With the extraordinary investment in excess of $100 million behind the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative of in UK schools, the Blair, now Brown, government has changed the landscape of school reform and the capacity for innovation.

With the budgets now being managed by UK schools there is scope for innovation on a once-in-a-lifetime level, and as result there is widespread debate and discussion around the most effective ways this level of investment can significantly impact on the learning outcomes of all young people. With such budgets, there is also enormous scope for mis-management, and also for reaffirmation of old practice if there is not continuous diligence and rigour applied to all levels of decision-making. In these sessions Chris will discuss some of these critical issues in light of the UK experience, and explore the possible impact on Australian schools.

As we move to remodel curriculum to better reflect society needs for the 21st Century, there is increasing pressure to rethink the models of assessment that we have traditionally used. Much of the forms of assessment we currently use might be called models of convenience, rather than effective measures of understanding and competence, and with initiatives such as project-based learning, we need to do a better job of measuring the outcomes. New Tech High has been developing tools to assist in this area, and Paul has lead much of that development, and will lead this session to explore ideas that might allow us to more effectively understand student progress.

When we talk about the relevance of schooling and the need to focus on developing life competencies such as the ability to work with others, creativity, problem-solving, and self-directed learning, we too often overlook the detail on how this might be best achieved within a crowded curriculum. To many, these are life skills that are essential for success in this ever changing world, yet how do we link our everyday programs with their development in all of our students?

David Warner has been outspoken in his support for the need for us to rethink our priorities within the crowded curriculum, and will lead a discussion around some of the initiatives that he has pioneered with his staff at Eltham College.

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Over a long time, much time and money has been spent on school building design with little focus on the impact it has on student outcomes. In recent times however there has been much more thought given to the various modalities of learning that should be accommodated within a school building, and the various areas of flexibility that must be provided if we are to get the best results from the investment required. Canning Vale College has been recognized globally for their innovative building design, and for the development of equally innovative middle school programs that have shown great results for their students.

In this session Ron Bamford will lead a discussion that will explore some of the thinking behind the innovations at Canning Vale College, and will seek to challenge some of our traditional assumptions about what really matters in school and program design.

With much of the pioneering zeal fading for many Australian schools that implemented laptop programs in the 90’s, there is a increasing imperative for us to focus on what we have learnt from the process, how that has impacted on learning, and what others can learn from our experience. Has it been truly transformative, and if not, why not..or should it be? In this session Bruce Dixon will explore some of these ideas, talk about the breadth of new initiatives that are now sweeping the developed and developing world, and look for trends that might be valuable for 1-to-1 leaders in both initiating and experienced schools.

The workshop is designed to challenge the traditional school, the traditional classroom, the traditional textbook, the traditional teacher, the traditional curriculum and to consider a new image of the child as a powerful learner, an agent of change and someone who can make a difference.

The main activity in this workshop will involve teachers working in small groups, using a range of questions collected from students, teachers and curriculum 'voices'. The objective is to explore how seemingly simple questions can be expanded using our model to provide deep discipline opportunities whilst keeping sustainability as the focus of inquiry.

A multimedia presentation will also feature students from our school explaining our model of sustainability as inquiry.

In light of the constant stream of media reports around the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Web 2.0, and associated social networking technologies, it is critical that all school leaders fully understand the relevance or otherwise of them. So much is now impacting on the lives of students, and as leaders we must be well informed about their potential to support or intrude on learning. Too much is written by inexperienced or overtly biased journalists, and if we are to ensure relevance with ridicule, we must keep an open mind to these new ideas until proven otherwise. In these two sessions Will Richardson, with Nicole Caporn and Jeremy Hetebry will discuss at length some of the opportunities that Web 2.0 offers, and will also explore some of the challenges that school leaders should be aware of.