The Download – Special Interview Episode | A Conversation with Mr Brierly

The Download – Special Interview Episode | A Conversation with Mr Brierly

In this special episode of The Download, our Digital Explorers team sit down with Mr Brierly, Head Teacher of the whole of Claremont Fan Court School, for an exclusive interview.

Together, they explore what it’s like to lead an entire school community and ask thoughtful, curious and sometimes unexpected questions about leadership, school life and the future of education. From discovering what a typical day looks like, to discussing technology, AI and what makes Claremont unique, this episode gives a behind-the-scenes insight into life across the school.

Expect reflections, memorable moments, quick-fire questions and plenty of student-led conversation throughout.

A huge thank you to Mr Brierly for joining us and to our Digital Explorers team for leading such a brilliant discussion.

🎧 Tune in for a special episode all about leadership, opportunity and preparing young people for the future.

#TheDownload #DigitalExplorers #Claremont #SchoolPodcast #StudentVoice #Education #FutureReady #LearningTogether

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Hello and welcome back to The Download, the podcast where we reflect on school life, explore exciting ideas, and hear from inspiring members of our community. Today's episode is a little different because we've handed over the microphones to our digital explorers for a very special interview. Our guest leads the whole of Claremont, helps shape the future of our school, and works with pupils and staff across every part of the community. Let's hand over to the Digital Explorers to introduce our guest properly.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Welcome to the Download. Hello everyone. Welcome back to another special edition of the Download. Today's episode is extra exciting because we have a very special guest join us. They help lead our entire school community and make some very important decisions every single day. Please give a huge digital explorer's welcome to our head teacher, Mr. Briley.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Well, thank you very much. It's an absolute pleasure to meet you all. This is a first for me, so you're gonna have to guide me as to what I'm doing, but I hope we're okay so far.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Thank you so much for joining us today. Let's start us off with an easy one. How would you explain your job to someone in year three like me?

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Goodness. Uh I struggle to explain it to everybody because it's such a varied, uh, a varied job. I do all sorts of things on a day-to-day basis. I always think my biggest job is to stick up for all of you. I'm there to champion all of the pupils. I've got two parts to that. I've got to make sure you're safe, but also I've got to make sure you're really stretched and excited and learning and progressing. So my job is about sticking up for every pupil in this school.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

What does a normal day actually look like for you? Is there even such a thing as a normal day?

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Every day is different. Um, it's really funny at the moment, isn't it? So in the senior school, everybody in year uh 13 and year 11 is out doing exams, although um that means they're still coming in at some point. So I've just seen uh GCSE pupils who've got French today, for example. Um I haven't got assemblies going on, whereas normally on a Friday I start the day with an assembly. Um I will have times of the year when I'll see a whole load of different pupils. For example, in the first term, I tend to see every single child in year 11 one by one. We sit on the sofa, uh, we talk through how they're doing, and then I get them to tell me how we're doing and tell me what we could do better. Um, the other day on Friday, I had all the parents from the friends sat around here and we were talking about what more we can do to reshape the school. Um, at break time on Friday, I had uh a room full of governors who were quizzing me and Mr. Jelly and my other colleagues on quite what's going on. So that's just a little flavour of things. And then sometimes I found myself judging a talent show or uh having a uh having a tea for kings and queens, or um uh goodness me, what else can we do? Um everything. Uh a lot last year they got me to run in the relay. Um I will wait and see whether they get me to do that again.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

That's really interesting. What's something people think a head teacher does all day that actually isn't true?

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Quite. I'm gonna throw it the other way around, um, because that's a really hard question to ask. What do you think I do all day? Like I'll be freaking tea, of course.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

And paperwork?

SPEAKER_03 3:52

Paperwork, okay. What do you think I do all day?

SPEAKER_01 3:55

I mean, that's a hard one because we we're not in the senior school yet, so we don't really No, that's I'm I'm not trying to catch you up.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

I'm just interested. Because you asked me uh if people typically think I uh I do paperwork, what do I actually do? Is there anything else anyone else would mention they think I do? Go on, what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Um sit in meetings.

