Latest / Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast / Episode 3: Speech and Drama in Schools

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Episode 3: Speech and Drama in Schools · Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to episode three of Gabby's Speech and Drama podcast,
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: brought to you as part of my Speech and Drama community.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is an online resource full of materials,
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  SPEAKER_00: articles,
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: all aimed especially at speech and drama teachers.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: It includes monthly meetups on Zoom and now podcasts.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Our next meetup is on the 15th of September and we are going to swap our favourite
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: games and exercises,
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: which I will then put together into a brilliant resource pack so we can all face
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: the new academic year armed with materials for every occasion.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you are interested in finding out more,
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  SPEAKER_00: then please go to Gabby Maddox,
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: that's G-A-B-I-M-A-D-D-O-C-K-S dot substack dot com.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's a link in the show notes.
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  SPEAKER_00: But now onto today's episode, which focuses on teaching speech and drama in school settings.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I am joined by Abby Haberfield,
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  SPEAKER_00: who has been teaching the Lambda exam syllabus for 12 years and prepares students
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  SPEAKER_00: for a wide variety of exam subjects at all the different grades.
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  SPEAKER_00: Abby does have some private students who she teaches at their own homes in the evenings,
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  SPEAKER_00: but the majority of her Lambda teaching work now takes place in school settings.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So she was the perfect person to talk to on this subject.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, let's welcome Abby to the podcast.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Abby, welcome to Gaby's Speech and Drama Community Podcast.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's so lovely to have you here.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
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  SPEAKER_00: And today we are going to focus on speech and drama in schools.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we are both Lambda teachers, so that's what we tend to offer.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, there are teachers that are doing new era exams and Trinity exams.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I think everything we say pretty much is going to be just as relevant to all of
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: those different boards.
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  SPEAKER_00: But we'll be talking about Lambda.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's our area of expertise, shall we say.
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  SPEAKER_00: So the thing I want to focus on to begin with,
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  SPEAKER_00: and we may veer off in lots of different directions,
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  SPEAKER_00: is the fact that when a school approaches you,
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: or if you approach a school there seem to be as many different ways of running
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  SPEAKER_00: Lambda in schools as there are schools and I'm
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  SPEAKER_00: I've gone through a list of all the schools that we are currently in and that we have been in.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I know that you teach outside of the playing space in schools as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I cannot find a single school that does it the same as someone else.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that might be a good place to start.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: One of the schools that we go into is a...
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: quite, let's say quite a posh private school.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that's where you spend three days a week?
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  SPEAKER_00: Three days a week.
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  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we've got two teachers there.
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  SPEAKER_00: So collectively, maybe four.
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  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you started there a few years ago, when we took over from a Trinity teacher.
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  SPEAKER_00: And
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  SPEAKER_00: At that point, I think it was only half a day's work.
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  SPEAKER_00: So first thing to say is you've done an amazing job in that within that school to
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  SPEAKER_00: increase your teaching hours from half a day to three pretty much full days.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it got to the point that was too much for you to do.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so someone else.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: came in and did half a day's teaching as well.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So can you tell us, first of all, what the setup is there?
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  SPEAKER_00: How is it organised?
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  SPEAKER_00: And I know I help you with some of the admin as well,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I'm going to hand over to you because otherwise it'll just be me talking for
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: half an hour and that would be boring for everybody.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, you do definitely help a lot.
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  SPEAKER_02: So when we first started, like you said, I think we had maybe six, seven students.
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  SPEAKER_02: And so I was giving them half an hour a session a week
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  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think that was the same setup as the previous teacher as well with Trinity.
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  SPEAKER_02: Um,
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  SPEAKER_02: so yeah,
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  SPEAKER_02: we had half an hour a week,
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  SPEAKER_02: um,
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  SPEAKER_02: each student,
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  SPEAKER_02: but as the numbers grew,
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  SPEAKER_02: it got to a point where we couldn't give each student 30 minutes because there just
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  SPEAKER_02: wasn't enough hours in the teaching days,
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  SPEAKER_02: five days a week.
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  SPEAKER_02: So then it got to a point where we had to do shared lessons.
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  SPEAKER_02: So no more than two, um, in a 30 minute lesson.
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  SPEAKER_02: Um,
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  SPEAKER_02: and that it did work out and it does work really well because it means that now
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  SPEAKER_02: those two students can learn off each other.
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  SPEAKER_02: They have time to process what maybe what feedback I've given them.
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  SPEAKER_02: They get to watch the other person and listen to what I say to the other person.
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  SPEAKER_02: And then put that into their performances.
