The Cambridge Wellbeing Check
(for 7 to 19 year olds)
From a whole-school view right down to individual students, the Cambridge Wellbeing Check gives you a clear picture of wellbeing.
Help your students feel good, do well and flourish. Grounded in worldleading research and delivered on an easy-to-use digital platform, it supports you in helping students aged 7 to 19 feel their best.
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AI: Meet the ‘Sherbot’
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Nature boys
4 Nature boys
Don’t forget the parents
Nature boys
An unusual therapeutic boarding school in Costa Rica helps male teenagers improve mental fitness and find their purpose. By Adam Beeson
At first glance, New Summit Academy Costa Rica is like any other international boarding school.
Students stroll across campus from the academic building after class and begin to occupy themselves with boarding life. A spontaneous basketball game takes shape on the outdoor court, a jam session kicks off in the music studio and a student council meets to discuss plans for a surf and scuba weekend. Elsewhere, members of the cooking club head into town to pick up ingredients for the evening snack.
But look a little closer and a different story emerges. Nearly 2.4 million international tourists flock to the small tropical country each year in search of wellness and a bit of adventure. In the same way, New Summit Academy harnesses the therapeutic qualities of Costa Rica to empower students to adopt healthier lifestyles and to stretch their minds through experiences that rekindle motivation in school and in life.
Adventures in nature
“The Costa Rican culture itself is therapeutic,” says Dr Heather Tracy, executive director of New Summit Academy. “It is not a coincidence that so many healing retreats are located here. The relaxed pace of life and welcoming culture allows you to take it down a notch so you can be present, reflective and attuned with yourself and the world around you.
A “plethora of opportunities” in “unparalleled natural biodiversity” make it the ideal place to learn and grow, she adds.
Nestled in the mountain town of Atenas – popularly dubbed as having el mejor clima del mundo (the best climate in the world) – New Summit Academy’s lush, biodiverse, sixacre campus has been helping students do just that for the past 20 years.
An intentionally small, independent, supportive boarding school with just 24 students, New Summit Academy enrols adolescent
males (ages 14-18) who may need a change from their traditional school for an average period of nine months.
While students come from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds, usually in the United States, a few common traits connect the student body.
“Our students are bright, creative and capable and, because we are such a small school, we make an intentional effort to include diversity within our group of students,” says Dr Tracy, who co-founded New Summit Academy in January 2005 after completing her graduate degree at Harvard School of Education.
“However, the underlying commonalities in all of our students is some level of anxiety, mood dysregulation, overwhelm [from low confidence or perfectionism] and executive functioning challenges, which typically show up as a slower processing speed or difficulty organising and following through in a timely manner.”
Academic work is important too New Summit Academy offers a unique blend of engaging university-preparation classes, an innovative programme of national park adventure trips and international culture travel. There is also wellbeing support from an advising team that includes a primary therapist who is on campus in the afternoons and evenings. Through all this, the students
learn better coping skills for their anxiety, a healthier lifestyle to manage their mood, and strategies for executive functioning.
Because of its status as an independent, owner-operated school, New Summit Academy has the agility to adapt and innovate its programme to meet the shifting needs and growing demand across the world for youth mental health support. All five co-founders still work full time in the organization and interact daily with students and the school’s multicultural faculty as they guide learners on their journeys to higher levels of competence and confidence.
Most recently, to adapt to the growing need for semesterlong experiences that build skills and nurture growing maturity, the school has reduced its minimum length of stay to six months in order to accommodate those students on medical leave from their home schools. Others may need to improve executive functioning, develop positive coping skills, and integrate healthy lifestyle routines in order to be successful in more traditional settings.
For these students, New Summit Academy offers an opportunity to reset and focus on building skills for wellbeing while still earning high school credit and, when the circumstances allow for it, transfer back to their referring schools with improved mental fitness.
The power of cultural immersion
With an annual calendar that allows for school breaks every two months for trips home and flexible family visits, New Summit Academy students get plenty of real-world practice in testing out some of these new skills in settings outside of their supportive boarding school.
Some students choose to graduate high school from New Summit Academy and, with a USA curriculum accredited by Cognia, often transition to some of the best universities in the United States. In the future, the team at New Summit Academy anticipates more international student enrolments leaving Costa Rica prepared for university life anywhere in the world.
With direct flights to Costa Rica from London, Madrid, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Paris, the school recently welcomed its first student from beyond North America – his family is based in Spain – to experience the benefits of a supportive boarding school. As it celebrates its twentieth anniversary next year, New Summit Academy is aiming to build mutually beneficial
The students learn better coping skills for their anxiety and a healthier lifestyle to manage their mood.
partnerships with schools in the UK and Europe.
Despite its growth, one thing hasn’t changed since New Summit Academy opened its doors in 2005: the belief that supportive cultural immersion has the power to transform lives.
