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diverse group of teaching staff taking part in a collaborative INSET session focused on building capacity and wellbeing at the start of the school year

Starting the Year Already Depleted: Why September INSET Should Build Staff Capacity, Not Just Deliver Information

An INSET day built around policy updates and information delivery might tick a compliance box, but it does very little for a staffroom that is already running on reserves before the pupils have even arrived. If your September INSET day is currently built around information, it may be worth asking what it would look like built around capacity instead.

Parent and teenager talking together calmly, weeks after exam results

Coping With Exam Results: What Comes After Any Big Outcome

A result is a single number, produced by one performance, on one day, after months or years of preparation that number alone can never fully capture. Our latest blog piece looks at what genuinely helps in the weeks after results day, whatever the outcome, and draws on academic research showing that one-off, high-pressure exams have real limitations as a measure of ability, and can suit some learners considerably better than others.

Four teenagers in a stone school cloister holding GCSE results envelopes and slips, with mixed reactions of comfort, confusion and relief

Results Day, Whatever the Exam: Supporting Your Child on GCSE Results Day and Beyond

Somewhere this morning, a phone is buzzing on a bedside table before anyone's dressed. Somewhere else, a family is deciding, without quite discussing it, who opens the laptop and who leaves the room. GCSE results day is one morning, but it never really belongs to one story. Some houses are celebrating. Some are quietly heartbroken. Some are just confused about how to feel. All on the same day, for the same exam. I've written this week's piece on what actually helps across al

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Why Forward-Thinking Independent Schools Are Adding a Positive Psychology Coach to Their Pastoral Provision

More independent schools are adding positive psychology coaches to their pastoral teams. Discover how in-school coaching complements therapy, impresses inspectors, and gives parents confidence — at no cost to the school.

Tamara@KeystoneCoaching

7 min read

Leadership Supervision in Schools: What the 2026 White Paper Means — and Why Independent Schools Shouldn't Wait

The government's 2026 Schools White Paper has put leadership supervision firmly on the agenda for headteachers. Here's what it means — and why independent schools shouldn't wait for state funding to act.

Tamara@KeystoneCoaching

6 min read

A professional photograph of a thoughtful senior leader, seated alone at a desk looking out over the grounds of an independent school.

Leadership Under Pressure: Why This Time of Year Is So Hard— and How Leadership Coaching Helps

If you are a leader — in an independent school, a professional services firm, or any organisation where high performance is the baseline expectation — the spring term has a specific quality to it. The optimism of January has worn off. Deadlines are stacking up. The calendar is full. And somewhere beneath the surface of your professional competence is a quiet, persistent question: How long can I keep this up? For leaders in independent education especially, this time of year c

Tamara@KeystoneCoaching

5 min read