SkyGems Academy

SkyGems Academy Podcast Series 1 – 31th speaker is Hatem Mahmoud.

Hatem is the Boys Principal MYP-DP at Advanced Learning School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Teaching to Hatem is coaching, acting, as well as facilitating. A teacher is not anymore, the source of knowledge for learners. Three-dimensional teaching of content, skills and concepts paves the way for life-long learning embedded in social and emotional well-being.

“The current K to 12 Education does not prepare students for the future. We need to provide the learners of today with the lifelong learning tools and effective 21st century skills that help them prepare themselves in their own way at their own pace for their own future,” said Hatem.

Now, we are pleased to present to you … Hatem Mahmoud.

SkyGems Academy Podcast 30th speaker is Conrad Hughes.

Conrad is the Campus and Secondary Principal at the International School of Geneva, La Grande Boissière where he teaches philosophy.

He is also a member of the advisory board for the University of the People, senior fellow of UNESCO's International Bureau of Education and research assistant at the University of Geneva's department of psychology and education.

Conrad's publications include "Understanding Prejudice and Education: The Challenge for Future Generations" (2017, Routledge) and "Educating for the 21st Century: Seven Global Challenges" (2018, Brill). His most recent book, "Education and Elitism" (Routledge), comes out in 2021.

“The universal learning program can be categorized into four big areas. Character, who am I? Passion, what is my purpose? Mastery - How can I go further? and Collaboration – How can we work together? So, basically, develop your character. Follow your passion and nurture your passion. Be curious. If you don't have a passion, be curious, keep an open mind. Master what you can and learn how to be a good collaborator,” said Conrad.

Now, we are pleased to present to you … Conrad Hughes!

SkyGems Academy Podcast Series 1 – 30th speaker is Conrad Hughes.

Conrad is Campus and Secondary Principal at the International School of Geneva, La Grande Boissière where he teaches philosophy.

“We're looking at life worthy, Future-Proof Competencies. In other words, what are the things that you learn at school that are definitely going to be necessary in life, no matter what life throws at you,” said Conrad.

Now, we are pleased to present to you … Conrad Hughes.

SkyGems Academy Podcast 29th speaker is Shady Elkassas.

Shady is a multiple award-winning and passionate Egyptian educator working in United Arab Emirates. He is a winner of Khalifa Award of Education Excellence, and Middle East Education Influencer Award winner. Since his childhood, he had looked forward to a career in teaching, and become a committed educator providing high standards and practices in the education of young people. He believes that the capstone of education is to give every student equal opportunities to learn and for this reason, a true educator is the one who acknowledges, respects, and appreciates students' diverse backgrounds, learning styles, intelligence, and abilities. Following this perspective, he has centred his teaching repertoire around the concept of searching for the best way to meeting students' individual needs.

As a school leader, Shady communicated the same message to his team members. He is a STEM advocate and speaker in the MENA region. He has taken initiatives to adopt project-based learning (PBL) and inquiry-based learning (IBL) methodologies to create a new foundation of STEM learning in school. He strongly believe that leadership has a strong influence on education.

Shady has been selected to be a speaker in three international education conferences in the region - GESS-Dubai 2016, 2017, and Fatih Educational Summit in Turkey 2016. He was also a GESS education award finalist for two years (2016 & 17). For the past few years, he has been associated with Sharjah American International School. With Robotics being of particular interest to him, he has led the School Robotics team and helped them winning many awards at international events. He has also been invited to speak at events like TEDx and GESS (Global Educational Supplies and Solutions Exhibition).

"One of the key lessons is being prepared. How to be prepared? This is to acquire knowledge and skills. Do not stop learning. Do not stop exploiting knowledge in different fields. Do not stop scaffolding your knowledge and skills and attributes in many fields. So, yes, being prepared is one of the key lessons for the future generation," said Shady.

Now, we are pleased to present to you … Shady Elkassas!

SkyGems Academy Podcast Series 1 – 29th speaker is Shady Elkassas.

Shady is the Director of Innovation at Alttihad National Private School Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Shady is a multiple award-winning and passionate Egyptian educator working in United Arab Emirates. He is a winner of Khalifa Award of Education Excellence, and Middle East Education Influencer Award winner.

“I believe that being prepared is the key lesson that we should teach to our future leaders. Being dynamic to change, being prepared for any setback, being prepared for any global challenge,” said Shady.

Now, we are pleased to present to you … Shady Elkassas.

SkyGems Academy Podcast 28th speaker is John Nicholls.