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  SPEAKER_02: It's also good for the knowledge section because it gives them time maybe to go
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  SPEAKER_02: over their answers,
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  SPEAKER_02: write answers in the lesson whilst I'm working with somebody else.
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  SPEAKER_00: Was there any pushback from parents at all over that change?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not at all, really.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think...
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  SPEAKER_02: They actually quite like the idea of having shared lessons.
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  SPEAKER_02: And it works out a bit cheaper for them.
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  SPEAKER_00: It does.
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  SPEAKER_00: It works out cheaper for them.
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  SPEAKER_00: And actually, of course, it works out financially better for us as well.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you can hear some strange noises in the background,
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: that's Lola the dog who may make a contribution later.
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  SPEAKER_00: But if you can hear some sort of strange yowling, stretching, yawning noises, that's not me or Abby.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's Lola.
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  Okay.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: um well where was that yes of course it works out better for us financially because
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  SPEAKER_00: we're not charging half the amount we're charging maybe two-thirds yeah of the
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: amount so we can now fit four students in an hour um and i think you still do
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: private classes with the medal students the odd one yeah sometimes they do request
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: it which is completely fine if they feel like they would they would get more out of
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  SPEAKER_02: a 30 minute just one to one-on-one session
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  SPEAKER_02: I think that's fair enough.
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  SPEAKER_02: You know, they're paying for it.
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  SPEAKER_02: So if they want that and we can accommodate that in the timetable, then sure.
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  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it is only 30 minutes if,
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  SPEAKER_02: so what I tend to do with this particular school is I put year groups together.
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  SPEAKER_02: So I'd have two girls in year nine, two girls in year 10 and work like that.
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  SPEAKER_02: If I wouldn't usually mix them just because of school politics,
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  SPEAKER_02: they prefer to be with people their own age.
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  SPEAKER_02: So if there was an uneven number of,
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  SPEAKER_02: then it would just naturally be that,
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  SPEAKER_02: say,
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  SPEAKER_02: that year nine student would be on their own until another year nine student comes in.
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  SPEAKER_02: And we explain that to parents and they're usually very happy.
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  SPEAKER_02: Another thing that I think has also got the numbers up is with this pairing,
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  SPEAKER_02: they always bring friends and then they enjoy their lessons so much more because
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: they're coming with a friend.
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  SPEAKER_02: So...
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  SPEAKER_02: I think that really worked in our favour a bit that when we opened it up to paired
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  SPEAKER_02: sessions and then more and more students said,
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  SPEAKER_02: oh,
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  SPEAKER_02: I've got friends that'd like to start.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we're at a point now where we have to say, OK, well, there's a waiting list.
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  SPEAKER_00: So give us, get your parents to send us an email and we'll let you know.
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course, in September, we've got New Year's Sevens joining.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I know it's on our agenda for next week is to sit and
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: get together and thrash out the timetable.
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  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because that's another thing.
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  SPEAKER_02: People don't stop.
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  SPEAKER_02: Students don't say, oh, I'm just doing it for this year because they're working continuously on exams.
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  SPEAKER_02: So it's not like it's a yearly rota where they do it and then they stop or they have to sign up again.
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  SPEAKER_02: It does just continue.
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  SPEAKER_02: So I think the last time I looked,
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  SPEAKER_02: when new students come to this particular school they fill in a form of what extra
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  SPEAKER_02: curriculum activities they want to take part in that can be musical instruments
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  SPEAKER_02: dance classes etc and the lambda is on there and I think last time I checked it was
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  24
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  SPEAKER_00: 24 brand new year seven two one three lambda yeah so so then we can decide uh do we
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  SPEAKER_00: start a waiting list do we bring in another teacher for another day um i don't
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  SPEAKER_00: think you can do any any more time than you're already doing can you so um yeah i
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: mean it just it gets as much as i love it and i really really love going to that
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  SPEAKER_02: particular school it's a the school is lovely it's
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  SPEAKER_02: um in central London it's um got a lovely feel to it it's very warming the students
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  SPEAKER_02: are all so eager and and want to be there and so just want to do well it just makes
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  SPEAKER_02: my job really easy so I could be tempted obviously to do more but then it just does
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  SPEAKER_02: just take over your life yeah um
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  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, we'll have to see.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll have to see.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lovely.
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  SPEAKER_00: And just the other thing I was going to mention is that,
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  SPEAKER_00: of course,
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  SPEAKER_00: opening up to shared lessons gives you the opportunity for students to do combined
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  SPEAKER_00: exams and duologue exams and things like that,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is also fun for them.
