The School the Community Wanted with Steven Worthington

Episode Overview

• This episode features an in-depth conversation with Stephen, the Headteacher of Dean Trust Ardwick, about the journey of building a new school from a "blank canvas" and establishing a strong, resilient culture.
• The discussion explores a leadership philosophy centered on investing in staff to drive student success, balancing "upbeat energy with tough honesty" to maintain a credible and positive environment.
• Stephen details the school's proactive "behaviour leadership" approach, which focuses on explicitly teaching successful habits and routines, influenced by concepts from James Clear's "Atomic Habits."
• The conversation highlights the power of turning adversity into advantage, using the school's response to a major fire as a case study in reinforcing culture and systems during a crisis.
• Finally, the discussion touches on the broader challenges facing the education sector, particularly the growing pressure on schools to do more with less funding.

Key Concepts

• Building a School from Scratch: The unique "once-in-a-career opportunity" of establishing a school's culture, curriculum, and practices on a "blank canvas" without pre-existing constraints.
• Culture Reset: The significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated a re-establishment of the school's identity, vision, and values, feeling like "starting again."
• Behaviour Leadership: A proactive approach to student conduct that focuses on explicitly teaching successful habits and routines, contrasting with a reactive "behaviour management" model that only responds to incidents.
• Investing in Staff: A core leadership philosophy that prioritizes creating a thriving environment for staff, based on the belief that their success is the primary driver of student outcomes.
• Upbeat Energy, Tough Honesty: A leadership principle for building credibility and a positive culture by being transparent with staff about challenges rather than pretending everything is perfect.
• Adversity as Advantage: A mindset focused on viewing significant challenges, such as a major fire at the school, as opportunities to reinforce and strengthen core cultural principles and systems.
• Systems Over Goals: The application of principles from James Clear's "Atomic Habits," emphasizing that success is determined by the quality of one's systems and habits, not just by aspirational goals.
• The "DTA Way": The school's core philosophy, defined as a "third way" approach that combines high expectations and commensurate levels of support, all underpinned by effective relationships.
• The Funding Challenge: A critical concern that schools are increasingly being asked to do more with less funding, which threatens to make teaching an undesirable profession.

Quotes

• At 2:44 - "I felt that it was a once-in-a-career opportunity to be part of a brand new school." - Stephen explains his motivation for taking on the challenge of helping establish a school from scratch.
• At 7:39 - "...it did feel like we were starting again... I do think we had to kind of almost re-establish ourselves and reconfirm our identity and our vision and our values." - Stephen describes the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the school's culture, requiring a reset.
• At 9:11 - "...they believe there's low aspirations, but it couldn't be any further from the truth." - Stephen passionately corrects common misconceptions about the aspirations of families within the school's community.
• At 14:07 - "...we have an indirect impact on our pupils and the pupils' outcomes through the staff. So therefore, we've got to create an environment where staff are able to thrive..." - Stephen explains his rationale for prioritizing staff development and creating a positive working environment.
• At 21:52 - "We do refer to it as behaviour leadership rather than management... in terms of being proactive and explicitly teaching pupils rather than just responding to incidents of of poor behaviour." - The speaker explains the core difference in their school's approach to student conduct.
• At 24:34 - "I often refer to staff in my briefings... 'upbeat energy but but tough honesty.' I want to create a positive culture, but I want to have credibility and not pretend to staff that everything is is perfect, because it's not." - The speaker shares his personal leadership mantra for maintaining a realistic yet positive environment.
• At 33:01 - "We see challenges as opportunities." - Stephen explains his mindset in dealing with significant setbacks, including a major fire at the school.
• At 35:53 - "You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. And what I say to the pupils is, 'You don't decide your future, you decide your habits, and your habits determine your future.'" - The speaker shares a key principle he uses to explain the importance of routines and systems to students.
• At 41:27 - "I constantly feel that schools are being asked to do more and more with with less... and what I don't want to see is teaching to become an undesirable profession." - He expresses his concern about the impact of underfunding on the education sector and teacher recruitment.

Takeaways

• Prioritize creating a thriving environment for staff, as their success and well-being are the most effective levers for driving positive student outcomes.
• Shift from a reactive "management" mindset to a proactive "leadership" model by explicitly teaching the habits and routines required for success, rather than just responding to misbehavior.
• Build credibility and a resilient culture by being transparent with your team about ongoing challenges, balancing positivity with an honest assessment of reality.
• Frame significant setbacks not as crises, but as unique opportunities to reinforce and strengthen core values, systems, and team cohesion.
• Focus on building robust, repeatable systems and daily habits for yourself and your organization, as these underlying processes—not just ambitious goals—ultimately determine long-term success.