Tes International

In the latest episode of the Tes International podcast we chat with Evelyn Twebaze, the head at Oak International School in Uganda.

She discusses how the school is coping with rapid growth and the changes this creates - from having to increase classroom sizes to building more accommodation for staff, and ensuring new teachers have the skills required to teach in a modern, forward-thinking way required for the setting.

She also discusses the challenge of helping to diagnose children with special education needs and disabilities and provide the necessary adaptations for them, and the tricky art of explaining this to parents who are not always receptive to what they are being told.

We chat with Iain Henderson. Deputy Head (Educational Developments and Partnerships) at Wellington College and Chris Woolf, International Director, Wellington College International, about how private schools can run successful international school franchises.

They discuss everything from the importance of regularly checking in with leaders at your overseas schools, to how you ensure you create the right ethos in a new setting that mirrors the home school.

We also hear how their own Festival of EDucation is about to go global with new events planned by their overseas partners.

In the latest Tes International podcast we chat with Mark Leppard, the headmaster of The British School Al Khubairat, Abu Dhabi about why he still finds time to teach in the classroom despite a school leader - and the benefits he believes this brings to his leadership.

He also explains why the school has created its own leadership programme for students to help augment their learning beyond A levels - and how this course has evolved over the years.

Finally he talks about how heads can avoid the loneliness that can occur when leading a school and the importance of maintaining close relationships with other senior staff or leaders across your region - or indeed the world.

In the first episode of a new series of the Tes International Podcast, we head to Oman to chat with Kai Vacher, the principal of the British School of Muscat, to hear about an initiative to deliver remote education to a sister school, 1,000km away.

He explains how the initiative came to life before the pandemic and grow through various lockdowns to help boost provision for students at Key Stage 3 and 4 and increase pupil numbers too.

Vacher also explains about the various hurdles and unexpected issues that can occur developing a program like this - and how to overcome them - to help any other school thinking of doing something similar get a sense of what might lie ahead, and why it's all worth it.

In this episode of the Tes International podcast we chat with Mark Steed, the Principal and CEO of Kellett School, the British International School in Hong Kong about how leaders can give staff meaningful career growth opportunities towards their own leadership goals.

He touches on how this involves recognising you may lose talented staff over time - and why this should be embraced - and why existing leaders should spend time explaining the less obvious aspects of leadership to those below them to help set them up for the future

In this episode of the Tes International podcast we chat with Liz Free, CEO and director at International School Rheintal (ISR) in Switzerland, about how she set about establishing a relationship with her board of governors that worked for both her and them to benefit the school, and why this isn't as easy as it sounds.

She also discusses the tricky topic of when and how to call on external consultants to help you - from how you pick the right person or organisation for your needs and making it clear what you want them to do - and why sometimes you have to decide their advice is not right for your setting, even if you've paid good money for it. 

All that and lots more...

In this episode, we chat with Matt Payne, the head of lower school at Nord Anglia International School New York, to hear about how the school works hard to ensure the induction process for new starters goes as well as possible.

He explains how this starts at the interview stage as the school looks to get a sense of how candidates may settle in such a fast-paced and bustling city - and how they help them sort the numerous administrative tasks that await.

He also explains why buddy systems are back after the pandemic - and why a scavenger hunt can be a great way to help people learn about their new home.

Tes talks with the principal of the British International School Ukraine, David Cole, about how he and his school community have coped during the Russian invasion of the country – and why keeping education going must remain the top priority, whatever the situation

Building strong relationships with the local community is something all schools seek to do - but it is not something that happens by magic and takes time, trust and effort to create genuine connections and dialogue.

This is especially true in the international school sector, where many schools have been perceived as silos of privilege and may have struggled to integrate with the wider community. This was the challenge that faced Jonathan Warner when he became headmaster of the British School of Ulaanbaatar in 2019.

However, as he explains in the latest Tes International podcast, he set about changing this from the start across the school - from getting pupils to see the reality of life beyond the school gates to reaching out to local government officials to build relationships and form long-term partnerships.

He explains how he did this, the impact it has had, why he sees it as fundamental to the ethos of international education - and what it's like to live and work in Mongolia.

As the pandemic recedes in many countries around the world international schools are reporting an increase in safeguarding concerns as the impact of two years of studying at home and a lack of socialisation takes its toll.

With this in mind, we chat with Kate Moskwa, principal of Abdulrahman Kanoo International School (ARKIS) in Bahrain, to hear about how her school has seen this issue play out and the work they are doing to support students and give staff the CPD they need to maintain their skills in this area.

We also talk about the wider issues of safeguarding in the international sector - from the cultural differences between settings to the importance of using the expertise of local staff to discuss sensitive issues with families.