Oli is the CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company – our national body for careers education. Going back further, Oli was Headteacher (and co-founder) at School 21 which pioneered new ways of working with employers - including the introduction of extended work placements for all Year 10s and 12s.

As the curtain comes down on 2023, we look back at our top five moments of the year.

As the year draws to a close, we’re looking back at some of the amazing guests we’ve had on Heads & Tales over the past months.

At this year’s ISC, Henry Faber was joined by Wellington College’s James Dahl to discuss ideas around mentorship and essential skills, with a focus on how to enable personal growth pupil engagement as part of a student’s school journey.

As AI continues to transform the way we operate in our digital world, the discussions around its impact on education broaden.

Episode 25 brings Justin Pinnells, Academic Director of Catalyst at Winchester College. An articulate and sophisticated thinker, Justin’s episode includes: How he would change GCSEs for the better, his vote for the best online learning platform for students and why we need to be worried about AI.

Following the successful pilot mentoring project with British Education Korea in September 2023, Oppidan's office in Seoul opens December 1st 2023 with the wider launch of its programme to families and to the school for students across prep and secondary.

This week on Heads & Tales, we are delighted to be joined by a giant of the education world, Dr Joe Spence, Master of Dulwich College.

At Oppidan, we talk a lot with schools about character education. But what actually is character education?  According to Ofsted, there are 6 areas that schools should tackle in order to develop effective character education.  

After playing a mischievous prank on their school housemaster, Charlie & George were given a novel punishment; run a party for his 6yr old daughter’s birthday.

How many girls does it take to change the continent of Africa? One. It takes just one talented STEM student armed with excellent A-Levels, ready for the world’s best universities, to change the continent of Africa.

Episode 21, and it’s Sharath Jeevan, the Executive Chairman of Intrinsic Labs. Sharath was awarded an OBE in the 2022 Queen's New Year's Honours for founding and leading STiR Education, arguably the world's largest intrinsic motivation initiative.

With it, comes Will Orr-Ewing, Founder of Keystone Tutoring and Arka Learning. Will is a friend of Oppidan and an expert on all things 1:1 support. This episode includes: His ‘most unpopular opinion’ on the key trend within education, the truth about the tutoring system and what he would do to make GCSEs and A-Levels more effective.

At the end of September, Ofsted published an independent review of careers guidance in schools and further education and skills providers. 

Helen is Associate Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Cambridge, and Director of Studies in Education (Homerton College). 

Closely on the heels of our trip to South Korea, Oppidan spent last week in Spain building a partnership with our first school in the Affinitas group.  

We are delighted to be launching 'Season 2' of Heads & Tales with a fascinating interview with James Dahl, Master of Wellington College. Including: the big lie he told on the 3rd day of his teaching career, his take on GCSE reform and what role independent schools will have in 5 years.

Last week we travelled to Seoul to launch our mentoring programme with the schools of British Education Korea. It was a brilliant week full of learnings, cultural and educational and we were delighted that, even the other side of the world, there was such a strong appetite for developing essential skills.

It has been a real privilege to complement the innovative and deliberate pastoral interventions taking place across our varied partner schools this 2022-23 academic year.

This week we are delighted to welcome Haili Hughes, Principal Lecturer in Mentoring and Professional Development at the University of Sunderland.