Plommer Watson Associates

The Education and Sustainability Leadership Programme (ESLP) focuses on the role of education in preparing learners for the complex world that they enter. Following a successful inaugural programme at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore in March 2015, the next programme will be in Southern Africa in July 2016.

The Sustainability Challenge

Humanity faces intense challenges of an unprecedented scale, complexity and interdependence. The current economic and environmental path is dangerously unsustainable. What contribution can and should the education sector play in responding to the impending crisis?

The Ideal Partnership of Leading Global Institutions

In collaboration with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and the University of Cape Town, the ESLP provides a transformational educational experience to a diverse cross-section of delegates by investigating the systems level, interdependent causes and consequences of sustainability in its broadest sense, encompassing the key environmental, social and economic drivers. The immersion programme challenges delegates to imagine, create and articulate the challenges in making sustainability the heartbeat of 21st century education. It will explore and develop innovative and practical approaches to incorporating sustainability thinking into their strategies for delivering high quality education to the next generation of learners who will have to face a very different world from that in which we live now. The immersion programme will invite delegates to respond by committing to changing the paradigm of education to meet The Sustainability Challenge.

Why should you attend?

●   You will be equipped to lead your institution in developing new strategies for responding to the challenge of incorporating sustainability thinking into the curricula and the governance of schools.
●   You can enable your organisation to be a change agent of society; a leader in its approach to education and sustainability.
●   You will develop a strategic and practical approach to sustainability in education.
●   You and your students will become thought leaders in sustainability locally, regionally and globally.
●   You will be part of a unique network of thought leaders in education and sustainability – part of an ‘Active Alumni,’ a cohort of programme graduates who contribute to the development of the programme as it extends its global reach over the coming years.


The Southern Africa Dimension

Southern Africa faces intense socio-economic and environmental challenges. On the environmental front, the current draught - the worst in 100 years - brings home the vulnerability of the area. It also shows the interdependent nature of the sustainability drivers: water scarcity leads to food shortage and higher prices, which undermines the economy and increases poverty; greater poverty increases inequality which drives social conflict and further undermines confidence in the economy. 

Energy shortages have a similar cycle. South Africa remains locked into an economy that is still too dependent on mining, and coal, especially. The region needs to re-wire its economy and its new leadership to take the necessary steps to do so. In turn, that will require a new generation of leaders capable of the systems thinking and innovation needed. 

Education – through experiential learning and the curriculum – needs to reflect these imperatives and be prepared to innovate itself, if it is to contribute to building a new generation of leaders. Education needs to become the driver of change rather than a passive observer of it.

For more information and to register your interest in attending, please email shamayim@plommerwatson.com


Luib & Child Rescue Nepal

“Luib” www.luib.org is a game of athleticism, ingenuity and above all, integrity. In partnership with Child Rescue Nepal, www.childrescuenepal.org PWA is supporting this fantastic new sport, as an “ethical game for an ethical world”. Currently played by 25 schools across the world, Luib brings students together a local, regional and global levels, creating opportunities for them to play together in spirit of competitive camaraderie and work together on one of the most urgent issues facing humanity – the scourge of human trafficking. Child Rescue Nepal rescues and cares for trafficked

Nepali children who are sold for child labour

They save them from a life of physical abuse and forced labour, bring them home, provide medical and psychological treatment and try to re-unite them with their families. Child Rescue Nepal aims to stamp out the trafficking of children by carrying out anti-trafficking work, such as community education, pursuing the prosecution of traffickers, and improving schools.

Over the last 15 years, Child Rescue Nepal has rescued more than 600 children, around 500 of whom were sold into India to work in circuses. Others they have cared for include some rescued from adult prisons, held there because their parents were jailed, and a small number of abandoned or street children.

Most of the rescued children were reunited immediately with their families, but where this was not possible, the children lived in the Child Rescue Nepal refuge in Kathmandu until family could be found and a reunion arranged. Now, a few children who cannot go home live in the charity’s small, family-style homes in Kathmandu and Hetauda.  Child Rescue Nepal still work to find kin for those without immediate families.