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  SPEAKER_00: Which is quite popular, actually.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: So the setup at this particular school is that we invoice the parents directly.
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  SPEAKER_00: We have to pay a small amount of rent to the school for the hire of the space.
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  SPEAKER_00: We didn't do that initially.
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  SPEAKER_00: I think the school started to realise how much money the playing space was making.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we started to get the feeling that they were looking into ways.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I know that for private schools at the moment,
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  SPEAKER_00: things are a bit difficult with the cost of living crisis and also with the impending...
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: removal of the VAT exemption on private school fees and so they were starting to
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  SPEAKER_00: make noises about how they could potentially benefit from it and so I actually
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  SPEAKER_00: suggested the idea of us paying rent for the space if they had suggested that at
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: the beginning when we were only doing half a day I would have probably said no
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: because it wouldn't have been worth it but seeing as it's become quite a
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  SPEAKER_00: substantial part of
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  SPEAKER_00: our income stream, it seemed to make sense to do that.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: We have to do all of the timetabling.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have to make sure that students don't miss the same class twice within a week or two.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: We try and avoid them missing sort of key lessons like maths and things like that
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: for the older students.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it is complicated and we have to do all of the invoicing ourselves and chase
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: parents for payments and things like that.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a lot of admin involved as well.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: But all in all, it's been a real success there.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to compare that setup to one that I think was quite similar.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: at another school where you were covering maternity leave,
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: or I think you just went in for one day a week during maternity leave.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And in that situation, they were just paying an hourly fee.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: There was no invoicing involved.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: There was no admin.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And when you arrived in the morning, they just handed you a timetable.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so even though the profit margins were a bit less, it seemed to be worth it because...
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  SPEAKER_00: It was just such a much easier job.
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  SPEAKER_00: The other thing to say about the first school that we were talking about is we have
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: to enter all the students for their Lambda exams and send them off to the public centre.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have a private centre running at the school.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: They don't.
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  SPEAKER_02: And that's just because we have so many students there.
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  SPEAKER_02: It's very with different age ranges that it's difficult to get them all prepared for one date.
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  SPEAKER_02: We could, of course, and push them all to that date.
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  SPEAKER_02: But because the spectrum is so varied, probably as low as grade two to as high as grade eight.
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  SPEAKER_02: Naturally, some students are going to take so much longer to prepare for those exams.
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  SPEAKER_02: So trying to find a date with with all of them.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: would be tricky,
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  SPEAKER_02: but that's the beauty of the public,
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  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: they're in central London anyway,
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: the public centre is around the corner,
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  SPEAKER_02: they just kind of,
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  SPEAKER_02: the academic year can be so busy,
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  SPEAKER_02: and they're quite,
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  SPEAKER_02: it's quite an exam,
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  SPEAKER_02: heavy pressured school,
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  SPEAKER_02: so sometimes they don't always prioritise their exam,
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: which is fair enough,
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_02: they've got,
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: they're in quite a,
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: like I said,
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: a high pressure situation,
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  SPEAKER_02: so it works,
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  SPEAKER_02: I think,
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: well for everyone just to take the exam when they're ready with the occasional push
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: from from me and so will you have some students who take more than one exam each
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: year yeah definitely yeah um some are more um
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  SPEAKER_02: motivated motivated than others um some like to take the whole year and just kind
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: of take it in their stride and say kind of yeah what works and you know the parents
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: the ones paying the fee so as long as the parents are happy and the students are
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: happy we can we can go at their pace um so just uh i'm just curious you also before
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: we move on to i'm sort of sticking with kind of
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: The private school sector to begin with.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: You work in a private school yourself,
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  SPEAKER_00: not for the playing space,
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  SPEAKER_00: something you set up,
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: which I don't know anything about.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So could you tell me about that?
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  SPEAKER_02: So I took over from a teacher who had maybe a handful of students,
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: quite similar actually to the other school we were referring to.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: But the only difference was she would teach them all at lunchtime.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I think by a handful, I think maybe about 15 students.
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  SPEAKER_02: And she would teach them all in this lunch break.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: So she would see their poem and then go.
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  SPEAKER_02: And she'd only offer verse and prose.
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  SPEAKER_02: So when I came in and I had inherited those students and a few more,
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: I said,
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: I just I can't give them my time in this lunch break anymore.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think their lunch is an hour and they have to eat in this time as well.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is 15 children?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: Quite low grades?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a prep school, so years four, five and six.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we're looking at sort of entry grade one, grade two.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all right.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: And they wanted you to see 15 children in an hour?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: In an hour lunch break, pretty much.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: All coming together in one group?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: All come to one group and they would all apparently...
