FROM OUR CEO

John Gwyn Jones MBE FOBISIA CEO

It has been a busy term so far with the PE & Sport Conference hosted at The Alice Smith School, Kuala Lumpur, the outstanding Student Leadership Conference at Shrewsbury International School Bangkok Riverside, the Drama Festival at Garden International School Rayong, and the continuation of the very successful FOBISIA Friendly Games.

Student sports events were also plentiful with golf, tennis, squash and the face to face Swimming Championship hosted by Bangkok Patana School that saw a jaw-dropping nearly 800 participants.

Academics and the Arts were equally busy with the Primary Art and Maths Competitions, live Battle of the Bands, Drama Monologues and Photography Competition - so many events that some will be reported on in the next edition! We are also looking forward to reviewing the entrires for the FOBISIA Secondary Mural Challenge and determining which school will see their art decorating FOBISIA HQ. Bangkok Preparatory International School hosted the Choral Festival. I was lucky enough to attend this as well as many of the other events taking place and see firsthand the dedication and talent of our students and their teachers.

Of course, we can’t overlook our recent 29th Leadership Conference at the Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park Hotel. It was our biggest conference yet, with around 340 participants, including delegates from schools across the region and some of our valued affilate members. We were very excited to see many of our schools in China send delegates as they quickly pivoted to the changing rules in China. There were six top keynote speakers; Linda Cruse, Alison Watson MBE, Simon Mann, Angela Browne, Dr. Katriona O’Sullivan, and Diana Osagie who closed the conference on a rousing high note.

A huge thank you to everyone who took part - our school delegates, exhibitors, a big thanks to our sponsors, and to the team at HQ who have been working tirelessly to make this conference a success. On to the next one in November!

The 29th Leadership Conference was held out of its usual term China would be able to attend; that gamble paid off as many more first face to face Leadership Conference this year in the hope that schools from Hong Kong and more schools from the region were able to join FOBISIA in its Conference since 2019

It’s been a long four years but it drove home the importance of meeting face to face to make those all important real life connections. And connections were made, the Conference is the largest one to date, with over 200 school delegates and visitors, and 59 exhibitors, including 15 sponsors. There were 6 fantastic keynote speakers; Linda Cruse, Angela Browne, Dr Katriona O'Sullivan, Alison Watson MBE, Simon Mann, and Diana Osagie. There were also 24 workshops, and 5 panels that created some great discussions.

Rec nnecting Resilient Leaders

In addition to the heart of the Conference, professional learning, is the networkingthe first evening drinks on the rooftop overlooking the spectacular Bangkok Skyline, offered ample opportunities for that, while Saturday evening was a casual dinner by the pool where everyone enjoyed the fabulous spread from the hotel and some of our guests even put on their dancing shoes and showed us some moves on the dance floor. Each day the Conference commenced with a performance by the students from one of our local Member Schools - we were treated to dances from Bangkok Patana School's Tiger Cats Varsity Dance team, along with a stunning performance by Bromsgrove International School's Youth Music Theatre group. The Conference concluded with everyone revitalised, enthused and looking forward to the next one.