23rd May 2019: BlueSky Education has been announced as the winner of the prestigious Council of British International School (COBIS) Supporting Member of the Year Award 2019, beating three other respected finalists in the category.
COBIS has more than 500 member schools all teaching the British curriculum in 75 countries worldwide. The nominations are made by COBIS schools themselves, and the award recognises the work suppliers do to help teachers and students in British international schools around the world.
This marks BlueSky Education’s second accolade so far this year. The organisation won the esteemed BETT award in the Leadership and Management Solutions category in January. The team also made it to the finals at the Education Resources Award in the Supplier of the Year category.
BlueSky Education’s founder and managing director, Denise Inwood, who is also a former senior school leader said,
“We are thrilled to be recognised both by our schools and by the judging panel at COBIS for the way BlueSky has revolutionised how schools can manage CPD, observations, evaluations and performance management. A recent customer survey showed that 85% of our school leaders save on average 5 hours a week using BlueSky. This equates to cost savings for a large secondary school of as much as £26,000 across the year.“
BlueSky Education was nominated for the COBIS award by St Paul’s School in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Louise Simpson, head of St Paul’s School said,
“We have seen a significant impact since implementing BlueSky. Teachers are now much more part of their professional learning journey and as a result feel more valued. Our staff are our most precious asset so it’s crucial that we recognise this and continue to offer them support and development opportunities.
“The time saved by using BlueSky is impressive. We had to submit a selection of reports for our last British Schools Overseas Inspection. Before BlueSky it would have taken us days to prepare these reports, but now they can be printed off in no time at all.”
Another school to quickly see the benefits BlueSky Education offers is the British School in the Netherlands, one of the largest international schools in Europe. Liz Free, director of the International Leadership Academy at the British School in the Netherlands said,
“We wanted to develop a strong culture of continuing professional learning at our school, for all staff at the school. We have a large percentage of part-time staff, four different campuses and needed a system that would work for all staff, as 35% are in non-teaching roles. BlueSky has provided a solution for this, as well as improving time management and reporting.”
Announcing BlueSky’s win at the COBIS Annual Conference, Tatanja Guadalope, COBIS Membership Officer, said,
“BlueSky’s work with St Paul’s exemplifies the high standards and creativity that we look for in our awards and has helped the school to give staff ownership of the development process to excellent effect.”
BlueSky supports schools and teachers to oversee, organise and report on CPD, observations, school evaluations and performance management. The tool also enables teachers and senior leaders to share ideas and resources and collaborate with other schools. For more information, visit https://www.blueskyeducation.co.uk
ENDS
BlueSky Education
BlueSky Education supports organisations in the education sector with staff development, professional learning, and quality assurance. With members in over 26 countries and portfolios worldwide, BlueSky’s modules integrate seamlessly to create the definitive solution.
BlueSky Education is an ASCL Premier Partner.
Media contact:
Alesha Allen, Catherine Lane PR
Tel: 020 7117 6015 / 07960 166 988 Email: alesha@catherinelane.com