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: fight who could go first so they could then go off and have lunch which makes no
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: sense so i kind of put my foot down and said straight away that it works really
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: well for me and from previous experience that i'm gonna have three in a group for
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: half an hour they get 10 minutes each they watch each other um
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to take them out of their lessons,
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: but I'll make sure that we rotate them so they never miss the same lesson more than
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: once in a term or half a term.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't seem to have any problem with it.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: I was then able to accommodate new students.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I think I've got about 45 now.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that's triple from when you started.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I offer all grades.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: All subjects.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: All subjects.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: when I think she only had, that was her only choice, probably, to offer just verse and prose or poetry.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because of the time constraints.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because of the time constraints.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: It was literally,
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: see a poem,
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: probably get a bit of feedback,
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: not even have time to work on it,
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: and then send them off.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it may be that this teacher didn't want to work like that,
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: but the school told her that this was the way they did things,
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: and so she felt she had to...
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps,
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: perhaps.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think she was some sort of, I think...
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: I think she was actually like a TA perhaps, and then taught Lambda on the side for them.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: The major problem that I faced when I came in was obviously she was doing it at lunchtime,
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: so every single room was free.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: So wherever she was, it was a free room.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: The first day I got there and signed all the contracts and did all of the waivers and everything,
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: I said, okay, so where am I?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't have a room for me.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: They had no idea.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: They'd forgotten that you would actually need a space to teach.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because I'm teaching during the class times.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: They had no idea where to put me.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: I just assumed this was something that they had thought about.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I went into the PE office,
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: surrounded by swizzle chairs and these poor PE teachers coming in and out of their computers.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: like their office oh my god and me just trying to say their poems are doing their
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: pieces like there's not much space in here but can you try and do this like just no
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: it didn't work um and so it took uh i think it was like that me for the first three
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: weeks i was just and i kept saying that i needed another room i need something that
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: has got some space and i'm not going to be able to
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: be interrupted because this is the parents are paying for these lessons they need
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: to have good quality teaching um and it wasn't it was because of me i was walking
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: past this music room like every time i've walked past this room no one's been in
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: here so i went to the office and i said is anyone using the music room on fridays
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: And they said no.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, can I have it?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I ended up sharing it with the music teacher who only just used it when he wasn't,
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: he'd only come in because he wasn't teaching elsewhere.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I became very good friends with him.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: He became my ally.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: And he's been very supportive ever since.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: Since then, I also noticed that the massive, massive computer room wasn't being used either on a Friday.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I ended up then bumping up to this massive room,
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: which I was very sad to say goodbye to the music teacher.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: but it was just so much better for the students they even had little dots on the
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: floor and i could say go on to that yellow dot that's all the way stage and i could
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: get them to use the space a bit more it's a brilliant room and if you're doing
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: acting exams and dividing exams you just need it you just need it so it definitely
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: did evolve since me taking over and being there but for the better yeah it's so
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: much better now
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And what happens with the invoicing?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Do you invoice parents directly or is the school paying you?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: So when I took over,
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think previously they had paid through the school system,
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: similar to maybe how they pay for their lunches or something like that.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: But the school actually asked me and said very, very clearly, we don't want anything to do with it.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: We want you to do it all.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: So from that, I then decided on a fee that I think would cover my admin time, cover
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: my teaching time would be a suitable amount that would uh be as a you know a price
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: that isn't too much because considering i've got three students in the class yeah
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: and also i suppose you didn't want to change the price too much from what the
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: previous what they've been paying previously oh yeah it was really weird i remember
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: saying can i can i ask how much they were paying before and i said i'm going to
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: charge this does that sound about right um and they just said yeah i don't think
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: they knew
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: um it was it was incredibly unorganized disorganized yeah and um i think we found
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: that when we when we went into that big school in central london as well that you
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: know we were sort of being given scraps of paper and yeah you know i love a
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: spreadsheet me yes well i've had to convert to it i've had to yeah use everything
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: i've learned from you to to you know take control i think that's just an expected
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: thing i think they're not only you delivering the lessons and the materials and the
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: classes but
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: you also have to run it as a business almost in these schools.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: They don't really want anything to do with it.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: And what's your preference?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Would you rather be in control,
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: have to spend that time timetabling,
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: invoicing parents,
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: chasing parents for money,
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: being able to set your own prices,
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: or would you...