Over a Luib Championship weekend, students and staff enjoy the thrill of competition whilst learning through break-out workshop sessions, about the work of Child Rescue Nepal. The sessions also reflect on the importance of Service learning in education. Students will be asked to imagine and create links between sport and service learning and take away action plans (and hopefully a Luib trophy!) which can become significant parts of students’ IB Community Service and CAS portfolios, inspiring what they do in high school and beyond.

The inaugural Luib World Championships will take place in the autumn of 2016. For more information and to register your interest in attending, please email shamayim@plommerwatson.com

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Education in Conflict and Post Conflict Contexts is workshop written in partnership with United World College Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina.  Following a successful 2 day pilot in November 2015, the inaugural 3 day workshop is scheduled for October 2016 in Mostar.

The workshop provides a challenging, transformational experience to a diverse cross section of participants from education, politics and non-governmental organisations from around the world. The workshop will reflect on the relationship between education and conflict, learning from conflict and post-conflict contexts in which we live and work, demonstrate how we live out the UWC mission in our Colleges, and imagine and design strategies for education that can respond to humanity’s most urgent issue.

Who should attend the inaugural workshop?

Teachers - to work with colleagues from around the world and design strategies for curricula development, andragogy and pedagogy that can respond to conflict and post-conflict contexts
Heads - to take the lead on planning, design and implementation of strategies for curricula development, andragogy and pedagogy that can change the way education in conflict and post-conflict contexts happens

Government agencies and NGOs - to work with educators, to understand the potential of education as a driver of positive change and to design and implement strategies that can have a serious and positive long-term impact on conflict and post-conflict societies.

For more information and to register your interest in attending, please email shamayim@plommerwatson.com

Workshop style

The workshop has been designed to be intensive and participatory, with the maximum opportunity for dialogue, debate, experiential learning, listening and analysis designed to provide delegates with concrete ideas to take back into policy and planning in their organisations.

There will be three sessions on each day consisting of:
1.  Theory (An exploration of the relationship between education and conflict)
2.  Immersion (Experiential learning)
3.  Spotlight (Testimony from invited speakers)

The workshop will be built around three themes:
1.     Coming to terms with the past
2.     Engaging with the present
3.     Preparing for the future

The Peace Challenge – UWC Mostar – Leading The Way

The war of 1992-1995 led to the fragmentation of Yugoslavia into independent republics. Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular suffered horrifying devastation: mass destruction, more than 100,000 people killed (the majority of them civilian) and roughly 50% of the population displaced. Demographic structures of the country changed and many previously culturally mixed cities became dominated by one of the three main national groups.

The birth of a United World College in 2006 in a renovated building on the former frontline, which the College shares with a local gymnasium, created a new dimension both for the UWC movement and for international education as a whole. The UWC Mostar story is a compelling one, grounded in profound moral purpose.

“International education will remain truly relevant in the globalized world of the 21st century only if it manages to provide answers to the acute problems and questions of our time. The UWC and IB work in Bosnia has been an important opening in that direction and offers many lessons that should be taken into account.” Pilvi Torsti, Co-founder and Chair of the Foundation, UWC Mostar.
“UWC Mostar seems to me to be at the front line of the UWC movement and should be recognised and supported as such”.  Andrew Maclehose, UWC Atlantic & Adriatic Colleges, March 2014

Why you should attend?

●   You can enable your organisation to be a change agent of society; a leader in its approach to Education in conflict and post conflict contexts
●   You will develop a strategic and practical approach to peace and conflict resolution in education
●   You and your students will become thought leaders in Education in conflict and post conflict contexts locally, regionally and globally
●   You will be equipped to lead your institution in developing new strategies for responding to the challenge of international mindedness, co-existence and inter-dependence into the curricula and the governance of schools
●      You will be part of a unique network of thought leaders in Education in conflict and post conflict contexts – part of an “Active Alumni”, an inaugural cohort of workshop graduates who contribute to the development of the programme as it extends its global reach over the coming years.

