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A project for schools who are innovating in the education system

Next Big 10 is a two year whole school transformation project for schools who want to develop innovative education practices alongside like-minded schools, and to shout louder about the possibility of doing education differently.

Why?

Being a school who does things differently is challenging! Those of us who work in schools like this know that it’s rewarding but hard work, and as leaders we feel more vulnerable to outside judgement: the high stakes accountability within our system makes it feel very unsafe to innovate and do things a little differently. This means that schools who are doing things on their own quietly get on with it, avoiding drawing attention to their work.

This project brings together groups of schools committed to providing a more holistic education for pupils and a better working experience for staff. The project supports these schools to have a greater voice in the system, and enables them to develop material to support the implementation of innovative practice and a Head, Heart, Hand approach to education, both within their own schools and beyond.

Independent schools are welcome to the project and encouraged to join with a partner state school. Find out more

The Principles

  • Breadth: innovation across four key areas: We explore what it means to take a Head, Heart, Hand approach to leadership, curriculum, assessment and pedagogy.
  • Pragmatism: We are mindful of the fact that schools are working with tight and diminishing resources, of staff workload and capacity and of accountability pressures.
  • ‘Disciplined innovation’: We support schools to develop a systematic approach to risk taking in which risks are made explicit and managed; the creativity and ideas of stakeholders are contextualised into the frame of the existing knowledge base; and impact is evaluated with rigour.
  • Collaboration: We enable a culture of mutual support and challenge, and emphasise sharing of learning both within and beyond the community.
  • Action: We help schools develop a deep understanding of implementation science, meaning changes have impact and are embedded ans sustainable.

The Benefits

  • Development support for an identified Change Team in your school - a ‘vertical slice’ of innovation-focused individuals including the headteacher, leaders, teachers and other staff.
  • Eight face to face days each academic year and eight twilights across two years.
  • Production of a series of case studies in written and video format to capture schools’ signature practices, shared via the Big Education website and publicised widely via social media.
  • Support and insights from world-leading thinkers and innovators from the education world at face-to-face sessions.
  • Two year subscription to to ImpactEd’s tools to measure pupil dispositions and teacher attitudes, and the online portal for impact evaluation.
  • Co-creating and designing toolkits and resources to support educators both within and beyond the Next Big 10 network.
  • Free access to Big Education professional development programmes*
  • Meaningful opportunities within the Next Big 10 network to both identify and describe good practice and to undertake joint problem solving, including participation in a Peer Review process.
  • Long term engagement in a community of like-minded schools, including profile-raising, professional development and funding opportunities.

*to the value of £500

I want these benefits!

Why your school?

  • You are a school which has already begun to develop its own innovative practices, and have members of staff who are passionate about innovation.
  • You are keen to have a voice at system level and for your practices to be known and shared more widely.
  • You want to learn from like-minded schools, and to work with them to solve some of the ‘wicked problems’ you are tackling.
  • You are committed to taking your school on an exciting change journey that will impact positively on pupils, families, the community, leaders, teachers and all staff.
Sounds like my school
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© 2024

Big Education Trust is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales.

Company registration number: 07648389.

VAT number: GB142676505

Registered Office: c/o School 21, Pitchford Street, London E15 4RZ

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