On 15 September an important reception took place in the Attlee Room at the House of Lords sponsored by Lord Lexden on behalf of the Council of British International Schools (COBIS), of which he is Vice-President.
He welcomed some 60 representatives from British schools overseas and from a number of organisations associated with them, including the Department of Education, the Foreign Office, the British Council and the six inspectorates authorised last year to run an entirely new scheme for the benefit of British schools overseas. The six were approved by the government to carry out full, formal inspections of these schools following a long campaign to secure such approval conducted by a number of organisations including COBIS whose determined lobbying was spearheaded by the former COBIS Chairman (now its President), Roger Fry CBE.
The reception provided an opportunity to publicise this important new scheme among interested parties. The scope for it is vast: there are some 5,700 international schools, of which nearly half offer all or part of the UK curriculum.
Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, who was the guest of honour, praised our schools overseas for the 'fantastic' education they provide based on British practice and values, and made clear his strong support for the new inspection system which will assess, and report publicly, on the standards they attain.