Tom Arrand

Dec 3, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Andy Kemp |Tom Arrand |Irena Barker |Durell Barnes

When seven former education ministers from across the political divide join forces to call for bold action, surely the incumbent must act. Collectively they highlight the need to move away from an overly exam-based system to a forward-looking education which includes character, creative thinking, problem solving and other skills, alongside the best of the more traditional aspects of our current system.

Nov 5, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Daniel McHugh |Paul Wood |Irena Barker |Tom Arrand

Highgate School in London is set to open its first international campus, in Thailand. The school is partnering with Siam Motors Group (SMG) and the Phornprapha family to establish the school near the Siam Country Club east of Pattaya City in Chonburi province, South of Bangkok. The new school aims to provide “a first-rate academic yet holistic education within world-class facilities” a press release from the school said.

Oct 21, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Paul Wood |Irena Barker |Tom Arrand |Adam Beeson

Al Ain British Academy is small by UAE standards, with 1,000 pupils, including just 300 in the secondary school. Just under 70 per cent of the population are Emirati, with a healthy minority of expats from a wide range of countries. Prior to the pandemic, the school, which was much smaller then, had not run any international visits. So one of my aims, on arriving at the school in 2021, was to harness the developmental power of school trips. The challenges of starting a trips programme were numerous.

Oct 17, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Tom Arrand |Adam Beeson |Caz Jude |Irena Barker

Selina Boyd knows what it feels like to be an international school parent. Uprooted from the UK in 2009 because of her husband’s job, she found herself plunged into life many thousands of miles from home, in Singapore. Amid the chaos of relocation, the priority was on finding schools for their three primary-aged children. “It’s always a pretty stressful time, you’re juggling so many balls, you just want to get all your ducks in a row,” she says.

Oct 13, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Irena Barker |Durell Barnes |Aidan Warlow |Tom Arrand

Roughly speaking, the proportion of suitable applicants to Oxford and Cambridge who receive an offer to those who do not, is approximately 1:8. This is the first thing I explain to aspiring Year 12 students who have decided to take the first tentative steps on the Oxbridge journey.