And just as important, the team at New Summit Academy believes that exposure to different ways of being –whether through community service, Spanish language learning, or the school’s wellestablished cultural homestay programme – helps students to build healthier relationships with themselves and others. Importantly, it teaches them to see themselves as responsible global citizens with something to contribute.
“There’s a lot that can be said about how young people develop their identity,” says Dr Danny Recio, a co-founder of New Summit Academy who
runs the school’s young adult supportive gap year programme, The Bridge Costa Rica.
“But for us one avenue is fundamental: you find something within you – a gift, a talent, a skill – and you figure out a way to have that fulfil a need in the world around you.” ◆
Adam Beeson is strategic enrolment director for New Summit Academy Costa Rica, and The Bridge Costa Rica. He has more than a decade of international school teaching and leadership experience in Europe and the Americas.
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Destination: school trips
in a small international school in an Arab state didn’t stop Daniel McHugh developing an exciting school visits programme. By Daniel
McHugh
Al Ain British Academy is small by UAE standards, with 1,000 pupils, including just 300 in the secondary school. Just under 70 per cent of the population are Emirati, with a healthy minority of expats from a wide range of countries. Prior to the pandemic, the school, which was much smaller then, had not run any international visits. So one of my aims, on arriving at the school in 2021, was to harness the developmental power of school trips.
The challenges of starting a trips programme were numerous. Parental reluctance was the biggest hurdle we faced. Abu Dhabi restricts international school trips for under-12s, and so unlike many international schools where secondary students may have already participated in a trip when younger, our families have no experience of this.
Coupled with this, there were cultural barriers to overcome. As a small school, for example, we had no choice but to run co-educational trips in order to meet the minimum numbers required. We worked exceptionally hard to engage with the parent body, not only through presentations and group meetings, but individual meetings with parents of students who wanted to go but who had not yet received parental permission.
In all honesty, we failed to persuade families as many times as we succeeded. That said, we were delighted for the students who were permitted to join us: last year, our first Emirati females joined us on a skiing trip, and now more girls are asking to go. Change takes time, but patience and persistence do work.
There are further challenges to running trips as a small school. In line with our sustainability strategy and school values, we decided that a substantial service-learning trip would be an annual opportunity for students. These are outstanding experiences, but they don’t come cheap.
We also ensured that a ski trip was part of our offering. This year, we have introduced our first cultural and language trip to Europe.
They are more appreciative of the world, and their own worlds.
I worry that offering more trips may dilute student numbers to the extent that some do not run or are not as successful as they might have been with larger student groups.
However, we also need to consider if our offering is restrictive from a cost perspective. As a small school, our pupil-teacher ratio for the trips is often inferior to large schools, so costs are pushed up. Yet our community rightly remains demanding and discerning, and the feedback we received was that students and parents wanted trips that were worthwhile, even if they cost more.
For example, students were clear that they wanted a “European” ski trip as opposed to the Caucasus. We have also joined up with another school to run the service-learning trip, to try and moderate costs and to mitigate the consequences of not meeting the minimum student numbers ourselves. Looking ahead, we may decide on one more trip that is far lower in cost than others, so that students from less affluent families also benefit from the trips experience.
And of course, each year we review trips individually and collectively, to ensure the menu does not become stale – we’ve identified that our improvements in competitive sport, led by our wonderfully committed PE team, may now mean that a sports trip is on the cards.
Identifying the right staff to lead trips is key, and during interviews for new staff I always ask what trips they have been involved in; what trips they would like to run; and how they would go about making it a success. This allowed us to secure a teacher who not only excelled in the classroom, but who had planned and costed a trip within a couple of months of arriving at the school. Of course, we also had existing staff who were keen to contribute, but this new member of staff really led the way with a wealth of contacts built up over fifteen years of running trips. Smaller schools may not be able to appoint someone as a trips coordinator, and may have less administrative support than larger institutions – so hiring teachers committed to trips is beneficial.
So, where do we stand now? We’ve run a number of trips and the feedback has been hugely positive. We benefit, like all schools, by taking children outside of their comfort zone. They experience different cultures and opportunities. They have to fend for themselves a little bit more. Stronger relationships are forged between students and teachers. They are more appreciative of the world, and their own worlds.
But I also feel that our students no longer have to be envious of their family members and friends at other, larger schools. We are offering three overseas trips this year, which compared with some Dubai and Abu Dhabi schools is very small. But it is a varied offering, nonetheless, and one that we are proud of.
Daniel
McHugh is vice principal of Al Ain British Academy in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
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We understand that developing a positive learning environment is essential for students to thrive. By igniting a joy of learning and promoting a culture of wellbeing, the Oxford International Programme is designed to connect students from the ages of 2 to 19 with their future academic, career and personal success. Together, we can help create an educational journey that connects the learners of today with a brighter future.
