Recent CPD Activity
Learning Support JAWS - British International School Phuket, Thailand
Twenty five representatives from FOBISSEA Schools in Brunei, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Malaysia, Singapore, Taipei, Thailand and Vietnam recently attended the FOBISSEA Learning Support Job Alike Workshops (JAWS), hosted by BIS Phuket on the 25th & 26th November, 2011.
Hosted in the beautiful grounds of BIS Phuket, the JAWs provided a great opportunity for the participants to share common experiences, discuss job-related issues, share resources and establish networks for further collaboration and communication.
All participants were actively involved in establishing valuable networks and participating in positive discussion on topics that included:
- Assessments;
- Fulfilling the promise of differentiation;
- Parents as Partners;
- Access arrangements;
- External specialists and professionals in SE Asia.
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In addition, Phuket’s resident Occupational Therapist, Karen Beardsley, presented a session for all participants on Sensory Motor Development: What is it and how does it affect our students? This was followed by a practical workshop on the Move to Learn program, presented by Rochelle Carberry from Garden School, Malaysia.
Thanks go to Tina Akers (BIS Primary SENCO) and the Staff at BIS Phuket, for coordinating the successful JAWS. It provided a great opportunity for learning and networking. It established a resource for future sharing and collaboration for FOBISSEA SENCOs and teachers who support children’s learning in the Early Years, Primary and Secondary schools..jpg)
Senior Leaders' JAWS - British International School Guangzhou, China
The Senior Leaders' Job-Alike Workshop Conference was hosted by the British School of Guangzhou (China) on the 18th & 19th November. There were 22 Senior Leaders from many FOBISSEA international schools. Schools represented at the conference comprised Bangkok Patana School, The British International School of Vietnam, International School Brunei (ISB), The British School of Manila, Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar (Malaysia), The Alice Smith School (Malaysia), Dulwich Beijing, Tanglin Trust School (Singapore), Harrow Beijing, and the British School of Guangzhou..JPG)
The two-day conference allowed for no less than fifteen high calibre presentations delivered by the attendees themselves and covering a broad and worthwhile range of topics. Each of these was a perceptive introduction to an aspect of school improvement and/or leadership which the various schools have embarked on in recent times. The attendees all agreed that these proved to be very valuable and thought-provoking when set against the schools' own particular contexts. Each presentation was followed by insightful question and answer sessions, and the emphasis was very much on candid and professional sharing of ideas as is the spirit of the FOBISSEA Job Alike Workshop format, a now popular format for continuing professional development within this regional association of British International Schools..JPG)
Overall, these sessions proved to demonstrate that all of the schools attending face similar issues as they strive to enhance their students' education through creative leadership and inspired solutions. Specific topics included effective leadership, strategic planning, external and internal whole school evaluation (we compared the British OFSTED model to the CIS process for example), professional performance reviews, student leadership, child protection, drugs education, strategic planning, vision statements and balancing student-centred learning with outstanding exam results.
It is crucial that prolific international schools invest in their staff at all levels, and this particular conference served to provide practical ideas on how Senior Leaders can continue to work towards education of the highest quality. Harnessing the talents of people who are leading their schools in hands-on and inspirational ways is an excellent way to facilitate such professional development, and we hope that the conference can be increased in scale in future years.
The other major benefit of making strong professional connections with our colleagues in other schools was very much in evidence and further underlines why this kind of opportunity is so valuable.
James Penstone, Bangkok Patana School----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drama JAWS - Garden International School,
Kuala Lumpur
On 7th & 8th October, 13 Drama teachers met up for the 2011 Drama JAWs. The JAWs was hosted at Garden International School, Kuala Lumpur and attended by Drama representatives from Thailand, Taipei, Guangzhou, Manila and Vietnam. This was a wonderful opportunity for colleagues to share good practice and plan for the KS3 FOBISSEA Festival in February 2012. Physical theatre and text based workshops were run by both the host school and visiting teachers. Discussions and presentations revolved around curriculum teaching at KS3, IGCSE, IB and A-level, continuity and progression between Primary and Secondary and planning for the FOBISSEA Festival.
