Join us as we get to know Chandini Misra, the principal of Repton Al-Barsha, and hear about her journey from India to leading a school in Dubai. Starting as a science lover and becoming a journalist, Chandini eventually found her calling in education. Her story shows how following your passion can lead to making a real difference in students' lives.
In this episode, we also dive into our shared interests in podcasts, music, and food. We explore Dubai's food scene, talk about our cooking adventures, and how these experiences connect us to our roots. These conversations highlight how different hobbies and interests can influence who we are.
We also discuss the value of time, especially in family life and raising children. Chandini shares her insights on being a genuine leader, aligning personal values with professional goals, and finding satisfaction in her work. We look forward to the new chapter for Repton's sixth form and the future it holds for its students, all while appreciating the strong connections between teachers and students. Tune in to this episode for a down-to-earth chat that will make you think about your journey and your impact on others.
Teach Middle East Magazine is the premier platform for educators and the entire education sector in the Middle East and beyond. Our vision is to equip educators with the materials and tools they need, to function optimally in and out of the classroom. We provide a space for educators to connect and find inspiration, resources, and forums to enhance their teaching techniques, methodologies, and personal development. We connect education suppliers and service providers to the people who make the buying decisions in schools.
Visit our website https://linktr.ee/teachmiddleeast.
Tweet us: https://twitter.com/teachmiddleeast
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachmiddleeast/.
Hosted by Leisa Grace Wilson
Connect with Leisa Grace:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leisagrace
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leisagrace/
Join us as we get to know Chandini Misra, the principal of Repton Al-Barsha, and hear about her journey from India to leading a school in Dubai. Starting as a science lover and becoming a journalist, Chandini eventually found her calling in education. Her story shows how following your passion can lead to making a real difference in students' lives.
In this episode, we also dive into our shared interests in podcasts, music, and food. We explore Dubai's food scene, talk about our cooking adventures, and how these experiences connect us to our roots. These conversations highlight how different hobbies and interests can influence who we are.
We also discuss the value of time, especially in family life and raising children. Chandini shares her insights on being a genuine leader, aligning personal values with professional goals, and finding satisfaction in her work. We look forward to the new chapter for Repton's sixth form and the future it holds for its students, all while appreciating the strong connections between teachers and students. Tune in to this episode for a down-to-earth chat that will make you think about your journey and your impact on others.
Teach Middle East Magazine is the premier platform for educators and the entire education sector in the Middle East and beyond. Our vision is to equip educators with the materials and tools they need, to function optimally in and out of the classroom. We provide a space for educators to connect and find inspiration, resources, and forums to enhance their teaching techniques, methodologies, and personal development. We connect education suppliers and service providers to the people who make the buying decisions in schools.
Visit our website https://linktr.ee/teachmiddleeast.
Tweet us: https://twitter.com/teachmiddleeast
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachmiddleeast/.
Hosted by Leisa Grace Wilson
Connect with Leisa Grace:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leisagrace
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leisagrace/
You are listening to the Teach Middle East podcast connecting, developing and empowering educators.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone and welcome to the Teach Middle East podcast. Today I am with Chandini Misra and she is the principal of Repton Al-Barsha. I hope I rolled all of that off my tongue correctly, because you guys know sometimes I mess up people's names like it's no man's business. But, chandini, she was kind enough to pronounce it for me before we came on air so that I didn't butcher it. But we are so delighted to have her on the podcast because we're going to talk all things leadership, all things education, but most of all we're going to talk about her. We're going to get to know her, the woman who sits in that nice leather looking seat right there in the principal's office at Repton Al-Barsha. Welcome, chandini.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Lisa. Very excited to be here. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:You are most welcome. It's actually so interesting, let me tell you people Knowing people online, as in connecting with them and then knowing them in person, is a very fine line, because I do feel like I know Chandini, but I actually haven't met her in person as yet, and likewise she does not know me in person. So what we are going to be talking about today is going to be new to me as well. So I'm excited to dive in. Chandini, where did it all begin? Where are you from? Where did you grow up? And all of that good stuff.
