The Inclusion Revolution: August Edition

Summertime and the livin’ is easy...If only that were true! Six weeks sounds so long at the start of the summer holidays but after a week or two catching up on all the things you never get time to do, plus all the…everything…that comes with working in a school, suddenly it’s time to prep for the next academic year! So, we’d like to tell you, this is your official sign to stop. Take a breath. And make sure you get some “me time” this summer holiday.

As for Team GEC, we are still here but are trying to practise what we preach with the team all taking time to reboot, juggling the summer holidays with leading the #InclusionRevolution!

Read on to find out what we got up to in July and what’s coming up in August.

Research tells us that a ‘Goldilocks’ approach to screentime is best. Which means some is ok with us and if it involves reading, then it’s a big YES PLEASE from us. We are proud partners of the National Read-Aloud Challenge, powered by the award-winning Fonetti app.?

The read-aloud challenge helps children to develop a love of reading from an early age. Using a wide range of stories and non-fiction books, children can build confidence by reading aloud and watching the words turn green or tapping to hear tricky words.?

This is a great way to encourage reading over the summer. Our Founder and CEO, Nic Ponsford FRSA FIESE ?? Ponsford, says?“Empowering our young people to access the virtual worlds that books transport us to, using accessible technology, has never been more important. Together we can support improved and inclusive conversations for reading.”

The #InclusionRevolution has hit Wales!

First it was individual schools, then trusts, cities and local authorities. Now it is countries! We are delighted that we have gained a national “innovation grant” to work with the National Academy for Educational Leadership (NAEL Wales) until March 2025. The National Academy for Educational Leadership (Leadership Academy) was established in 2018, under the Companies Act 2006. As an arm’s length body, its primary role is to fulfil its responsibilities set within the context of the Welsh Government’s strategic aims. Its main purpose is to:

• Contribute to the development of the professional capabilities of current and aspiring leaders across the education system by providing coherence and quality assurance for the range of educational leadership development opportunities available in Wales.
• Act as a thought leader; developing, articulating and implementing a vision and strategy for educational leadership in Wales.
• To be a respected and active member of the education middle tier, the first point of contact for the educational workforce in regard to leadership matters.

The National Academy for Educational Leadership is a central feature of the education reform journey set out in Our national mission: High standards and aspirations for all, where it is identified by Welsh Government as a key driver of Objective 4: High Quality Teaching and Leadership.

A group of NAEL schools will benefit from FULLY FUNDED access to the award-winning GEC Platform. Not only that but school leaders from around the country will also take part in research workshops with our very own Nic Ponsford.

Stay tuned ?? as we’ll be keeping you updated on how we support NAEL’s schools to become extraordinarily inclusive!?

Have you got your hands on a copy of The Curriculum Compendium yet? No? Why not? It’s been out for two weeks already!

Written by Rae Snape , the very same author of The Headteacher’s Handbook and featuring a chapter by none other than Nic Ponsford. The Curriculum Compendium uses real-world examples to examine how schools have successfully designed their curriculums to meet the needs of pupils.

Nic’s chapter, “Intentional Inclusion = Conscious Curriculums”, draws on her 20+ years’ of experience in education, as an AST, examiner and as a coach for early years to post 16. In her chapter, Nic highlights how curriculums lay out a blue print for teaching and learning in school, shaping learners' sense of self and society as a whole. For our classrooms to be truly inclusive, intentional inclusion in our curriculums is key.

Want to find out how to create conscious curriculums? Get yourself a copy now ?? https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/curriculum-compendium-9781801990929/

Last month, we rocked up to Wellington College for the 14th Annual UK Festival of Education with an army of experts from our collective. ?? We spent the entire day talking intentional inclusion in our very own venue and we had an absolute blast.

Here’s the lowdown from the day…

We heard from the amazing students of Pioneer Secondary Academy and their Assistant Principal, Ellen Day , who is a proud GEC Champion. It was refreshing to hear from these young people who said that thanks to the GEC, they felt “The school is listening to us.” Find out more about Pioneer Secondary Academy ?? https://www.thegec.education/case-studies/psa

We had a fireside-style chat with Marius Frank , Trevor Benstock and Alice Gregson on looking at the meaning of intentional inclusion and what this looks like in the future from a trust-wide view of accessible teaching and learning, how AI is making learning personalised for marginalised students and the impact of assistive technology at scale.

Next, we had a session led by Zahara Chowdhury who quizzed Tommy Hatto and Nic Ponsford all about the merits and pitfalls of social media for our young people. As part of this session, we touched on our Body Image Report which you can find here ?? https://www.thegec.education/body-image-report

Our next panel focused on representation and we were thrilled to hear from Karl Pupé FRSA , Albert Adeyemi , Caroline Keep and Abdi Omar . Our Collective experts shared their insightful lived experiences with Nic, including personal challenges and wide-spread success stories when it comes to true inclusion for marginalised voices.

In the last session, we heard from Dan Fitzpatrick , Luke Ramsden FRSA , Caroline Allams and Frances Akinde . Together we talked about building an online safe space for our students in a world of AI and assistive tech. This rounded off a brilliant day nicely with the focus still very much - Students. First. Always.

We like to keep it real at the GEC, especially when it comes to stories of the underserved and how this can turn into solutions.The path to success isn’t always easy, and one example of this is for #WomenInTech. In July, Nic Ponsford popped into the world of podcasting for Insights with NetSupport (Corporate) to talk about her journey to becoming an entrepreneur.

Nic talks about how her determination to advocate for equality in education took her from teaching, researching inclusion and well-being in education, to starting her own company, to being founder and CEO of GEC and supporting over 300 schools on their inclusion journey.

Filled with valuable insights and advice, this is a “must-listen” for aspiring entrepreneurs ???? https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/20240705nic-ponsford-corp-insights-gec/

Obviously we think GEC is awesome but don’t just take our word for it! Check out our Case Studies and read our ? 5 star reviews ? on EdTech Impact.

We love to hear how the GEC Platform is helping schools. Seeing the difference it can make by not only highlighting areas that need improvement but by working with you to develop a plan and providing resources to help get to a more inclusive and safe space for everyone is exactly why the GEC was started.?

Read the reviews here ?? https://edtechimpact.com/products/gec-platform/

As a female founder, Nic is smashing stereotypes, especially in the EdTech space, and paving the way for more diversity and inclusion in the industry. Her dedication to empowering schools and innovating within the education sector is inspirational. Which is why we are so proud that she has made the shortlist out of 90,000 nominations for the Entrepreneur of Excellence Award at the National Diversity Awards 2024. The winners will be announced on 4th October – keep everything crossed ??

Nic is already a winner in our eyes, and EdFuturists obviously agree as Nic recently won their Diversity and Inclusion Champion award. These awards were launched in 2019 to celebrate innovative educators and institutions. Way to go Nic ??

Where there’s GEC you’ll always find data so here’s how the GEC platform is shaping up:

• Over 300 schools have signed up as GEC Members
• A staggering reach of 220,000 students across 30 countries
• Over 22,000 staff and students have been surveyed - meaning our global data collection is not only one of its kind, but is illustrating the real voice in education, surfacing up marginalised voices like never before!
• 400 strong in the Collective - making us the largest inclusion, diversity and well-being Collective of experts out there!

We have a new offer for the new look Collective coming soon – watch this space ??

We are always adding new dates to our GEC Events page, so if you want to get involved in person or online, just pop over here and add the dates to your diary.

If there's anything we can help you with, please get in touch. You can find us on LinkedIn, Instagram and X, you can head to our website or send us an email – we love to hear from you!