Today we welcome Kelly Bubbins from Willows High School in Cardiff. Willows is located in a part of Cardiff that's not without its challenges, and as Kelly tells us, assumptions about what that means for the aspirations pupils can have for themselves were a big problem for the school. This translated into poor behaviour and low aspiration, and the school decided to have a reset of its policies to see if something could be done about it. 

Kelly explains to us how, after the school looked outwards to other organisations, and to research, it settled on a strategy that was Marmite to some, but quickly showed results for the pupils and teachers. After initially importing approaches from elsewhere, the school then evolved these so they were a better fit for their own context. 

The results of that are in in the form of a glowing Estyn report hot off the press, and we're grateful to Kelly for helping to explain the story behind what happened. 

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Recorded in Studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 17th January 2025