The term is advancing rapidly towards the half-term break when I shall be attending the IB Global Conference in The Hague on behalf of ERV to learn more about the latest trends in international education. Even Heads go off for training.

It is important that Heads should be at the forefront of discussions that will affect the future of our students.

I am especially looking forward to hearing the final speaker Mr Ewan McIntosh who hales from Scotland, is a former teacher of Modern Languages and now advises huge international companies on how to reach the top in whatever field they find themselves. He is famous for promoting the importance of an ‘individual’ approach, daring to be different and accepting failure as a stepping stone to success. You can find out more via his website or Google ‘NoTosh’.

The prospect of wet and windy Dutch weather is a bit of a deterrent, but the rewards will be worth it, I’m sure.

The opportunity to meet with colleagues from all over the world and exchange ideas is exciting. For me the opportunity to find other IB schools in Africa also opens up potential partnerships, and certainly collaboration, that will enable ERV to be better equipped, better known and better able to prepare our students for the challenges they will face in the world of work.

Harry H. McFaul