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entive with a sense of curiosity and wonder • Ready for the future we develop students who are:
AI: Meet the ‘Sherbot’
As international schools adapt to an AI future, Sherborne School in the UK is providing inspiration for a way forward. By David Wild
In an era where technology influences every facet of life, Sherborne is embracing this transformation by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into education. Honouring the legacy of alumnus Prof Alan Turing the father of modern computing and AI – Sherborne is at the forefront of an educational revolution with its innovative AI platform, Sherbot.
Since joining Sherborne as head of computer science in 2019, I have been committed to incorporating cutting-edge technology into the curriculum. Sherbot is the culmination of this effort – a transformative tool designed to enrich teaching and learning, making education more engaging, inclusive, and effective.
The
AI revolution in education
While the role of teachers continually evolves, true revolutions are rare. Past shifts included the advent of the internet and the introduction of computers and calculators. The current AI revolution is distinct– swift, affordable, and widely accessible. A survey conducted at Sherborne revealed that out of 281 respondents, approximately 190 pupils regularly use AI in their work.
Educating on responsible AI use
Recognising AI’s prevalence, Sherborne proactively guides students in responsible usage. Throughout the year, pupils have attended assemblies and worked through specially created materials highlighting both the benefits and potential pitfalls of AI. Class teachers have been using Sherbot to enhance their subjects, stimulate students, and enrich learning.
An AI policy was established for both staff and pupils, providing clear guidelines on appropriate AI use. Teachers participated in dedicated INSET sessions focusing on the educational advantages and challenges of AI. Despite the rapidly changing landscape, Sherborne remains committed to leveraging AI for the benefit of its students.
Introducing Sherbot
To address the limitations of general AI tools like ChatGPT, which often present a blank canvas without guidance, Sherborne developed Sherbot – a platform tailored to educational needs. Sherbot aims to:
• Provide equal access: Free at the point of use for all students, ensuring everyone has the same opportunities.
• Offer a consistent experience: Uniform access and functionality for all pupils and teachers.
• Enrich learning: Features that support and enhance the educational process, going beyond basic AI capabilities.
• Empower teachers: Tools for creating and distributing pedagogically sound content effectively.
• Promote critical thinking: A rich library of prompts designed to stimulate thoughtful engagement.
• Integrate seamlessly: Compatibility with classes and the school’s management information system.
Alignment with Ofqual regulations
Sherbot supports compliance with Ofqual regulations on AI use in coursework. It enables students to catalogue the prompts they used and include this information in their submissions, thereby avoiding examination regulation issues. All pupils submitting coursework to exam boards received explicit training on how AI can or should be used. A questionnaire was devised to guide them in identifying ways to leverage AI while staying within the rules. F
Sherbot is a transformative tool designed to enrich teaching and learning.
Celebrating student innovations
Sherborne encourages students to explore Sherbot’s applications creatively. Notably, Oscar (Upper Sixth) and Ian (third form) were awarded Sherbot mugs for their exceptional use of the platform. Ian also received a headmaster’s commendation for his insightful utilisation of Sherbot’s “Variables” feature. This contributed significantly to his mastery of third form computer science, earning him a platinum certificate in the Sherborne Programming Challenges – one of only four pupils to achieve this distinction.
Sherbot in action
Sherbot includes voice-to-text and text-to-voice capabilities. Oscar used Sherbot extensively to improve his German pronunciation and grammar. He described it as “revolutionising how my peers and I revise and learn,” noting that “Sherbot has made learning much more enjoyable by enabling students to input texts in a foreign language and then hear them read aloud with accurate pronunciation.”
A typical Sherbot session might involve using built-in prompts that contain strong educational features, guiding students through complex topics and encouraging deeper understanding.
A pupil-led project: Sherbot.org
Looking ahead, I run a co-curricular club – a virtual company, Sherbot.org. Students have applied for roles in various departments, including programming, marketing, project management, user interface design, social media, AI, and quality assurance. This initiative offers practical experience in operating a software company, managing software releases, making incremental improvements, and collaborating with teachers to enhance the software.
Pupils submitted CVs and provided a cover letter explaining their suitability for the roles. Parents, stay tuned – commercial leads may be offering you a licence to use Sherbot in the next few months!
Conclusion
Sherbot is more than an AI tool; it embodies Sherborne’s commitment to empowering students in their educational journey with AI. By merging a rich historical heritage with modern technological innovation, we are ensuring that our students are well-prepared for the challenges of tomorrow. ◆
David Wild is head of computer science at Sherborne School. He previously spent 20 years in industry writing code and designing computer-based exam systems for awarding bodies.
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Are you spending wisely on wellbeing?
Efforts to improve staff wellbeing in international schools needn’t break the bank, writes Dr Helen Kelly
In the corporate world, investing in employee wellbeing typically yields a return on investment of 5:1, where each £1 spent results in £5 gained in increased productivity.
In recent years, schools worldwide have been increasing spending on a wide range of staff wellbeing initiatives. Yet, despite good intentions, their efforts often fail to bring meaningful change.
