Our last panel of the year, sponsored by MyConcern, was an extremely important one – especially in the current climate. We spoke to Mike Glanville, director of safeguarding services at One Team Logic; Jan Pickles OBE, safeguarding consultant; Adam Lubbock, director of Kings River Education; and Luke Ramsden, designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and deputy headteacher of St Benedict’s School.

We asked the panel about the current challenges for DSLs, what additional measures schools can take to support them, what lessons have been learned since March on managing the consequences of Covid-19, the implications of online learning, and how schools can develop a culture of outstanding safeguarding practice.

The experts spoke about how the workload and expectations of DSLs has escalated due to Covid-19. “Our DSLs need more support in a number of different ways to be able to enhance their role and really recognise the responsibilities that they have,” said Glanville.

Barnaby Lenon began his career in 1978 teaching geography at Eton College and is currently the chairman of the Independent Schools Council. On the topic of the current state of the independent schools sector, we asked him whether demand for independent schools had changed since the pandemic, the financial toll of freezing fees and the biggest challenges facing heads.

The big question was whether the independent schools sector is stronger or more vulnerable than ever. “It’s clearly very strong in some ways”, said Lenon, highlighting the sector’s “very good education”, “excellent value for money” and “tremendous historic continuity”.

However, Lenon continued: “Politically we’re vulnerable – we don’t have enough friends – financially we’re vulnerable because we know that our fees over the last 15-20 years have risen too fast, so we’ve lost some middle-income parents, but otherwise I think we’re in good shape.”

We were delighted to catch up with Sally-Anne Huang, high master at St Paul’s School, who reflected on the last academic year, her role as chair of HMC, and how schools can foster an environment for good mental health. 

In this discussion, sponsored by CH&CO, we were joined by Amanda Ursell, CH&CO’s consultant nutritionist; Irfan Latif, principal of DLD College London; and Edward Valletta, bursar and clerk to the governors at Kimbolton School.

We asked the panel how CH&CO’s four pillars of focus – mental health, sustainability, nutrition and community – align with the education sector, how important good nutrition is for pupils to achieve their best, and how parents, educators and caterers can work together to encourage food exploration.

We also talked in depth about Marcus Rashford’s school meals campaign, how schools can support children with a vegan lifestyle and how CH&CO’s work to make good food fun will have a lasting impact on children’s health.

We spoke to Nick Dennis about the impact of the pandemic on the curriculum and his role as director of studies, how history education is changing, and practical steps to improve the recruitment and development of staff to increase ethnic and gender diversity.

Nick Dennis is currently director of studies at St. Francis’ College, Letchworth and also a fellow of the Schools History Project, the UK’s premier historical education think tank. He has presented a series of historical documentary programmes for the World History Project, where he also sits on the advisory board. Nick is a member of the GSA’s Inclusion Committee in addition to being part of the National Governance Association’s diversity and inclusion advisory group. Alongside teaching, Nick has worked with a variety of organisations such as EuroClio, Europeana and Apple. Nick has published articles on history education, diversity, educational research and the use of technology to enhance learning.

Our panel of passionate headteachers stepped up to tackle the biggest questions in education. This included Nina Gunson, head of Sheffield High School for Girls; Millan Sachania, headmaster of Streatham & Clapham High School; Mark Beach, headmaster of Sherborne House School; and Jo Anderson, principal of Bury Grammar Schools.

To wrap up a very successful, insightful and well-loved series, Sophie Bailey, founder of The Edtech Podcast, shared her views on the year so far in edtech and how she’s been approaching her work during lockdown.

The discussions looked at the role of technology in the future of education and covered topics from how to bridge the digital divide, to the future of student recruitment, and female representation in tech.

Twitter @soph_bailey

Thank you to everyone who has tuned in for the series! We hope we've brought you some positive and insightful views during what's been a rather strange year. Keep your eyes peeled and notifications on 'alert' we'll be back before you know it with our next round of The Education Station sessions.

