Biography

James Nottingham is director of his own company, Sustained Success, and author of the critically acclaimed book: Challenging Learning. He has been a teacher and leader in both primary and secondary schools, and was co-founder and director of RAIS, an award-winning, multi-million pound project supporting education, public and voluntary organisations across north east England.

In 1999 James featured in a nationally televised documentary about Philosophy for Children (P4C) and inquiry-led learning (view here). In 2009, James was listed among the Future 500 - a ‘definitive list of the UK's most forward-thinking and brightest innovators.’

James spends approx 2 months each year working in Australia and New Zealand, and has significant projects throughout Europe. He lives on the Northumberland coast with his wife & 2 young children.

Background

James grew up in Yorkshire and began his professional life as an industrial quality controller. He then volunteered for charity work in apartheid South Africa before returning to the UK to work as a child care officer and teaching assistant at a 3 - 18 school for deaf children. He later trained as a teacher at Charlotte Mason College in Ambleside, graduating with first class honours and, as head of department led the development of thinking skills across the curriculum, working alongside David Leat and colleagues at the University of Newcastle. He was directly responsible for generating considerable interest in Philosophy for Children (P4C) and enquiry-led learning in north east schools and in 1999 featured in a nationally televised documentary filmed by Channel 4 about this successful and transformational approach.

The following year, James co-founded a social enterprise project to regenerate areas of the UK characterised by under-employment, low aspirations and lack of community engagement (RAIS). By supporting teaching and learning in schools ranging from very large secondary schools to small, 10-pupil rural nurseries, as well as working with families and community groups, this project grew into a multi-million pound project that was recognised with an outstanding contribution award in 2005.

Along the way, James has qualified as a senior trainer in P4C, as well as a teacher of English as an additional language (EAL), has trained with Edward de Bono at the University of Malta and has written a number of articles for Nursery Education, Junior Education, and Teaching Thinking and Creativity. Now he travels the world supporting nurseries, schools, universities and learning networks in the pursuit of excellence, is the European coordinator for OUR Education Network, and co-founder of p4c.com, an international resource and collaboration website for philosophy for children and the community of inquiry. 

Feedback from Education presentations

It is my pleasure to inform you that you are among the most appreciated speakers. I assume you are used to such results! (Bengt Lennartsson, Host of the 13th International Conference on Thinking, Sweden)

Teachers found the entire professional development workshop and demo lesson extremely valuable – thank you (Odile Oliver, Alkira Secondary College, Victoria)

May I take this opportunity to thank you for a fantastic workshop on Wednesday? It’s rare that I get onto a course that makes so much sense and inspires you to want to change the ethos and vision of your school (Stephen Holden, St Mary's CE School Deane, Bolton)

Just wanted to thank you again for your presentation, and let you know myself and my colleagues took so much valuable information out of it. It was great, and you certainly have a gift for presenting to your audiences (gift is probably a bad choice of words considering your talk! - I'm sure you have worked very hard at it!!) (Neil Alweyn, Emmanuel Catholic College, Western Australia)

Inspiring! James is an excellent practitioner—loved the stories to back up theories and learning. He had a brilliant way of explaining things (Sarah Brown, Little Stars Nursery, London)

Many thanks for your excellent presentation and thought-provoking input to our Headteachers conference last week. The evaluations show that everyone valued your session very highly (Ged Geoghegan, Primary Adviser, Manchester)

I thought James was fantastic and he really challenged me to think about what lifelong learning skills we want to encourage the students to develop. The opportunity to watch a demonstration lesson was also very valuable (J McCowan, Claremont College, Sydney)

Great session. Strategic approach to thinking. Entertaining and with considerable clarity. Thank you (Terry Holding, Takapuna School, New Zealand)

An excellent, humoristic lecture which strengthens me for the work that lies ahead. Thank you! PS. The pit is an excellent way of describing a state of mind (Annika Dolk, Folk High School, Sweden)

Just wanted to say thank you again for providing the delegates at the Teaching Assistants conference yesterday with such an enriching presentation. The feedback from all those present was astounding (Chris Shipley, CPD Support Staff coordinator, York)

Today has been inspirational. It has made me think about the way in which I work as a leader and focussed my thinking on better ways to work (Marjorie Charrada, Ashington Children’s Centre, UK)

After our P4C training with you, I was observed by an Ofsted inspector who said she had ever seen such an outstanding speaking and listening lesson and that she would award me a 1 (outstanding) for it (Barbara Dixon-Dawson, Darlington)

You can quote me as saying that it was the best training session I have ever been on. I highly recommend all colleagues working in the education sector to attend this course (Adam Bushnell, Professional Storyteller and Consultant, UK)

Feedback from Corporate presentations

Thank you!  Today was not only one of the most useful learning opportunities I’ve had, but also one of the most enjoyable.  I would recommend you to anyone (Jeff McCloud, Northumberland Strategic Partnership, UK)

Thoroughly enjoyed the day, learned some fascinating new techniques and like the style and clarity of presentation (Jonathan Thompson, Laminform Limited, UK)

The whole day had so many highlights including humour, friendliness and a level that everyone could understand and participate in.  Your ideas are practical and sensible (Carol Jones, Regional Manager, Barclays, UK)

All highly impressive (paperwork, presentation, delivery, correspondence) (Stephen Jones, Business Start Up, Leicester)

I have found the training day to be the best one I have ever attended! I learnt a lot from James and from his wide-ranging knowledge of so many issues (Varsha Chudasama, Learn to Earn, Swindon)

Reviews of James's book, Challenging Learning

An inspirational guide to creating lessons that are thought-provoking and meaningful, and at the same time theoretically sound (Professor Carol Dweck, author of Mindset, Stanford University)

This book discloses the secrets of truly inspiring and effective teaching. It explains, in a clear and accessible way, the practical insights gained by generations of educational theorists (Dr Mark Burgess, Steiner Waldorf School, Edinburgh)

Challenging Learning is the most complete work on enquiry based learning I have come across and I consider James to be the best in his field.  It also contains loads of brilliant ideas that I will be sharing with my team to help us deliver an even better school experience for our students (Barry Dunn, Duchess High School, Alnwick)

An accessible and well-informed guide to teaching in a way that actively stretches young minds rather than merely tries to fill them up (Professor Guy Claxton, author of What's the Point of School, and Building Learning Power)

James Nottingham writes as he presents - to the point, down to earth, eye opening (Øivin Monsen, Principal of Torvmyrane School, Norway)

If you wish to contact someone directly about James's work, please ask Helen Richards for details.