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Students from across England flew to China to witness the opening of the Olympic Games and take part in the final stages of the SSAT's ‘Towards the Olympics’ project. The trip is the final stage in the educational project, which has involved English students sharing cultures, language and sporting activities with their Chinese counterparts, as well as developing an online resource for students of both countries.
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Find out about the Hackney Study Tour from UK
The first two student online conferences this year have encouraged wide-ranging discussions on new technologies and climate change.
Students from over 20 countries joined in the discussions on the messageboards, with many also contributing essays, presentations and video clips to express their views.
A new feature this year was the inclusion of polls, which revealed, among other things, that despite new technologies, students still see teachers as more important than computers or books for their learning, and that students believe a solution to climate change will be found within their lifetimes.
System redesign 1: the road to transformation in education, by Professor David Hargreaves, was published in December 2007 to coincide with the SSAT National conference and the launch of the System redesign programme.
Now this publication, introducing the concept of system redesign, is available as a free download to all iNet members.
It's a busy month for iNet publications. System leaders in the global age, edited by David Hopkins, is the latest volume to be published.
Based on the discussions at iNet's workshop for school principals, it provides an overview of where education is at in a number of countries, and asks important questions about how to personalise and lead education into the 21st century.
The end result is a kind of manifesto for transforming education to benefit all young people in all countries.
INet has published a report of the first project for Mauritian schools in iNet, Mauritius on the move: Re-imagining school leadership. An account of a small, multicultural country's move towards a world-class education, it will interest leaders at all levels of education.
iNet have been working with UNESCO in China to provide Chinese schools - in Beijing in particular - with opportunities to network internationally and access iNet's resources. This signing of an MOU was a momentous occasion for both parties and recognises our commitment to working together in the future.
Recent weeks have seen exciting growth in iNet's membership. As well as 85 new members in South Africa, and numerous new affiliations in Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Wales and Northern Ireland, we are pleased to welcome our first affiliated schools from three new countries:
Students from Barrow Hill Primary School in London will jet off to San Francisco in November. Their website, Global Tales, won third prize in the ‘12 and under’ category in the international ThinkQuest competition. The team also won first prize in their age category and the prize for Global Perspectives in the UK competition.
Global Tales features a collection of folk tales from different cultures. The team utilised the school’s diverse community; with pupils from Japan and Iraq translating folk tales. They also collaborated internationally, with a pupil in India contributing an Indian folk story. These qualities, along with the easy to use realistic page-turning design of the website greatly impressed the judges.
40 or so teachers gathered at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff to start the first ever iNet Developing leaders programme in Wales. Delegates travelled from as far apart as Bangor in North-west Wales and Newport in the far South-west to attend the event.
Professor David Hargreaves set the agenda with two presentations on personalising learning and school-led innovation. Delegates also had oportunities to meet with the academics and school leaders who will mentor them throughout the two-year programme, and also to meet with teachers who have already completed a year of the English Developing leaders programme.
Five students from Greenford High School travelled to Beijing to celebrate winning a national competition and learn about Chinese culture. Students at the specialist language college in Southall, west London, flew to Beijing along with headteacher Kate Griffin and two assistant headteachers. The trip was their prize for winning the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust’s (SSAT) Student voice competition with a CD-ROM they had put together on their role in developing student voice initiatives at the school.
School leaders from around the world will meet in China this week to drive forward an agenda that ensures all students are equipped to live, learn and work in a globalised world. The 4th iNet International conference, held in Beijing between 18-21 September, follows a meeting last year at which 100 school principals from 14 countries identified four major themes challenging educators across the world: leadership; personalised learning; curriculum development; and wellbeing. These will be the main topics of the 4th iNet conference.
150 students and school leaders in Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch had the opportunity to listen and learn together at the August 2007 iNet New Zealand seminar series. The seminars, led by Gabrielle Leigh, director of three school campuses in Caroline Springs, Victoria, looked at the challenge of 'making the school the student's community' through authentic student voice.
More than 140 children from 13 schools across England recently returned to the UK after representing their country in a cultural exchange visit to Beijing ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Following the successful ‘Towards the Olympics’ event, English and Chinese students as well as organisers of the trip have been describing what it was like to learn about a different culture’s sports and activities, and the importance of the visit on a specially produced webcast.
The webcast from China Radio International’s English Service (CRIENGLISH) contains photographs and audio clips from the trip, and the organisers.
