The Independent School Podcast with Juliet Corbett
The Independent School Podcast shares real-world leadership conversations with Principals, Heads and CEOs from across independent and international schools, exploring what it means to lead well in an increasingly complex world.
Hosted by executive coach and trusted advisor Juliet Corbett, the podcast offers clear, practical insight into staying strategic amidst daily pressures, making high-stakes decisions with confidence and shaping high-performing school cultures. Juliet brings her cross-sector experience and more than two decades of work in education to conversations designed to spark your best thinking.
If you want calm, reflective insight that helps you slow the pace, sharpen your focus and navigate complexity with clarity and courage, this podcast is for you.
The Independent School Podcast with Juliet Corbett
020: Bursaries and strategy in practice with Bart Wielenga, Head, Blundell's School
In last week's episode, I used the four building blocks of strategy to identify the key choices that governors and heads need to confront and make when they are crafting a robust bursary strategy. In this episode, I welcome Bart Wielenga, Head of Blundell’s School in Tiverton in Devon, UK to talk about how this model can be practically used and how we have worked together to develop a robust strategy for his school.
In our conversation, we discuss both bursaries and strategy. I begin by asking Bart about his reflections on crafting his bursary vision, and forming his school’s bursary ‘why’. We discuss how Blundell’s found a balance between transformational and smaller bursaries and between endowment and ‘spend now’, and how the school communicates how it is committing financial resources to the bursary programme.
We then cover the accelerators and sticking points faced at Blundell’s when it comes to bursaries and how they overcame the sticking points, specifically finding the right applicants and finding enough money to fund bursaries.
Finally, I ask Bart how the four building blocks of strategy has been successfully employed at Blundell’s, and how the model has helped clarify the thinking of the senior leadership team at the school.
Episode highlights
- Introducing Bart Wielenga (02:06)
- Crafting the bursary vision at Blundell's (04:00)
- Accelerators and sticking points at Blundell's (22:15)
- How did the model help at Blundell's? (30:17)
References and resources
Blundell's School
Episode 019: Craft your bursary strategy
Episode 013: Strategy: Four essential building blocks (Strategy Toolkit 2)
‘Rethinking Strategy in Independent Schools’ research report
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