On Saturday 1 October, the Arnold Foundation's first post-pandemic Lecture took place in the Temple Speech Room where we were delighted to welcome Steve Baker OBE, Principal of Everton Free School. 

Steven has been in education for more than15 years, the majority of which has been working with children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties (SEMH). He is also the Merseyside Programme Director for charity Right to Succeed, which focuses on improving outcomes for children and young people.

Prior to beginning his journey in education, he worked for the United Nations investigating war crimes and collecting evidence of the Bosnian genocide.  He is also a former Ofsted inspector and has led on a number of national programmes relating to wellbeing, managing challenging behaviour and leading strategic change.  In 2017 he co-wrote an online behaviour management course and two years later, was made a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching for his ‘significant and sustained’ impact on teaching.

Other key accolades include the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service as a member of the Remembering Srebrenica Northwest Board and in 2020 he was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, in recognition of his services to education.

To see the video of the day click HERE.

Steve Baker's top ten inspirational books:

1 "Who moved my cheese?" by Dr Spencer Johnson

2 "The brain that changes itself" by Norman Doidge

3 "Thinking fast and slow" by Daniel Kahneman

4 "Quiet" by Susan Cain

5 "The element" by Sir Ken Robinson

6 "Our iceberg is melting" by John Kotter

7 "Endgame" by David Rohde (about the Srebrenica genocide)

8 "Emotional intelligence" by Daniel Goleman

9 "The road to character" by David Brooks

10 "Flourish" by Martin Seligman