Welsh schools, from the classroom to the Senedd.
The Impact Podcast stays on schools in Wales: how a Flintshire high school reworked assessment, whether Estyn agrees with itself about improvement, and what the parties promise before the 2026 Senedd election. Finn Wilson opens the numbered episodes, and the election series is made with Tom Breeze of the Emma and Tom Talk Teaching Podcast.
PRESS PLAY
The Impact Podcast comes from the team at Impact School Improvement, and its attention stays on schools in Wales. Finn Wilson opens the numbered episodes with a standard introduction that promises research-informed learning for the classroom and a round-up of education news from Wales. Practice and policy sit side by side. 'Episode 229: Quality assuring assessment, with St Richard Gwyn' is the practical end. Finn talks again with Louise and Matt, staff at a Catholic high school in Flintshire whose senior leadership team worked with Impact in early 2023. The detail is concrete. The school found that next steps and challenges were mostly taken up by the students who needed them least, so it dropped them and brought in 'deepening learning' activities. It also changed its calendar so the last week of each term brings no new content. That gives students time to go through their reports and gives teachers time to plan consolidation. The aim, as the staff put it, is to avoid a content-driven curriculum. 'Episode 228: Is Estyn expert or novice?' is the critical end. Finn describes spending the morning pulling research together for it, then argues that improvement comes from better practice and not just greater accountability, because seeing a gap does not close it. Quotes from Owen Evans and Clare Morgan are set against each other to argue that Estyn does not agree with itself. A separate six-part series ahead of the 2026 Senedd elections, made with Tom Breeze of the Emma and Tom Talk Teaching Podcast at Cardiff Met, looks hard at the main parties' plans for education. The interviews are not deferential. When Lynn Neagle, Welsh Labour MS for Torfaen and Cabinet Secretary for Education, turns to work already under way, the conversation is pulled back to what Welsh Labour is offering as a candidate, and Tom raises the rising number of schools posting deficit budgets. Jane Dodds, the only Liberal Democrat Senedd member for Mid and West Wales, is pressed on who covers a teacher's post during professional learning. Kevin Campbell, Plaid Cymru's education portfolio holder, is asked how the quality of professional learning will hold up after the move away from the consortia model, and warns that schools risk falling in between. Reform UK did not want to take part, so its episode takes the manifesto apart: an academy pilot with little detail, speech and language therapists in place of emotional support staff, and a focus on maths and science that, the speakers point out, is not new. That episode ends by promising a thematic discussion of all the parties' offers with Dr Gareth Evans of Trinity St David. A listener comes away with one school's working assessment model and a blunt read of the politics around it.
Made for: Suits a listener working in or around schools in Wales who wants a concrete assessment model from a real school, plus close scrutiny of Estyn and of the parties' education plans before the 2026 Senedd election.
What sets it apart: Suits a listener who wants Welsh specifics rather than general teaching talk: Estyn, professional learning after the consortia, and an election series that presses candidates on delivery and dissects the manifesto of the party that declined to appear.
A podcast from the team at Impact School Improvement. Every week we bring you the best professional learning to help you make an impact in your school. Visit us at: www.impact.wales
A pupil fixes the punctuation; Finn Wilson asks whether anything was learned.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at one school's evolving assessment system, from sequencing to deepening learning and an 80% threshold.
Assessment is most useful when it helps teachers decide whether pupils are ready to move on. This episode stays with that practical question at St Richard Gwynne Catholic High School in Flintshire, where Finn Wilson revisits earlier work with Louise and Matt on curriculum…
A clear-eyed review of Reform UK's education promises and the gaps beneath the headlines.
The Impact Podcast's sixth Senedd election special takes on Reform UK's education offer in the absence of a party candidate, after attempts to secure a representative.
A grounded look at whether inspection can shift classroom practice when improvement depends on supported habits.
Finn Wilson's Impact Podcast takes a practical question seriously: whether inspection and accountability can improve teaching when real change depends on knowledge, time and support.
A focused review of Plaid Cymru's education commitments, from attainment concerns to teacher support.
Plaid Cymru's education offer comes under practical scrutiny in this single-episode review, with Kevin Campbell, the party's education portfolio holder and Member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales, pressed on Wales's attainment concerns.
A practical test of Welsh Labour's education promises, from school deficits to phonics detail.
The Impact Podcast's Senedd election special gives Welsh Labour's education platform a close, practical test. Lynn Neagle, Welsh Labour MS for Torfaen and Cabinet Secretary for Education, appears here as both candidate and education spokesman, taking questions on attainment…
Héctor and Beto dissect Mexican grammar, slang, and news in native-speed Spanish conversations.
Small habit changes meet hands-on AI experiments.
Hope, tested in real conversation.
Everyday English, explained in real conversation.
Practical help for ordinary life friction.
Motivation for the next hard step.
Finn discusses recent education announcements from the Welsh Government and previews an interview about reading.
At St Richard Gwynne Catholic High School in Flintshire, Matt Davis and Louise Walsh describe an assessment model built around active learning objectives, deepening learning, and an 80% threshold for moving on.
The Impact Podcast’s Reform UK special closes a six-episode Senedd election series after the party never sends a candidate, despite weeks of email chasing and a March 6 message offering only to "look at getting someone on." Tom Breeze and the hosts read Reform UK’s education manifesto against PISA 2022, the claim that Wales is bottom of the UK, and the party’s own line about "high standards and safety in our schools." They pick apart promises on phonics, league tables, academies, WJEC, and "speech and language therapists instead of woke emotional support staff," noting how little implementation detail appears.
Finn Wilson uses Estyn's annual scrutiny and a long blog post on impact.wales to ask whether the Welsh inspectorate is actually improving schools.
Kevin Campbell, Plaid Cymru’s education portfolio holder for Mid and West Wales, says Welsh schools need tighter literacy benchmarks and a stronger reading culture before the 2026 Senedd elections.
Jane Dodds, the Liberal Democrat Senedd member for Mid and West Wales, proposes 30 hours of qualified childcare each week for children aged nine months to four years.
["Lynne Neagle says systematic synthetic phonics, decodable books, and Calon will sit at the centre of Welsh Labour's reading plan before the 2026 Senedd elections.", "The Welsh Labour MS for Torfaen and Cabinet Secretary for Education answers questions on The Impact Podcast with Emma and Tom Talk Teaching, which frames the episode as an election test of her record.", "She defends DUSCE, local authority partnerships, and a strategic education workforce plan that targets deficit budgets, workload, Welsh-medium recruitment, and retention.", "Neagle also says Wales will keep support for Curriculum for Wales while adding TIMSS, PEARLS, CAP9 replacement, and age-related expectations in personalised assessments."]
Finn Wilson explains why pupils may act on feedback immediately yet repeat the same mistake six weeks later.
The Impact Podcast interviews Natasha Asghar, Welsh Conservative Senedd member for South Wales East and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education, about the 2026 Senedd elections.
The hosts discuss their week and introduce the episode's focus on research-informed best bets for teaching and school improvement.
Two former teachers discuss research-informed best bets for teaching and school improvement, along with education news from Wales.
This episode discusses four practical ideas to help close the disadvantage gap in schools, based on the host's upcoming book.
This episode discusses the importance of teaching reading effectively, featuring authors of the Jolly Phonics programme.