In my work with schools I have witnessed underutilised new staff rooms, poorly attended social events, ineffective staff recognition programmes, and surveys that collect dust after completion. This represents a waste of precious resources that schools can ill afford. So how can schools ensure that the money they invest in staff wellbeing brings a good return on investment?
Why are schools missing the mark – and what can they do about it?
At the heart of this problem is a lack of strategy. Too often, schools adopt a scattershot approach, launching piecemeal
initiatives that fail to address core issues.
Some of the most common pitfalls include:
• Insufficient commitment to workplace wellbeing – poor understanding of the connection between staff wellbeing, student outcomes and school effectiveness. Viewing employee wellbeing as a “nice to have” rather than an essential.
• Limited awareness of the factors that impact wellbeing – insufficient knowledge of the actual drivers of stress, especially the key role of workplace culture.
• Failure to address the real issues –especially those related to workload.
• One-size-fits-all solutions –overlooking the unique context of each school.
• Top-down decision making – failing to consult with the staff community.
• Neglecting diverse perspectives –committing to consider the full range of staff roles, all of which may experience work stressors differently.
To receive a good return on their
investment, schools need to adopt a more strategic approach to improving staff wellbeing. I have developed a strategic framework, Staff Wellbeing: Six Steps to Success, to support schools on this journey:
1. Build collaborative structures for inclusive input and engagement of all staff, including a Wellbeing Team and a communication strategy.
2. Raise awareness – educate leaders, staff, and governors on the connection between employee wellbeing and school effectiveness and the factors that impact workplace wellbeing.
3. Gather insights – collect data to identify and understand a school’s key wellbeing challenges.
4. Develop a strategy – set goals that relate to the survey findings, with specific, measurable objectives.
5. Take action – implement focused initiatives designed to tackle the main issues.
6. Track progress – identify successes and failures and adjust focus for lasting impact.
One of the most common missteps is conducting a wellbeing survey only to ignore the results.
How this works in practice
Building collaborative structures
Creating a Wellbeing Team that reflects the diversity of the school staff is crucial. The team should represent various roles – senior and middle leaders, teachers and teaching and non-teaching support staff. Diversity in the team helps capture a range of perspectives, ensuring that the process reaches and resonates with everyone. A well-chosen team balances those who are supportive of leadership with those who are more critical, ensuring a fair and balanced approach. A communication strategy allows all staff to be well-informed and feel part of the process, which is vital for fostering trust and buy-in.
Raising awareness
Educating leaders, staff, and governors about the importance of workplace wellbeing is essential to ensuring a real commitment to the process. When everyone understands how wellbeing directly influences staff performance, student outcomes, and overall school success, it fosters a shared commitment to prioritise wellbeing as a critical component of sustained success, rather than a luxury or an add-on.
Gathering insights
One of the most common missteps schools make is conducting a wellbeing survey only to ignore the results or fail to follow up with action. There are now many excellent tools available to survey the wellbeing of a workforce, which provide valuable insights. Schools must choose wisely, however, as some surveys fail to ask the right questions or consider the specific context, resulting in data that is not actionable. Surveys that have been developed specifically with international schools in mind and which allow for a wide range of optional and tailored questions are likely to be the most effective.
Low participation rates can undermine the credibility of a survey but can be
avoided with a few simple considerations. These include involving the Wellbeing Team in the promotion of the survey; allocating time for staff to complete the survey; making sure it is anonymous; committing to sharing the results with all staff; and committing to acting upon the findings.
Developing a strategy
Following the completion of the survey, a Staff Wellbeing Strategy should be drafted collaboratively by the school’s senior leaders and the Wellbeing Team. It is important that leaders clearly articulate what is actionable and achievable and what is not, as there are always nonnegotiables and budgetary and time limitations. Developing a strategy crafted around data-driven goals, directly linked to the survey findings, will provide clarity, relevance, and measurable outcomes. Goals should align with the school’s overarching mission, vision, and values, as well as its wider strategic objectives, ensuring that wellbeing initiatives are not isolated efforts but integral to the school’s priorities.
Taking action
The most effective wellbeing interventions flow directly from the Wellbeing Strategy. Primary interventions target the root causes of stress at the organisational level, such as workload reduction and improvements to the workplace culture. These should form the bulk of initiatives as they have the most impact. Secondary interventions, which equip staff with tools to manage stress and provide mental health support are also an essential part of an effective Wellbeing Strategy.
Initiatives may include training a mental health champion or lead; the provision of training for all staff in effective work
recovery; training for leaders in how to identify and approach staff with wellbeing concerns; and training in mindfulness and other stress management techniques. Tertiary interventions are designed to provide targeted support for individuals already unwell and often off work. These may involve counselling, access to occupational health services, or gradual return-to-work plans. Together, these tiers create a robust framework that addresses wellbeing holistically and sustainably.
