Inside one of England’s top-performing non-selective schools with Robert Peal (Ep 72)

About this episode

Anna Stokke interviews Robert Peal about the success of West London Free School and its educational practices.

In this episode, Anna Stokke is joined by Robert Peal, joint head teacher of West London Free School, one of England’s highest-performing non-selective schools. Robert is also the author of Progressively Worse and co-author, with Nick Gibb, of Reforming Lessons: Why English Schools Have Improved Since 2010 and How This Was Achieved. Anna visited West London Free School recently and invited Robert to join the podcast to share what makes the school so successful. They discuss the school’s approach to behaviour, school culture, high expectations, and a knowledge-rich curriculum. They also talk about England’s school reforms and why ineffective educational fads have continued to resurface throughout history, despite weak evidence. Teachers, school leaders, and policymakers will find practical insights on how structure, high expectations, a knowledge-based curriculum, and effective teaching are the keys to improving student outcomes. This episode is available in video at www.youtube.com/@chalktalk-stokke TIMESTAMPS [00:00:22] Introduction [00:03:37] Inside West London Free School [00:07:21] Why Free Schools were established in England [00:12:33] Establishing behaviour expectations…

People in this episode

Host: Anna Stokke

Guest: Robert Peal

Topics covered

• school performance
• education reform
• knowledge-rich curriculum
• behaviour expectations
• school culture
• high expectations

Keywords

• non-selective schools
• educational fads
• student outcomes
• house system
• silent corridors
• school sanctions
• high expectations

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: West London Free School

Books & works: Progressively Worse, Reforming Lessons: Why English Schools Have Improved Since 2010 and How This Was Achieved

Places: England

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