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: like to just walk into school as we did in that place where you were covering
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: maternity leave be given the timetable for the day know that you at the end of the
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: month you invoice for your hourly rate yeah i think it's so personal to whoever's
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: doing it really luckily for me i've i've done it from both sides i've done it for
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: working for you going into a school
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: chasing people who owe you the company money, setting the timetables.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been able to do that for myself in my own school.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: But I think I do, I like having the control over the timetabling, the invoicing the parents when it's me.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Just because you might feel the same when you're running a company,
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: because I am essentially,
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: I guess,
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: running that part of my own business.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: I don't trust anyone else.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel more in control by doing that.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think especially when it comes to entering students for exams,
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: it would be quite...
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even trust parents to do it.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: We do charge an admin fee for our time to do it.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if a parent quibbles about the admin fee, I say, well, look, here's the link.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it yourself.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: But the only mistakes we've ever had when students have been entered for the wrong exam or...
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, has been when parents have done the entries themselves.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I saw something recently on the Land of Teachers sharing forum where,
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: a parent made a mistake with an entry and the exam got cancelled.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I may be misremembering that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, it's the last thing you want to have to deal with.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Mistakes happen.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: But with our experience, they happen less.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I do the same.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: I've learned from you that I absolutely charge an admin fee because I do so much.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: We do so much when it comes to entering, getting the materials, getting them there.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a lot to cover.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, unfortunately, no one's ever quibbled it.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And also...
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: you know if the school is doing the entries then they have to deal with you know
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: the side of lambda that is sometimes less than perfectly organized i'm just
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: thinking about all the emails that we've had recently saying that you know exam
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: historical exam fees weren't paid you know even though that is a ball ache at least
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: we have that information we can go back and we can share a
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: screenshots from our bank statements and emails with them and say,
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: look,
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: you've made a mistake.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: You need to sort this out.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: A school is just not going to have the time or inclination to do that sort of extra work.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: And when you are charging an admin fee,
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: then at least you know when you're putting that work in,
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: at least you know that your time is being paid for.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: So before we move on to kind of state schools, which I want to talk about as well,
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to mention an experience I had maybe a year and a half ago where I
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: was asked by a mutual friend who worked in a school if I wanted to take over the
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Lambda provision at,
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: again,
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: a very well-to-do private London school.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so I got in contact with the person organising it.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: and she explained the deal and it sounds quite similar to what you presented with
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: at first it was it wasn't lunchtime it was after school for i think an hour and a
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: half 3 30 till 5 on three different days of the week um so i would have to find a
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: teacher or do it myself you know drive there or get public transport there for an
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: hour and a half on three different days so already
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that that was going to be a challenge to find someone who would do that.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: She explained that there were 16 children in each of those groups.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: And each child was paying 16 pounds per session.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that would,
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: all of that,
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: and I said,
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: how much goes to the school and how much goes to the teacher?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: She said, I don't know if the teacher would get all of that.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: You would deal with the invoicing yourself.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that is £256 for an hour and a half, which is a very, very generous rate of pay.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: But in the back of my mind,
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking,
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: hang on a second,
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: we charge £16 for four children to come for an hour.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: These kids are not getting a good deal.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: And how on earth are we teaching Lambda to 16 children in a group?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that there are probably ways around it.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Only offering one subject is one way.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I've heard of teachers who have the kids all choose the same pieces so
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: that they can teach them.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I know examiners who have come into schools and seen the same piece over and
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: over again,
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: done in pretty much the same way.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was a bit of a dilemma for me.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do I take the money?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because as I say,
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: it was very generous and I would have been able to pay a teacher,
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: 150 quid for an hour and a half's work and still have,
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: a nice chunk left over to cover materials and admin time and insurance and all of
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: those overheads and,
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: office space and website and the rest of it.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, every class that we run has to make a contribution to those things.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: But in the end, I just said no.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: I said, unless you can make some adjustments to how you're offering these classes, I...
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Don't think we can do it.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: And there was no wiggle room from them.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: There was no sense.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this school that you went into, they seemed happy to make those adjustments.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, notwithstanding rooms not being allocated, it's worked out very well.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: But it was just like, no, this is how we've always done it.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do it like this.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so I did say no in the end.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that whoever...
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: did go in as managers.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'd be so interested to see their results because I think that's what would...
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think the ultimate question there in that setup is what quality of teaching are
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: they receiving and what...
