My school has been an Apple Distinguished School since 2019, which was an opportunity to tell our story of how our learning environment has been transformed with Apple technology (specifically 1:1 iPad), and subsequently be part of a global community of innovative schools.

We’ve kept up the recognition status ever since (recently submitting our renewal video) and oner the last two days I had the privilege of attending the Apple Distinguished School Global Summit in Worcester, UK. This has been the first in-person sort of event for the ADS programme since COVID so I was keen to take advantage of the opportunity, particularly as it was happening only a train ride away.

The summit was hosted at RGS Worcester—founded in 685, reportedly the sixth oldest school in the world—who warmly welcomed us to their amazing campus right in the centre of Worcester. It was an extraordinary venue with beautiful buildings and grounds, accompanied by first-class catering as well as student-led string quartets at every turn. A real treat!

In this remarkable setting, I was able to meet and make connections with educators and school leaders from around the world, all united by a desire to use Apple technology to give students the best possible start in life through offering an engaging and meaningful school experience. It was so refreshing to be able to participate in a face-to-face conference, a sharp contrast to the the thin gruel that are online events, with the chance to get to know people, share stories and make connections.

There were plenty of organised sessions as well, starting with a welcome from the Apple team who were celebrating 30 years of the Apple Distinguished School programme. The executive headteacher of the RGS Worcester family of schools spoke about their own digital journey, which I thought perfectly captured the school motto to ‘cherish the past and look to the future’: teaching classics whilst winning awards for the use of AI in schools.

This was followed by a session on maths from Stanford professor Dr Jo Boaler. She posed the question of ‘what if maths was creative and open to new ideas?’ With their approach of teaching maths through a growth mindset, big ideas and giving students rich tasks, she shared about the maths camps that they run, which see a 50% improvement in maths scores (the equivalent of 2.8 years of school). I feel like I need to get my head around more of this approach, particularly around the importance struggle in learning and the concept of ‘groupitizing’, so am looking forward to an upcoming ADS project to do just that.

Another highlight of the first day was a chance to see RGS Worcester’s new ‘innovation centre’, a former staffroom that had been transformed into a flexible learning and collaboration space, paying attention to the importance of things like light and humidity on how students learn. Working in the state sector, it’s very easy to put up with shabby classrooms, scrappy furniture, broken blinds and dim projectors, so it was an eye-opener to see such a different space. Challenge accepted to improve learning environments in my own school!

As someone with a particularly strong interest in the technical side of Apple technology, day two let me geek-out with representatives from four different tech companies: Claris (looking forward to exploring some of their products), Goodnotes, Foxar (who make cool AR/VR 3D objects) and Jamf (super intrigued by their new ‘Streamlined Sign On’ offer for iPad). Good times.

The most moving session was the final one where we heard from Rory Goss, who had experienced sudden and profound sight loss just as he was approaching his A-level exams but was able to utilise the accessibility features on his Apple devices to continue and succeed in his studies. He exhorted us that it’s easy to be positive when everything is going well, but what matters is how we overcome the difficulties when the rain day comes. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room.

My biggest takeaway was the importance of time being re-envisioned with your ‘tribe’ which has given me a fresh sense of the value of the hard work of transforming teaching and learning with technology.