It’s mind blowing that, in 2020, so many people are still fighting for equality. The current climate of anger and divisiveness only emphasises that fact.

Unfortunately, the tech industry is no exception. The gender gap, in particular, has long been a topic of contention. And while seven out of the top 10 most gender-equal countries are in Europe, according to the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020, the UK is not one of them.

Even once their expertise and dedication sees them soar to the top, female tech COOs are consistently underpaid, earning 12% less than their male equivalents. Experts say that, overall, across every industry, women may have to wait 250 years to achieve pay parity with men. That simply isn’t good enough. Women must be paid what they're worth. But this is an issue that starts as early as school, where young girls are discouraged from pursuing their passion in STEM.

We talk to some of the industry’s most powerful female figures about their experience as a woman in tech, laying out a blueprint for breaking the bro barrier and inspiring a female digital workforce.

MEET THE PANEL: 

Chloe Barrett Founder & CEO of Immersify Education  

Rosie Bennett Investment Programme Manager, SetSquared / Twitter @RosieDBennett

Geseth Garcia Co-founder / Twitter @GesethGarcia

Kimberly Bryant is the founder and CEO of Black Girls CODE – a non-profit organisation dedicated to “changing the face of technology” by introducing girls of colour (ages 7-17) to the field of technology and computer science with a concentration on entrepreneurial concepts.

Prior to starting Black Girls CODE, Kimberly enjoyed a successful 20+ year professional career in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries as an engineering manager in a series of technical leadership roles for various Fortune 50 companies such as Genentech, Merck, and Pfizer. Since 2011, Kimberly has helped Black Girls CODE grow from a local grassroots initiative serving only the Bay Area, to an international organisation with fourteen chapters across the U.S. and in Johannesburg, South Africa. Black Girls CODE has currently reached over 10,000 students and continues to grow and thrive.

Kimberly has been awarded the prestigious Jefferson Award for Community Service for her work to support communities in the Bay Area, named by Business Insider on its list of ‘The 25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology’, and featured on The Root 100 and the Ebony Power 100 lists in 2013. Kimberly has been deemed one of FastCompany’s Most Creative People, and was named a White House as a Champion of Change for her work in tech inclusion, as well as for her focus on bridging the digital divide for girls of colour.

In this exclusive one-to-one interview, Anna Britten – managing editor of EdQuarter – explores Kimberly’s journey from engineering manager to edtech pioneer. They will discuss Kimberly’s experience as a woman of colour in tech, her campaign for increased diversity and her continuing battle for BAME inclusion.

With extensive experience in schools and colleges as a teacher, lecturer, senior manager, principal and governor, Bob Harrison has worked with head teachers and senior leaders in developing leadership skills for the National College of School Leadership. He was also the advisor to DfES on the FE Principals Qualification, the digital/e-learning advisor for the DfES Standards Unit and the lead on Digital Futures for the Building Schools for the Future Leadership programme which he designed and delivered at national level for several local authorities.

Following 12 years as Chief Examiner as well as being a fellow of the RSA, Bob was made an Honorary Life member of CGLI for services to Vocational Education. He is also Chair of Governors at Northern College, Governor at Oldham College and Vice Chair of Governors at a Trafford Secondary School.

As Toshiba’s Northern European Education Advisor for 16 years he is a writer, presenter and researcher on mobile learning, digital technologies and next generation learning. Bob is a BERA member and recently presented BERA 2019 on “Digitisation and Academisation”.

An active member of the Association for Learning technology he is also the ALT FE Ambassador and a member of the conference programme committee.

Bob has recently been shortlisted for the TES FE “Lifetime Achievement Award” for services to Further, Vocational and Adult Education and so we are very pleased to welcome him to our Sofa Sessions where we hope you will join us for this exclusive one-to-one interview hosted by Debbie Luckham, Marketing Consultant at EdQuarter.

Twitter - @BobHarrisonEdu