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: what are they getting out of it?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: Are they increasing their confidence?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Are they increasing their communication skills?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: If they're all doing the same thing,
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: the same pieces,
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: and hardly any sort of contact time to grow or to develop.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's just,
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean,
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think you saying no was obviously the right thing to do and not just,
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: taking the money and run.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: That would have been 750 quid a week I could have pocketed.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, wonderful.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: But I just,
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: I know,
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: any normal,
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think,
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: sane person would know that that's wrong and you can't just,
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: it's exploitation.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I did, I sort of felt like that, that these kids were being offered a really shoddy deal.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And just because they were from families that had money,
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: they weren't going to question it because actually £16 for a lamb doesn't sound
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: very much.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe the parents weren't aware of how many would have in the group,
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: but it wouldn't happen with music lessons.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't have 16 children in a room all doing grade two violin or grade six
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: violin and be expected to just work in that way.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it should be done with speech and drama either.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And,
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: you and I teach in a similar way where we want the child to figure out the staging
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: and figure out the...
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: what the feelings of the character are,
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: and we want them all to find their own way of doing it.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's why the statistics just speak for themselves.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: You think how many students are playing Space House,
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: you think how many students we have at that first school we mentioned,
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: how that has grown,
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: how many students...
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: that I started off with in my other private school, how that's great.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: The numbers just speak for themselves.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's just the way that we are and how we teach.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that is the best way.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you taught me everything I know, so that's why I'm successful.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, just keep working for me.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then everyone's a winner.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let's have a look at some sort of schools at the other end of the spectrum.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: There was a school that we used to go into in East London, and it was a good secondary state school.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they approached us.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they had a pot of money,
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: basically,
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: that was to be spent on their,
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think some were like gifted and talented students.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: And some were students who maybe had English as a second language who were actually
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: falling behind in their grades and they wanted to find a way of boosting them.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we had such an amazing experience at this school.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: We took six children over the course of the year.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think they were year sevens.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: And we took them through grade one speaking in public.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And there was no pressure.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: We were able to take a whole academic year.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: We were working in this group of six for an hour and a half each week.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the difference.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the year, they got their results and they all got marks in the 90s.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I did say to the person at the school, I was like, these are exceptional marks.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: And these were kids who were
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: failing academically,
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: who lacked confidence,
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: who had been specially chosen for this particular group because they were falling behind.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it gave them such a boost.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we repeated the same thing the following year.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: They did have a gifted and talented pot as well, which was for the sixth formers doing medal exams.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we had a good experience with them as well.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: But it was particularly these groups of year sevens who were coming in
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: already kind of behind their peers and it was so rewarding and then the third year
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: came and I you know got to the end of the year and I was like you know we'd love to
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: be back in September and they said no the funding's been cut we've got no money we
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: now have to spend that allocation on things like food and you know classroom
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: resources and stuff so we won't be able to have you back and it it just was such a
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: shame
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just mentioning it because I still feel quite sad.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a shame that that's taken away from them when it's something that they, you know, don't need.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's something that they can use in their future lives that is going to really
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: benefit them and really,
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: that they can use in whatever avenue they go down to work.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: whatever job that they get.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, of course, food and classroom materials are very important.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_02: But these are just lifelong skills that they'll be able to use.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just such a shame that the kids,
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: again,
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: you're widening the gap between the children whose parents can afford it.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd love to find ways of going into more schools like that.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Another really kind of extreme situation we had,
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: we actually went into a,
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember the name of it.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was like a school for excluded children.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: So these were kids who, for whatever reason, had been kicked out of their schools.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we were asked not to do Lambda, but just to come in and do a drama class.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: And
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: I sent in a teacher who I thought, oh, she'll be really good.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: She was quite sort of sassy and experienced.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: And in the first week she was there, and literally there were like,
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: bounces around you know in the room it was quite an extreme situation um that i
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: that i put her in i kind of in retrospect i probably should have gone with her at
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: least she was sassy though she could have well one of the kids said to her that she
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: looked like a crack whore and she actually replied brilliantly well done for
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: spotting that that's actually one of my castings
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: And she,
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: there were kids there that wanted to be on TV and she was,
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: she was going to bring like EastEnders scripts and things like that,
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: things that they would be familiar with.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: And she said the first week there was a bit of a divide between the kids who were
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: just like not engaged,
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: on their phones,
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: not interested.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then a few kids,
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: maybe three or four out of the group who seemed like really keen and wanted to,
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: tell her all the things that they wanted to work on.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the really sad thing was that in the second week when she went back,
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: those kids that had been keen suddenly stopped.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that probably they had,
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: been teased maybe by the other kids that,
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: they had...
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: For showing a bit of an interest.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: For showing an interest.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's not cool.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so that class did fizzle out.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, those are...