Speaker 3:All of that stuff. So I was born in India in a state called Orissa, which is on the northeast coast, and then I moved to the UK. My dad got a job as a doctor in England so I moved to the UK when I was quite young, didn't speak any English, so you're a classic ELL student in primary school and I have spent the majority of my life in the UK, really really loved the whole sort of cultural transition. I love being part of both cultural identities and I think it's wonderful now living in Dubai that there is so much of that and that home is just really where you make it. So, yeah, that was my sort of journey to the UK and then grew up in the UK, went to school there, secondary school there and university and started working there and moved to Dubai about six years ago.
Speaker 2:Brilliant, and what part of the UK are you hailing from, now that you're both Yorkshire?
Speaker 3:So a town called Wakefield and within that, a small village called Merfield. I lost my northern accent, although it does come back If I spend a long time back home. It does come back. But yeah, I've unfortunately lost my northern accent now.
Speaker 2:So it's weird because Wakefield is very close to where we, my family and I now have a home in the outskirts of Leeds, in a little place called Messle. It's a little village, yeah, so it's quite close to Pontifract and Castleford and but it's right there in a little corner. So I do know Wakefield quite well, pinderfield and that area. So yes, not so far.
Speaker 3:And that's where I went to school actually. So Wakefield Girls High School was my school.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, and I know that school Quick one. In terms of family, are you an only child? Siblings?
Speaker 3:I have an older brother and we ended up actually both doing science degrees at university, so there must have been an influence, I think, from my parents. He studied physics and I studied chemistry at university.
Speaker 2:Brilliant, and so your journey into education started as a science teacher, I suppose.
Speaker 3:It did. But actually I didn't think when I was at university that I would end up in education. I chose a science degree because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. I loved science, I loved working with people. But I knew for sure I didn't want to be a doctor because I did the work experience and realized very quickly that I can't stand the sight of blood. I cannot handle needles. I'm still terrified of needles. It is very embarrassing. Every time I have to go and have a checkup for a blood test I have to look away and tell them that I might get woozy. So really I have thought of working in a hospital. Still it gives me the creeps. I just couldn't do it. I have huge admiration and respect for the people that do. But I chose a science degree because I just loved science and I loved chemistry. I had an amazing chemistry teacher who really did inspire me and during my time at university I started news reading on the student radio.
Speaker 3:So I got a little bit into radio and presenting and looking at news and then became a journalist after university. So I was a journalist for BBC News 24. Great fun, really enjoyed it. And then the headquarters relocated I'm not sure if you remember what they used to be in London. Then they relocated to Salford and at the time I just got engaged. So I thought I didn't really want to leave London.
Speaker 3:So the aim was to pursue another job within, being a news correspondent, but to stay in London. So I took a year out and decided to try teacher training and I really did see it as a finite year. I thought let me complete my training and then I'm going to go back into my career as a journalist and just never looked back. From the day that I toured a school and just started interacting with the students, absolutely fell in love. I started working in East London in quite a deprived community in a city school in London. Absolutely loved it. And I said to my husband about a month in I said don't think I'm leaving this and he said yeah, I don't think. So Just absolutely loved it. I've never looked back.
Speaker 2:Wow, and then what made you make that leap to the United Arab Emirates?
Speaker 3:Then it was actually not my own decision. So my husband got a job out here. I was very heavily pregnant at the time and actually at the time I was really, really in love with the school I was working at, loved the team, loved the whole school community. So I was actually a bit cross that we were moving to Dubai because it meant I would have to leave that wonderful job. However, then I got here, had my second son and around eight months later started working here, so initially at Jumeirah College and then later at Reptinal Barsha, and I must say I absolutely love it. And for all it's such a familiar story, isn't it? People come and they think they're only going to be here for a few years and then there they are 10 years later not looking to move at all. And it really does. Dubai gets you. It's such a wonderful place to live and I'm very, very settled here.
