This past week, as has been customary since our opening in 2019, representatives of the school visited the most important global IT education fair held every year in London, namely Bett 2024.

The school’s management, who always consider the latest innovations in IT in supporting educational activity decided that our CEO and the Blended Learning Coordinator of RPS should attend this event this year.

After three days of listening to presentations of the highest level from educational experts, visiting stands with suppliers presenting the most recent innovations in educational resources and exchanging views with people from the educational sector, both agree that it was a truly enriching experience that will help us to continue moving RPS forward.

More than 90% of the time and space of the fair was dedicated to presenting a multitude of initiatives whose common denominator was technology, the very latest innovations were especially related to AI (artificial intelligence), VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality).

While the use of IT in education can always be something that can make professionals a little cautious we agreed that judicious and careful use of IT to support education can drive learning forward.

The conclusions we reached were that new technologies are not a threat, they are a reality and the real risk is to turn our backs on them and not be aware (and responsible) when we use them judiciously for the benefit of educational progress. They are just another educational tool, which in no way replaces but actually complements the more traditional ways of working already present in our methodology in our classrooms. The great challenge is to reach a consensus on strategies to achieve the perfect balance between the two and to ensure that all members of the community are aligned.

It is essential to ensure that all pedagogical aspects have been considered and taken care of when integrating new technological initiatives. Planning, differentiation, evaluation of progress and improved outcomes following the implementation of new tools of a more technological nature must be evident and measurable both internally and externally.

RPS is very well positioned, our strategies have allowed us to have a very good foundation, we understand both the challenge and the opportunity. We have worked sensibly, being very aware at all times that there are many variables to which we have to respond in a specific time and with limited resources. The training of our students and teaching staff in everything related to new technologies, starting with their correct use, must be a priority for our educational agenda. More than ever we must join forces in this field so that our students can face a future in which new technologies will play a very important role. At Richmond we are determined to continue working to increase the opportunities for our students in the future and we hope to count on the unconditional support of parents to achieve this. We would like to reiterate our educational commitment. All strategies of our school primarily support the well-being of our students. Our main priority is and always has been our students.