Letter from the CEO – Futuraskolan – October 7, 2022
Good afternoon parents in the Futuraskolan community,
After an exciting week of development meetings at each of our schools and preschools I found my way back to town today where I was lucky enough to be welcomed to lunch with
our grade 2 class from Futuraskolan International Stockholm. It was a great way to end the
week, enjoying a vibrant lunch discussion with the energy, enthusiasm and camaraderie of
our fine young learners. Thank you all for raising such warm and welcoming students and
thank you for entrusting Futuraskolan with their social and academic development. We
continue to work hard to honor your trust.
I address you this afternoon to update you on some news and notes and to highlight the
amazing results of your students. This past week Skolverket, the national Department of
Education, published the academic results for all schools in Sweden for the past academic
year.
Once again, Futuraskolan students are setting the standard for academic excellence.
As you all know, our program at Futuraskolan schools and preschools is based on 3
developmental pillars; Academic Excellence, Digital Competence and Global Citizenship.
At Futuraskolan we constantly evolve to incorporate new tools within ICT to give both
learners and teachers the ability to develop their skills. In our preschools we work daily with
imaginative play through Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Green Screen, bringing
worlds and concepts alive. Language is aided with the use of digital bookshelves offering
multi lingual books to suit all needs. Concepts of coding and programing are introduced
through the exploration of patterns, music and mathematical directions.
Throughout our schools the students have access to a wide set of programs and software
that can assist their assignment assessment. Students have the ability to use media creation
and interactive presentations to show their knowledge and understanding that best fits the
project and their way of working. With an Apple TV in every classroom and a personal
computer unit in every students backpack we continue to employ innovative and
progressive learning strategies to help us better connect with our 21st Century learners.
Our Global Citizenship Program has been in operation for over six years and sadly this was
one of our more impacted programs with the global pandemic. What began as a Community
and Service initiative drawing inspiration from international curricula and our own outreach and exchange project in the Philippines, has grown into an initiative aimed at developing all members of the organization and Sweden as a society. We aim to accomplish this by:
1. Bringing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals more to the forefront of our
Learners’ education (in harmony with the Swedish Curriculum, as well as
Fieldwork’s International Early Years, Primary, and Middle Years Curricula),
2. Addressing Futuraskolan AB’s operational sustainability,
3. Enhancing our community service and youth leadership programs, and
4. Pursuing new avenues of international learner exchange based around partnerships
for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Currently, the GCP has projects active across all our Pre-schools and Schools within Futuraskolan International in:
1. Äldreboende outreach,
2. Food Waste reduction,
3. Children’s Rights Week,
4. Håll Sverige Rent,
5. Grön Flagg,
6. Digital communications with schools within the EU, and
7. A partnership with Destination Medmänniska collecting donations for individuals and
families in Sweden currently experiencing hardship.
Additionally, two of our Schools currently have active Erasmus+ projects. Futuraskolan
International Rådan will be sending a collection of staff members to a school in Austria for a
one week job shadowing opportunity, while Futuraskolan International Bergtorp had
learners travel to Greenland with a handful of staff earlier this year, and are soon sending
learners to Italy as part of the same project. Our Pre-schools have also been partnered
through Erasmus+ with education institutions within the EU by offering internships to their
students.
The future holds many exciting ideas and plans. We are currently in the process of seeking
Erasmus+ accreditation for the whole of Futuraskolan AB in the hope of making future
projects simpler to apply for and organize. Finally, the GCP is also working towards building
a network around itself that will assist in building partnerships for our work with the
Sustainable Development Goals.
Finally, as a result of you and your students amazing efforts and in collaboration with your
dedicated teachers and pedagogues, Futuraskolan once again finds itself the number 1
ranked free school organization in Sweden.
Your student’s results speak for themselves.
Grade 9 Merit Points – 2021-2022 Academic Year:
Futuraskolan AB – 272.7
Internationella Engelska Skolan – 260.5
Academedia – 236.7
Europaskolan AB – 247.3
Jensen Utbuildning – 253.3
Nordic International Schools – 260.9
Raoul Wallenberg – 248.3
Vittra Schools and Preschools – 236.7
As well as the above accomplishment our grade 4 and grade 5 students were in an elite
group of academics who received formal grades last year. 38 schools across Sweden,
including our 5 primary schools, participated in this formal grading process.
Because of your efforts and your students’ hard work, intellect and dedication Futuraskolan
remains the leading innovator of student academic achievement in the country. You all
should be proud of yourselves. I know we teachers are thrilled with the young men and
women your students have grown to become.
To ensure that we are at the forefront of global education and are developing our
employees with the latest research and theory, our professional development plan is back in
action. We are a healthy organization who has successfully navigated a sustainable resource
delegation model. This allows us to ‘’push the envelope’’ by sending our core groups to
international professional development conferences. The aim is to ensure that your
students have the most progressive and innovative teaching programs at their disposal, to
help them achieve lift off.
The following groups will be focusing their professional development this year on the
following areas:
- First Position Teachers – Nordic Network Educators Conference – Hellerup, Denmark
- Special Pedagogues – University discussion panel on reaching gifted learners –
Hertfordshire, England - Middle Leaders Development Group year 2 – The 2023 Nordic Network Leadership
Conference – Riga, Latvia - School Counsellors – Inclusive Education Conference – Athens, Greece
- Gym Teachers – Fieldwork Educators Conference – Frankfurt, Germany
- I.T. Coordinators – SETT Conference – Stockholm
Over the next few weeks I will be coming to all of the schools to meet with your students
Student Council representatives so that we can continue to ensure that students’
perspectives are making their way into the steering and development of organizational
policy. In many organizations students are treated as a forgotten resource. Not at
Futuraskolan. We are continually assessing our engagement processes and look to the
students, our organizations true leaders, to help guide us to a more cohesive and connected
working structure. Within this initiative I will be asking the students to join me in inviting
local politician and business leaders in to view our schools and take part in the amazing
things we are creating. This is a great way to help our aspiring diplomats get real world
experience in the navigation of political discourse.
Lastly, based on some of the feedback I received from the community at Futuraskolan
International Kottla, we have begun to develop a whole organization program,
Entrepreneurship and Young Business Leaders. Sweden is known internationally as a hub of
innovation. Our aim is to use your students’ creativity and intellect to construct a program
where they are able to structure their business ideas so that in the future their dreams can
have a global impact. We are thrilled to see what they will create within this program.
We have some amazing things going on this year, and all of this could not be possible if it
weren’t for the dedication, intelligence and grit your students show us day in and day out.
They are a truly impressive group of learners, as evidenced by them scoring number 1 of all
free school organizations in Sweden.
Have a warm and family orientated weekend everyone and thank you again, on behalf of
myself and the leadership team, for entrusting us with your students’ social and academic
development. It is our passionate aim as an organization to honor your trust.
Sincerely yours,
Tom
