Headship After Hours

This podcast is for headteachers, executive heads and trust leaders who want to lead well without losing themselves in the process.I'm Paul Collin, former head and leadership coach. I talk about isolation, pressure, governing bodies, staff dynamics, attendance and the inner work of staying grounded. I also run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for heads in complex schools — for when attendance feels fragile and rests on too few people.Apply now → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/

Headship After Hours is a business podcast hosted by Paul Collin, with 36 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Paul Collin hosts Headship After Hours, a business show with 36 episodes published.

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  Episode #39

  The Part of Headship Nobody Prepares You For

  Aug 14, 202611 minS1

  Nobody prepares you for the emotional switching required in headship. Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance. The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works. That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools. It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process: On-site school visit Detailed, school-specific report Follow-up strategy session Practical leadership tools for a clear 90-day plan Typically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools. Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/ In this episode of Headship After Hours , Paul Collin explores the hidden emotional labour of being a headteacher — moving from deeply personal or confidential conversations straight into assemblies, meetings, difficult decisions and moments of celebration. The school doesn't pause while its headteacher processes what they've just heard. Paul explores the emotional weight created by safeguarding concerns, staff conversations, parental situations and the confidential information school leaders are often required to carry without being able to openly share it. This episode explores: • The emotional labour of headship • Compartmentalisation versus processing • Confidentiality and isolation in school leadership • Emotional switching between difficult conversations • Why headteachers need trusted professional networks • Creating small resets between high-pressure moments • Recognising when carrying too much starts changing your leadership • How to care deeply without disappearing beneath the weight Headship needs humanity. The goal isn't to stop caring. It's learning how to care without disappearing under everything you carry. 00:00 – Nobody Warns You About This Part of Headship 00:24 – Why Headship After Hours Exists 01:23 – The Invisible Pressure of Headship 01:39 – Emotional Switching Between Conversations 02:19 – The School Doesn't Pause for the Headteacher 02:55 – Becoming the Holder of Other People's Stories 03:35 – Compartmentalisation in School Leadership 04:15 – Why Headship Becomes Emotionally Exhausting 04:34 – Attendance & Leadership Resilience 05:43 – The Internal Processing Nobody Sees 06:24 – When the Emotional Weight Hits You 06:46 – Emotional Labour in Headship 07:06 – Caring Without Losing Yourself 07:22 – Resetting After Difficult Conversations 07:58 – Confidentiality Doesn't Mean Silence 08:32 – Every Headteacher Needs a Safe Network 09:04 – When Emotional Switching Starts Changing You 09:41 – The Holder of Stories and Confidences 10:01 – Care Without Disappearing Under the Weight 10:22 – Leadership Shouldn't Be Carried in Silence 10:40 – Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check

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  Episode #38

  Jack Mallaby: Stop Making Pupils Fit the System

  Aug 7, 202636 minS1

  In this episode of Headship After Hours , Paul Collin is joined by Jack Mallaby , assistant headteacher and SENCO, for an honest conversation about SEND, neurodiversity, emotionally based school avoidance and attendance. Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance. The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works. That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools. It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process: On-site school visit Detailed, school-specific report Follow-up strategy session Practical leadership tools for a clear 90-day plan Typically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools. Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/ Jack reflects on his own experiences of ADHD and dyslexia, his journey from mainstream education into specialist provision, and why inclusion must sit at the centre of school culture rather than being treated as an additional intervention. Together, they explore why many neurodiverse pupils experience anxiety around school, how educational trauma can shape attendance, and why relationships with young people and families are essential when attendance becomes fragile. This episode discusses: SEND leadership in mainstream and specialist schools Emotionally based school avoidance Neurodiversity, anxiety and attendance Why relational practice matters The importance of primary-to-secondary transition Child-centred attendance strategies Preparing young people for adulthood Why schools should adapt systems around pupils Jack’s central message is clear: It should not be about making young people fit the system. It should be about making the system work for them. 00:00 – Educational Trauma and School Avoidance 01:21 – Introducing Jack Mallaby 02:20 – Jack’s Role in Specialist SEND Provision 03:12 – Growing Up With ADHD and Dyslexia 05:00 – Why Jack Moved Into SEND Leadership 07:05 – Leaving Mainstream for Specialist Education 08:10 – Inclusion as Culture, Not a Bolt-On 09:28 – Relationships and Consistency in Specialist Schools 12:07 – What Is Emotionally Based School Avoidance? 12:53 – Educational Trauma and Distrust 13:26 – How COVID Affected Neurodiverse Learners 14:25 – Why Attendance Systems Respond Too Late 15:31 – Identify, Stabilise and Restore Attendance 16:40 – Relationships With Pupils and Families 17:37 – Supporting Anxiety Without Labelling the Child 18:50 – Preparing Neurodiverse Pupils for Adulthood 20:08 – Compassion, Consistency and Capacity 21:34 – What Schools Still Get Wrong 22:36 – Primary-to-Secondary Transition 25:03 – Why One Transition Day Is Not Enough 27:04 – Supporting Complex Attendance Cases 27:41 – A Child-Centred Attendance Strategy 29:55 – Rethinking Educational Success 33:41 – Jack’s Advice for School Leaders 34:00 – Make the System Work for the Child