Speaker 2:Brilliant. Quick question, though what's your leadership journey been like? So I know you started off teaching in London. You say teaching chemistry but talk to me about your journey to leadership.
Speaker 3:So the school that I was at initially, the school that I trained at in the beginning, was it had quite a lot of teach first teachers and if you're familiar with that, the program is very much designed to encourage teachers to go into leadership quite quickly and the leadership development is a big part of that program. I actually did a GTP but I was in that community of teachers where that was very normal, so it was very normal. In my second year I started leading up the sixth form science department, which was still a relatively new area. We were opening a sixth form and a year later I was deputy head of the sixth form and that was just very normal and I learned a lot from doing that, made a lot of mistakes and naturally we continue to do so, but it meant that I had to think quite strategically about how a school was going to develop at an early stage of my career. And then we actually I should move out of London again with my husband's job. He moved up North and back to Leeds actually.
Speaker 3:So I was working in Leeds and that was my first senior leadership role as an assistant head at a school in Woodhouse and just a few years later again had to move with my husband's job there's no more moving with my husband's job, I've told him now, by the way and then moved to Dubai and then I was a sister principal at Jamera College and then became head of senior school here a few years ago, but it does. It feels like such a whirlwind. You have to learn very quickly, and, particularly in a growing school. There's an element of you build the bridge as you walk along it. But I'm incredibly privileged and so fortunate to have been inspired by so many great leaders many of whom you have interviewed, actually who I regularly look to for advice because we don't have all the answers. So and I couldn't I couldn't have done any of this without the advice of great leaders.
Speaker 2:For sure. So I was a a Teach First mentor back in London all those years ago and there were some incredibly brilliant young teachers that come through that program, some of whom I still keep in contact with, some of whom have gone on to be headteachers in different schools across the UK. So it's it was, for what it's worth, a really good program. I do know that there are others who kind of left after their two years. You know they were like, okay, two years, I'm done. But there were some, like yourself, who fell in love with you know, teaching and with education and actually stayed and carried on in that vein. So my question to you is when it comes to leadership and to, you know, just aspiring, what do you think a key trait is that leaders should have just one.
Speaker 3:Humility. I think within humility comes so many other aspects being reflective, being able to really own your mistakes and your successes. And I think with humility you naturally foster a sense of teamwork and connection, because nobody likes to be around an arrogant person I certainly don't. But it's tricky because often I think there's been a misconception that of course leaders have to be confident, but there's a difference between confidence and arrogance, and as soon as you slip into arrogance, then actually you're not going to take your team with you and you're not going to have that sort of strong connection and retention of your team which I think is so important in schools, particularly in places like Dubai, when actually there is a more movement, when you're building and when you're really trying to establish particularly for myself as a relatively new principle, it's really important that people understand that I'm willing to make mistakes, I'm willing to reflect on them and to maintain that humility. So that's one of the ones that I always stick to. Humble leadership is really important to me.
Speaker 2:It is. I love the fact that you chose humility. I was hoping you'd choose empathy, but you chose humility, which is all I feel like empathy comes within that too.
Speaker 3:It's all in the same vein.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you. What happens, chandini, is that a lot of people mistake humility for weakness. They mistake it for not having a firm grasp on strategies and policies. They think if the leader is humble, it gives them an opportunity to overstep their boundaries. How do you handle people who try to be humble? How do you handle people who try to be humble? How do you handle people who try to look at you as a young woman, because I can tell from looking at you that you are a young woman? How do you handle the people who think it's okay to try and overstep that boundary just a little bit?
Speaker 3:No, it's a really interesting. I'm not getting any younger, but I did get into leadership of schools relatively young. Certainly, when we look at school leaders, I'm really inspired when I see other school leaders that have had a similar journey to myself. There are a lot of assumptions that people can make and you're absolutely right, we come across it all the time. It's not even just to do with my stage as a school leader. Where I'm up to, there are people who make assumptions about you as soon as they hear you speak. I think it's about building trust. It's about showing that you have integrity. You have to have difficult conversations with the leader. None of us enjoy having the really difficult ones, but it's part of the remit. You can still do so by maintaining kindness and humility. Empathy, my word. I think that when you do that very quickly, those assumptions fall away. There's a strength in being empathetic. It's not weak to be humble, it's not weak to be vulnerable. In fact, I think it builds more trust.