Looking ahead: the workshop legacy

A key workshop objective is to help build a cohort of alumni who go on to have a profound impact on the world, through the organisations they serve, and that this initiative helps give them the skills and capability necessary to have that kind of impact.

We hope and expect that the alumni from this inaugural workshop will play leading roles in its development and implementation.For more information and to register your interest in attending, please email shamayim@plommerwatson.com

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Governance and Board Members

Being a governor, trustee or board member can be a daunting task.  We can help individually and collectively with topics such as:

• Building good relationships among constituencies
• Building accountability into a representative Board
• Appointing the Head of School
• The board chair – Head of School  relationship
• How to run a Board meeting
• How to run a community meeting
• How to deal with controversy in the community

Understanding Cultures through Art

This workshop presents representative works (in the widest sense—including performance and artisan materials) from the community along with evocative and instructive examples from other parts of the world. This lavishly-illustrated workshop is designed to heighten awareness of the cultural environment and how it can positively affect the school and the larger community.

Whole school improvement, audits & evaluation

We provide expertise in:

• IB curriculum development, as well as US and other national programmes including IGCSE, GCSE and British Key Stages
• Bilingual and Multilingual Programmes
• Literacy in multiple languages; Early Primary 2nd Language development through mother tongue   
• Drafting a school language policy
• Designing and financing a comprehensive language A/Mother tongue programme 
• EFL/ESL/EAL Programmes.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

PWA has extensive experience of designing, coordinating, and leading successful IB Diploma Programmes (IBDP) in a variety of types of school across three continents, from massaging the inherent organisational tensions that can arise when introducing the IBDP, or designing logical and smooth curriculum transition between the IBDP and non-IB national and international pre-DP systems.

IB Authorisation: The application and authorisation process

Andrew and John between them have long and extensive experience both directly within schools as leaders of the teams inaugurating the IB Diploma Programme, and in advising schools during the application and authorisation processes, often leading the official IB authorisation teams.  We understand how both sides of the process works; it is most rigorous, and schools that do not meet the IB criteria of standards and practice or which are not regarded as a good matches for the ethos of the IB will be rejected.

Our services include, but are not limited to:

• organising a self-study and completing and submitting the relevant forms
• assisting staff, parents and students through offering on-going assistance and specific training based on insiders’ perspectives on the Diploma Programme
• providing services during the first two years of formal instruction within the programme
• helping subject teachers design and deliver the curriculum
• giving advice on Internal Assessment, along with specialised contextualised advice on the Core of the Diploma programme:  the Extended Essay, CAS and Theory of Knowledge.

The IBDP Audit

Improving overall IB Diploma results in schools new to the IB Diploma Programme and in well-established schools.

The global average total IB Diploma score out of 45 in most examination sessions is between 31 and 32 points.  The PWA IB Diploma Audit aims to provide a means by which a school can be sure that its students have the best possible chance of the highest possible grades.  It is a process whereby the consultant will interview representatives of each department and analyse both results and procedures for Internal Assessment, syllabus options, teaching and approaches to sitting examinations.

A thorough audit, done in cooperation with faculty members, can lead to a prescription for improving approaches to learning and teaching techniques, along with rational adjustments to offerings.  If approached sensitively and rigorously, sustainable improved scores should result.

The Five-year Review

Every five years schools must do a self-study and be scrutinised by the IB.  This can be a daunting process, even in well-established IB schools.  PWA can help the reflective process which can be crucial in making the Review a positive experience which moves the school forward.

What IBDP Courses to Offer?

Making choices about curriculum should reflect the culture, traditions and ambition of your school. It is subtle yet crucial balance that requires significant reflection and vision to get right. Such choices need to be made with a long term vision in mind and will impact on every area of school life; from staff recruitment to retainment, to student enrolment and performance. PWA possesses the experience and insight to help schools make the right choices for the right reasons.

In reflecting on the choice of subjects to offer in the Diploma Programme, it is important that schools think very carefully about a number of variables which can affect the students’ potential for success, such as:

• National University recognition & entrance requirements: some countries’ University recognition systems do not accept certain subjects and/or subject area groups.
• The traditional and/or existing areas of academic excellence in a school and associated plans that are in place to ensure continued excellence in those areas.
• How a school plans to recruit, retain and train teachers.