The Festival will be titled 'New Beginnings' as it is the first Drama FOBISSEA Festival to take place. The Selangor Pewter Factory, enjoyed by the teachers during the JAWs, will be one starting point for the KS3 students with subsequent Drama workshops emanating from the trip.
The JAWs was enjoyed by all staff who took part and everyone left tired but happy. We look forward to coming together again in February with our KS3 students.
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Primary & Secondary Art & Design JAWS - Garden International School, Kuala Lumpur
Garden International School, Kuala Lumpur Art department hosted a JAWs event on the 7th-8th October. The premise of the event was to gather Art staff from FOBISSEA schools around SE Asia to meet up and host workshops to further their own teaching and impact of their faculty. Representatives came from Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Hong Kong and Malaysia and stronger links have been formed between us all. Staff facilitated workshops on many areas of teaching art and design including curriculum planning throughout the Key stages, the marking of art coursework and also practical skills swapping in digital photography and print making too. A rewarding excursion to the Islamic Arts Museum created discussion on how art education can capitalize from trips outside school..jpg)
A online forum has been set up between us all to allow this sharing of good practice to continue F.A.T. (FOBISSEA Art Teachers).
It was a tremendously rewarding couple of days and all of the art staff left feeling happy.
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Science JAWS - Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
Tanglin Trust School, Singapore, hosted their first Science JAWs on 29th-30th September 2011. (min).jpg)
The primary school session was attended by nine delegates from six schools across the region and was deemed a great success. The topics discussed over the two days included how assessment is carried out in different schools, developing thinking skills, technology in Science lessons and developing the progression of Sc1 skills. It was extremely valuable to share ideas for Science starters and plenaries and debate whether a cross curricular approach to Science is more beneficial than discrete lessons. All delegates welcomed the opportunity to share learning and teaching experiences and to make links with other professionals in international schools.
The Senior Science JAWs was also a great success. Eleven delegates attended and spent the two days discussing a very broad agenda. This covered using ICT tools such as OneNote and Edmodo for planning and communication, bringing creativity into the Science classroom, working on literacy to improve attainment in Science, and developing active thinking skills. We also squeezed in a trip to Singapore Science Centre to illustrate the implementation of a cross-curricular project. As a result of the JAWS we have established an Edmodo network to stay in touch and all parties hope to follow-up with another meeting in the near future.
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CPD Leaders' Conference - The Alice Smith School
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It was a great pleasure to welcome colleagues from FOBISSEA on the 10th September to the CPD Leaders' Conference at Equine Park, Alice Smith School. A very interesting presentation from Jonathan Dale of the National College for School Leadership kicked off the meeting – dealing with the benefits of membership, through FOBISSEA to the college. He also dealt with NPQH and how it is possible to do an international NPQH through the college within a FOBISSEA cohort..jpg)
Dr Martin Watts, Learning Technologies Leader from The Alice Smith School, then led a JAW style seminar on the use of learning technologies within a school’s CPD programme..jpg)
The rest of the day was given over to discussions on CPD practice within regional and cross phase groups. This proved to be a very valuable time for colleagues to share ideas and issues that they face.
The conference reminded me once again of the high level of importance that CPD is regarded within FOBISSEA schools; of the great work that is going on across our region in trying to give our staff the best development opportunities; and of the high calibre of leaders that FOBISSEA schools have who are passionate about CPD in their schools.
Nick Lee
Assistant Principal - Curriculum
The Alice Smith School
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Humanities JAWS - Taipei European School
On the 20th and 21st of May Taipei European School hosted the first FOBISSEA Humanities event. Nineteen teachers participated from schools across the region: Dulwich College Beijing, Harrow School Beijing, The British School (Ho Chi Min City) Garden International School KL, Alice Smith School KL and Tanglin Trust School Singapore along with teachers from both Primary and Secondary campuses at Taipei European School.
