When we first launched our podcast two years ago this month, the world was a very different place.
We’d been thinking about doing a podcast for some time, but there was always a reason not to.
That all changed when the country went into lockdown in March and the nature of our business was transformed overnight.
We couldn’t visit schools, attend live events or see anyone in person. Like much of the world, we found ourselves working from home and isolated from our contacts.
Not only did we now have the time to do a podcast, but we also had the rationale – to provide remote support to teachers who were navigating an entirely new way of delivering lessons virtually.
And so, the Impact at Home podcast was born, with a mission to provide the best professional learning to help teachers make an impact.
Fast-forward to today and we’ve published 74 regular episodes and 14 specials across eight ‘seasons’.
What started as a way to continue to support teachers while we were all working from home has turned into an important part of the Impact Wales offer.
We even changed the name to The Impact Podcast when working from home stopped being the norm.
Over the last two years we’ve built up a large and dedicated audience who have played our episodes more than 16,000 times.
We’ve interviewed two serving education ministers and had discussions with more than a dozen educationalists, from classroom teachers and school leaders to academics and politicians.
We’ve covered topics from pedagogy to pupil deprivation, from reading strategies to resilience and from grammar to grading.
One topic we’ve covered more than most – and make no apologies for doing so – is Curriculum for Wales.
It’s the biggest reform in education in Wales for decades and despite the disruption of the last two years the Welsh Government is pressing ahead with the roll-out from September.
So, the more support we can offer to schools and teachers through our podcast before, during and after implementation the better.
We’d like to thank you for supporting the Impact Podcast over the last two years – for listening, subscribing, liking, sharing and even submitting questions for us and our guests.
We’ve been overwhelmed by the response to the podcast and the positive feedback we’ve had.
That’s why we’re going to continue to produce weekly episodes during term time, covering a range of topics in education but with a continued focus on Curriculum for Wales.
As always, you can listen on your podcast platform (see list below), on the Impact website or at www.anchor.fm/impacthome