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#BeeWell in conversation with John Rowlands and Sue Watmough
#BeeWell Chair and Co-Founder David Gregson met with John Rowlands, Executive Principal of Greater Manchester Academies Trust and Sue Watmough, Headteacher of Manchester Communication Academy.
They discussed the central role of wellbeing for academic performance, how #BeeWell data aided the trust in their recent inspections from Ofsted, and the potential for national wellbeing measurement to further empower school leaders in supporting the wellbeing of young people.
“Being able to use #BeeWell as a school leader can be really empowering, it can really empower you to make a difference in the right places at the right time. And it can empower you to do things differently”
Wellbeing is an essential foundation needed for a young person to achieve academically. John and Sue reflected that when a young person’s basic needs are not being met, we can’t expect them to come to school and deliver academically.
“The two aren’t mutually exclusive, we can’t look at wellbeing through one lens and academic performance through another”
Manchester Communication Academy takes part in the #BeeWell survey each year. For Sue Watmough, the survey both reflected the strengths the school was already aware of and showed school leaders things they couldn’t see – they were able to drill down into specific cohorts of students and understand the issues affecting them, and this informed action taken.
The conversation highlighted the value of discussing #BeeWell findings with Ofsted inspectors, as a way to evidence the impact of wellbeing interventions schools are delivering and demonstrate the difference made to students.
#BeeWell is among a group of partners calling on the government for a national programme of measurement for young people’s wellbeing – a call that John and Sue support!
“We’ve got to be brave in this world. We’ve got to be brave in the education system, and we can all do that if we’re informed. But let’s not just pay lip service to student voice and student councils, let’s get some real meaty data that we can get under the skin of, that can then formulate really effective responses”
Listen to the conversation:
