“Opening Doors”

Christian schools play a fundamental role in shaping the values that inform how students encounter and contribute to the world locally and globally. We live in an age where both the importance and the risks of our local human connections are being scrutinized more than ever, and our communities feel vulnerable in the face of significant global tensions. How do we navigate issues such as health, race, and identity with a sense of shared purpose and honoured differences such that community and character blossom? How can we pursue the call to love our neighbour with local action and global awareness without feeling overwhelmed? What doors can the school open with students to encourage courageous encounters with and for the world?

Cultural commentator David Brooks and educators Dr. Mary Ashun and Dr. Steve Sider will explore these questions—helping to understand our cultural moment and urging us to open doors with our students that can lead to local, and even global, flourishing.

Join Edvance online on Thursday, October 29, 2020 to delve into these important issues with these three exceptional presenters. Schools are encouraged to stream the event in a central place so that their entire staff can attend together.

Learn more at https://www.edvance.ca/events/edvance-annual-gathering-2020

This one-day institute is designed to provide workshop opportunities for leaders to discover meaningful ways to best serve teachers. The Institute for Division Heads will help division leaders excel in their critical role of supporting teacher well-being to counter the alarming trends being evidenced today.

This workshop will provide expertise and tools to help you give and receive spiritual and physical care for your faculty and essential feedback for growth for yourself, your faculty, and students.

Every Christian school leader faces a common issue regardless of the size of your school or the length of time you served there… and that issue is sustainability. How can you ensure that your school is going to be effective and impactful for years to come?

This year’s institute will address this important topic in the context of supportive administration and the contribution it plays in building a sustainable school.

The institute cost covers both Head of School and Board Chair.

Speakers:

1. Jay Ferguson, Head of School, Grace Community School, Tyler, Texas

2. Robert Copple, Former Board Chair, Legacy Christian Academy, Frisco, Texas

3. Carlos Sepulveda, Business Owner and Leader Mentor aiming to improve business results through biblical thinking.

Also speaking will be Jon Eckert, Ed.D. and Matt Thomas, Ed.D.

If you are curious about what TfT is, how teachers use it, and what it looks like in practice in the classroom, do not miss this session!

We will be joined by TfT elementary teachers who will share their experience with TfT and give an inside look at what’s going on in their classrooms!

This session is intended for elementary teachers and school leadership, but anyone with an interest in learning about Teaching for Transformation in an elementary setting is welcome to join.

Not sure if you can make the live event? Register anyway and we will send you a recording of the session.

The Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership was founded in 2017, with the mission: ‘To develop inspirational leaders who are called, connected and committed to deliver the Church of England vision for education’. The Foundation’s Programmes, Networks and Research are already now working with leaders in over 1000 schools in England, with an emerging international network of leaders in USA, Canada and Australia.

The Foundation’s work is centred on the Church of England Vision for Education, Deeply Christian, Serving the Common Good, published in 2016, and the practical ways that this vision can be brought alive through leadership at levels in education. In September 2019 CEFEL published Christian Leadership in Schools: An initial review of evidence and current practices. Appendix 1 in this report, p. 59-61, lists a number of questions arising from this review which might act as a stimulus for our growing research community

CEFEL’s inaugural research conference takes place ONLINE on 17 November from 10:00-4:15 and will feature  papers from over 30 research contributors from a variety of interdisciplinary, theoretical and practical perspectives.

The conference is split into 4 sessions – each session will feature a keynote research presentation, plus then a wide range of additional papers in break-out sessions.

Keynote presenters are:

Session 1 – Professor Bill Lucas, University of Winchester – ‘Vision into Practice’ Building a Research Community – REGISTER HERE

Session 2 – Dr Ann Casson, Canterbury Christ Church University – Finding Faith in the Nexus: an empirical research study of twenty church primary schools – REGISTER HERE

Session 3 – Dr Lynn Swaner, ACSI (USA) – Flourishing School Culture – Purpose, Relationships, Learning, Resources, Wellbeing – REGISTER HERE

Session 4 – Professor Paul Miller, Educational Equity Services – Anti-racist school leadership: making ‘race’ count in leadership preparation and development – REGISTER HERE

The 4 sessions are separate to allow for Zoom breaks through the day, but please register for all sessions above.

There is no charge for this conference.

Any queries, please contact andy.wolfe@churchofengland.org

If you are curious about what TfT is, how teachers use it, and what it looks like in practice in the classroom, do not miss this session!

We will be joined by TfT secondary teachers who will share their experience with TfT and give an inside look at what’s going on in their classrooms!

This session is intended for secondary teachers and school leadership, but anyone with an interest in learning about Teaching for Transformation in a secondary setting is welcome to join.

Not sure if you can make the live event? Register anyway and we will send you a recording of the session.

Gain Perspective

The Institute will give you rich perspective on what flourishing truly looks like and will equip you with the expertise and processes to bring your entire team on the journey to flourishing.

Cultivate Community

The Institute is a place to meet brothers and sisters in Christ who are dedicated to creating flourishing Christian schools.

Transform Lives

Through the Institute, you will discover how to apply research-based principles in your everyday leadership and school activities to radically transform your school culture.

Visit https://community.acsi.org/pdforum/fsi to learn more

A two-day, intensive training in biblical instruction.

The Symposium allows for counsel on best practices from experts in their field, as well as meaningful discussion among peers on what Bible instruction looks like across North America.

During the virtual event, attendees will have opportunities to hear from theologians, deans of education, and relevant authors, practice new concepts in small group settings with lead teachers, network with likeminded educators all with the common goal to move toward the following desired outcomes for excellence in Bible instruction:

• Providing vision, community, support, and leadership for professional development initiatives in Bible instruction.
• Providing hands-on, grade-level focused training and discussions
• Creating a shared vision for exemplary Bible instruction by setting out for discussion the national trends affecting youth development, education, and spiritual formation
• Setting forward one specific approach (hands-on reading with biblical theology) + providing ongoing training through CSI’s online platform, Catalyst
• Connecting a larger array of experts with the Bible Instruction Symposium for ongoing development of ideas and standards for K–12 schools

What does it mean to approach learning as participation in “God’s Story?” Learning in God’s Story is not primarily about content but about experience. Our participation is not only about what we think but also about our deepest hopes for ourselves and the world in light of God’s Story. So then, does our Christian faith go beyond phrases like the “integration of faith and learning” or “teaching from a Christian worldview” to teaching in a way where our faith informs our pedagogy?