SPEAKER_03 4:11

Sit in meetings, I do a bit of that, don't I?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Stuff on your computer.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Stuff on my computer, yes. Anything else you think I do? Spreadsheets. Spreadsheets. I do like a spreadsheet, I can't deny. Um, so uh probably all of those things are true.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Talk.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

Talk. I definitely talk quite a lot. I think my role just covers all of those and so many more things. I don't spend I don't spend lesson by lesson teaching classes. So uh it's funny, isn't it, that I'm the head teacher and yet I don't typically teach. I'm happy to teach, I like popping into lessons now and then. I'm I value particularly talking to the pupils and getting feedback and making sure I'm understanding what's going well and what's going less well. But I suppose in the olden days, uh, when uh the role was just about making sure that the reports were written and everyone was behaving well, I think a head teacher would have spent a lot of lessons teaching. And I my role doesn't tend to cover as much of that as it used to. Hence it does a bit more of the meetings and a bit more of the spreadsheets and things like that. Gone, what were you gonna say?

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Would you like to teach, like if you want a head teacher?

SPEAKER_03 5:14

So I I I love teaching. Teaching's a really exciting opportunity. It's it's um so I've always taught economics and business studies uh over the last gosh 20 plus years that I've been in schools, and um that means I very much teach children who are sitting exams, so that tends to be GCSC and A level only. And I think that's so important. We're in an important stage in life. I'm not wanting you to feel like you're just doing exams. I want you to feel it's exciting, but I do want it to feel purposeful and effective. Uh, so I've always loved teaching economics. Um, I don't do it at the moment because I'll be honest. Um, what I wouldn't want to do is do it for the wrong reasons. And um, my day can change, chop and change quite a lot. There's always a risk that I'll be here one lesson and not here the next, and that doesn't help anybody. Um, but I love doing a revision lesson, and I'm always offering to help if people want a bit of extra support.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Claremont is a very special place. So we wanted to ask a few questions about what makes our school unique.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

What makes Claremont different from other schools?

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Uh, I think you make this school different from other schools. Um, to me, this school has always been special because of the pupils that we have here. Um, I love the fact that uh it's a truly co-ed school. I love the fact that it's got children all the way from two up to the age of 18. Um, I do think um we have really engaged, friendly faces in this school. Um, often speak to colleagues who will say the pupils in this school really engage with eye contact more effectively than they see in some of the other schools they've been to. And it is that warmth and that two-way interaction to me that's really important. So a school is only a school when it's got pupils, and uh I'm blessed with a school which has got amazing pupils.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

When you walk around school, what moments do you stop and think, this is why I love my job?

SPEAKER_03 7:01

Uh I would say quite a lot of the time uh would be those moments. Of course, there's there's times in leading a school where you've got to make difficult decisions, and those can be tricky as well. Um, but to me, what makes it special as a as a role is the fact that I feel I can be approachable and I genuinely get to see a sense of what's going on in this school all the way through from the very youngest to the oldest. So it is a novelty. My last school was a mostly boys' school, so we had just boys up until the sick form, and then there were a few girls that joined there as well. And the school before that was an entirely a boys' school. And what I love about this school A is that it's Cohen, but B, that it starts at such a young age and it just makes it feel a bit more like a friendly place. It's just, I always feel it's the whole school nature that makes it feel just that bit more like a family. Um, so I uh so I think it's it's it's it's those moments. It's also the fact that there are moments as a head where you can make a difference and really transform someone's lives. There's tough decisions I have to make, and sometimes um sometimes those can be really, really transformative for a child. And and it is those moments where you think, do you know what? I directly was able to help that pupil to be brilliant that I'm most proud of.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

You see children from nursery all the way up to sixth form. What do you hope every student leaves Claremont with?

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Well, I would say great outcomes, of course, because um this is a school that cares about making sure you do brilliantly, both in school and beyond it. But I want more than that as well. I want you to have that sense of purpose and ambition. My aim is that everyone should leave this school wanting to shape the world around them. Um and that really is about, you know, always looking higher, not being afraid, not seeing a glass ceiling, but be able to look at and say, Do you know what I'm aiming for that? And once I've got there, I've got to aim for something higher still. Um it's not about it being a pressure, it's about it being a joy in life that you're not afraid to say, how can I do things just that little bit better? If you have a look at our mission, vision, and ethos as a school, it really focuses on limitless potential and the idea that you're not afraid, you don't pigeonhole yourself. You can say, Do you know what? I'm doing that at the moment, and I want to do even better still. I'd love to work at how to work on this. I'm finding this hard, but I'm gonna get better and better and better. So to me, I want to see that carrying on in life. I also want to make sure you guys are shaping the world around you. Um, never has it been more important to have people who shape the world, shape our communities, um, make us a better place than before. So to me, I want to make sure every pupil leaves feeling they're part of a community and they stay part of that community, but also that wanting to shape the world to be a better place in the same way I'd like to feel they consider this is.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

I agree. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Thank you. Schools continue to evolve and technology is changing rapidly. So naturally, our digital explorers had a few future-focused questions.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Technology's changing really quickly. What do you think schools might look like in 10 years?