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: sort of slightly more unusual setups.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: For many,
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: many years,
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: we've gone into a school in East London,
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: which again is a state school where a handful of their students get put through
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: laundry exams twice a year.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll have a cohort of year 10s doing usually verse and prose grade six.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Never done landed before,
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: so they're going straight in because they want the UCAS points or they want the medal.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then either the same kids doing grade six speaking in public or a different cohort of year 10s.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we have year 11s as well.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the school does not have money.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: The kids do not have money.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're often doing bake sales and so on to raise money to cover even the exam fees and things like that.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've had to sort of battle with them a little bit about the numbers that
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: they're trying to cram into the sessions and the number of weeks we have to prepare them.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: So to begin with, they had four children coming in half an hour, which is great.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I pushed, but I've managed to get it down to three in half an hour, which is better.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I've also managed to extend the amount of time they have to prepare from 10 weeks up to 12 weeks.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it's still very difficult.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have a staff member at the school who really supports the kids, who understands.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: She's been doing it for so long now that she knows the syllabus for those grades.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: She can support them with things like the knowledge section.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: I will often have the entire group coming and doing an hour on Zoom with me to
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: cover the knowledge,
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: to try and get it.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: done as quickly as possible.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's one of their weeks.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's a really interesting question.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: We had a teacher that went into that school who I only found out afterwards had
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: been going in and doing free sessions with these kids because she wanted them so
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: much to do well.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: And she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I did say to her, look, I know that you're being really kind, but...
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: it doesn't actually help our case because if those kids now go on and do
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: brilliantly in their exams,
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have the,
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can't persuade the school.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: We do need a bit longer to prepare them.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: We do need fewer kids in the class.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: We do need a proper mock exam.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the next teacher may not be willing to.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, exactly.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: You set standards.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: And if they start expecting free work, then where does that leave you?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: I think with this sort of set up,
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think when there's limited money,
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: limited funds,
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: and limited time,
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's really important to emphasize,
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: especially for the medical levels,
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_02: how much work they do without you.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, exactly.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: technically,
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: they could write speeches,
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: they can practice these speeches and be ready quite quickly if they put in that
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: extra work.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's absolutely what happens.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: So they will have a class with us who will say, this is what you need to get done by the next week.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then the staff member at the school will support those kids.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes they can do it and sometimes they can't.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's a brilliant way round it.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they're probably not getting...
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: the results that they could.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Of course they're not getting the results that they could if they had more time and
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: fewer people in the class.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: But they're doing pretty well.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: But with what they're kind of handed, then that's how it has to be.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then it works.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so...
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: The one, I mean, I don't charge them as much per hour.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the teacher that goes into that school is still getting the same hourly rate.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the paying space profit that is a bit squeezed.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I, yeah, absolutely.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't do any work for free.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: No, no.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's the fine line, isn't it?
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, business is business at the end of the day.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: And everyone works.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: But there is always...
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: room to negotiate.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: And we all want the best, but we all have to pay bills.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: We all have to do these things.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a really experienced drama teacher recently,
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Lambda teacher,
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: who's been doing it for decades and understandably charges a very high hourly rate
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: to her students because of her experience.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: But what she said is that she does give them a free top up.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: So they may come in small groups and
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: three or four but then as the exam approaches she will give them a free half hour
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: or two free half hour sessions but that's sort of built into the price because
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: she's charging more so it's nice for those parents thinking oh I'm getting a lovely
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: free session but of course it is built up into the cost that they're paying for the
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: regular classes.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, brilliant.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: Sneaky but clever but also I remember you saying
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: well something that you've always sort of uh say and try and do is trying to get
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: money like funding so you can go into those schools and offer these free lessons to
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: them but obviously you're just getting funded funded for it so which covers your
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: time um
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: But because everything's just getting cut these days and the arts, it's just so hard.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very difficult because we are not... We're a...
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: not a not-for-profit company so you know the playing space is a um it has to make a
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: profit and that's why it's hard we can't apply for funding from the most funding
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: bodies won't give yeah so it well what it is is it's up to the school to apply for
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: the funding um and then they can use that pot to pay for our services so we uh can
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: find ways of
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: directing schools towards those funding pots but to be honest with you this is an
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: area that i am not familiar with i'm not educated enough um and it is definitely
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: something i would like to move into more definitely and i think that just really
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: matches the plain space ethos you know we try to give everyone the skills to to uh
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: that they can use in their lives and um and i think that would really yeah reflects
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: your whole
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: message of the playing space.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: We try and teach everyone, you know, whatever, whoever they are.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever additional needs they might have.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's to everyone and everyone is entitled to it and deserves it.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think we are going to have to bring this to a close.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's been such an interesting conversation.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: The last thing I wanted to say is...
