The founding head of School at Phoenix House in Japan, Claire Fletcher, joins the podcast to share her insights on working in several brand new schools in the international sector and the ups and downs this brings.

From the reality of arriving at a school still being built to why she believes you have to interview teachers for new schools in person to sense if it's really for them, she reveals why life as a founding school is 'not for the faint-hearted' - but is also incredibly rewarding.

She also offers advice on staying calm when everything around you is brand new and answers are sometimes in short supply - and why this makes recruitment a vital component of setting up a new school.

We chat with Claire Holmes, head of School Counselling at Tanglin Trust School in Singapore to hear about the school's approach to managing pupil transitions - both on arrival and departure - and why including parents in this work is vital.

She also explains why it is important international schools give due focus to 'stayers' - those pupils that remain in a school throughout their education but see many of their friends, and teachers, leave on a regular basis - to ensure this consistent loss does not affect them unduly.

As part of this she also explains why she has written books designed to help schools and leaders do all this as best as possible to ensure wellbeing of pupils - and parents - remains a top priority.

In this episode of the Tes International College we head to China to chat with Garry Russell, Head of College at Dulwich College Shanghai (Pudong) and Lavinia Tong, head of Admissions & Marketing, to discus staff retention.

They explain why this is such an important focus for the school and through a mix of career opportunities and ambitious goal setting, coupled with a strong community ethos, they aim to keep staff with the school for as long as possible.

They also talk about how they are developing pupil alumni networks to help build their community feel and ensure past pupil success and life stories can be shared with current cohorts.