Graydin

We believe that teachers are the heart of education, and when they’re empowered to be their best selves, schools and students thrive. Since 2011, we’ve been training educators in coaching skills, a powerful tool for unlocking the potential of senior leaders, teachers, students and parents. Our Start With Heart model focuses on people rather than problems, embedding a common coaching language throughout the school. This creates a sustainable, transformative shift in how educators support and connect with their communities. By equipping educators with the skills and resources to coach others, we foster lasting change that spreads through entire school communities. When educators adopt a coaching mindset, they develop deeper connections with students and colleagues, revolutionising the way they lead and empower others. Graydin partners with schools globally to reimagine education, building a community of heart-led educators who are shaping the future by focusing on human connection and growth.

In 3 years Woldingham has been transformed into a coaching school with 100 staff trained in core coaching skills over this period. We have had a focus on the staff with touchpoints with pupils to ensure that we can give the best possible pastoral care and ensure that each student is listened to and asked the right question at the right time. All of our Boarding House mistresses are trained and every Sixth Form tutor is similarly trained in coaching. We also have a coaching squad of Upper Sixth girls who coach some of the younger girls. However, we have also coached a number of non teaching staff as we see the value in coaching for staff wellbeing and a coaching approach is built into our appraisal system.

Chris Kellaway
Head of Year 10 and Teacher of Theology, Woldingham School, UK

"Coaching has made me a much more effective leader, houseparent, colleague and parent. It is the difference between being a listening ear, and genuinely helping someone find their way through a situation, between being enabled to stay stuck or enabled to make progress. As a school, 95% of our teaching staff have been trained in these skills and it is beginning to be embedded in the way we approach our students, from offering coaching around careers to helping the youngest understand their feelings, and teaching our oldest pupils the coaching skills. It changes not just the immediate situation but the mindset with which they approach other situations."

Mairion Goodman
Houseparent, Head of Coaching, Monkton Combe School, UK

"Without a doubt, learning to coach with Graydin has been one of the most impactful experiences of my life. It has not made me perfect, but has made me more coach-like both at work and in my personal life. I now ask better questions of others, and have a wider range of skills to open up what is at the heart of an issue. It has helped me tackle the urge to "fix the person" or offer up advice. In short, It has transformed how I think and work."

Andy Ford
Vice Principal, Berkhamsted School, UK

"It's risky when you tell staff that this is the best CPD they'll ever do but in the case of this training, it's true. The Graydin team made the entire experience excellent and staff have been using the tools in the area we intended (student development). Even more telling is the myriad of other places in the school, staff have found coaching to be the best tool they have."

Lucy Morehead
Assistant Head, Staff Development, JAGS, UK