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, …
Nov 10
My fingers are sore from typing thank you emails, and I still have dozens to write; the swift campaign to save the City of Edinburgh Music School this past fortnight has garnered enormous support, and we are all immensely grateful to everyone who was prepared to stand up and recognise that Edinburgh City Council’s proposal …
Oct 28
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 …
Sep 25
Dates for your diary: Thursday 27 September 2018 to Monday 1 October 2018 The Traidhos Community north of Chiang Mai, Thailand, is an amazingly beautiful and inspiring place … and this is why we have chosen it as the venue for ‘Strategically Global’, an intensive short course for female school leaders around the world who …
Aug 17
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 27
I have spent quite some time recently looking at two iconic bridges – the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which rises in splendour above Circular Quay in Sydney, and the brand new Queensferry Crossing, visible from Edinburgh airport and for miles around. Each is remarkable in its own way – the Sydney Harbour Bridge is the tallest …