International Education
NET is working with KGVK Gurukul in north-east India. These photos are taken in newly opened primary schools. Spokey Wheeler, CEO and NET Leading Thinker, said: "We are opening a school a month and families’ appetite for basic primary education is staggering. These photos capture rural India’s current starting points and its certain future prosperity. The joy and dignity you see on the faces of our children are testament to the breathtaking motivation and ability of their teachers. These tribal women from rural India have a hunger for learning and pride in achievement which is creating remarkable schools."
Shaping Ideas... Shaping Lives: Making the most of what you have - Spokey Wheeler
OFSTED would fail us just on our asbestos roofs. That and the 40 children in a classroom which you'd expect to house no more than 10. The only evidence of the advent of the 20th let alone 21st century are the ceiling fans, light switch and power socket...
Click here to read more.
Mentor
Mentor is India's first print magazine focused on the school principal. Mentor is perfectly poised to be the new voice for education in India. In recent times, feeling pressure from the media and central administration, school principals have been feeling inadequate. Mentor gives school principals a platform on which they could work together to reinstate their position. Mentor is going to be an agent for change, not just for a few schools but for the educational system overall. It will bring about an enhanced sense of a learning community, principal empowerment and expanded leadership roles. It allows the principal to move into a realm that will be more powerful, more productive and significantly impact the teaching and learning process.
In short, Mentor is going to be the platform for Heads, teachers, parents, the Government and students to come together on a single platform and change the system. www.mentormagazine.net
8,000 Miles Away, But Not A Backwater!
H. Cowlan Leader of Geography and Sustainability
Hornbill School, Brunei
Arriving at Hornbill School in Brunei, 8000 miles away from the UK, I knew my teaching career was about to take a very different route, but I didn't realise just how exciting and liberating it would be. Click here to read this article in full
Exciting new International Programme for Senior School Leaders, Business Managers and Headteachers!
NCSL’s new International Leadership Learning Programme offers a unique opportunity to reflect upon leadership in an international context. This programme is now open to Senior School Leaders and School Business Managers as well as Headteachers and enables school leaders or explore a variety of themes pertinent to schools and system wide development. The International Leadership Learning Programme (ILLP) not only offers senior school leaders an excellent professional development opportunity, it is also designed to have a positive impact on school and system development. Ideal for those who wish to develop their own leadership capacity and that of others and who are committed to implementing changes to benefit their school/ organisation and sharing their learning to benefit others.
For more information on this exciting and subsidised opportunity please register your interest with David Charlton at david.charlton@ncsl.org.uk or visit ILLP from the National College. Click to download more information ...
Special Educational Needs and English as an Additional Language (EAL):
Identifying and supporting the needs of children with EAL Click here to read this article in full
Overview
In a previous article we showed how the Family Learning Programme in Hornbill School, Brunei had helped to strengthen the parent-teacher relationship and enabled parents of children with EAL to have increased confidence and renewed enthusiasm to support their children with their learning at home. In our experience we found that many parents and some teachers are unsure of whether a child who is experiencing a difficulty has a learning difficulty or it remains entirely a matter of (second) language acquisition. Here we explain how we have developed a system to identify and support the needs of children with EAL to ensure we fulfil our full responsibility to those children and families, as distinct from children who have a specific learning difficulty categorised as a Special Educational Need (SEN). [This article is especially helpful, since it combines the themes running through two regular series in Working With Parents: Communicating with Parents and Special Educational Needs.
Working with Parents who have English as an Additional Language (EAL): Family Learning Programme
Helping to Raise Achievement in Children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) Click here to read this article in full
Overview
In previous articles the priority we place on the way in which we communicate with parents, as well as the approach we take, the style we adopt and the frequency we communicate , can improve basic relationships between home and school and help children to make continued progress. No where is this more important than working with families where English is not the first language. Here we consider how one school has developed their work and relationships with parents to ensure all children with EAL make continued progress. The Family Learning Programme in SCE Hornbill School, Brunei has helped to strengthen the parent-teacher relationship and enabled parents of children with EAL to have increased confidence and renewed enthusiasm to support their children with their learning at home.