The event took place over two days, with teachers from the host school as well as a teacher from Harrow Beijing and Dulwich Beijing offering workshops on a range of topics. It was an intense two days in which good practice and expertise in different aspects of education were shared. Workshops included creative use of ICT, Personalised learning, Co-operative learning, Provision for Gifted and Talented students and EAL teaching. There was lively debate and discussion on all of these issues and how to move forward with them in our international school settings. Delegates were particularly enthused by the focus upon practical day-to-day strategies and ideas that can be used in the classroom..jpg "Humanities JAWS May 2011")
All of the delegates were enthusiastic about TES, Taipei City and the warm welcome of the Taiwanese people. The two day event finished with positive feedback and a unanimous decision to meet again as soon as possible to consolidate links, and to continue working collaboratively across FOBISSEA, striving for excellence in our classroom practice.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Learning Support JAWS – BIS HCMC
BIS Ho Chi Minh City hosted the second FOBISSEA Learning Support JAWS on 6/7 May 2011. We were delighted to welcome 24 participants from 13 FOBISSEA schools. A dinner on Thursday evening, followed by two days working together, provided useful opportunities to network with colleagues in the region..JPG)
Participants were asked to bring resources and information to demonstrate or share and these were collated into a useful database of ‘What Works Best’ for each school. Three participants gave informative presentations on Identifying Students on the Autistic Spectrum, Self-Esteem and Jungle Memory – a working memory intervention.
The feedback was very positive. Participants benefitted from making links and sharing good practice as well as more structured sessions. There was lots of interest in meeting again next year and developing the workshops further.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Early Years JAWS at ISB, Brunei
On Friday 4th and Saturday 5th March sixteen teachers from international schools and four teachers from schools within Brunei joined the teachers at ISB for an Early Years Job Alike Workshop. This was an opportunity for Early Years practitioners, leaders and managers working in the context of the international school sector to share ideas, resources, and best practice..JPG "ISB Brunei_Sharing_learning_journeys")
The delegates gathered informally on Thursday night for a Malay buffet dinner and a tour of the centre of Bandar Seri Begawan, including seeing the exterior of the Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque and views of Kampong Ayer.
The focus on Friday was ‘Our Learning Environments’ after a brief introduction from the Primary principal of ISB, Mr Shane Nathan, delegates were given a guided tour of the ISB and then had a chance to revisit and observe parts of the Early Years environment of most interest to them. This was followed by a sharing session where each delegate showed pictures of their own learning environments.
The morning finished by delegates working together to create a policy on the use of the outdoor environment after a short presentation by John Holmes, from ISB, which focused on the principals behind the effective use of the outdoor environment including allowing children to take risks.
In the afternoon Sheila Crocker, also from ISB, led two sessions. The first focused on the cognitive development of the child which considered both the theoretical and practical aspects. During this session delegates, and staff from ISB, also had an opportunity to consider the use of a variety of apparatus available in settings. The second session focused sharing good practice on supporting the development of teaching assistants and developing quality interactions within our environments. Sheila explained the ISB model, including the partnership with Sunshine Coast TAFE to delivery Australian recognised Certificate III and Diploma courses in Children’s Services. Delegates also shared the methods they use to enable the whole staff community to continue their learning journey.
The focus on Saturday was ‘Documenting learning’. The day started with Melody Stuckey from Dulwich Suzhou sharing her experience of ‘Learning Stories’. A learning story is an observation of your child during a period of learning. Learning Stories assist teachers to truly get to know each child and their interest, strengths and needs and highlights learning outcomes. This was followed by more general discussion and sharing of practice on using observation as a tool for assessment in the Early Years.
The concluding session enabled staff to look at the documentary evidence showing the various learning journeys of children delegates are working with. This session was introduced by Andrea Brough and Jeanna Fergusson from Alice Smith School as they shared their e-profiles. Then all delegates shared their own examples with each other.
The workshop concluded with lunch on Saturday.