Apr 11
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 …
Apr 05
I return to this blog with renewed vigour after an absence… and I put this renewed energy all down to my wonderful day’s coaching with my secret support – my own leadership coach. I have spent the day in the beautiful East Coast of Scotland town of North Berwick being challenged, prodded and uplifted, and …
Nov 12
Whatever we can do to support school leaders, we should. School leaders make a significant and positive difference in schools – just ask Professor John Hattie – and a poor fit (even of a highly skilled and highly experienced leader who is just in a place which needs something different) is enormously costly, both financially …
Aug 13
I have lost count of the number of years I have been coming to the Edinburgh Fringe, let alone of the number of performances I have attended; what I have not lost, however, is the joy and wonder I feel every year when I immerse myself in much of what the Fringe has to offer. …
Jul 11
Behind every sporting triumph lies a great coach, who has helped the successful sportsperson or team grow, develop and excel. We take this almost for granted now – just as we take for granted in the world of business that for CEOs to flourish as leaders, they need someone else to challenge them, support them …
Jun 11
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 …
May 26
An interesting report published by the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration at the University of London caught my eye this week. This study of inter-ethnic relations between teenagers surveyed around 4000 Year 10 students in state schools in England, to explore the role that school and neighbourhood ethnic composition play in the level …
Apr 07
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 …
Apr 02
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri – an unprepossessing name, perhaps, but the acclaim this film has received is well-deserved. Uncomfortably funny, desperately sad and painfully shocking (often all at the same time), it takes hold of the reader in a way that it logically shouldn’t, with a combination of languor and pressing need that build …
Mar 08
Sometimes it can feel that the gender parity gap is too large for any one of us to make a difference, but in truth every single step we take towards a fairer, more equal world is worth the effort. Today is International Women’s Day – a day where we focus, together, across the entire world, …