innovatED - Issue 2

Festival of Learning
But children are of their time, it is their future and many of the skills they
amass outside school through gamification, online socialising and navigating
the myriad ways in which information comes to them, are gearing them up
for life beyond school.
Attention spans aren’t worse than they were, they have evolved. Our
students may still have the thirty-minute attention span we require, but
they’ve learned to divide it up into five six-minute tasks and do them at the
same time. A ten year old child is quite able to play Minecraft, search for
downloadable add-ons, chat with his friend on WhatsApp, argue with his
sister and eat a packet of crisps all at the same time. He does not have
issues with his attention span; he is of his time.
Our current Reception pupils will leave full-time school in 2031. The future
is not over there, or round the corner, or in the distance, it is here –
because the children are here. They are of their time. Perhaps we should
watch and listen and let them show us how they have evolved – because
while we’ve been debating and discussing and hammering out new ways
of making our teaching more contemporaneous, they’ve been steadily
evolving under our noses. If we have trouble with our iPhone upgrades, or
operating a smart TV, or deciphering text-speak, we ask a child and they
sort if for us.
And so the theme for this, our inaugural Festival of Learning, is;
‘The Future is Already Here’.
The obsolescence-proof skills of collaboration, innovation and
communication are guides for how we have designed our festival. There
are no borders or boundaries when it comes to best practice. We wish to
invite colleagues from all sorts of schools in all sorts of settings – because
we all face the same future.
We believe that we can learn a great deal from colleagues in
maintained and independent sector schools. Cross-sector support and
collaboration will ultimately benefit the children and, we hope, support
teacher well-being.
We would like to reach out to creative, imaginative teachers and school
leaders who, like us, share a desire for ensuring that what we do during the
school day reflects, and prepares children for, what is happening outside
our school gates. We want to ensure that we’re ready, and our children are
ready, for whatever is coming. And we wish to do so in a way that is
collaborative and innovative.
We are optimistic for the future of education and we are pleased to host a
symposium for kindred spirits to connect, share ideas and feel re-energised
for the task that lies ahead.
To this end, we have booked some inspirational speakers for our keynotes
and we are staging some highly creative and practical workshops. We have
also invited a wide range of innovative service providers and publishers
whom you can meet, to find out what is out there now to help us in our
teaching, learning and leading.
We would be delighted if you would join us for what we are sure will be an
energising and inspiring festival of learning. We are all model learners for
our children, in whatever setting we teach; none of us have all the answers,
but as a collective, we can probably work it out; together we can probably
articulate an accurate vision of the future; and together we can probably
work out what we’re going to do about it.•
Register your interest at: www.independentschoolsportal.org/events
22 | Issue 2 | innovatED | www.independentschoolsportal.org