SPEAKER_03 10:05

Uh well, they'll replace me with a robot. Uh, I think uh we'll all be replaced with robots right now. I'm I I reckon we're safe on that grounds. It's really hard to judge where technology will be, isn't it? Because things are moving so quickly right now. And it is certainly the case there are things that a computer can do more quickly than we can. That doesn't mean it does it as well as we can. Uh, and we need to make sure we understand and can own that technology so it can be to can facilitate us being a better world and help us be better learners. Because there's always a risk that if you jump onto loads of technology, that it's just you lose the joy of learning and you do lose the effectiveness of learning. Um, uh if I think about when I was a child, of course, they didn't we didn't have sat lavs, you'd had to follow a map. And I sometimes worry that technology means we sort of have lose lost that awareness of where we are, that spatial awareness. If you had to, once upon a time, I remember traveling around um Milan with some friends, and we had a map that was the size of a postcard for the whole city, and we made a few wrong turnings, but as a result, we got to know where we were quite well. Uh and it is that ability to still be able to think for yourself and to ask the right questions that I worry about. When I started teaching, there were two computers in my school that had the internet on them, literally, and that was dial up internet. So uh classrooms didn't have computers in them, there was a computer room. Um, uh even when it came to presentations, teachers wouldn't have used a PowerPoint that didn't exist either. Uh, we'd have used little slides if that. And I'm really pleased by some of the ways in which technology has helped us because I think it makes us better able to learn. I think it can improve and advance the variety of lessons. But I also think there is a danger that we should never become a slave to technology. So in 10 years' time, I have no doubt AI, in some respects, will change the way in which we're running schools and will have an impact on you, although the rules are really strict, by the way, on AI. Um and um and they've got strict they're getting stricter still for children all the way up to year eight. So there are some ways in which I don't think the current movement in technology is going to suddenly change in ten years. I do think the jobs are constantly changing, and I think what we're doing in the classroom has got to keep on evolving to make sure it's the right thing for your generation and future generations. Does that answer the question?

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah, and I agree because the robot doesn't have the connection like a human being. Yeah, absolutely. We did explore it, so we have to ask this. What role do you think AI should have in education?

SPEAKER_03 12:39

So I think um AI in running a school is a really important uh uh tool, actually. There are definitely ways in which we can run a school more efficiently by using AI in the right ways. Um but society is about human beings. Uh education is about emotional intelligence. It's not just about teaching you to answer questions, although that we want to do. It's actually about teaching you to ask the right questions. Uh, and that's not something AI does, that's something we've got to teach you to do. Um, it's actually also about uh kindness and consideration and understanding of each other, understanding difference as well as similarity. So to me, I think AI will play an really important role in society, and it will, of course, in education as well. I have no doubt there are things that we can do more effectively and more quickly as a result, but you still education is about teaching how to do the thinking so that you can think in the real world. So sometimes that does require that hard work in the first place. If everything is answered for you straight away, that doesn't mean your brain is working at how things work. So uh I definitely think AI will matter. Um, as I mentioned a second ago, um, the rules on AI are changing a little bit so that actually the governance rules, which is set out in something called keeping children safe in education, uh, they are stricter still on use of AI all the way up to year eight. We're changing um the way we teach uh computing, though, in the senior school, and we're introducing digital literacy as well as computing. Because I, of course, want to make sure pupils can code, but I'm also interested in making sure they really know how they can make the very most of the technology they've got available to them. But I repeat my original point, it's about what is the right question to ask. Um, only if you use AI shrewdly are you using it effectively. Uh, it's easy for people to get other people to give them their answer or for a computer to answer a question for you. That doesn't mean it's answering it well or in your interest.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

If you could invent one amazing piece of technology to help schools, what would it do?