John is the Co-Director of the Bilingual European School, Milan.  He has a Masters degree in Coaching and Mentoring Practice, and is a published author focusing on resilience and creating positive working environments. John has led coaching skills, facilitation training and wellbeing workshops in over 30 countries.

He has 28 years of experience in education. During this time, he has been a primary and middle school teacher, primary head teacher and Leadership Development Adviser for the National College of School Leadership in the UK. He ran the award winning Norfolk Wellbeing Programme, which not only worked to improve the subjective wellbeing of 28,000 staff but also offered professional & personal support to over 400 school principals. In this role, he was also a consultant for the national Worklife Support organization.

After five years in this role, John moved to the International Baccalaureate in Geneva and then The Hague. He recruited, trained and managed the performance of over a thousand workshop leaders, school visitors and consultants. John also carried out PYP authorization and verification visits in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, evaluated schools for BSO and Nord Anglia, and is a Lead Improvement Partner for COBIS (the Council of British International Schools).

John shared a heart-warming activity that his school conducted  during the Covid-19 pandemic in Milan, Lombardy. I quote and unquote John:

“We had 12 different stop offs in Milan, where the children and parents could come and just basically say hello and happy holidays and wave hello and goodbye to the teachers. The owner of the school was driving in front, came out and gave everyone a flag to wave, we'd say hello to the children from a distance.”

“There has been a big, big focus on what it means to be human. What it means to have a good relationship with others. There has to be explicit skills taught around social emotional skills, but they also need to be woven into everything else that we do,” said John.

Now, we are pleased to introduce you to and present to you to … John Nicholls!

SkyGems Academy Podcast Series 1 – 28th  speaker is John Nicholls.

John is the Co-Director of the Bilingual European School, Milan, Lombardy, Italy.  Previously, he was Assistant Director for Leadership Development across Nord Anglia’s 55 schools and was also responsible for Professional Development in Asia.

“There's so much beauty in the world. So many lovely relationships. So many fascinating things about our world and how it works. We need to have that joyful wonder first. Then get stuck into solving the problems,” said John.

Now, we are pleased to present to you … John Nicholls.

SkyGems Academy Podcast 27th speaker is Julia Reynen.

As Founder & Principal Advisor of Culture Innovator, Julia supports leaders across all industries navigate rapid growth and change without compromising positive workplace culture. Recently Julia co-founded Clear Crossing Academy which is an online social learning network for professionals to engage, learn and grow.

Clear Crossing Academy delivers robust, structured online courses and social learning support in three critical and interrelated areas - leadership, culture and storytelling.

“I think we need to be generous with one another, we need to create space for one another, and we need to give people time in order to share their talents and their passions and really grow,” said Julia.

Now, we are pleased to introduce to you and present to you … Julia Reynen!

SkyGems Academy Podcast Series 1 – 27th speaker is Julia Reynen.

An educator at heart, Julia is a millennial on a mission to positively disrupt leadership and workplace culture as we know it. She is a global leader in education and training with over a decade of experience serving diverse international communities and impacting a global audience with 15,000 hours of leadership, facilitation, coaching and mentoring.

“I truly believe that each individual has a unique talent. And in really tapping into that talent, we will find out what we're truly passionate about. The journey is finding the ways in which we are going to share that with the world,” said Julia.

Now, we are pleased to present to you … Julia Reynen.

SkyGems Academy Podcast 26th speaker is Chris Bradbury.

Chris is the Principal of Northholm Grammar School, an independent co-educational School. Chris is based in Sydney, Australia.

Chris has a genuine commitment and passion for the growth of young people to achieve their personal best through life-wide learning.

Chris has been awarded a NSW Quality Teaching Excellence Award in recognition of outstanding teaching practice by the NSW State Government and was a recipient of both the Gandel Holocaust Studies Program for Australian Educators Scholarship and the NSW Premiers Westfield’s History Teacher’s Scholarship.

In 2018, he has been selected to participate in the NSW AIS Leadership Centre Flagship Program which is a rigorous, holistic program for experienced school leaders in schools.

He holds a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Education from the University of Sydney and a Graduate Certificate in Advanced Educational Leadership from Harvard University.

“Covid-19 has been a pivotal learning point for the 21st century skills dispositions. We need to continue to be deliberate, intentional in making them a reality so that our students have the capacity to deal with all those challenges when they leave school and beyond,” said Chris.

Now, we are pleased to introduce to you and present to you … Chris Bradbury!