Speaker 2:It certainly does. All right enough about school chanting. Enough about educational the serious stuff, because this podcast is called Behind the Principal's Desk. So we want to know you, when you take off your blazer and kick off your heels, what do you do to relax?
Speaker 3:I am a big foodie, as I love cooking and I love exploring authentic places to eat in Dubai. So, yes, there are all of the glossy places in Dubai and I love those too, but I really love seeking out some of the more hidden gems in Dubai, so that's something I really enjoy, and then I love trying to replicate those recipes at home. I love exploring the desert with my family. I have two sons and we've just recently adopted a dog who also loves, obviously, being outdoors, so we do really enjoy that, and I just realize every time I do it how unfit I am. So it's my New Year's resolution to start making sure that I stay fit, and then I'm going to lose any shred of street cred that I have.
Speaker 3:But I was not into creative arts at school. I feel like that's something I got into later in life, but I now just really I love drawing and painting and cross stitch. I think that's it. The street cred is now gone, but I love cross stitch. Any other fans of cross stitch out there who are school leaders reach out to me.
Speaker 2:You lost me at the cross stitch. No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not true. I mean, I can respect the thing, I just won't partake.
Speaker 3:I promise, I promise you'll like it. I have, I have. I'm obsessed with podcasts as well. I'm always tuned into a podcast, my salty joke with me about how much I'm saying, oh, have you listened to this? And trying out a new podcast of a variety of genres. And then reading as well. So I used to read a lot more fiction than I do now, but it was all sort of crime and thrillers. That's my go to genre.
Speaker 2:What? What's your? What some of your podcasts, apart from Teach Middle East podcast? What are some of your podcasts so people can also tune in?
Speaker 3:So I listen to the Times News Briefing every day. That's my morning, while I have time to myself getting ready. I'll have the Times News Briefing on and then I'll usually follow that with a bit of the Economist, any of the free episodes that I can get hold of and the new statesman, and then, naturally, the education based one. So mind the gap is excellent. I used to love becoming educated as well, and then the Institutional Schools podcast, but it's so funny because if you look at my Spotify selection of podcasts, I've got all of that so relatively quite serious podcasts, and then I've got all of my true crime that I love. So serial and crazy in love, I love, I love dipping into that as well. Could be seen as a little bit trashy, but I love it.
Speaker 2:No, I do love a little bit of true crime as well. To be honest, I do listen to that. When I want to switch off, People always think you know you have to have one type thing. No, you don't. If I want to really relax, I put on reality TV, I get deep into it. Like no disrespect, I love a Dubai bling, a real housewives I just do. But I don't think I'm watching things like. I don't think. I just watch and giggle and sometimes I got help him. I get my husband to sit there and and watch it with me and he's like what is my life right now?
Speaker 3:Why am I so I haven't. I haven't got into reality TV as much, but I have a lot of friends who love it, but the true crime stuff I really love. And again my husband has the same reaction. He's like oh gosh, what is this now that you're delving into? But it's funny because even with music I think there's a lot of people who, like one specific genre of music, will quite often be a little bit distasteful about people who like something very different. And I've always loved such a variety of music, of books, of programs. I just think if you like something, you like it.
Speaker 2:That's OK to somebody else's taste, so music. What are you into?
Speaker 3:And a real variety. As a nineties kid, you know, I did all of the nineties dance music the Spice Girls, the Blink 182, the Bethesda's Child, all of that, so all of the commercial stuff. But more recently I mean I loved the hip hop, the old school hip hop, and again, I may have lost some people there too, but I still. But you've gained some, yeah, that's true. And then, more recently, I'm really enjoying Solange. You know there are some greats. There's really still really enjoy house music, but a variety really it's again, if you looked at my Spotify playlist you'd see such a mix of music and I think that's great. You know, I think it's important that we stay open minded in all aspects in love one area of anything but be open minded to explore something else.
