Newbury headteacher visits Iraq as part of reconstruction programme

A Headteacher from Newbury has visited Iraq to educate school leaders as part of the British Council and EU education reconstruction programme.
For the final stage of the three-year long programme, Park House Headteacher Derek Peaple was personally invited to Iraq to present to a group of 50 Headteachers, Administrators and Politicians on the role of schools within their communities.
Mr Peaple travelled to Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan in Northern Iraq to address the delegation on how to build partnerships with a range of organisations and businesses to add value to student learning.
He said: “The programme has offered a unique opportunity to revisit the original reasons why I went into teaching. The impact that our work has had on the motivation of students in very challenging circumstances has been incredibly rewarding.
“We have been able to observe young men and women taking responsibility for their own learning and changing the way their schools think about what can be achieved.”
The programme has already seen staff at Park House visit the country on two occasions to provide advice and guidance to the Headteachers and subject staff to stimulate wider learning in Maths and Science and to develop wider leadership skills in young people through school sport.
Staff from their partner schools in Baghdad also spent a week at Park House in 2011.
As part of the reconstruction programme the teachers from Iraq will return the gesture by visiting Newbury from November 11 - 15, where they will attend lessons at Park House School and watch students acting as sports leaders in primary schools.
During their visit they will also attend a student leadership conference at Reading University.
Park House was one of just five schools selected from across the UK to support the programme.