Tracking progress
Ongoing monitoring and review are essential to determine whether wellbeing initiatives are hitting the mark. Schools should implement regular check-ins – such as follow-up surveys, individual feedback, or focus groups – to gauge the effectiveness of their strategies. Tracking metrics like staff retention, absenteeism and use of school-provided health care services can also provide critical insights into what is working and where adjustments may be needed. Reviewing and analysing this data allows schools to fine-tune their approach, ensuring that the Wellbeing Strategy continues to evolve and remain impactful over time.
By moving away from piecemeal initiatives and focusing on a strategic, data-driven process using the Six Steps to Success, schools can maximise the impact of their investment in staff wellbeing. This approach enables schools to identify key priorities based on reliable data and ensure that initiatives are targeted and effective. It allows for a less wasteful allocation of resources, focusing efforts on areas that will drive meaningful change, fostering a healthier, more productive environment for both staff and students. ◆
Helen Kelly Former international school leader and lawyer Helen Kelly is a researcher, writer, speaker and consultant in the field of school wellbeing.
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International education: The art of possibility
A true international education teaches young people they can have a positive impact on the world’s problems, however unsolvable they may seem, argues James MacDonald
Unless you have a carefully managed media diet, you have almost certainly heard dire warnings about the future of our planet and species.
Of course, this is not an entirely new phenomenon and I remember growing up in Canada fearing the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons and worrying that the doomsday predictions of the Sunday morning TV preachers could be right.
But the list of existential threats in today’s media is longer:
• Nuclear war: This threat has not gone away, and if you do a quick internet search, you may be surprised how close we have come over the past six decades to a nuclear holocaust.
• Climate change: As Prof Stephen Hawking said: “All of this is evidence that human exploitation of the planet is reaching a critical limit. But human demands and expectations are ever-increasing.”
• AI: Billionaire businessman and innovator Elon Musk has already warned that “The pace of progress in artificial intelligence […] is incredibly fast. […] The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five-year time frame. 10 years at most.”
• Homo Sapiens being replaced: Yuval Noah Harari captured a range of concerns when he said: “Homo sapiens as we know them will probably disappear within a century or so, not destroyed by killer robots or things like that, but changed and upgraded with biotechnology and artificial intelligence into something else, into something different.”
Do you notice this list also excludes things largely outside of our control, such as an asteroid strike or deadly virus?
So, what should we as educators be doing to prepare young people to help them address the existential threats they will inherit?
Option 1: See the impossibilities
The first option is to essentially do nothing. Even if we do not articulate this position, we may believe that it is impossible to address these threats ourselves, so we may as well simply get on with our lives and hope that things will work out in the end. This approach, of course, will not contribute to solving any of the world’s problems. Plus, our students are watching. If educators believe they cannot effect change, then we should assume this belief will transfer to our students. Through inaction, we could be teaching our students to have an external locus and control and see big problems as impossibilities.
Option 2: Imagine possibilities
The second option is to ask ourselves what might be possible. We could adopt a balanced attitude – one that is neither Pollyanna nor
International education as problem solving
If you were to design a school experience to educate students who could grapple with these issues, what would it look like? It would:
• Promote critical thinking, along with systems thinking, and educate students to understand the interconnectedness of our society and planet
• Teach students to connect with other students whose perspectives and cultures are different from their own and understand the value of different perspectives
• Produce a generation of students who are skilled at inquiry and curious about the world around them with skills and academic abilities to thrive in the modern world
• Teach students how to prioritise their own well-being and that of others
• Create humans who have experienced the joy of making a positive difference in the lives of others through their action and – most importantly – the courage to believe they can make a positive difference in the world
In other words, you would create an international education. There is a bigger issue at play, as well. In our media, good news is not news, whereas bad news is. Some say we suffer from progressive phobia and are afraid to acknowledge how much good is happening in the world. As educators, we need to model critical thinking and a balanced perspective and focus on what is possible.
One hundred years ago, the first international school opened in Japan and Switzerland, with parents in both locations envisioning an education that brought together children of different nationalities to learn and help make the world a more peaceful place. We, the international educators of today, need to continue to be practitioners in the art of possibility. ◆
James MacDonald is director of the International School of Brussels, having previously held posts including head of school at NIST, Bangkok and Yokohama International School, Japan.
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‘Show up and stick around’
International schools must work harder to keep their leaders in post for far longer, Dr Nigel Winnard tells Irena Barker
When the uninitiated think of international school teaching, they might still imagine sun-soaked lives in luxurious compounds, teaching the children of oil workers.
But for Dr Nigel Winnard, a career in international schools has not been one of ceiling fans and colonial complacency.
Indeed, during a career that
“Working through that… getting through the trauma was very formative for me,” he says. “I’ve been through a lot of situations and somehow developed a skillset by managing quite extreme situations.”
He was more prepared than most for the Covid pandemic, he says, with his experiences “very useful to draw upon”.
Teaching overseas definitely felt like a bit of a deviant decision.
has spanned the globe, he has “survived a few revolutions”, experienced shooting on campus in Rio de Janeiro, survived being on a Muslim fundamentalist “death list” in Sudan, and narrowly escaped a suicide bombing.
