Supporting Associate of the Year

Winner 2023
King's Interhigh / British International School, Ukraine 
International education in wartime

Kings InterHigh and BISU collaborated to introduce an online offering to BISUs Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 students, including iGCSEs and A-Level education, following the disruptions caused by the invasion of Ukraine.

The project currently supports 44 students in the Secondary and Sixth Form delivering live, timetabled teaching across a range of subjects including  English, history, Spanish, economics and law.The war caused unprecedented disruption to BISU. But the school remained resilient and looked to partners for support. Over the summer months (July & August 2022) prior to the new school year, Kings InterHigh assigned specific teachers and created a bespoke timetable to deliver live, synchronous lessons to BISU students; all students from BISU received a full access to the King's InterHigh online education services at cost, including a range of extra-curricular activities at no cost; teachers and staff were given training on the use of systems and platforms, enabling them to easily monitor learning progress; and dedicated staffing was allocated to the project to ensure BISUs needs are always met promptly.

We express our deepest gratitude to Kings InterHigh and all our international partners for working with BISU during such an unprecedented emergency -David Cole, BISU Principal 

Judges Comments 

This collaboration is a very moving example of the dedication and commitment of both educators and the education industry. As a judge we were asked to rank categories from 1-5 with 5 being the highest - The Kings Interhigh and BISU collaboration deserves 10! Congratulations to the school and associate for developing this vitally important service for Ukrainian students. Thank you

An inspirational testimonial of a project that has helped pupils and staff to thrive during unimaginable circumstances. A truly admirable collaboration and in my view wholly deserving of SA of the Year award. 

Runner Up 2023
The Stickman Consultancy / Chatmore British International School 
Key Messages Development 

Chatmore British International School were finding it increasingly difficult to attract `right fit' families or to be seen as a school of choice. They felt this was due to lack of a clear identity and not being able to pinpoint what was unique about their School. Enter Stickman. Liaising closely with stakeholders, we dug deep - using qualitative and quantitative research - to understand what makes Chatmore the phenomenon that it is.

We were brought to tears on several occasions by the exquisite stories parents shared about the transformation they see in their children at the School. The key messages we developed crystallise Chatmore's special essence of helping their pupils to flourish and `be more': Be Unique, Be Inspired, Be Transformed. BE MORE. BE CHATMORE. These messages, and the accompanying narrative, provided the School with a distinctive identity and a transformative dialogue that they now use to attract those `right fit' families. But we didn't stop there. We then showed the School how to make these messages truly powerful by outlining ways to embed them across the whole School. This included everything from marketing and communications to teaching & learning and ensured that every stakeholder - the Head to the caretaker - was on board.

Judges comments 

It's great to see a project celebrating and inspiring students to explore their artistic talents. The school reported great impact from fostering cultural interests among students.

Having feedback such as 'transformational' and that the work 'helped to reignight their spark' is to be truly commended. This work will help the school realise its ambitions in the longer term, for the benefit of its whole school community. 

Future-Focused Skills

The collaboration between 8billionideas and GEMS Wellington International School (WIS), with key activities running from the fall of 2022 to the spring of 2023, was a dynamic project aimed at transforming the learning experience by embedding future-focused skills. Comprising several forward-thinking initiatives, it strived to promote skills like entrepreneurship, creativity, and collaboration.

Mental Health and Wellbeing DNA

An ongoing project that is focusing on supporting Kellett's professional learning needs to ensure mental health and wellbeing are part of the DNA of the school. This has been a combination of MHFA, SFA, safeguarding and even counselling skills training.

International education in wartime

Kings InterHigh and BISU  collaborated to introduce an online offering to BISUs Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 students, including iGCSEs and A-Level education, following the disruptions caused by the invasion of Ukraine. The project currently supports 44 students in the Secondary and Sixth Form delivering live, timetabled teaching across a range of subjects including  English, history, Spanish, economics and law.

`CPOMS is a great product, but the support given to by the CPOMS team on a 1-2-1 basis made the system easy to set up, administer and start getting the best out of. Without the individualised support from CPOMS, it would have been much more difficult and just another database'.

Key Messages Development

Chatmore British International School were finding it increasingly difficult to attract `right fit' families or to be seen as a school of choice. They felt this was due to lack of a clear identity and not being able to pinpoint what was unique about their School. Enter Stickman.

Art Competition 2022/23

Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) were proud to partner with COBIS again with this year’s art competition, the theme being ‘Looking Ahead’.  Oryx International School students from Early Years up to Year 5, were encouraged to enter the COBIS/AUB art competition and despite taking part being optional most students were excited to be involved. Against strong competition from schools across the globe, an Early Years student won the Runner Up prize. Judge and AUB academic Sarah Charles, was able to present the prize in person, much to the pride of the whole school. Sarah also had the opportunity to talk to Year 11 and 12 students, giving advice on portfolio preparation and choices for their future studies.
 

Winner 2022
CENTURY - British School Salalah and British School Muscat, Oman
FlexEd

British School Salalah (BSS) and British School Muscat (BSM) have always had a thriving primary school in Salalah, but wanted to find a way to support students to continue their studies through GCSEs without having to leave the city. Together, BSS and BSM created FlexEd - an innovative IGCSE curriculum that combines in-school face to face learning, online teaching and independent study, supported by CENTURY Tech, an AI-powered personalised learning platform.

FlexEd has enabled BSS and BSM to extend the reach of quality, affordable British education to more students in Oman - all through a unique combination of teacher ingenuity, collaboration and technology.

Judges comments:

'CENTURY's innovative approach and going the extra mile with face-to-face support for parents during the project transition delivered an incredibly successful blended learning support system for the school'.

'Excellent to hear about the impact this project has had on pupils, the effective widening of access, and the high-quality support that CENTURY Tech provided throughout.  The potential of this project in other areas is very exciting'.

Runner Up 2022
SPW Careers - The British School of Paris, France
Whole School Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance

SPW Careers have worked with The British School of Paris to deliver a variety of career support programmes. Over the past year, a small team of qualified careers advisers travelled to Paris from the UK to run careers profiling sessions and 1-1 careers guidance interviews to all the Yr. 11s.  This supports post-16 option plans, plus early exploration for university, alternatives and career planning.  

The support offered by SPW Careers has ensured that the school offers all students the opportunity to access support from a qualified and experienced team of Career Advisers. The best evidence comes from the students themselves:

'It has given me a clearer understanding of where my strengths are and what courses I might want to take in future.'

'I now know more about how to pick where I want to study and what I want to study. Differences between the UK vs USA really showed me the differences in the required applications.'

'I feel more confident with what I want to pursue and how I will get there'.