Heads & Tales - Barnaby Lenon CBE
Episode 40: Barnaby Lenon CBE, doyen of UK education, on the changing landscape of our schools and universities
Amongst many other educational feathers in his cap, Barnaby Lenon is the ex-head of Harrow School, the Dean of Education at the University of Buckingham and founding chair of London Academy of Excellence - Stratford. His decorated career in education has spanned some 50 years across both the state and private sector, and was duly recognised with a CBE appointment in 2019.
Tasked with setting up one of the first free schools under the Cameron-Clegg coalition, Lenon's LAE proved to be a shining example of the power of cross-sector collaboration, something he believes to now be under threat as new educational policy sweeps the nation. In this latest episode of Heads and Tales with Walter Kerr, Barnaby discusses what's made him into the educator he is today, from a self-professed "hopeless" student to a legacy-leaving leader.
🎙 Episode highlights:
The foundations of the London Academy of Excellence and turning around the fortunes of students in the area
He discusses the importance of state/private cross-sector work given the current educational climate
He blames his school for being an underperforming student until he "learnt how to learn", with mentors guiding him as he built a career in education
After 50 years in the industry, he discusses what he perceives to be his proudest moment
With universities under increasing stress, Barnaby discusses the role they can play for curious minds
Despite increasingly louder calls to revamp the exam system, he makes the case for GCSEs and A levels as they are
He shares parting advice for current teachers on how best to prepare a term's worth of lesson plans