By Caroline Breeds
Following the snow disruption earlier this year, our postponed relocation networking event happened at ACS Hillingdon at the end of May.
We were delighted to welcome many new friends to our event. What a great opportunity for our guests to see our our fantastic new Science centre in action, as well as enjoying an informal breakfast and networking; another successful event!
Thank you to all of you who took the time to come and visit us, we look forward to welcoming you to ACS Egham for our Christmas event later this year.
EuRA – Dubrovnik, Croatia
EuRA celebrated its 20th anniversary, and the annual conference was bigger than previous years with over 600 delegates in attendance. Members travel from all over the globe to a different European city each year. For the anniversary event, the organisers chose to hold it in a setting to remember, Dubrovnik, Croatia. The hotel was large enough to host the majority of the attendees and we were given the opportunity to attend various seminars enabling us to listen to some fantastic speakers and network with industry peers.
Carl McLean from AiRINC presented the main finding of AiRINC’s 2018 Mobility Outlook Survey, covering current trends and the future direction of mobility. Many corporates are now utilising at least 4 different policies if not more. Technology continues to improve systems and enhances opportunities for flexibility and reduces the need for rigidly defined policies.
The Ignite session is always a dynamic way to learn more about the speakers, this year was no exception! Fast paced, interesting content, well done to all who presented!
Each year EuRA support a local charity, this year it was Marina Drzica Special School, and over 24,000 Euros was raised, an excellent achievement.
Congratulations to Charlie and Vanessa McCrow owners of The Apartment Service, on receiving the outstanding partnership award, this was awarded at the end of the Gala Dinner on Thursday evening. Great job!
The closing session always reveals the much anticipated destination for the following year's convention... EuRA 2019 will be held in Munich, Germany. I am sure that EuRA will once again put together a fabulous agenda for all of us to look forward to.
The Relocate Awards
This year the Relocate Awards was held at a unique and inspiring venue, the Underground Globe Theatre, on the banks of the River Thames. This event attracted over 200 attendees from around the UK and Europe. This year they introduced new categories for the awards, including School offerings, we were one of the shortlisted schools from around the world. It was fantastic to watch Elaine Crowe receive the Life Time Achievement in Relocation award, many congratulations to Elaine!
The Festival of Global Thinking
This was an interactive conference, which explored many important and different subject matters. The day kicked off with a keynote from Phyllida Hancock. The unique approach of the Olivier Mythodrama is based on timeless mythology and the great plays of Shakespeare. Followed by roundtable discussion on keynote themes, it was a great way to interact with fellow attendees.
Another interesting discussion was around agility in business, what companies are doing to ensure that they remain agile in an ever changing world. The afternoon sessions were around inclusion and talent, topics such as LGBT and how corporates work with this group in helping ensuring that the assignment works well for everyone. Preparing young people for 2030 and beyond – wellbeing of the student is high on the agenda of schools as well as academic achievement.
Campus visits
It was a pleasure to recently welcome the Global Head of Education of a large multinational, and a great opportunity for them to visit two of our campus locations in the UK. These visits are very important for our clients to keep up to date with the developments that continue to take place at our schools. I look forward to welcoming another key client later this month to visit two of our UK campuses.
Our academic year is coming to a close at the end of the month, if you would like to arrange a visit for the beginning of the next academic year I would be very happy to speak with you to arrange a convenient date.
Looking ahead
ACS Director of Advancement Fergus Rose and I will be attending the ARP Awards Dinner later this month, at St Ermin's Hotel in London. ACS are delighted to have been nominated in the Schools and Education Consultant category. We look forward to seeing many of you at the Awards Dinner. Good luck to all of the nominees.
Caroline Breeds cbreeds@acs-schools.com
St Ermin's Hotel, Westminster