schools

Guest speakers are going to be brought over as part of the new programme which is aiming at bringing ‘high quality collaborative professional development activities’ to the island.

Following feedback from Headteachers, the Education Leaders Forum (ELF) which meets throughout the year has recently been refocused and refreshed, and its new format is aimed at creating regular opportunities ‘to inspire leaders in education through a diverse range of guest speakers’.

The Committee for Education, Sport and Culture said these conferences will give leaders a chance to remain ‘upskilled leaders of education, abreast of latest educational developments and evidence- based practice in the field of Education and able to have the opportunity for high quality discussions with their peers’.

The current chairs of ELF were nominated and voted in by primary, secondary and further education leaders, Gary Hind and Liz Coffey, and the first meeting of the Education Leaders Forum under the new format has already taken place with a focus on the strategic leadership of the curriculum and how the ESC Committee can continue to develop the curriculum in Guernsey, so that students can build on prior learning.

Liz Coffey

Pictured: Liz Coffey. 

The guest speakers at the first ELF session were Professor Mick Waters, who was a driving force behind the development of Guernsey’s Big Picture Curriculum; Ed Vainker, Executive Principal of REACH Feltham; and a member of his senior leadership team Jon Hutchinson. Reach Feltham is an ‘outstanding all-through school’ from nursery to sixth form, which ‘achieves exceptional results’.

As requested by Headteachers, future conference topics will cover the leadership of teaching and learning, the leadership of assessment and the leadership of positive mental health and well-being in schools.

Elizabeth Coffey, Executive Headteacher, said:

“The conference this morning has provided a lot to think about and reflect upon, particularly with reference to our ongoing plans for the curriculum in Guernsey. The opportunity for school leaders to design and implement a curriculum that is right for our context is crucial as we move forward together.”