The Bulletin magazine - one of Australia's oldest and most prestigious publications - has named Executive Director of Schools in the Diocese of Parramatta, Greg Whitby, as the nation’s smartest, most innovative and creative person working in education in Australia today.
Greg was selected from a shortlist of 10 finalists as the winner of the education category of the 2007 Bulletin Smart 100 List. Greg is a member of the iNet Australia national strategy group and was a keynote speaker at the recent national conference.
We are delighted to announce that Tony Bloxham, head of iNet, has been appointed headteacher of Preston School, a Business and Enterprise college, in Yeovil with effect from 1 July 2007.
Tony joined the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in 2004, initially as head of leadership programmes. He played a major role in establishing the Developing leaders programme, and, in partnership with the National College for School Leadership, set up the primary programme.
In 2005, he became head of iNet and has played a significant part in developing the affiliation scheme, establishing new networks in China, Mauritius, Sweden, USA, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Other achievements include the highly successful G100 conference for principals from 14 nations in Beijing in July 2006, and the 3rd iNet international conference in Boston in October 2006.
Tony has always been keen to move to headship, and SSAT has a principle of encouraging and supporting staff to return to the school system in a leadership capacity. We look forward to seeing Tony at iNet events in his new role.
Sylvia Paddock, who has worked for SSAT for a number of years, will be responsible for iNet from 1st June to 31st December 2007. Sylvia has already been closely involved with iNet; she attended the G100 conference and played a central role in establishing the network in Mauritius.
Tony Bloxham, Head of iNet, recently attended the ICP convention in Auckland, New Zealand. He delivered a presentation about iNet and its aims to the ICP Executive Council and to Council Members. This builds on our recent signing of a memorandum of understanding with ICP in November 2006. Also at the conference was Jim Spinks, who spoke about a iNet's project looking at school resourcing.
iNet continues to publish materials which both share details of the outstanding work going on in schools around the world, and also develop emerging educational themes and ideas.
(published on April 1)
Providing a structure by which school leaders can integrate social, intellectual, financial and spiritual capital in transforming their schools.
Case studies of innovation from schools and academics across the world, looking at both primary and secondary education.
iNet Wales recently held its first workshop for school leaders. The iNet Wales headteachers' steering group was involved with setting the agenda for the day, which focused on the benefits of eLearning, in particular the opportunities presented by the use of virtual learning environments.
Keynote sessions by David Carter - headteacher of the award-winning John Cabot City Technology College in Bristol - and by Paul Hynes, SSAT's ICT strategies coordinator, outlined how technology can provide new ways of engaging with and supporting the learner. A range of showcases from both Welsh and English schools demonstrated a number of examples of how the ideas are being put into practice.
One delegate had the following to say about the event:
'I have seen clear demonstrations of the different types of VLE, but very importantly, also the rationale behind using them.'
The International Confederation of Principals (ICP) is a professional association of school leader organisations. The ICP is the only global school leaders’ umbrella professional organisation
ICP and iNet have many common interests concerning the provision of high quality education for young people. Acknowledging the growing importance of internationalism, we anticipate that by working together we will be able to support schools in the following:
Read the letter introducing the partnership in full.
We have three days of agenda-setting programmes led by outstanding speakers from across the globe. Throughout the conference you will have the opportunity to engage with leading practitioners, students and academics from around the world.
The 4th iNet International Conference will be more stimulating and challenging than ever before.
More information will be available soon - including a full programme and booking information.
To register your interest please contact Melanie Goinden: melanie.goinden@ssatrust.org.uk.
Last week the iNet office welcomed a representative from Prince George School in St Helena. Jeanette Williams is head of maths at the school, which is the only secondary school in a country of less than 5,000 inhabitants. As part of her visit to England to visit family, Jeanette asked us to help arrange activities to enable her to experience education in England.
St Helena is an isolated island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, so contact with other schools is very limited. After meeting with key staff members in the iNet office we arranged for her to visit Christ's College, Finchley, a specialist maths & computing college. This was a rare opportunity to share ideas with teachers from another school, something which iNet is always happy to support. Jeanette also took with her a range of iNet publications to share with colleagues back home.
Elizabeth Reid, Chief Executive of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, was presented with an award from the 48 Group Club for her pioneering steps to expand the learning of Mandarin Chinese and Chinese culture in English schools.