SPEAKER_03 14:44

Goodness me. Um I don't know if you've noticed, but the um the lines these days on the pictures are painted by a robot, uh, which is incredible. And and and actually have no doubt there's more use of robot technology. I I know of families sometimes who've got a vacuum cleaner that's actually a robot. I've come across families who've got a lawnmower that's actually a robot, and and those are all clever things. Uh, given that we've got 100 acres of land and it's wonderful and beautiful and green, but sometimes can be a bit muddy. I don't know. Perhaps we need perhaps we need technology to sort out our clothes for us, wash our shoes for us, uh maybe those sort of things. Um, if you spoke to children in the year seven, they would say there's an awful lot of walking because they go from the orchard classroom, which is closer to where you are, all the way up to the top floor here to a room called the Linen Room, and they always say it's a long way to go. It's good exercise, uh, but it is a long way to go. So they always would like us to have a travelator or something. We they're always joking about whether we should have a zip wire or perhaps some sort of drone that moves you from one place to the other. Um I I think uh I think technology is gonna keep on changing, and that's great. Um, but there are moments which are uh which are quite special because we don't use technology as well. So I think there's a delicate balance, but I have no doubt whether it's automated shoe polishing so that we don't look like we've been on a muddy pitch, or whether it's um technology that can move us from A to B, that's great. As long as we still enjoy those precious moments of interacting with each other and with the teacher.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

We've learned a lot already, but now we're moving into some slightly lighter questions.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

What is the funniest or most unexpected thing that has happened while being head teacher?

SPEAKER_03 16:25

Is that other than being interviewed by all of you, which is uh wonderful, um, but certainly makes me chuckle. Um I've been through so many stages over the last eight or so years. Um it probably seems a bit odd to give you this as an answer, but of course we had that period of lockdown, we had two different lockdowns during COVID, and um and um my focus was how we could get you back as quickly as possible and make sure you could stay back. And uh so it was about keeping you safe. And oh there was a moment when they brought in testing kits in schools, and I was just I just thought this is the best thing since it's sliced bread, because as long as we all know that we're fine, that we've not got any symptoms, then we can carry on. And if someone is ill, it's better to know sooner rather than later because then this won't spread, and pupils will be here and present more than they otherwise would be. So so I ended up filming, being filmed, demonstrating how you tested yourself for COVID. So I literally had to film to all the parents and all the pupils in the community how um how you put the little stick up your nose and and pop it. It was it was slightly humiliating in some respects, but I look back at it as being one of those slightly quirky things that was really important. I should say, by the way, the other thing that uh amused me as I look back to that stage, which I think it's important to remember the good news because there were there were difficult moments. We didn't like it, did we? I think we preferred being here in school.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

But one also has to remember there were quirky bits that were quite fun and quite an using. Um uh my deputy head at the time did the first assembly, he played the school song, and uh the school song, as you know, is a little bit quirky. And I thought, why have you done that? And I could quite work it out at first. And I reflected, you know what? Of course you've done that, because it's about reminding us we're a community. So then every week after that, I recorded the school song myself. Now I do play the clarinet a little bit, although it hasn't been for a while. So one week I played it the clarinet, I taught myself the flu, which was a challenge. Uh, I found an instrument called a melodica, which is a basically a plastic toy which you blow and has got a keyboard. I sort of taught myself with one hand to play the piano. I couldn't do it properly, I can't deny. And then I felt a xylophone and a glockenspiel. I recorded myself singing it. So, to be honest, that was slightly quirky. When I was sat in a room talking to a microphone a bit like this, and performing quite badly a different musical instrument, I think that was quite a I it was certainly unexpected. Um, on reflection, it was quite funny. At the time, I didn't feel I was doing it to be funny. I felt I was doing it just to unite everyone and remind everyone we were in this together. Um, because those are the moments when you most need to be together as a group.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

I agree. If you had to teach a lesson tomorrow and you could choose absolutely anything, what would it what would you teach?

SPEAKER_03 19:16

So I'm gonna come back to economics and business studies, to be honest. Those are my subjects, and to me, I consider understanding the economy really matters. And that starts with understanding your own personal finances. So to me, personal finance education is a really important thing. I just think everyone needs to understand. What does what does interest rates mean? What does savings mean? What does tax mean? Um, how does the world work? Those things that when you get your first pay packet, you suddenly think, well, why is all this money left? And how am I going to make sure I've still got enough money left at the end of the day? When you're deciding whether you should go to university and you're thinking about why I want to go to university, to me, that principle of understanding money, I think is really important. I think it's, you know, it's a it is a universal part of a modern society, is knowing how things work. So I would absolutely focus on personal finance.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

What's one thing students might be surprised to hear about you?

