Nov 25
Courtesy of some poor systems and staffing planning by Trans-Pennine Express trains last week, I found myself on a rail replacement bus meandering across the Scottish Borders towards Carlisle, in order to get on another train that would finally take me to my destination. I can now report that there is a distinct limit to …
Nov 18
Every time I visit Hong Kong, I leave feeling impressed and humbled by the city and the region. Geographically, it must be one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the world, and the feats of human engineering which have situated almost unfeasibly high buildings on hillsides, created high octane container terminals and developed a …
Nov 13
The biggest frustration I confess I have with Facebook is that it has an uncanny knack of hiding interesting information which I have seen once, and want to revisit, but can’t, because somehow it has disappeared from my feed. It may be my settings, or it may be the algorithm, but the upshot is the …
Nov 04
One thing I have learned in my several roles, past and present, as a non-executive Chair is that there is no such thing as a perfect meeting, merely meetings that are imperfect to a lesser or greater degree. Nor is there a perfect relationship to be built with the CEO/Executive Director or equivalent, but rather …
Oct 28
The petals on the flower in this photo may be curling and fading slightly now, as it gradually wilts in a vase in our hallway, but every time I see it, I smile. For this flower was given to me in a random act of kindness by a stranger as I crossed Dean Bridge in …
Oct 22
A hugely enjoyable day on Saturday at the Huili Institute of Learning ‘Inspiring Learning’ Forum in Shanghai – thank you to Wellington College in China for organising it! Bringing together teachers and leaders from across Shanghai, the rest of China, and further afield too – Abu Dhabi and the U.K., to name but two – …
Oct 08
It was a huge, huge pleasure last night to announce the awards to schools at the Independent Schools of the Year Awards in London, in my capacity as the chair of the judging panel. And what a lovely evening it was, courtesy of Independent School Parent magazine, who so generously supported the awards and who …
Sep 30
Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of listening to and talking with Early Years teachers in 4 different schools, spread across 3 different countries, on 2 different continents, and the experience has been absolutely energising. Long gone should be the days when Early Years is seen as a nice cosy little …
Sep 23
I spent a glorious weekend last week in Oxford at the Oxford University Alumni Weekend, meeting friends and enjoying stimulating lectures and discussions. One of these, led in the lovely lecture theatre at St Anne’s College by Professor Peter Jeavons, Head of the Computing Science department, prompted me to rush to put virtual pen to …
Sep 16
I have a lot to thank my friends for, and – in common with most people, I would imagine – I am deeply grateful for many of them for sticking with me through thick and thin. My longest serving (I use the phrase advisedly …) friend in this respect, B, came to stay with me …