Curriculum choices and development in groups 1 to 6 and the core

One of the great strengths of the IBDP curriculum is that each subject area group as well as the “Core” of Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge and CAS, are in a constant process of review, research and development. The review schedule is a collaborative seven year cycle involving teachers and IB staff from around the world. Schools, and in particular Heads and Coordinators, need to be aware of the stage any given subject areas is at.

The Centrality of the Core

Getting the Core right (Theory Of Knowledge, Extended Essay, Creativity Activity Service) is an essential part of providing students with the best chance of the highest possible grades across the hexagon by equipping them with the skills and attributes required to succeed. PWA offers an “IBDP Core” programme which can be tailored towards school specific needs; an enriching, inspiring and worthwhile undertaking for schools and students alike over two to five intensive days, whether at the commencement of students’ diploma programme experience, or at a discreet time during IB1 or bridging the gap between IB1 and IB2, the IBDP Core programme has proven to be.

Theory of Knowledge (TOK): Designing, developing and delivering an effective ToK course
Theory of Knowledge (TOK) should be the most exciting part of the diploma programme. It should inform, enthuse and inspire both as a discrete part of the IBDP and as the “glue” which binds the subject groups and the other elements of the core. Creating a coherent, inspiring TOK programme requires a considerable amount of vision, thought and planning – a quality TOK programme should reflect the context of the school community, their needs, aspirations and indeed, their fears.

TOK can be a dangerous subject if not handled with care; John and Andrew design TOK programmes which combine imagination and rigour in such a way that encourage and facilitate understanding and involvement from all members of the school community.

PWA offers a series of TOK workshops for students, teachers and parents according to your needs over 1-2 days at your school and we also offer twice yearly “TOK retreats” in five star accommodation in Umbria (Italy) and the Cotswolds (UK).

The Extended Essay

The Extended Essay (EE) is a rigorous research based 4000 word essay and a mandatory component of the IBDP. Of the three points available from the marking matrix of TOK and the EE, the annual global mean is around 1.1 points. PWA believes that every student should be achieving the maximum points score for the core, working with staff and students, designing and implementing strategies to ensure familiarity with the central tenets of a successful Extended Essay programme. These include:

• writing a whole school academic policy
• writing an extended essay guide
• using the library
• the librarian as academic leader
• research & time management skills
• knowing the syllabus
• the supervisor – student relationship
• connections to CAS, TOK
• writing the essay

CAS

The IB Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) programme is the “heartbeat” of the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP). CAS is where the attributes of the IB learner profile come alive. And just as CAS is one of the three core components of the IBDP, so a coherent and inspiring CAS programme should be at the centre of what happens in a school community. It creates a logical and value rich continuum in the curriculum, recognising that what happens outside the classroom is just as important as what happens within. Through CAS, the values, practices and beliefs of the International Baccalaureate can enthuse, inform and contribute to developing a dynamic school culture.

A strong CAS programme should not be peripheral; it can and should permeate delivery of subjects around the hexagon and can generate excellent links between them. Similarly, links between CAS, ToK and the Extended Essay are too often left unexplored, yet can provide opportunities for deep reflection and associated research on “what it means to be human”.

“Strange is our situation here on Earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know; that we are here for the sake of each other, above all, for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we connect with a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labours of others, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received and am receiving.”
- Albert Einstein

PWA has the expertise, experience and vision to help create inspiring CAS programmes. We can help to organise, plan and deliver CAS, from conception to assessment.

The IB Continuum

PWA believes that the curriculum design of all three IB programmes (Middle Years Programme (MYP), Primary Years Programme (PYP), Diploma Programme (DP)) and the dynamic process of research and development which characterises their evolution create the potential in every “all IB school” for an extraordinary teaching and learning experience. However, there are potential impediments to fulfilling the potential of the IB Continuum:

• the physical division between different sections of the school
• traditional and cultural and sometimes legal views on how students of different ages and genders can mix pre-existing teacher cultures, where working in trans-disciplinary and whole school collaborative ways is challenging and new.