SPEAKER_03 20:13

Goodness me. Um, I hope there's not too many surprises. Um it's a fairly public role being a headmaster, and uh I'm I'm fairly uncomplicated. I've got four children, which is always uh amusing. Uh they amuse me, that's for sure. Uh, keep me busy. Um, I suppose what's interesting, if you were wanting anecdotes, was I didn't originally think I'd go into the world of teaching. That wasn't my plan at all. I had a I had a job from the age of 13. I'm not sure that was allowed then. It certainly isn't allowed now, but it was it really excited me. I worked in a local chemist shop. Uh I worked every holiday and I worked on Saturdays. Uh they owned a news agents and I worked there on Sundays as well. So I was quite motivated like that. I really enjoyed it and I I thought I'd move into the world of retail. When I finished university, I worked for Boots uh and I properly worked for Boots. I was sent up to uh Nottingham and then up to Sheffield. I was sort of um sales manager for half for half the shop floor of of the um Sheffield Metal Hall branch, and I found that really enjoyable, really exciting. You've got similar, some skills that you have within the world of of teaching, of course. Uh, and that's because it is about motivating a team, it's about working with others, it's about talking, it's about teamwork. Um, I didn't love it as I reflected through it. I felt I wasn't stretching my brain, and that's when I realized that I should be going into the world of teaching. I never imagined doing that. And originally I was going to be an a primary school teacher. In fact, I had a place to do early years teaching. So it's amusing that at one moment I was going to be an early years teacher, teaching probably reception in year one, and then I flipped from that to becoming an economics teacher, where in my first school I only taught year 12 and 13. So that's a complete, complete gap. Just one other quirky one. There was a stage one I thought I'd be a politician. Uh so I was locally elected politician. I was a councillor for eight years, I was chairman of The planning committee for two years in the London Borough of Merton. I was a cabinet member for traffic and uh traffic and planning for two years. And I genuinely was quite excited about politics. I probably thought when I was started at my last school I'd become a a politician. And then thankfully I changed my mind because politics is upended these days. It's all a bit complicated, and I'm not sure I'd find a home in any of the parties these days. Um but actually I also found the headmaster at my last school who joined just after me was so exciting. And I should say the last school I worked at was the school I went to as a child. And he empowered me, he promoted me, and uh he he uh enabled me to realise that I could really affect change in a school in a really positive way. And so the surprising thing, I suppose, is the fact that I never imagined I'd be a teacher, and I certainly didn't think I'd be here as head head teacher.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 22:53

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Time for quick fire, short answers only. Tea or coffee?

SPEAKER_03 22:58

As you can see, it's tea.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Early mornings or late nights.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Goodness me, it's good to get the day up and going nice and early. When I first joined, we started the school five minutes earlier, so I suppose early mornings.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Assembly or sports day?

SPEAKER_03 23:12

That's a hard one. I love both. Uh assembly is such a great communal opportunity to celebrate so many things. So probably I'd say assembly, but it depends on what's going on. It depends on what we're celebrating, really, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Email inbox at zero or organise chaos?

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Uh I like an inbox at zero, but I am lucky I have support from a PA to help me make sure that it stays that way. I like I like to know what I've missed so that I uh so if I've got something still in my inbox, it means I know I'm still I've still got it to do. The danger of a long list is things can get lost.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Favourite school event?

SPEAKER_03 23:45

Goodness me. Uh I suppose it's two here, isn't it? First day of term is quite exciting when we get to see a whole brand new year group in. But equally, results day is quite a special time. It's quite an exciting moment. It's difficult at times. There are some pupils where they haven't necessarily got what they want, but then we're creating another route for them instead. But it is a really momentous time. So I suppose when a pupil's first day and their last day, effectively.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Favourite book?

SPEAKER_03 24:10

It's got to be Harry Potter. I'm not sure which one for what it's worth, uh, but Harry Potter.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

One word to describe Claremont.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

If every student listening today remembered one Messetrans episode, what would you want it to be?

SPEAKER_03 24:24

Uh I would want them to focus on the mission, vision, ethos of this school, and that is about never being afraid to try something new. Don't be worried if you don't succeed straight away. It's about persevering. So to me, it is about trying and trying harder and being confident in yourself.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Thank you so much for joining us and giving us an insight into your role and your vision for Claremont.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

My absolute pleasure, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

We've loved hearing more about what happens behind the scenes and thinking about what the future might hold. Thank you everyone for listening. Keep exploring, keep creating, and we'll see you next week on the damage.