Speaker 2:For sure, For sure You're a foodie. So what have you been? What have you been discovering in Dubai? What spots have you discovered that are like off the beaten track?
Speaker 3:I guess I probably think they are, but they're probably classics that people know about. But have you been to Three Fills?
Speaker 2:No, oh, by the way, I am from. I am an Abu Dhabi girl through and through. I know nothing about Dubai, nothing at all. Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay. So you need to tell me when you're next here and I'm going to give you a list of places to check out. So Three Fills is a. It used to be very small. It's now just expanded.
Speaker 3:Restaurant in Jamarro Harbour, seafood based, but again very authentic, delicious food, and it used to be a bit more of a hidden gem. It's now because it's become popular, it's expanded a little bit. And then I love Indian food. I mean, naturally, that's that's my go-to. So, calicut Paragon, if you like, your Indian seafood is excellent. And again, these are nothing fancy. These you go in, you know, plastic chairs sit down, but the food is absolutely incredible and you get to see such a spectrum of Dubai enjoying that food, which is wonderful. You've probably heard of Ravi. Yes, that's another establishment. Yeah, really really good. And then a noodle bowl I don't know if you've heard of that. Again, very, very humble Chinese restaurant, but fantastic food.
Speaker 3:Okay, but do you cook? Yes, oh, my gosh, I love to cook, I love to cook. It's now about finding the time and the energy for some time, and Dubai is again. There's so much opportunity to order great food home. It's very tempting, but I do. I do love to cook and I'll be looking on Instagram for recipes, looking online for different recipes and then putting my own spin on them. I started writing a recipe book. Actually I need to. I need to keep make sure I keep updating that.
Speaker 2:Oh, what's your go-to, what's your thing that you make at home that just makes you feel, okay, this is home.
Speaker 3:For comfort food. Yeah, I mean in India, in Urus, the state that I grew up in, it was all about fish and seafood. So for me it's still all about the fish, the rice. You have the veggies on the side, that kind of staple Indian meal that I still love. For me, that's proper comfort food.
Speaker 2:Nice. Hmm, I do love Indian food, but I think the Indian food that I love is very English, because I've been told by my Indian friends that what I'm eating isn't really Indian food, because they're like oh you, with your Rogan jar, shed your yeah, chicken masala, chicken masala.
Speaker 2:They're like that's, lisa, that is not typical Indian food, but I guess that's what you know we grew up with in London and we just thought, well, that's Indian food and we love it. Anyway, quick fire round. Are you ready? It's not the same. Yeah, I'm sure they do All right. So we're going to do some quick fire round, play along. You know anything that you're not happy with? Just let me know. We can all.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm nervous about this. Okay, let's go. It works, we're good. What makes you angry?
Speaker 2:What makes you angry oh?
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, that's a tricky one because I feel like you have a lot of small things that might upset me, but generally I'm very measured. But I guess, yeah, real unkindness, lack of empathy, yeah, that makes and I shouldn't as an empathetic person you should try not to respond but that does, that does make me feel quite upset and angry when I see that around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's. It's one of those questions that that kind of catches you off God. But sometimes, like for myself, injustice makes me upset. If you want to get me angry, let me be in a restaurant where somebody is being rude to the waiting, the wait staff or the you know the servers, just because they can. That's the end of the meal for me, like I just I'm done that.
Speaker 3:I mean that kind of yeah, it's not, I wouldn't even say abusive power, it's not abusive power, it's yeah, it's disregard, isn't it? That's yeah. That makes me cross as well.
Speaker 2:See, okay, awesome. Alright, let's take it back to Happy. If you could go anywhere on a holiday, where would you go and why?
Speaker 3:So I really want to go to Japan. This is a I've never been. I'd love to visit Tokyo. I've heard so much, but just as a city it seems so unique and not like anywhere else that I have visited. So Japan is on my hit list. And then we really loved going on safari, and my husband and I went on safari for our honeymoon, but I'd love to do that again.
