Address:
35 Gilfach Road
Tonypandy
Rhondda
RCT
CF40 1BP

Telephone::
01443 423701
Office open Monday and Friday only..
Mobile:
07584093448

Email: phil@listenwithus.net

As I spend around three days a week visiting schools in my role as Senior Primary Adviser for SuperStars it may be a better option to email me. I promise I will respond the same day (evening)

Phil Rowlands was a primary school headteacher for 27 years in South Wales. He now acts as Senior Primary Adviser to 'SuperStars' the  No 1 and largest independent provider of Teacher Relief Cover in Wales and the South West of England.

Phil remains committed to helping schools fulfill their long term objectives through enriching pupil's learning experiences and supporting school budgets by providing free webshops and promoting the use of cost effective specialist subject coaches within schools.

He retains a deep interest in the latest developments relating to brain based research and how it impacts upon children's learning. To this end he has travelled extensively including a visit to New Zealand where he spent two weeks in a Dunedin school observing the introduction of innovative approaches to the teaching of disaffected children.

"Ever Tried To Give Away £10 Notes In The Street?"

"When I retired I decided I would try and help schools with their fundraising - that's not me in the picture by the way!

Having been a headteacher of two smallish primary schools I knew how difficult it was and how hard people worked for little return.

To my astonishment the initial response I received was one of suspicion. I suddenly understood how those people who had tried to give money away in the streets felt when people passed them by on the other side!

This is a genuine no-strings attached offer to help.

Today more than ever schools are bombarded with advertising by so many private companies, some good, some bad and some downright ugly, that it is only natural to respond with extreme caution.

I would just like to reiterate that this is a genuine offer to support schools in their fundraising and in so doing provide a service to the local community particularly those who may be partially sighted or housebound."

Phil Rowlands

Why not sign up Today

"OK Phil - What's The Catch?"
People aren't always quite so blunt but often it is easy to 'read their thoughts'. There honestly isn't one. Can I tell you a true story that might help explain my motivation.

My grandfather was a collier in the South Wales Coalfields. Most of his life he toiled underground as a ‘hewer of coal’. Eventually his health deteriorated and he was forced to retire. It was a common enough story. Faced with the bleak prospect of supporting his family with no job and little hope anyone would employ him he was left with few options. There was no ‘nest egg’, no lottery and certainly no opportunity to earn money like the one I am offering you.

Like the character George Bailey in my favourite movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” he could have considered ending it all. Maybe he did. The fact is that what he actually did was buy a suitcase, a small battered brown suitcase.  The contents of that suitcase combined with his determination not to become one of life’s victims provided his family with a comfortable and financially secure lifestyle for the rest of his days.

 I imagine you are wondering what was in the suitcase and what does it have to do with helping you raise much needed funds for your school.

Inside the suitcase were just a few crude barbers’ tools. No, I’m not going to suggest you open a hairdressing salon on the school premises. The point is my grandfather adapted to his changed situation and acted.

Despite the grimmest of circumstances when he looked inside that suitcase my grandfather glimpsed an opportunity.
Because of the depression renting an empty shop near the colliery was not difficult. The miners who worked there, his former 'butties' became his loyal clientele and as hairstyles in those days were pretty basic his shop was always full to overflowing.

While the spirit that epitomised those times has greatly diminished the example of community togetherness and active self-help my grandfather's story typified remains with me.

Although now retired my heart is still with the education community. I very much respect and admire the work undertaken by my former colleagues in schools across the country. So in respect of my grandfather's memory I am determined to rekindle some of the camaradarie that was once the vibrant heart of the South Wales Valleys mining communities.