We have a new steering group member - William Florance , Head of Education, EMEA, Google Enterprise. William says:
"The right school can transform a child’s life and help them achieve things they may never have imagined, yet in most school systems, there is insufficient opportunity for parents to be able to find a learning environment that is best suited to their aspirations and their children’s learning styles. Behind the Free Schools programme lies a great opportunity for the evolution in how we educate our children, which I believe will lead to more pupils finding schools that motive and engage them in their learning journeys.
With a stated specialism of Innovation, ONSchool proposes to offer parents and pupils an opportunity to choose a stimulating option for secondary education where positive change is threaded throughout the vision and ethos of the school. I am pleased to lend my support to this exciting proposal for a great local school in Oxford, and to the Free School programme in general."
So how did this come about? William came to talk to me after my talk at the Guardian Innovation event in November, and we exchange cards, with his parting shot being, "I really like what you are doing and I would like to be involved". To be honest, I did not expect to hear from him. Google are one of those companies that are beyond a 'brand', beyond 'big', and I felt sure that this guy would be too busy to take the time with our proposal.
So I was very surprised a week or so later when I found myself in a Google + Hangout with William, who turned out to be personally very excited about ONSchool. Not with his Google 'hat' on - but as a father, businessman, and someone passionate (and extremely knowledgeable) about education. I found myself almost 'interviewing' him to see if there was a 'fit' for him with ethos of our proposal - and was pleased to find that not only was there a fit - but a great guy who wanted to help us realise our goal, who I enjoyed talking with. We met again last week to talk things through further and I am pleased to say that William is now part of the ONSchool team! : )
It is important to say that we had been planning to depend heavily on Google services to establish a technology environment for ONSchool, but William did not know the extent of this plan when he asked to be involved, and the Google services to schools are free, so there is no 'gain' for Google in this relationship.
The hard thing for me, the rest of the steering group, (as it perhaps will be for some of you), was in separating William from the company he works for and the role he has there. It does say something about the quality, content and seriousness of our proposal that someone with William's 'clout' is getting involved. But, let me make it clear: Google are not interested in running our school. Google are not giving us any money. Google are not giving us any help.
This is not about Google. This is about William, who has stepped forward to be part of the ONSchool team.
We welcome William, his expertise and his enthusiasm, and hope you will too.