Skip to main content

Michael Chiles

Headteacher (Longdendale High School, Stamford Park Trust), author of education books including with Routledge and John Catt, and principal examiner; appeared on the Mind the Gap podcast.

Oct 9, 2026

9:00
What sorts of things did you need to do?
9:03
I was really fortunate that in the summer term before I arrived at Londondale, I spent one day a week in the school.
9:11
And I met with every single member of staff, right, from the admin team to the catering teams to the teachers to the office staff to the leadership team.
9:23
And I met with every...
9:24
And I've got the blue book still.
9:26
I keep it and I still go back to it sometimes because what were they telling me about the school at that time and what would they want to see that was different? It was really interesting because it was a really valuable activity, I thought, because...
9:40
I got to know the staff and the school really, really quick and I met with students as well to get to understand what life was like at Londondale for them and how things could change or what would they like to see change.

33 MINS LATER

43:18
And is that what, did you inherit that as something you introduced? Or, you know, what is the Londondale legacy?

We value your privacy

We use cookies to understand how you use our platform and to improve your experience. Click “Accept All” to consent, or “Decline non-essential” to opt out of non-essential cookies. Read our Privacy Policy.