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Rob Ford BA (Hons) MEd

Director of Heritage International School, Moldova

I have been CEO & Director of Heritage International Schools since 2019, a teacher for 28 years, a senior school leader for 15 years and a British Council Schools’ Ambassador and working in collaboration with the British Council for nearly 20 years. Heritage is the first truly international school established in Moldova as well as the first Cambridge International school in the country. In June 2021, Heritage was awarded compliance accreditation and membership of COBIS. We are committed to working with our national education community and wider region, to develop meaningful education, fit for the challenges of the future and to prepare students with confidence. The principles of being an outward facing and positive school culture underpins everything. Living and working in Moldova is a privilege and I am proud of the work my school, teams, community and network are achieving.

I was born and educated in the beautiful border county of Shropshire. My father was a coal miner, and I am the 1st in my family to go to university, so education has always been fundamental to me. I read History and Politics at University of York and then worked unqualified straight from university at Bootham School, York, a fantastic Quaker and international school that really began my journey. I am an experienced international school leader as well as a speaker and advisor on global education. I have been an educator since 1994.

I have served as a senior school leader and principal in a number of outstanding schools. All schools I have worked for and led, have been high performing, brilliant schools & communities, in Bristol, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Powys. I was a co-founder of the SW IB schools as the, then, 1st state school in the SW to offer the IB. I am heavily involved in International Education as a long serving British Council ambassador, IB educator & school leader, contributing a number of articles about leadership, curriculum and global learning to the TES and similar educational publications.

I have been a speaker/contributor at a number of major conferences over the years including with the Microsoft-British Council’s ASEAN “Deep Learning” policy seminar series in SE Asia focusing on the impact of global learning in the curriculum and classroom as well as a number of similar leadership and curriculum projects with the British Council working with schools around the World.

I have advised and acted as a global education consultant to schools and school boards in the state and the independent sectors around the World including time in Indonesia, Russia, Canada, India, USA and Europe, particularly Eastern Europe. I have specialised working in post Soviet countries. I am currently working with the Varkey/TFF2030/UNICEF group of global school leaders over the past year. In February 2022, I was awarded the AKS Global Principal’s Award for 2021.

I am married to Genevieve, a former MFL teacher and now silversmith, we have three daughters and global citizens in Evie, Annie and Gwen and home is both Chisinau and Bristol and when I can, we love walking the hills with the dog near our family place near Llanidloes, mid-Wales.

I am a frequent contributor to various Global Education publications, including: https://www.schoolmanagementplus.com/author/robf/ , TES & TES International, International School Leader Magazine, International School Magazine & the More Teacher Talk Podcast with Carl McCarthy.

My LinkedIn profile link is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-ford-11a0919a/

If you would like to read about my experiences in my previous role as Principal at Wyedean School, please follow the link below to purchase the eBook and paperback based on my previous blog This Heart Shaped Land

This Heart Shaped Land: Finding the magic and leading a school in the Forest of Dean by Robert C Ford.

Available from Amazon Kindle store

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55104000-this-heart-shaped-land

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/this-heart-shaped-land-robert-charles-ford/1138005313