At a little after 4pm today I stood at the back of a crowded room and watched two people laugh, talk and share ideas with a group of around thirty other people who laughed, talked and shared right back. They were talking about teaching young kids how to read. Do you know that bit in […]

Read more "Plate-Spinning Superhero Rock Star Miracle Workers"

It is an incredible privilege to be the Head of an International School, for all sorts of reasons. I have been fortunate and proud to have spent 12 and 7 years as a Head of School in two very institutions, in a profession where such longevity is less common than you might think. But all […]

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“It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgments” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.52 [trans. George Long] Lots of places in the world are pretty riled up right now. Everything seems to be an angry, […]

Read more "There is a Third Way"

The Queen is Dead. There have been, and will be, many things written to mark the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. There will be valedictions, and the sharing of memories. There will be those who mourn her loss like that of an old friend, and those who see her life as a chronicle […]

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I know that there are lots of people around the world starting new jobs, particularly in the world of international schools. I see the posts on various online platforms: the celebrations and excitement of new new adventures and challenges. This post is not for you – though congratulations, by the way! This post is for […]

Read more "Congratulations on Your (Old) Job!"

Happy Brazilian Teachers’ Day! In 1963, Brazil recognized October 15 as Teachers’ Day – but the origins go back some years earlier to an astonishing woman of courage and conscience. Her name was Antonieta de Barros, the first black woman to be elected as a deputado in the country. In 1948 Antonieta de Barros was […]

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They say that parenting gets easier as they get older… I wish! As any parent will tell you, the challenge of being a mom or dad as your children get older doesn’t get any less – it just changes. Those early years of lack of sleep, toilet training and non-stop demands for attention give way […]

Read more "It Isn’t Easy Being a Parent…"

Human beings are blessed with the gift of imagination. We can dream up incredible things, conjure up amazing feats of creativity, and use the power of the mind to completely turn reality on its head. We have the power of imagination to thank for the cinematic works of George Lucas and the cartoon universe of […]

Read more "“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”"

We have a lot to learn from the movies. Even Ghostbusters. When Egon tells Venkman, “Don’t cross the streams”, he was more right than he knew. Only he wasn’t just right in the context of proton packs and ectomorphic apparitions. There are some things that just need to be kept separate, or bad things happen. […]

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“These are not simply abstract numbers or statistics. It is some one’s father or grandfather, a mother or grandmother, a partner. They are people. And we are a community in which every life and every person matters (and) this is what an epidemic shows us: how vulnerable we all are, how dependent (we are) on […]

Read more "Looking After Each Other"

As a former English teacher, I was delighted to read a glowing newspaper endorsement of some students for their writing as young journalists: The Panther Press has been running at my school for generations, as a vehicle for students to make sense about the world. You probably had something similar when you were at school? […]

Read more "In Celebration of Student Voice…"

I write this on the eve of the second semester. Tomorrow my school will welcome our returning families after the vacation, as well as welcome around 80 new students who are joining our community. I recently wrote a few words to the community as a way of framing some thoughts ahead of the resumption of […]

Read more "A Few Thoughts About Choosing Hope…"