Ciprian Ghişa, Founder
Ciprian is a teacher and a school leader with 23 years of experience in teaching, working with students in primary as well as secondary, in national as well as international schools. He has taught History, Civics, Religious Education, Sociology, Logics or Geography following the Romanian Curriculum as well as the Cambridge and the National Curriculum of England and Wales.
He is also a lecturer at the Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, with a PhD in history.
He has been a school leader since 2009, with experience in whole school and curriculum development, acting in different positions, such as: Head of School, Director of Studies, Cambridge Exams Officer, member in senior leadership teams.
Ciprian is also a BSO (British Schools Overseas) inspector since 2018, and a lead inspector since 2022, working for Penta International Education.
He is also a facilitator and trainer, working with teachers and school principals across Romania, for the development of their pedagogical, methodical and leadership skills.
Florentina Ghişa, Co-Founder
Florentina is a teacher and an educator with 14 years of experience in teaching, working with students in primary and with middle and high-school students as form tutor. She has taught Global Perspectives and Religious Education following the Cambridge and the National Curriculum of England and Wales, and Romanian as a 2nd Language addressed to international students. She is a qualified librarian as well, with a master degree in Information and Documentation Sciences.
She has been involved in school leadership structures, developing the pastoral care systems and policies, and coordinating the development of the leadership teams for students, teachers and parents across the whole school.
She is the founder of the Selegro Association, one of the main promoters of the Service Learning methodology in the Romanian educational environment
Paul Kennedy, Partner
Paul is a teacher and a school manager with over 20 years experience, working with students from international schools from the UK, Thailand and Romania. He has taught History, Sociology and Global Perspectives, having a vast experience in the delivery of the Cambridge and the National Curriculum of England and Wales.
He has been a school senior leader in international schools, acting as Head of Secondary, Deputy Head and School Principal. He has conducted programmes of mentorship for school middle leaders, focusing on the development of the leadership skills of the heads of department.
Paul is one of the founders of the Black Sea Schools Association, thus creating a network of international schools from the countries surrounding the Black Sea. The association is meant to share good practices and encourage cooperation between teachers and school leaders.
Paul was also one of the founders of Spark School, and its director, an online high-school, offering hybrid online education following the Cambridge Curriculum.
Peter Astbury, Partner
Peter has been a teacher and a school leader since 2005, working with students in international schools in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Romania. He has taught ICT and Computer Science following the Cambridge Curriculum, and is a qualified Cambridge Exams Officer and moderator for IGCSE and A-Levels Computer Science.
With vast experience as Head of the ICT & Computing, or as Director of IT and Digital Strategy, Peter has a strong expertise in developing the IT systems in a school, the policies and procedures for the online safety, and the strategy to build the online or hybrid educational resources. Qualified as a GDPR specialist, Peter has built the right tools and systems of communication inside a school community, while maintaining the protection of the relevant data.
He has been involved in the senior leadership of international schools, being also a level 2 BSO inspector, thus having a lot of experience in the school’s process of preparation for the international accreditations.
Peter was also one of the founders and Chieft Technical Office of Spark School, an online high-school, offering hybrid online education following the Cambridge Curriculum.