs thinking-focused learning systems and AI-powered tools aimed at developing reasoning, reflection, and decision-making that truly last. His work sits at the intersection of cognitive science, instructional design, and AI, challenging a growing ten...
What really drives meaningful and lasting teacher growth in international schools?
Today, I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Addie Christian, a seasoned educator and principal at an IB International School in China. With over two decades of experience, Dr. Christian has dedicated her career to designing strategic frameworks and cultivating leadership capacity that drives meaningful organizational change.
...How can primary school leaders look past the noise and build adaptable, stakeholder-driven digital policies that confidently prepare their classrooms for the future?
Today, I’m joined by Tom Millinchip, a Deputy Head of Primary, curriculum and policy specialist, and a passionate leader in leveraging technology for evidence-based learning environments. With 15 years of primary education experience across the UK and internatio...
How is the process of IB accreditation already being transformed into a genuine service that drives active growth and future-ready school communities?
Today, I’m joined by Dr. Ildiko Murray, an experienced Head of School in China with over 25 years of international educational leadership. Following her doctoral studies, she was engaged by the IB as a Subject Matter Expert to help create and develo...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
DISGRACELAND is an award-winning music and true crime podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. Jerry Lee Lewis's 5th wife? Dead. Sid and Nancy? Both dead. Why? Because musicians are insane, and insane things happen to them. Why did we lose Amy Winehouse at 27? Was Debbie Harry really abducted by Ted Bundy as she claims? Is Patti Smith not just the "Godmother of Punk", but also the "Original True Crime Girl"? What really happened the night of the Jay Z nightclub stabbing? What do the Diddy indictments truly reveal? All these stories and more, on artists from every genre and their true crimes, in our massive 260-plus story archive. The Dead, the Stones, Johnny, Willie, Frank, Kurt, Courtney, Gaga, Lana, Taylor, and too many to name. DISGRACELAND is music history come to life through audio storytelling as you've never heard it before, with revealing facts: yes, assassins are the real reason the Beatles quit touring—reclaimed myths: no, Mama Cass didn't die from choking on a ham sandwich––and constant reckoning between art and artist––all told through the lens of true crime. This is the podcast for the self-proclaimed "Disgos", the musically obsessed and the true crime heads; the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. DISGRACELAND is where host Jake Brennan tells the stories they didn't want told. The kind you'll end up telling someone else. Get ready to uncover hidden truths and buckle up for truly edge-of-your-seat storytelling. New, fully scripted, sound-designed episodes are released every Tuesday. Bonus chat-style episodes where Jake responds to voicemails, texts, and emails from Disgos hit on Thursdays, and "Rewind" episodes from our archive drop on Sundays. DISGRACELAND is not a journalistic podcast. It's an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are dramatized, as is common in scripted entertainment based on real stories. Sources and credits for each episode are available at www.disgracelandpod.com. To unlock ad-free listening, exclusive content, and connect with your fellow Disgos, go to www.disgracelandpod.com to become an All Access member. Rocka Rolla.