Professionally, I had been reading about the international schools market and international curriculum generally for a while now. I sought international connections via social media, many of whom were very generous with their time. I also had the benefit of the support of a former international headteachers advice, now working in the south.
Other information sources I have stumbled across – IPSEF. Global conferences that combine keynote presentations, networking and recruitment. The International School Review holds some interesting intel. The Enrollment Management Association – a group primarily focused on admission practices to sustain independent schools has an interview with Richard Gaskell.
Given I am Secondary focused, in hindsight I should have spent more time investigating the iGCSEs and the IB curriculum, even though I did visit two IB school. If you are looking at a Head of Curriculum role you will more than likely have responsibility for Key Stage 5 and if looking at a Senior Leadership role, this can only help. I visited three Independent Schools in the South East, foreseeing enrolment/admissions and marketing would be important. They are.
Personally, I recommend that you scale back your personal and professional commitments with the foresight that the application process requires significant commitment and if a senior role, a potential international school visit.
Looking ahead
I was I had also review my annual financial commitments at his time – with the only longer commitment our mortgage.
- Are you a home-owner? When does your mortgage product end? Which links to your plans for your UK residency / home. To rent or to sell?
- Which links to your decision to store or sell? (A large container is approx £2000-3000. How long do you plan to be away?)
- What annual renewals do you have? eg buildings and contents insurance, television license, car tax, insurances, utilities, Amazon Prime… planning ahead just makes sense and will probably save your money in the long run.
- What high value items do you intend to sell and when? For us it was cars and a caravan.
Monthly financial commitments are less pressing.
- Run your mobile contract down. Unlock the phone. I keep my UK number with Smarty – it’s great value. Plans can be upgraded/downgraded online. £6.25 a month, unlimited UK calls/texts/1GB data). You’ll need to get a PAC code from your previous mobile provider, log into your SMARTY dashboard and head to the Account Settings page. Click on ‘Transfer to SMARTY’, and the on-screen instructions. Then don’t lose the SIM!
- Bank accounts – you can link some international accounts and for that reason we went with HSBC. It requires a visit to branch and 2 hours of your time. It is worth knowing who your school bank with?
- We choose not to tell the children about our plans – still.
I am hugely thankful for the generous support and council of experienced colleagues however precious little trumps personal experience. Walking in those shoes.