PWA works with the whole school as a learning community to design and embed contextualised systems and structures which ensure that the potential of creative relationships along the IB continuum can be realised.

The Middle Years Programme (MYP)

The MYP developed organically in the late Twentieth Century in a group of committed international schools in Europe, and the IB was asked to take it over during the 90s.  Since then it has undergone a transformation, without compromising its original ethos.  This programme strives to develop independent learning skills and internationalist attitudes in students and at the same time maintain academic rigour.  Its philosophical base is very enlightened and strongly values-oriented.

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) Implementation and Authorisation Process

The process for becoming an MYP school is very different from that of obtaining Diploma Programme authorisation.  For three years, a school works to introduce the MYP, and when it has the Programme running, it is inspected by a team which will recommend (or not) authorisation.  This process is extremely demanding of teachers, and they will need almost unlimited support to arrive at a successful outcome.  Our firm has in-depth front line experience at bringing this process to successful conclusions, both at the management/administration end and in the classroom.  We can help!

The Diploma Foundation Programme

Bridging a commonly perceived divide between national systems and the IBDP, PWA creates school-based contextualised Diploma Foundation Programmes (DFP) which are designed to establish a logical continuum through the curriculum, marrying the best of existing pre-IBDP curricula in the school with a modified core of the IBDP. The DFP can be implemented across any number of year groups, but most typically is for (UK) years 7-11, (US) grades 6-10.

An example of a successful DFP would be marrying the best of the British Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) programme with the critical thinking inherent to Theory of Knowledge, characterised by ‘student-centred learning’ and Internationalism, the rigours of research based essay writing in the Extended Essay and local, regional and global responsibility through the Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) programme. Such a programme addresses core PSHE issues: Sex and Relationship Education; Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco; Bullying; Global Citizenship; Emotional Health and Wellbeing; Nutrition and Physical Activity and Health and Safety, through the lenses of ToK, the EE and CAS. In Key Stages 4 and 5, careers and University applications are incorporated.

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Start-up schools

PWA has played a leading role in Start-up projects in Albania, Armenia, India, Israel and Saudi Arabia - Our expertise includes

School building design, development and improvement

PWA works with architects and schools to get the very best out the physical environment in a spirit of culturally sensitive and ethical imaginative design and innovation. By our imaginative use of space and light, we maximise teaching and learning opportunities and enrich the educational experience. We combine traditional teaching areas (we used to call them “classrooms”) and networked spaces and “hubs” around campus, creating a balance between the formal familiarity of a classroom and the outlandish idea of learning “under a Banyan Tree”.

PWA works with architects and schools on new building as well as renovation projects and can conduct a “curriculum into space” audit with economical, ethical and environmentally friendly dimensions that can provide for the most efficient use of space.

Just as curricula such as the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), Diploma Programme (IBDP) GCSE and IGCSE are characterised by breadth and depth, so should the spaces that accommodate them be characterised by variety. In schools, teaching and learning does not begin and end with the school day or the sound of a bell. Lessons happen all the time. Teaching and learning for the twenty first century demands flexibility, rigour and dedication on the part of all members of the school community. If the spaces in which teaching and learning happens can be imaginatively and sensitively created and arranged in such a way that they reflect curriculum design whilst celebrating local culture, then the chances of good work being done are hugely increased.

Interim Headship

Sometimes schools are left without a head at short notice for a variety of reasons. PWA can assist with finding an outstanding interim head who can not only “fill the gap”, but also keep the school developing and assist with the search for and selection of a new permanent head.

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Education In Conflict & Post Conflict Contexts Workshop (ECPCC)

Education in Conflict and Post Conflict Contexts is workshop written in partnership with United World College Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina. http://uwcmostar.ba/ Following a successful 2 day pilot in November 2015, the inaugural 3 day workshop is scheduled for October 2016 in Mostar.

