us exchange for aurora staff

In April, we welcomed seven colleagues from Colorado, USA, to Aurora as part of the Trust’s partnership with Pansophic Learning. The Americans joined us from Banning Lewis Ranch Academy where they work in a variety of roles including elementary and high school teachers, estates manager, registrar and staff and program development.

During their week at Aurora, the teachers split their time between City Academy Whitehawk and The Gatwick School, where they spent time with our students, discussed pedagogy and organisation with school leaders and observed lessons, while in the evening we were able to show them the unique cultures of Brighton, Lewes and London.

As part of our collaboration, seven colleagues from across Aurora Academies Trust travelled across the pond to Colorado Springs, where they were able to experience our partners’ education system in practice.

Our staff enjoyed meeting students and embraced the schools’ culture of . Across the state of Colorado, there is a big focus on an environment which deliberately encourages positive affirmation and relationship building. Our teachers are now inspired to integrate some of these approaches within our schools to further create strong senses of belonging amongst students.

In the Colorado schools, our staff were particularly interested in the student-created artwork, the high profile of sports and the pride students took in being part of extracurricular activities.

Staff spent time with a Colorado District 49 Safety and Security Specialist who spoke passionately about relationship building between students, school staff and local authorities to help students know how important and valued they are.

In addition to the lesson observations and discussions with teaching staff, our staff were able to experience the cultural delights of Colorado including the Manitou Incline, a cog railway to the top of Pike’s Peak and a friendly game of Whirlyball – a combination of bumper cars, lacrosse and basketball.

Our staff have stayed in touch with those they met in Colorado Springs and are now developing ways to collaborate remotely on pedagogy and good practice. We are exploring opportunities to find roles for staff members in our respective schools to work abroad and we look forward to exploring how we can continue to support staff to experience different education systems.

The exchange was a unique experience that allowed Aurora to share the expertise of our teachers with visiting colleagues, as well as experiencing the American education system in practice. As a Trust, we continue to be grateful for our partnership with Pansophic, the lifelong memories that were made and the positive impact this will have on our pupils in our classrooms