But how did this stateeducated boy from Bolton end up leading schools in the Philippines, Sudan and Brazil? As a young teacher teaching English literature at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School Blackburn, UK, he was inspired
to put his foot into the sector by his cousin who was a teacher in Kuwait.
“She got caught up in the first Gulf War and was stuck in Kuwait and had to escape over the desert. She was terribly exotic and when she arrived back she kind of transferred the baton to me.”
So, after five years’ UK teaching he headed off to St Christopher’s school in Bahrain. In the 1990s, Dubai was on the verge of exploding economically, but the famous F1 racetrack in Bahrain was still a camel farm. The atmosphere in the kingdom was “sleepy”, he says.
He says: “It felt definitely a bit
of a deviant decision, everyone said you would go out for a couple of years then come back, it wasn’t a valid career track.”
But everything has changed since then, he says. “Now you can go overseas and develop and grow into leadership if that’s what you want, all of that is available to you now.”
When he was starting out, he says, the international schools world was far more fragmented than it is now. “Now it’s much more connected there are a lot more deep networks,” he says. Since Bahrain, his career has taken him to International School Manila, St. Paul’s F
The most important thing for me is showing up and sticking around as a school leader.
School, Sao Paulo, Khartoum International Community School and until June this year, he was head of school at Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro. He is currently supporting ACS Doha International School as its interim head.
So apart from how to manage a school in a crisis, what else has Winnard learnt during his unique career? The importance of longevity as a head is a key lesson, he says. Having spent seven years in his last post in Rio and 12 years as the founding head in Khartoum he practices what he preaches. But circumstances often conspire against heads staying and seeing through their vision, he says.
“The most important thing for me is showing up and sticking around as a school leader…the longevity of school heads is we know a massively powerful driver of school sustainability. In international schools the churn can be a real meat grinder.
“The ability to stay in post really inspires so many things that are just not possible with revolving door headships. This is something that needs to be valued a lot more.”
“It’s not unusual for the tenure to be three to four years, which is low, to see through the consequences of your decisionmaking as a school leader, you’ve got to stick around a little longer than that.”
Winnard says research indicates one factor is the churn on elected school boards which can mean the board that welcomes the head is not the same as the one that appointed them.
“When you have elected
boards then the lack of stability can lead to quite large swings in priorities and therefore the required skillset of the CEO may have changed. It’s not because the board is bad or the head is bad it’s that they want different things.”
He talks about how financial tools such as golden handcuffs and golden parachutes – where both heads and boards can be penalised if they “give up” too soon, can help.
“Those kind of things kind of force people to get through the speed bumps and stick at it,” he says, adding that 12 years working Khartoum “was not always plain sailing”.
Other big lessons from Winnard’s career include an appreciation of the importance of local hire colleagues. “They show up, turn up and stay,” he says. “I invest a lot of time in that area, supporting and developing local hires”
Connected to this, he says, is the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and the importance of white men in particular educating themselves on their own privilege and biases.
Over the past five years, Winnard has been heavily involved in DEI, working with the Association of International Educators and Leaders of Colour. “It’s been very informative for me, made me look at myself differently,” he says.
He adds: “[I’ve been] learning that how I see the world has centuries of implicit bias within it. How I look at the world as a consequence has to be tinkered with and dismantled a little and reassembled in a way which is much more inclusive
– which is a serious work in progress still. It’s work I hope a lot of leaders and educators who happen to look like me are also doing.”
But he feels he might be in a minority himself in taking this seriously.
“I’m not sure that there’s a strong enough imperative yet amongst leaders who look like me to do that work openly and visibly and courageously. I’m hoping that I’m wrong…I would love to see that groundswell more visibly.”
He also warns that it is wrong to assume that somehow international schools have less racism and discrimination than other schools.
“By their very nature, international schools tend to be high socio-economic base so the people that access them tend to be folks who have benefited from privilege. They are often quite conservative institutions, often heavily dominated by white, middle to upper middle class representatives of whatever the
dominant hegemony might be within that culture.”
Another key theme of Winnard’s career has been the International Baccalaureate, the principles of which he embraces.
Most recently in Rio, he supported the school to become a three programme IB school across two campuses, and he introduced it in Khartoum as well.
“I’ve become quite an advocate for the principles of the IB, I have a lot of questions still, about the practices and about all sorts of things to do with the implementation but it’s fundamental premises I still have a lot of time for.”
He adds that he is “increasingly uncomfortable” with the IB’s “western European positionality”. “I think there’s work to be done there in internationalising itself in terms of its world view,” he says.
And what about the future of international education in general? What are Winnard’s concerns and hopes for the sector?
The potential impact of forprofit chains weighs heavily on his mind.
“I’m curious to see what the evolving role of the for-profits is going to do to the whole eco-system, because they’re very disruptive, when they move into a landscape where there were no for-profits before, what will that look like?
recruitment when there are increasing numbers of schools competing for sparse numbers of suitably-qualified teachers.