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: There are going to be teachers maybe listening to this that think, well, I'd love to go into a school.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to teach lambda in a school.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: But it's really, really hard to get in.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking at this list of schools in front of me and every single one of them
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: They approached us.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's the same with my one.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think what helped me,
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: well,
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: the way they got in contact with me is because I was on the Lambda directory.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't know that I was just a solo Lambda teacher going in.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess they weren't particularly for companies.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_02: It was just in this case they were looking for a Lambda teacher.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: So they were a good reason to get on the directory.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's paid for itself a few times over.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I noticed about the directory is, do you have to remember to renew?
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was looking at it the other day,
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: and I've dropped off it,
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: and I was like,
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: do I have to put a note in my calendar to remind myself?
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think previously,
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: yes,
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: but possibly,
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: I might be wrong,
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: but I think I saw in my junk,
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if it was last year or this year.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, an invitation to renew.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think it's a new thing that they've started.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: Ah.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: okay all right well listen before we say goodbye we have to do our regular feature
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: of the podcast which is lambda horror stories so many so this could be a a mess up
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: that you have made yeah if you if you are happy to share that or it could be an
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: experience that a student has had
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: in an exam room or I think,
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think,
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: um,
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's only right for me to put my hands up to say after teaching Lambda for
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_02: over 10 years,
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: I still make mistakes,
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_02: obviously less than what I did.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, especially now I have so many private students.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, most recently,
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_02: It can go as far as forgetting to enter somebody,
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: which is really bad,
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: especially when the deadline is gone,
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_02: to telling someone the wrong time for their exam,
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_02: and then they turned up at the wrong time,
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: so they didn't get to take their exam.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: But more from an actual teaching point,
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think one that really sticks out was here,
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: and I was teaching them a musical theatre exam.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't quite realise, because we don't really teach musical theatre here.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's only because I have a background in musical theatre that I do the odd one.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: And when I... I think we did have a syllabus, but I was just kind of referring to the one online.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_02: So when I was preparing my student,
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: just referring to the syllabus that I'd downloaded online from the Lambda website,
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: and it wasn't until the girl came out of the exams
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_02: and said, oh, they asked me this question.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then Gabby, you rang me and you said, oh, they said they weren't prepared for this question.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: I said, no, that's not in the syllabus.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I had been looking at the old syllabus, not the new one, which was still on their website.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that Lambda kind of have to take the blame for that because they had the
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: 2019 syllabus on their website at the same time as their 2021 syllabus.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: And they hadn't taken it down.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_02: And it was on top.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: It was the top one.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the 2019 syllabus only lasted for a couple of years, which is so weird.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: So normally you'd look at 2019 and think, oh, yeah, that's still running.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: But they had sort of mysteriously updated it.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we did get away with that.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we did.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we shouldn't have done.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: The examiners should technically have failed her.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because she couldn't answer it, could she?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't know the question.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: And he did decide to fudge it and offer her another one, which I am so grateful for.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because, I mean, she got a mark in the 90s.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: She was absolutely fabulous.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it would have been such a travesty for her to fail because she didn't know the
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: definition of one musical term.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: But...
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: according to the rules as they were, that should have been the case.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now they've changed it now in the acting and verse and prose syllabus.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's now up to three pauses and phrases and up to three figures of speech rather
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: than having to...
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you can now get one wrong.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's a bit of leeway.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: I...
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: I guess they will be doing that with the musical theatre syllabus when they next update it.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really good actually for us to share mistakes that we've made because
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: it does help new Lambda teachers as well learn from those mistakes but also if you
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: mess up in your first year or two of teaching it can feel like the end of the world.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you mess up in your 15th or your 20th year of teaching
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can forgive yourself a bit more easily because you've got it right so many times.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, that's a good one.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: Always make sure you are checking the most up-to-date syllabus.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: We've had it recently.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're preparing students for devising exams.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: And one of our teachers did get confused because they knew that we could use the
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: acting anthology volume four or five for their set texts.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: They made the mistake with the devising that they could also use the prompts in the previous syllabus.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: But it's very early on in their preparation.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be easy for us to tweak those.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the change of syllabus time is always a bit fraught when you're preparing
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: students for exams at that moment.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: And given everything that's been going on with Lambda and the anthologies and the debacle,
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: it's even more fraught than usual.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: Brilliant.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for coming in and talking to me about all of these interesting things.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope our listeners have found that very helpful.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yay.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Bye-bye.