The workshop provides a challenging, transformational experience to a diverse cross section of participants from education, politics and non-governmental organisations from around the world. The workshop will reflect on the relationship between education and conflict, learning from conflict and post-conflict contexts in which we live and work, demonstrate how we live out the UWC mission in our Colleges, and imagine and design strategies for education that can respond to humanity’s most urgent issue.

Who should attend the inaugural workshop?

Teachers - to work with colleagues from around the world and design strategies for curricula development, andragogy and pedagogy that can respond to conflict and post-conflict contexts
Heads - to take the lead on planning, design and implementation of strategies for curricula development, andragogy and pedagogy that can change the way education in conflict and post-conflict contexts happens

Government agencies and NGOs - to work with educators, to understand the potential of education as a driver of positive change and to design and implement strategies that can have a serious and positive long-term impact on conflict and post-conflict societies.

For more information and to register your interest in attending, please email shamayim@plommerwatson.com

Workshop style

The workshop has been designed to be intensive and participatory, with the maximum opportunity for dialogue, debate, experiential learning, listening and analysis designed to provide delegates with concrete ideas to take back into policy and planning in their organisations.

There will be three sessions on each day consisting of:
1.  Theory (An exploration of the relationship between education and conflict)
2.  Immersion (Experiential learning)
3.  Spotlight (Testimony from invited speakers)

The workshop will be built around three themes:
1.     Coming to terms with the past
2.     Engaging with the present
3.     Preparing for the future

The Peace Challenge – UWC Mostar – Leading The Way

The war of 1992-1995 led to the fragmentation of Yugoslavia into independent republics. Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular suffered horrifying devastation: mass destruction, more than 100,000 people killed (the majority of them civilian) and roughly 50% of the population displaced. Demographic structures of the country changed and many previously culturally mixed cities became dominated by one of the three main national groups.

The birth of a United World College in 2006 in a renovated building on the former frontline, which the College shares with a local gymnasium, created a new dimension both for the UWC movement and for international education as a whole. The UWC Mostar story is a compelling one, grounded in profound moral purpose.

“International education will remain truly relevant in the globalized world of the 21st century only if it manages to provide answers to the acute problems and questions of our time. The UWC and IB work in Bosnia has been an important opening in that direction and offers many lessons that should be taken into account.” Pilvi Torsti, Co-founder and Chair of the Foundation, UWC Mostar.
“UWC Mostar seems to me to be at the front line of the UWC movement and should be recognised and supported as such”.  Andrew Maclehose, UWC Atlantic & Adriatic Colleges, March 2014

Why you should attend?

●   You can enable your organisation to be a change agent of society; a leader in its approach to Education in conflict and post conflict contexts
●   You will develop a strategic and practical approach to peace and conflict resolution in education
●   You and your students will become thought leaders in Education in conflict and post conflict contexts locally, regionally and globally
●   You will be equipped to lead your institution in developing new strategies for responding to the challenge of international mindedness, co-existence and inter-dependence into the curricula and the governance of schools
●      You will be part of a unique network of thought leaders in Education in conflict and post conflict contexts – part of an “Active Alumni”, an inaugural cohort of workshop graduates who contribute to the development of the programme as it extends its global reach over the coming years.
Looking ahead: the workshop legacy

A key workshop objective is to help build a cohort of alumni who go on to have a profound impact on the world, through the organisations they serve, and that this initiative helps give them the skills and capability necessary to have that kind of impact.

We hope and expect that the alumni from this inaugural workshop will play leading roles in its development and implementation.For more information and to register your interest in attending, please email shamayim@plommerwatson.com

Education & Sustainability Leadership Programme (ESLP)

The Education and Sustainability Leadership Programme (ESLP) focuses on the role of education in preparing learners for the complex world that they enter. Following a successful inaugural programme at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore in March 2015, the next programme will be in Southern Africa in July 2016.

The Sustainability Challenge

Humanity faces intense challenges of an unprecedented scale, complexity and interdependence. The current economic and environmental path is dangerously unsustainable. What contribution can and should the education sector play in responding to the impending crisis?

