COBIS Annual Conference for British International Schools
Schools for Life: Providing learning beyond the curriculum
15-17 May, 2010
London
The 2010 COBIS Annual Conference will take place in at the Royal Horseguards Hotel, One Whitehall Place, and the National Liberal Club in London, 15-17 May, 2010. The annual conference is open to heads, governors, and senior managers from British Schools around the world.
The conference will include a programme of top speakers as well as opportunities to share best practice and ideas in seminar/discussion sessions.
Download draft conference programme
Speakers will include:
Sir Nicholas Kenyon CBE
Great Art for Everyone - from the Proms to the Barbican
Reflecting on the importance of access to the arts as a key part of education and life.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon became Managing Director of the Barbican Centre in October 2007. He was Director of the BBC Proms from 1996 to 2007. As a music critic he wrote for The New Yorker, The Times and Observer, and was editor of Early Music 1983-92. He was appointed Controller of BBC Radio 3 in 1992, and was responsible for the award-winning seasons Fairest Isle and Sounding the Century. He then oversaw the BBC’s programming for the Millennium and ran the BBC’s Live Events and TV Classical Music departments, which mounted the Queen’s Jubilee concerts of 2002. He has continued to write and lecture on the arts, publishing books on Mozart, Simon Rattle, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and early music. He is a board member of English National Opera and Sage Gateshead, a Governor of Wellington College, and a Trustee of the Dartington Hall Trust. He was knighted in the 2008 New Year Honours; he is married with four children and lives in London.
Dr Jeremy Silver
Creative Crisis or Crisis of Creativity?
Blogging, tweeting, texting, instant messaging – Photoshop, Garageband, Groovemaker and a ton of iPhone apps – we're all creators now! The ability to create "content" and publish it has increased enormously but it's harder than ever to rise above the noise – and the ability to get paid is receding. Meanwhile, control over both our individual personal privacy and what we publish is fast diminishing as new forms of access grow. How will we recognise voices of substance and authority in the future, what will this do for creative culture and how should educators respond?
Dr Jeremy Silver is a digital media thought-leader who has focused on the music industry for the last fifteen years. He is currently providing advisory services to the UK Technology Strategy Board on its work with the creative industries and its Digital Britain Test-Beds project. He is acting-CEO of the newly created Featured Artists Coalition, a new music industry organisation co-chaired by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and David Rowntree of Blur. Previously Dr Silver was CEO of Sibelius Software (a music notation software company) and Vice President of New Media for EMI Music Group. He ran a playlist-sharing music service, Uplister Inc, based in San Francisco. Jeremy serves as Deputy Chairman of Futurelab – an education technology think-tank chaired by Lord David Puttnam. He has presented talks and chaired panels on music and digital media at many conferences and seminars around the world. He also writes short stories.
Nick Swarbrick
Sure of a Big Surprise?
The restructuring of the English national curriculum suggests that educators “consider the imaginative use of space both within and beyond the school.” This session will briefly address some of the complexities of this approach in the Early Years, and ask what lessons can be learnt for the redesign of the Primary Curriculum.
Nick Swarbrick is a Principal Lecturer in the Department for Early Childhood and Primary Education at Oxford Brookes University, where he is Learning and Teaching Development Leader. He leads the Early Years specialism of the Primary PGCE, and contributes to the degree courses on Early Childhood Studies and Primary Initial Teacher Education. He has a developing research interest in how young children develop through play, particularly in the outdoor environment. He also has a particular interest in E-Learning. Nick is a former Head Teacher in a pioneering multicultural Nursery School and is involved in local and national initiatives concerned with early years education.
Adele Hodgson
Making Good Schools Great - The Importance of Effective Governance in Twenty-First-Century Education
This keynote address will focus on the primary role of governance – being future-focused and strategic. As we move through the 21st century the effect of governors’ decisions on the quality of the institutions they lead will be paramount. In an increasingly competitive world where the only thing we can rely on is change governors will have to advance their focus on the five “Rs” – a willingness to help raise students, ensure the standards and image of the school are raised, read, understand and react appropriately to the environment in which they operate, and to help raise money.
Adele’s experience spans the business and not for profit worlds ranging from banking, to medical research, to education. She is the author/editor of three books, including Strategic Planning for International Schools and Governance for International Schools, and is currently writing a fourth. She has authored numerous articles on strategic planning, marketing and development, and governance. Some of her most recent activities have involved advising local government and economic development agencies on the establishment and effective management of schools, strategic planning for mature schools, fundraising, and governance training. Adele has been involved in the establishment of two schools in Europe – Dresden International School, and Thuringia International School and has been working since 2006 with PHORMS on the establishment of a network of schools in Germany and abroad. She is the Strategic Advisor to ECIS on Governance and developed the Diploma Programme in Sustainable Governance for International Schools.
Ann Finlayson
Sustainability and Schools - Why it Matters
Over the last few years not only has it become clearer in society that we are living beyond the limits of the earth, but this message has got through to students as well. Ann will outline the case for engaging in sustainability in your school not only on the campus, but also in your curriculum and in your links with the community. What will this do for your students? What will it do for your operations?
Ann Finlayson is Chief Executive of SEEd (Sustainability and Environment Education) – a registered charity that identifies, promotes, enables and supports environmental education and education for sustainable development. SEEd seeks to drive forward Education for Sustainable Development into the mainstream of the education system. Ann has worked in the environmental field for nearly 30 years. After a stint as a countryside ranger in Scotland, she began travelling the world teaching, facilitating and consulting in places such as Papua New Guinea, Australia, and Canada. Ann is also Commissioner for Education and Capability Building for the Sustainable Development Commission – the Government’s independent watchdog on sustainable development.
Dr Nick Baylis
Passion & Rapport - How Striving for a 'Closer Connection' in Every Dimension of Life Can Transform the Progress of a Student, Teacher, and Parent
Nick will irreverently challenge some of the commonly accepted approaches to personal development, and propose credible alternatives by asking each of us to reconsider our own experience of what worked best for us in our physical, intellectual, emotional and social learning.
Nick Baylis was Britain's first lecturer in Positive Psychology and the Science of Well-being, launching his course at Cambridge University. He has now developed a course in 'Applying the Skills of Well-Being' – skills which enable us to thrive and flourish on life's major fronts – social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical. Nick wrote a column for The Times between 2003 and 2005. His most recent book, The Rough Guide to Happiness: practical steps for all-round well-being, was published in 2009 and was written with classroom debates and the needs of teachers and parents very much in mind. Nick has spoken at a number of headteacher conferences around the world and his presentations offer practical suggestions for improving the all-round well-being of staff and pupils.
Topics for Seminar/Discussion Sessions will include:
-The Reflective Student
-Extra-curricular activities in the primary school - Learning enrichment or child minding?
-Reflecting on an Effective Pastoral Care System in a British International School
-Sustainability Solutions for Schools
-Student Voice
-Friends (Web 2, Social Networking, and the Implications for Education)
-Ensuring Good Governance
-Singing Playgrounds
Download Delegate Booking Form (COBIS Members and Affiliates)
Download Delegate Booking Form (Non-Members)
To view a list of exhibitors please click here.
To view exhibitor information please click here.
Click here to read the report from the 2009 Annual Conference.