“Suddenly big for-profits move in with the ability to pay higher salaries and suddenly you’re strip mining local talent”, he says.
Alongside this, these new for-profits might not feel
DEI work has been very informative for me, made me look at myself differently.
“I’m curious to see, the large groups, they can bring in a heck of a lot of capital and they can hit hard and fast, what is the impact on the local private education scene and how is that disruption managed?” He also has concerns about
Irena Barker is the digital editor of schoolmanagementplus.com
the same obligation to be part of their communities as more-established non-profit international schools, he says. It is an obligation that Winnard himself clearly takes very seriously. ◆
Don’t forget the parents
With a more competitive international schools market, schools need to think more about how they can appeal to families, Selina Boyd tells Irena Barker
Selina Boyd knows what it feels like to be an international school parent.
Uprooted from the UK in 2009 because of her husband’s job, she found herself plunged into life many thousands of miles from home, in Singapore.
There is a huge amount of choice for parents.
Amid the chaos of relocation, the priority was on finding schools for their three primary-aged children.
“It’s always a pretty stressful time, you’re juggling so many balls, you just want to get all your ducks in a row,” she says.
After a two-year stint in East Asia turned into seven, the family returned to the UK, but were pinged back to Singapore not long after. There was yet more schoolhunting in a sector they had come to love: “We’d seen all the benefits of an international education,” she says.
Along with her marketing and communications background, it’s perhaps no surprise then that Boyd has,
for the past two and a half years, been working as the international editor of The Good Schools Guide.
While the UK guide, famed for its cheeky asides and parental insights, has been a prominent brand for over 40 years, the international edition has been running quietly “in the background” for the past 20, she says.
It currently carries around 280 reviews of Englishmedium and bilingual schools in more than 30 countries and Boyd has the task of overseeing a global team of independent reviewers.
There is a wide variety of schools from big names such as Tanglin Trust School in Singapore and Dubai College in UAE to schools with no British connection such as Washington International School in the USA.
Elsewhere, they have reviewed the British International School of Riyadh (Diplomatic Quarter campus) in Saudi Arabia and The Global College in Madrid.
But now, as international education booms, she is keen for her team – who all live near to the schools they review – to include more schools and ensure that parents know what they have to offer.
She says: “I’m a really big fan of international schools and international education on a personal and a professional level, but just like in the UK there are good schools, great schools and not so great schools.”
The market is now flooded with schools resulting in “a huge amount of choice for parents” and higher standards generally. But this, she says, means it’s also getting “harder and harder” for parents to be able to say which are best for their children.
But what, exactly, are globally mobile international families looking for?
In her second role as an international schools consultant at the guide, she has learnt not to prejudge based on nationality, for example. “It’s very easy to F
make assumptions about certain types of people… but families are looking for schools for really individual reasons,” she says.
In the tumult of an international move, all parents want their children to be happy, with close attention paid to their wellbeing, she says. But there are some other overarching themes that tend to make a family choose one school over another – and not every school puts enough emphasis on them, she says.
Visibility of leadership is key. She says: “It sounds really obvious…of course parents want to know who the school head is.”
But chief executives, directors and other strategic leaders looking after several sub-sections can sometimes be shy about coming forward – preferring to delegate to heads of schools, she says.
“It’s easy to think that parents only want to know who is the head of the senior school, or whatever, but actually that person that sits right at the top, the person who really sets the tone and the agenda –being visible in that role is really important.”
She bemoans her own first experience in Singapore, when they “couldn’t find out anything” about the person in the top role of a school. “They were tucked away in their office,” she says. Things are changing, she says, but not all schools are demonstrating that they understand this.
parents is whether they can have the name of a local doctor.
“It’s that sense that the school is supporting more than just the education of the child, they don’t necessarily have a ready-made support network.”
One area where international schools are really improving, she says, is embracing “holistic” education, looking beyond the academic, as is already traditional in UK schools.
“I think it’s very exciting to see that being picked up by international schools in the last five to 10 years.”
She cites increased take-up of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme and CAS activities at IB as evidence of this move towards international schools focusing more on “softer skills” in addition to academics.
So it’s clear Boyd and her team are bubbling with insights into the market and individual schools – and what parents want. But what is the review process actually like for a school and its staff? Are schools who allow the Good Schools Guide in risking their reputations in any way?
Parents don’t necessarily have a ready-made support network.
She is clear about several things: “We’re not going in as an accreditation or inspection agency. We’re not ranking, we’re not rating. What means good to one family can be completely different to what means good to another family.”
“It’s about making that person visible both on a dayto-day basis in the school and in terms of prospective parents coming in and knowing who the person and the character is behind that role… families want to be able to relate to that person…it’s still a very human role.”
Demonstrating, from the very start, a strong sense of community, is also vital for parents, she says. In conversations with globally mobile families, Boyd and her team often ask why they chose their particular school: “It’s remarkable how many times families say to us ‘from the moment we first spoke to them we felt that they cared. We felt that we belonged here’.”