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  Episode #37

  A Few Families Can Shape Your Attendance Data

  Jul 31, 202611 minS1

  Sometimes a small number of families shape a large part of your school's attendance picture. Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance. The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works. That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools. It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process: On-site school visit Detailed, school-specific report Follow-up strategy session Practical leadership tools for a clear 90-day plan Typically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools. Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/ In this episode of Headship After Hours , we explore one of the most emotionally demanding realities of attendance leadership: how a handful of complex cases can disproportionately affect your school's overall attendance figure. When leaders respond with generic attendance strategies to deeply individual circumstances, progress often stalls. Trauma, mental health, SEND, housing instability, family breakdown and trust all influence attendance in ways that spreadsheets alone cannot explain. In this episode we discuss: Why a small number of pupils often shape headline attendance Relational practice over generic interventions Accountability versus complexity Why attendance leadership requires patience and strategy Building confidence through structured attendance systems Attendance is never just about numbers. It is about people, relationships and trust. 00:00 – When a Few Families Shape Your Attendance 00:34 – The Hidden Reality Behind Attendance Data 01:18 – Why Generic Attendance Strategies Fail 01:58 – The Human Stories Behind Persistent Absence 02:33 – Attendance Leadership Resilience Check 03:58 – Patience Before Progress 04:17 – Relational Practice Over Generic Responses 05:04 – Case-Based Attendance Strategy 05:26 – Why Hope Matters in Leadership 06:02 – Staying Strategic Without Becoming Cold 06:25 – What Will Adults Do Differently Tomorrow? 06:48 – Attendance Lives in Everyday Practice 07:25 – Build Systems, Not Heroics 07:51 – Strategic Alignment Across Teams 08:40 – Confidence Changes Attendance Leadership 09:15 – Attendance Is Connected to Culture 09:59 – Redesign the Conditions, Not the Effort 10:25 – Complex Cases Need Better Strategy

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  Episode #34

  Schools Remember How Leadership Feels

  Jul 17, 202611 minS1

  School culture isn't created by a vision statement. It's created by how leadership feels every day. Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance. The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works. That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools. It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process: On-site school visit Detailed, school-specific report Follow-up strategy session Practical leadership tools for a clear 90-day plan Typically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools. Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/ In this episode of Headship After Hours , we explore one of the biggest misconceptions in education: that culture can be launched through policies, values or strategic plans. Real culture is built much more quietly. It develops through repeated leadership behaviours, emotional consistency, psychological safety and the thousands of small interactions that shape how staff and pupils experience school each day. In this episode we discuss: Why culture is built through repeated experiences Leadership behaviours that quietly shape schools Emotional safety and psychological trust Why systems alone never create strong cultures How relational leadership transforms schools Schools don't remember what leadership intended. They remember what leadership repeatedly felt like. Timestamps: 00:00 – Why Schools Don't Build Culture Through Posters 00:35 – Schools Remember Leadership Differently 01:35 – The Biggest Myth About School Culture 01:52 – Culture Is Built Through Repeated Experiences 02:36 – Attendance and Leadership Alignment 03:51 – Systems Don't Create Trust 04:08 – What Real Culture Looks Like 04:38 – Why Micro Moments Matter 05:03 – When Adults Change, Everything Changes 05:43 – Emotional Safety vs Emotional Fragility 06:21 – Why High-Trust Schools Perform Better 06:42 – The Calm Schools That Thrive 07:17 – Accountability and Relationships Together 07:54 – Leadership Is Emotional Modelling 08:30 – Why Culture Slowly Drifts 09:05 – The Emotional Architecture of Schools 09:24 – The Question Every Leader Should Ask 09:48 – Schools Remember How Leadership Feels

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  Episode #31

  The Monday Morning Attendance Trap

  Jul 10, 202612 minS1

  Why does opening the attendance dashboard on a Monday morning feel like a verdict rather than information? Most heads aren't short on effort when it comes to attendance. The harder truth: so much of it often rests on one or two people — and when that's the case, it never feels steady, however hard everyone works. That's the work I do. I run a funded Senior Attendance & Leadership Resilience Check for headteachers and trust leaders in complex schools. It starts with a short strategic assessment. For eligible schools, it opens into a full process: On-site school visit Detailed, school-specific report Follow-up strategy session Practical leadership tools for a clear 90-day plan Typically valued at £1,000 — currently funded for eligible schools. Apply here → https://atrejwhi.formester.com/f/hwL9GCyin/ In this episode of Headship After Hours , we explore the emotional weight many school leaders attach to attendance data and why a single percentage point can influence confidence, decision-making and school culture. Attendance matters deeply. But leaders are often held accountable for outcomes they can influence, not fully control. That tension creates pressure, encourages reactive leadership and can lead schools to chase weekly fluctuations instead of long-term improvement. This episode explores: Why Monday morning attendance reviews feel emotionally charged Accountability versus control in school leadership Reading trends instead of reacting to weekly spikes Building confidence through strong attendance systems Creating a calmer, more sustainable attendance culture The strongest attendance leaders don't ignore the numbers. They learn to read them with clarity, proportion and confidence. Timestamos 00:00 – Why Monday Morning Attendance Feels Like Judgment 00:59 – When One Percentage Carries Too Much Weight 01:56 – Accountability Without Full Control 02:47 – Stop Chasing Weekly Attendance Spikes 03:06 – Attendance Leadership Resilience Check 04:00 – Reading Data Like a Skilled Clinician 04:49 – Signal vs Noise in Attendance Data 05:27 – Three Questions Every Leader Should Ask 06:09 – Creating a Calm Attendance Culture 06:24 – Replace Dread With Grip 07:07 – Attendance Lives in Everyday Practice 07:42 – Build Systems, Not Heroics 08:10 – Strategic Alignment Across Your Team 08:57 – Confidence Changes Attendance Leadership 09:30 – Attendance Is Really About Culture 10:11 – Redesign the Conditions, Not Just the Response 10:27 – When Data Stops Feeling Like Judgment

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