Speaker 2:Where did you go for safari?
Speaker 3:We were in Tanzania and in Kenya. So, yeah, it was just wonderful Not long enough and I would love to go back and take the kids now that they're a little bit older and they can manage the early starts and the relatively long drives and long days. That's something else we'd love to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's brilliant. So if you had the Okay, I was going to say if you won the lottery, but I remember where we are If you got a bag of money for a day and you had to go out and spend it, what would you go out and buy?
Speaker 3:Gosh, you know I'm really not that into stuff. I'd probably want to use it to have experiences. I'm not entirely against trying the skydive, I'm okay with heights, so something like that and it's a memorable experience. And, to be honest, when it comes to birthdays and buying gifts for other people or receiving gifts from people, I'm all about experiences rather than stuff. I feel like you know, just not that into things like that anymore. Yeah, go on a fantastic trip or go and try out an amazing restaurant, that sort of thing Amazing.
Speaker 2:So, just in case your husband listens to this podcast, because we'd like to drop hints, I was talking to Matthew Burfield from Gems Founders, the principle of Gems Founders, and I was saying you need to take your wife on a holiday Because, just in case she listens, you know we like to stir things a little bit. What could your husband do for you that would make you extremely happy Gift experience? What could it be Do?
Speaker 3:you know what? I think the best thing that we can give anybody that we love is our time, and it's. We're all very, very busy and we raise kids, and you know school leaders or teachers or professionals. Life is very busy and I think just that just time, time together, reminiscing, laughing, joking. I think that's a really boring answer, isn't it?
Speaker 2:No, it's I want. I want truth. Give me truth.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my listeners know that I think time away, yeah, time together, time spent with family. I think it's important. We also make sure that we spend some time without the kids, too, because that's important as well. So, yeah, just time, and then whatever you choose to do with it, whether it's exploring a new country, you know, going going out into nature, I think, yeah, the best thing you can give anybody is your time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I agree with you, and don't worry about the answers. If you've listened to this podcast, as I think you have and others, you would know what we want is. We want to know you, and so if your answer seems boring, it isn't it is. It is the truth and that's what we want. Raising two boys in Dubai how do you keep them grounded?
Speaker 3:Gosh, yeah, really good question, Because I often think about this with students too and again, there's a lot of misconceptions. I think about Dubai, certainly when I speak to my friends in the UK and I actually think it is completely possible and I've seen so many wonderful grounded students and grounded adults. I think it's just about making sure that you apply importance to the most important things. There is so much that you can do in Dubai that doesn't have a huge cost attached to it, and there's a lot that you can explore that isn't just the glitz and the glam, but even having said that, children get their values from the adults that they see around them. So I think that that's how you manage it just by making sure that you're also prioritizing the right things, the right things for you, because, also, let's not judge If people enjoy different things, and luckily Dubai caters for such a wide range of interests, so just explore them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you're right, you're so right, and I ask that question a lot because my boys there are times when they come out with things that make me go. You are really out of touch with reality, like, but it's their reality versus mine, and how do I expect them to understand any of the hardships? I mean me as an immigrant moving to the UK as a young girl, and they won't get that. They don't understand that because they live a different life. But I'm also very curious. So I asked you that question selfishly because as a mom, I want to know what tips people have for keeping their kids feet firmly planted on the ground.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's a really good point to raise because I feel the same. I feel like I saw a struggle around me as a child and I wonder how much are they really exposed to that here? And you know, you hear the phrase of Dubai is a bubble, and in many ways people feel that way because it's just so different the networks that you have here, the safety it's. We really are so fortunate to live here and I think that's what gets lost when people just assume that it's it's one way of living when it really isn't. But it is possible for young people to understand struggle and understand experiences of people from a diverse range of backgrounds. We're a wonderful place to do it here. But, yeah, they don't have to have seen what we traditionally define as a bubble. Okay, I saw that growing up and therefore it's given me these values you can still transfer those values.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, take heart, lisa, your child. They won't be soft. They can go back to Tottenham and hold their own, or not.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, they have to learn those things.
