Further News

In partnership with the International Baccalaureate (IB), the non-profit organisation HundrEd is looking for young people between the ages of 12 and 19 to join its "Youth Ambassador Programme". Over a four-month programme—through online workshops, discussions, opportunities for mentorship and a closed Discord channel—Youth Ambassadors will learn, ideate, and collaborate to tackle some of today’s global challenges. In addition to providing support to these future innovators, this programme aims to build a supportive, kind, inspiring and safe online community of young people. More information on the programme

On Wednesday, 10 January 2024 at 6 pm (CET), we will continue our PSHE webinar series. We look forward to learning from Thomas Sparrow how to easily recognise Fake News and how to verify information online. Thomas Sparrow is a correspondent for Deutsche Welle and has dedicated himself to the topic of Fake News for many years alongside his journalistic work. He offers lectures and workshops for young people and has been guest speaker at many schools in Germany and England. We invite anyone interested in this topic to join our webinar, which is free of charge and will be held in English.

If you would like to register for the webinar please click here.

According to the new PISA study published on 5 December 2023, English pupils have again improved significantly in the international rankings, especially in mathematics, making them one of the best performing countries in the western world.

Educational standards in England have risen significantly over the last 13 years in particular thanks to many government initiatives, and more than £5 billion has also been spent on supportive educational measures during the pandemic. As a result England has ranked 13th for both reading and science, having been placed at 14th and 13th respectively in 2018 and 25th and 16th in 2009.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment of 15-year-olds’ mathematics, reading and science ability. Conducted by the OECD, it is widely accepted as the international benchmark for academic attainment for secondary school pupils. 

More information

PSHE - Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education is an inspiring course that is compulsory in British schools. Every month, we will present topics from this subject to teenagers (and their parents) in a webinar with guests from our partner schools.

On Wednesday 13 December at 6pm CET, we will launch the series with the webinar on Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom and are delighted to have Dr Andy Kemp, Principal of The National Mathematics & Science College as our speaker.

Our second webinar will be on Fake News and will take place on Wednesday 10 January at 6pm CET. Our speaker in January is Mr Thomas Sparrow, correspondent for Deutsche Welle.

Future topics for this PSHE series will include Effective Revision and Test Taking, Dealing with Feelings, Vaping, Sleep, Cyber Security, Racism, Arguing effectively, Banks/Mortgages/Stocks & Shares, You and the Law - understanding the Justice System, Eating disorders, Talking to your Parents about Sex or Civil Liberties and Human Rights.

The webinars are free and conducted in English.

Registration and further information

Allegra spent a year in the Sixth Form at King's Ely near the city of Cambridge and in her boarding house she felt like she was part of a family. What she particularly liked her school for: "Everyone at King's Ely seemed really interested in me being at this school, I felt really valued".

To the Interview with Allegra

The non-profit initiative 21future from Munich has launched a crowdfunding campaign called "Making 150 young people sustainably fit for the future". The aim is to raise funds to expand the work with children and young people who mostly come from disadvanted families. Since 2018, the 21future team has been organising one-week, project-based "learning journeys" dedicated to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in middle and secondary schools. More schools would like to invite 21future to organise a learning journey than the organisation can currently afford, so further funding is being raised in this way. We support the work of 21future wholeheartedly and also financially. Our managing director Mrs Theresa Glasmacher knows Mr Tahir Hussain, 21future's founder and CEO, well since their joint time at the London School of Economics. Please consider making a donation, however small or large! You can find the campaign under betterplace.org or you can donate directly via PayPal, just click here.

Representatives from over thirty local state and independent schools were welcomed at Sidcot for our inaugural Education Conference on "Vaping and Drugs". Sidcot’s Education Conference forms part of a sustained safeguarding programme run by Sidcot School
Read more about the event here.

For the last months Goodnotes embarked on a research project to explore the implications of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in schools. The goal was to understand the profound technological shift that GenAI will bring to every aspect of life, learning, and work. Through interviews and discussions with various stakeholders, the company aimed to capture a holistic view of GenAI's role in education. The report stands out as it features contributions, reflections and ideas from a truly wide range of over 50 contributors, each offering a unique perspective on the challenges, trends, barriers, and solutions related to GenAI in school communities around the world.
To view the publication: Generative AI in Schools | Goodnotes Research

Mark Mortimer, Warden of Glenalmond College welcomed all new and returning students at the start of the new school year with a wonderful poem by Kahlil Gabran: On Children.

Students graduating from British boarding schools are well prepared to study at the best universities worldwide. In addition to the well-known US and British universities, many European universities are now attracting more and more outstanding school leavers. An early and excellent application is particularly important for these universities.

University expert David Hawkins, founder and CEO of The University Guys will give you an overview of the European university landscape (excluding the UK and Germany). He also has valuable tips and advice on how to make your application to these top European universities as effective as possible. A Q&A session is scheduled after David's presentation. 

To the webinar recording