“Some schools, right from that first point of contact, there’s a sense of working to support you,” she says.
Several schools Boyd has spoken to have said that the top enquiry on the first day of term from
“The purpose of our reviews is to just understand what the character and the spirit of the school is, beyond the marketing.”
And if your school is offered a review, it means the guide already “approves” you, she says.
She adds: “I encourage schools to treat us exactly as you would any prospective parent coming in. A school visit is really important, a meeting with the head of school is absolutely vital.”
Schools often find the process helpful, she says, with the anonymised parental views offering them insights they might not have had before.
But she does not assume schools know what the guide is – even though she says she is often “amazed” at recognition levels for the brand internationally. Neither are they trying to “take on” school comparison sites around the world.
“We’re just one part of that jigsaw”, she says.
One thing is certain – they will give a unique, and independent, take on your school. ◆
Irena
Barker is digital editor of schoolmanagementplus.com
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Not for the faint-hearted
Being the founding head of Oxford International College
(OIC) Brighton was a rewarding challenge for principal
Do you remember your first day in a new role? I do. In 2023, I took on the role of principal at Oxford International College (OIC) Brighton. Not only was this my first experience of opening a new college, it was the only one of its kind to open in the UK in 2023. Opening a new school comes with huge challenges. Some expected, such as construction project management, ensuring compliance with the UK’s comprehensive regulatory frameworks and student recruitment. Some…less expected. But, the biggest challenge was building our community from scratch. I knew we needed to foster parents’ trust in our provision and engage our new student cohort, especially as they would be taking their GCSE exams in just 12 months. So, how did we do this? Below are three things that worked for us.
Building trust
While we are a new college, it is important to note that our teachers and approach to education are not new. Not only do our teachers have years of experience in the classroom, but many of them have industry insight and other valuable knowledge too. For instance, our head of sixth form previously worked in admissions at the University of Cambridge. We also draw on the well-recognised academic approach of Oxford International College. Our staff credentials and curriculum approach
Tess St Clair-Ford
helped to build our parents’ confidence in what we can deliver as a college.
Working in a college is a challenge at the best of times, but working in a “startup”, as I like to describe a new college, requires a certain level of trust from your staff.
Taking time to interact with your teamis crucial in those first 12 months.
Building this trust can only be done by being visible. Modern headteachers are running a complex business and it is a busy and demanding environment. However, taking time to interact with your team inside and outside of the classroom is crucial in those first 12 months. For me personally, I got stuck into practical activities such as putting up posters, moving furniture and overseeing breakfast service.
Creating a community
As the majority of our cohort are international boarders, many of their parents are overseas. However, while this means it is challenging to build a strong, engaged parent community using traditional methods, we created
opportunities to spend time together both virtually and in-person. I spent a lot of time abroad to support student recruitment, meeting with families and even hosting a coffee morning in Hong Kong, before welcoming them to our campus a few months later. This is also true of my colleagues, who met with families while travelling or in other contexts.
We know how valuable face-toface interactions are, but we also established a programme of virtual meetings and webinars. Not only do these online events act as a focus group but they ensure our parents feel involved in our college community.
For our students, relationships are hugely important – we give them lots of chances to socialise as a balance to their busy schedule of academic pursuits. In our first few months of being open, we developed a programme of opportunities for them to support one another and celebrate each other’s successes. This culminated in our first annual prize-giving ceremony at the end of the summer term, where all of our winning students were gifted a book, which
had been personally chosen based on their interests.
Early on in our planning process, we decided that a common language –English – would be used in our common areas to encourage feelings of community and inclusion for all of our students. This, coupled with extracurricular activities, has helped to strengthen our student community.
Engaging students
We have also cultivated a strong sense of ownership and agency in our students to help them feel engaged with their college experience. Every Wednesday, our students deliver a lecture on a topic of their choice – most recently, a Year 13 student spoke about symbiogenesis –this is a platform for them to develop agency over their academic journey. Our students have helped inform what channels they want to use to share their thoughts and opinions, what our student council looks like, and how its members will be selected – all of which fosters a strong sense of shaping their environment and ensures they feel included. This is especially important as many of our students are living in the UK
for the first time when they join us, which can be daunting.
Opening a new college is a big venture and not for the faint-hearted. However, building a trusting, engaged community of parents, students and teachers is the foundation for success. This is reflected in the success of our first cohort of GCSE students, where nearly 70 per cent achieved grades 7 to 9 in English Language, 64 per cent of students achieved a grade 7, 8 or 9 in computer science and more than half of our IGCSE students achieved a grade A or A* in their examinations.
Importantly, our community has also helped them feel a sense of safety and belonging, with one parent telling me that their son felt well-looked after and part of the community after just a few days at OIC Brighton. ◆
Tess St Clair-Ford is principal of Oxford International College (OIC) Brighton, a 13-18 college in Brighton, UK.