Speaker 2:They'll learn those things. They don't know how to take a bus. They're in secondary school. They don't have the schedule for a car or school, but not only that one. They don't earn ID. They do have some student income, and what has happened to their commodities either, asespère the ones we've explained here? Right now we have a long, long-term relationship, no-transcript. You. For women who are aspiring to leadership Younger, middle-aged, older, doesn't matter what advice, if any, do you have for them?
Speaker 3:It's a cliched thing to be authentic, but I think for any leader, the minute that you try, well, you start trying to be what you think others want from you rather than just, and that's hard to keep that up. When you're just not being yourself, you realise that you just don't. You don't have the capacity to keep doing that forever. It's actually quite draining. So, you know, maintain your integrity.
Speaker 3:I think that's everything, because it's it's really hard to keep doing something when there's an elephant in the room and you know that it's not actually what you would do If no one was looking, and that's really how we define the culture in our organisations. But, yeah, stay authentic and also find an organisation, a school, whatever it might be, even if not in education, but the values have to align with your own Because, again, otherwise you're, you're almost pretending and that's exhausting. So find somewhere that really aligns with your own values and, you know, be the head that you want to be in that school and if you feel that that's not who you are and that's not working, then serve elsewhere. Find somewhere to serve a community where all of those things align, because that's when you find your ickie guy, that's when you're, you know it doesn't feel like work anymore.
Speaker 2:Amazing, amazing, Good response, which takes me to your community and the work you're doing at Repton Alvarsha, and congratulations on your outstanding BSO rating. Talk to me about what makes Repton Alvarsha a special place for learners and staff alike.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm very, I'm very biased, but it is. You just have to step into the school to feel the warmth that oozes from every corner. It's, I think, with being a through school, and previously I'd only ever worked in secondary only setting. So this is my first experience of working in a through school. But there is something really wonderful about having children as young as three looking up to senior students on one campus. So I think that's one of the things that makes it really special. And to see those oldest students interacting with the younger students is wonderful. Our parents are such a wonderful presence and really supportive of the school community and I think that's that's wonderful.
Speaker 3:And the staff I mean I love the staff body very, very fortunate to have joined a school where the staff are so invested in the student experience. So you bring all those things together. Of course it's a wonderful place to work. Now, of course, I'm the head I would say that but it's something that I feel it's not. Every head of every school is sometimes struggling. There's not any head in the world that will say that there aren't challenges, and of course there are. They come our way every day and one of the beauties of the job is, you don't know what's coming through the door. But again, as I said, I found my good guy because of the way that those things all align with my own values.
Speaker 2:Brilliant, and so, with with all of that, you end up with a community and a culture that's been rated outstanding. Congratulations to your team and to yourself. And obviously, it wouldn't be right to not mention the fact that in any school and in every school, there are areas that you're looking to improve. So, at Repton, what are you guys looking at as your next move, your next step to being even better?
Speaker 3:We're expanding into a sixth form in August, so that's really exciting, and the senior school is still a relatively newer entity across the whole school.
Speaker 3:So that's really where we want to ensure that students you know the junior schools in running for a lot longer. We want to make sure that that journey all the way through to 18 is such an incredible student experience that the students leave us and say, well, I'm still a reptonian, I still look back fondly at my time at Repton Albaasha, and then all of the things feed into that. So then you start looking at the curriculum and you got it more granular and you're looking at teaching and learning but making sure. I think that that experience for the students and the building, their confidence, their character, their compassion, their curiosity is a different journey in FS than it is in sixth form. But the way that that journey aligns all the way through that for me is the vision now, because we're going to end up with year 13 completed in a couple of years We've got to make sure that that journey is a wonderful one for the students.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Thank you, shandini, that wasn't too bad, it was great for me. I don't know about you, I loved it.
Speaker 3:I really enjoyed it, thank you. Thank you, lisa.
Speaker 2:Thanks for being my guest on the podcast. Thank you.