The Ideal Partnership of Leading Global Institutions

In collaboration with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and the University of Cape Town, the ESLP provides a transformational educational experience to a diverse cross-section of delegates by investigating the systems level, interdependent causes and consequences of sustainability in its broadest sense, encompassing the key environmental, social and economic drivers. The immersion programme challenges delegates to imagine, create and articulate the challenges in making sustainability the heartbeat of 21st century education. It will explore and develop innovative and practical approaches to incorporating sustainability thinking into their strategies for delivering high quality education to the next generation of learners who will have to face a very different world from that in which we live now. The immersion programme will invite delegates to respond by committing to changing the paradigm of education to meet The Sustainability Challenge.

Why should you attend?

●   You will be equipped to lead your institution in developing new strategies for responding to the challenge of incorporating sustainability thinking into the curricula and the governance of schools.
●   You can enable your organisation to be a change agent of society; a leader in its approach to education and sustainability.
●   You will develop a strategic and practical approach to sustainability in education.
●   You and your students will become thought leaders in sustainability locally, regionally and globally.
●   You will be part of a unique network of thought leaders in education and sustainability – part of an ‘Active Alumni,’ a cohort of programme graduates who contribute to the development of the programme as it extends its global reach over the coming years.


The Southern Africa Dimension

Southern Africa faces intense socio-economic and environmental challenges. On the environmental front, the current draught - the worst in 100 years - brings home the vulnerability of the area. It also shows the interdependent nature of the sustainability drivers: water scarcity leads to food shortage and higher prices, which undermines the economy and increases poverty; greater poverty increases inequality which drives social conflict and further undermines confidence in the economy. 

Energy shortages have a similar cycle. South Africa remains locked into an economy that is still too dependent on mining, and coal, especially. The region needs to re-wire its economy and its new leadership to take the necessary steps to do so. In turn, that will require a new generation of leaders capable of the systems thinking and innovation needed. 

Education – through experiential learning and the curriculum – needs to reflect these imperatives and be prepared to innovate itself, if it is to contribute to building a new generation of leaders. Education needs to become the driver of change rather than a passive observer of it.

For more information and to register your interest in attending, please email shamayim@plommerwatson.com


Luib & Child Rescue Nepal

“Luib” www.luib.org is a game of athleticism, ingenuity and above all, integrity. In partnership with Child Rescue Nepal, www.childrescuenepal.org PWA is supporting this fantastic new sport, as an “ethical game for an ethical world”. Currently played by 25 schools across the world, Luib brings students together a local, regional and global levels, creating opportunities for them to play together in spirit of competitive camaraderie and work together on one of the most urgent issues facing humanity – the scourge of human trafficking. Child Rescue Nepal rescues and cares for trafficked

Nepali children who are sold for child labour

They save them from a life of physical abuse and forced labour, bring them home, provide medical and psychological treatment and try to re-unite them with their families. Child Rescue Nepal aims to stamp out the trafficking of children by carrying out anti-trafficking work, such as community education, pursuing the prosecution of traffickers, and improving schools.

Over the last 15 years, Child Rescue Nepal has rescued more than 600 children, around 500 of whom were sold into India to work in circuses. Others they have cared for include some rescued from adult prisons, held there because their parents were jailed, and a small number of abandoned or street children.

Most of the rescued children were reunited immediately with their families, but where this was not possible, the children lived in the Child Rescue Nepal refuge in Kathmandu until family could be found and a reunion arranged. Now, a few children who cannot go home live in the charity’s small, family-style homes in Kathmandu and Hetauda.  Child Rescue Nepal still work to find kin for those without immediate families.

Over a Luib Championship weekend, students and staff enjoy the thrill of competition whilst learning through break-out workshop sessions, about the work of Child Rescue Nepal. The sessions also reflect on the importance of Service learning in education. Students will be asked to imagine and create links between sport and service learning and take away action plans (and hopefully a Luib trophy!) which can become significant parts of students’ IB Community Service and CAS portfolios, inspiring what they do in high school and beyond.

The inaugural Luib World Championships will take place in the autumn of 2016. For more information and to register your interest in attending, please email shamayim@plommerwatson.com

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