2015/16: A year of innovations

Innovate My School

Innovate My School empowers educators to think beyond traditional boundaries, lead proactively and, most importantly, feel inspired. It now entertains an audience of 50,000 educators through its weekly content, with 1,300 guest bloggers and over 2,500 articles published to date.

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It’s been a busy year for UK schools, with new edtech, academisation and changes to the exams system on teachers’ minds. As a result, we’ve been working with more educators than ever before. The 2015/16 year saw 621 articles published and 62 speed dating events run, with three major Twitter projects and a new website on top. Here are some highlights from the past 11 months:

The very first IMS Guide was released in September, featuring contributors such as Rachel Jones, Matt Podbury, Nick Dempster, Jane Basnett, Mark Martin, Sarah Bedwell, Mark Anderson and Dominic Norrish. The latter three would come to form 3/5 of the IMS Advisory Board.

In December, we reached 20,000 Twitter followers - as of writing, we’re at 22.6K. Twitter continues to be our top platform for engaging with educators both en masse and one-to-one.

January saw our 100th IMS Speed Dating event take place, held in Leicester. We already have 21 such sessions already booked for the 2016/17, both in the UK and the Middle East. You can read more about our Speed Dating events here.

With February came a new website and a new look. The updated company-wide design (including a fetching new logo…) was based on extensive feedback from our readers, and the second InnovateMySchool.com offers a clearer, more streamlined way to browse our hundreds of articles.

The first Innovate My School ‘spin-off’, Staff My School, was launched in April. This is where innovative education professionals can meet, allowing individuals to find the right job or teacher for their needs. In that same month, the first IMS Advisory Board meeting took place. Chaired by United Learning’s Dominic Norrish, the group boasts Mark Anderson, Mark Dorling, Patrick Hayes and Sarah Bedwell. With the help of the Advisory Board, we’ll be able to better aid teachers at grassroots-level everywhere.

“I was really thrilled with how the first Advisory Board meeting went,” said MD Michael Forshaw. “We’re very lucky to work with such enthusiastic, dedicated educators, and this team will help to effectively guide us as we continue our work. Each member of the Advisory Board brings something special to the table, and we’ve already implemented plenty of the ideas put forward back in April.”

In May, we were independently ranked as 147th most influential brand globally for Edtech and Elearning. The same month saw Mr Norrish write the first post for our company blog. This extra outlet will enable the Innovate My School team to write about matters concerning the education community. Meanwhile, Mark Anderson ran the very first #IMSchat, which saw a wealth of educators from across the globe getting involved in the Twitter event.

July saw not only the second #IMSchat take place (hosted by prominent education guru Nina Jackson), but also the birth of #High5aTeacherDay. With 249 tweeters taking part, the day encouraged teachers to congratulate each other by slapping palms, with some epic results.

 

 

With the final IMS Speed Dating being held on 11th July, preparation for the IMS Guide 2016/17 in full swing, and our first speed date in Dubai to look forward to, we’re now getting ready for the next school year. We want to thank you all for your enthusiasm, engagement and passion for collaboration. See you in September!

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