ELMLE Fall Leadership Retreat

Budapest, Hungary

October 10-11, 2025

#ELMLELeadership

ELMLE Leadership Retreat

The 2025 ELMLE Leadership Retreat will be held October 10-11 in Budapest, Hungary. Thank you to the American International School in Budapest for serving as our host school, and as the location of the retreat! Click here for more information about lodging and transport in Budapest.

ELMLE strives each fall to bring together leaders and aspiring leaders who are dedicated to Middle Level Education. It is a valuable time for middle years leaders to connect with colleagues and meet new members of our European and global leadership community. All leaders working with students ages 10–14 are welcome! Principals, directors, heads of school, program coordinators, curriculum directors and other leadership roles from Upper Schools, K-8 schools, middle schools and other configurations of international schools make up our group. We are a community of learning leaders who value the interactions, shared knowledge, and expertise of our diverse and dedicated members. If you are passionate about serving young adolescents through exceptional leadership, you are one of us!

Registration for the 2025 Fall Leadership Retreat in Budapest can be done via this form. As a special treat this year, any participant who registers before June 30th will receive a complimentary publication from AMLE!

Questions about this year's retreat can be sent to Ted O'Connell at toconnell@elmle.org.

ELMLE Leadership Development Journey

REGISTRATION is OPEN for the 2025-26 ELMLE leadership journey.

This year-long journey combines leadership lessons with real-world, job-embedded action and impact, and includes regular workshops and meetings, asynchronous work, and 1:1 coaching sessions. Participants make new connections, share leadership experience, while tackling the key challenges faced in middle schools.

All aspiring and current leaders from ELMLE member and non-member schools who work with students aged 10-14 years are welcome. Management Kits continues to offer us the opportunity to leverage their innovative platform for continued leadership growth.

This unique journey enables ongoing connections with fellow leaders across our ELMLE schools, and beyond, throughout the school year, facilitating meaningful collaboration within a leadership program focused on middle school.

For more information, contact splews@elmle.org or nils@managementkits.com.

Leadership Resource from AMLE

Leading from the Middle: The Unique Skillset of the Middle School Leader. Check out this leadership resource from AMLE, our parent organization. Strong leadership is essential to a successful middle school. This statement may seem obvious, but a leader who possesses the unique skillset to lead from the middle can be easy to take for granted. In fact, decades of research tell us that middle grades leadership is so essential that it’s included as the third pillar of characteristics of a Successful Middle School. But what makes a middle school leader successful? How does the role differ from its elementary or high school counterparts?

What leaders are saying about the ELMLE Leadership Retreat

"ELMLE is an organization that is focused on what middle school leaders and teachers have the knowledge, tools, and emotional capacity to reach our students. It is a place where shared philosophies combine with diverse experiences to help all of us grow in our own practice with an aim toward making each middle school the best possible for all students as the whole child that they are." - Jim Slaid, Oberoi International School Head of Middle School

"The ELMLE Leadership Retreat is a genuine experience of excellence. The passion all participants have for middle schoolers is inspiring and validating, plus the expert knowledge that is shared among the group (both intentionally and incidentally) makes it such a valuable weekend. Best of all, it is such fun!" - Olivia Shelton, Phorms Mitte Deputy Head

"ELMLE is where you will find dedicated, skilled and experienced educators that get middle school, and middle school kids. If you get a chance to attend one of their events, take it! You will come away with lots of good professional connections, ideas, and inspiration and you will have had fun in the process. Don't miss out." - David Wood, ZIS Middle School Principal

"The ELMLE conference was a professional development opportunity that helped me network with others and was super applicable to my current practice as a curriculum coordinator. The amount of resources and reading that were referenced was EXCEPTIONAL. I have a list of professional reading that will last me a long time!" - Jaia Masterson, FIS Upper School Curriculum Coordinator

"ELMLE events provide such great opportunities for meaningful learning and reflection; I always come away feeling refreshed and inspired." - Suzanne Keys, ZIS Assistant Principal

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