For a number of reasons, which would take too long to explain just at the moment, I have recently been researching and learning a lot more about autism in girls, and I have a number of observations. First, there really is an inequality in how autism is understood in girls when compared to how it …
Category: children
May 07
Real and relevant: adult and child worlds on a Sunday morning
I spent Sunday morning this week with my daughter at Kidzania, the ‘indoor city for kids’ situated in Westfield Mall at White City, London (and replicated in various major cities across the world). For those of you who don’t know Kidzania, it is designed so that children aged 4-14 can explore a replica ‘city’, with …
Apr 11
Third Culture Kids
This week finds me in Shanghai, at the Wellington College International Shanghai EdFest, where in addition to talking about the benefits to young people of having global mobility – and what this means in practice – I have also been roped in to chair a couple of panel sessions on ‘Third Culture Kids’. Ably assisted …
Jun 11
Celebrating the student experience in UK independent schools
Schools only exist because of the children who attend them. They exist to support these children, develop them and educate them as they navigate their childhood and young adult years. This can be very easy to forget in amongst all the many demands made of schools, not least all the reporting they have to do …
Apr 07
The Power of Quiet: focus and extraordinary personal development in a school in Forestville
This week I had the good fortune to visit Forestville Montessori School in the northern suburbs of Sydney, and it was an immense privilege to do so. I found a warm, calm, thoughtful environment where children up to the age of 12 were working independently and purposefully, guided by teachers who are clearly highly experienced …
Oct 28
Democracy in action in Edinburgh, challenging autocracy, and the fight to save the City of Edinburgh Music School
Sub-text: the vital importance of teaching young people how to engage effectively with politics … Are you sitting comfortably? If you have a spare 2 hours (I know, I know … who does? But this will be worth it!), then watch this hot-off-the-press webcast of the Edinburgh City Council Finance and Resources Committee meeting on …
Aug 17
Why open a school?
As I travel to Hong Kong again, this time for the grand and very exciting opening on Saturday of the brand new Dalton School Hong Kong, on whose Foundation Board I sit, I am minded to ponder on why people strive to open new schools. Over the past few years I have seen many, many …
Jun 10
Technology, creativity and the power of the natural world
I am currently in Sydney, having flown in for a week to work with new principals in the Association of Independent Schools in New South Wales, as well as with other internationally minded teachers and school leaders. Wonderfully, my visit coincides with the annual Vivid Sydney festival, where landmarks such as the Botanic Gardens, the …
May 24
A ‘must have’ for leaders: global travel in childhood
Speaking earlier today at the AGSA conference in Brisbane, Dr Terrance Fitzsimmons of the University of Queensland Business School gave his audience a compelling insight into the journeys of CEOs. Based on his research into whether male and female CEOs differed in how they reached the top, his presentation highlighted stark gender differences in the …
May 06
Social and global mobility: Five practical ways in which schools can engage with local businesses
Schools are tremendous powerhouses. In and amongst everything else they do, they are also – and powerfully – socially mandated to make a positive difference in the lives of young people. Fundamentally, this is about social and global mobility, and it lies at the core of a school’s activity. Schools are not in this alone, …