A Season of Opportunities

Seasons are ever-changing. Within the space of just over two weeks we experienced temperatures of -9°C and +17°C in my village. With the recent government announcements too, it can seem that just as you begin to navigate a course, things change again. We seem to be constantly presented with unforeseen obstacles and challenges. However, at Culham St Gabriel’s we have tried to see these complexities as opportunities too.

Firstly, our In Conversation events have become very popular. We have been a bit surprised if we are honest!! We seized an opportunity to build on the RExChange 2020 conference, and to nurture the researcher – teacher relationship. We are now planning for these to take place into the summer, and probably autumn terms.

This year we took the opportunity to reimagine our Masters Scholarship programme, and it has gone from strength to strength. We have a vibrant online community of practice and have developed a parallel PhD community. We will be showcasing the research from these two groups on our new research area of RE:ONLINE next month, as well as at an event in July. We will share more details on this soon.

Earlier this term, we saw an opening to promote religion and worldviews, as well as to support teachers with remote learning, through our first ever pupil blog competition. This tiny seed of an idea was planted during our strategic review and we hope it will bear much fruit as entries are submitted in the next few weeks. There is still time! We can’t wait to read blogs from pupils about why studying religion and worldviews matters to them.

Our pilot leadership programme comes to an end next month. The challenges of lockdown have not deterred our dedicated group. We have continually adapted the programme to meet the ever-changing context. Applications are open for our new cohort who will begin a reshaped programme in September, so do consider whether this is something for you.

Finally, we have developed a programme of support and interaction for our current project grantees. We have shared ideas on dissemination, measuring success and will be thinking about media engagement together. We would never have thought about doing this if it hadn’t been for lockdown.

So reflecting on all this, to make the most of the current season and seize the opportunities open to us, it seems to me that flexibility and being willing to adapt, innovate, amend and change are vital.

 

In Conversation Event Booking https://www.cstg.org.uk/activities/events/in-conversation/

In Conversation Recordings https://www.reonline.org.uk/research/in-conversation/

Masters Scholarship Programme https://www.cstg.org.uk/grants/individual/masters-scholarship/

Personal Professional Development Grants (for PhD)

https://www.cstg.org.uk/grants/individual/personal-grant/

Pupil Blog Competition https://www.reonline.org.uk/news/pupil-blog-competition/

Leadership Programme https://www.reonline.org.uk/leading-re/leadership/leadership-programme/