Welcome, The Team

John blogs ...

Congratulations to all our applicants for making our decisions so difficult! An excellent group of young people from which to choose. Many thanks to the selection panel for their insight and experience which was brought to bear in getting our team to first base.

Our full team comprises:

• John Mills (Team Leader) Educational Leadership and Learning Consultant 
• Becky Bourne (Reserve) Head of Communications
• Richard Foley Sales and Packaging Representative
• Claire Fry Senior Newspaper Reporter
• Emily Palmer Occupational Therapist
• Jenny Simmonds Administrator with English Heritage

I sent the team a rather lengthy email with the GSE Team Member Handbook attached and asked that they study it carefully, pointing out that several forms need completing sooner than later. I've set a deadline of the end of November for completion of these.

I've offered dates for evening meetings and asked for speedy replies and asked that team members bring their usual form(s) of capturing information/reflections, be it on paper or electronically, (mobiles, laptops, notebooks) as there'll be much to discuss and make notes on as we build the team and research different aspects of Sri Lanka. Also to bring their interview presentation about why they'd make an excellent team member etc, and be prepared to share this with the group.

I've also asked that between now and our first meeting that they:

• explore this blog http://d1100gse2011.blogspot.com - and bring any notes/ideas on how it can be streamlined/improved.
• write a brief reflective blog entry on two aspects a) the selection process they went through and what went well/what might be improved, and b) their immediate reactions to being notified they'd been successful.
• prepare a brief piece/biography about themselves along the lines that I've already created under the Team Page of the blog and bring along some suitable (low resolution) photos in electronic form of themselves at work and play, which will go well with the biography - or upload them to the blog.

So, let's get down to business! A smily face for everyone :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-) :-) and an extra one :-) for Becky who, as reserve, will have an 'interesting' place in the team.