“Whatever can be done, will be done. There’s only one question for you. Will it be done by you or to you?” Thomas L Friedman

On Thursday 26th November the school gave a presentation at the 17th National iNet Specialist Schools Conference in Birmingham. The theme of the three day conference was, “21st Century Schooling: the globalised challenge.” It was held in the amazing futuristic looking International Conference Centre, which had a massive Christmas Ferris wheel outside in celebration! Over two thousand delegates took part from all over the UK and overseas.

The school gave an International showcase presentation highlighting our links with Macassar High School and Restoring The Sound in Cape Town South Africa, and our KS3 personalised learning curriculum innovations. Our presentation party consisted of Abigail Frayling, Sophie Kellam and Cerys Roche, all from year eight. Huw Jones-Williams (Head Teacher), Rebecca Collins (Deputy Head Teacher), and Gareth Daniel (Assistant Head Teacher) also took part.

The pupils were able to relate first hand their reflections on becoming global learners and experiences of the KS3 personalised learning curriculum. They commented as a group:- “We talked about many different subjects including geography, history, music and science.  It was a great experience and probably a once in a lifetime chance.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.” We received very positive feedback and it was also good to hear of other schools developments in trying to equip students for the global challenges of the future.

Overall the conference was very thought provoking and there were numerous excellent key note speakers giving their perspectives on global challenges. Thomas Friedman, author of “The World is Flat”, started the conference via a satellite link as he had accepted a dinner invitation in Washington with Barack Obama the night before! Madam Fu Ying, The Chinese Ambassador for the UK, gave an incisive view on many aspects of globalisation. The conference concluded with George Alagiah (BBC broadcaster) giving an incredibly well scripted and thought provoking speech.