Trustee Meeting 10^th July 2007
Contact has been re-established with Dexion in Australia who continue to promote the products, principles and values developed by Dimitri Comino. Involvement in a Comino project is being explored.
Progress is being made by the Sheffield Comino Centre in the development of the The STEM Leaders Qualification, which has been sponsored by the Foundation and which will be included in the Edexcel BTEC short course framework. Before launch a number of schools will be piloting the award.
Pat Walters of the Wigan Comino Centre and David Holloway of the Ideas Foundation, together with some of the students who have been involved in the North West creativity scholarships, are presenting the outcomes of that work at the Aim Higher North West conference in Lancaster on 4th July.

Comino Network Conference 19th and 20th June 2007
The trustees, fellows and representatives of the grantees and the Gordon Cook Foundation attended the Comino Network Conference.
The Comino Foundation and the Gordon Cook Foundation agreed to explore areas of mutual interest with a view to extending their existing areas of collaboration.
The Liverpool Comino Centre, together with Local Solutions, a Liverpool based social enterprise, and a student dance company at John Moores University are developing a joint dance project which may be celebrated, in performance, as part of the Liverpool Capital of Culture Year in 2008.
The new National Academy for Parenting Practitioners (NAPP) will be provided by Parenting UK, the Family and Parenting Institute and Kings College London. The Academy will launch in 2007. It will be a centre of excellence, providing training for those who support parents in the community and research on what provides effective support for parents. The Comino Foundation has supported the work of both Parenting UK and the Family and Parenting Institute and last year funded an evaluation of an innovative approach to training community based, parenting consultants in Wigan.
As part of the preparation for the launch of the new Specialised Diplomas, Wigan Comino Centre has been working in collaboration with the Ideas Foundation to pilot an enriched model of work experience in the creative industries.

Trustee Meeting 24^th May 2007
The Development Fellow advised that:
The personal responsibility project has reached the stage where the Foundation can begin to encourage the creation of a culture of personal responsibility throughout the UK by helping local communities decide the best way to go forward in their own area. The Comino Centres, in co-operation with Sheila Bloom of Global Ethics UK, are being encouraged to take the lead within their own areas of activity. Dissemination of this work will be assisted by posting your comments on the Foundation’s website.
The Ideas Foundation/Wigan/Liverpool Comino Centre Partnership launch has created a number of high quality placements in the North West Creative Industries. This model of work placements is of significance in the run up to the nationwide launch of Specialised Diplomas and may be adopted for science related placements. 

The Environment Fellow advised that:     
Following a visit to the United Utilities Environmental Teaching Centre at the invitation of the Wigan Comino Centre, the ‘Environment Materials’ project at Sheffield Hallam is to include materials suitable for 8/9 year olds.

Trustee Meeting 21st March 2007
The Development Fellow advised that:
The joint consultation at St George’s House on Promoting Ethical Understanding and Sensitive care in prisons attracted an impressive group of delegates. Sheila Bloom of Global Ethics UK is to circulate a report of the consultation.
Liverpool John Moores has appointed a Reader in Citizenship whose activity should combine well with the work of the Comino Centre.
Recruitment for the Sydney conference is underway and it is felt that the five selected would be excellent ambassadors for the Young Leaders in STEM qualification.
The Wigan Comino Centre is looking to open two new curriculum centres. On 30th March they will, in partnership with the Ideas Foundation, be engaging a number of representatives of the creative industries in the North West with their pioneering approaches to the Creative and Media Diploma.

The Environment Fellow advised that:
Discussions were taking place with the ReMaDe network to explore how the Foundation can work with their members to identify developing, but relatively unknown, technology, that has the potential to impact significantly on environmental issues.

Trustee Meeting 17th January 2007
Trustee, Sir Mike Tomlinson, has been appointed one of the four ‘champions’ for the new level three skill diplomas to be introduced in 2008.
The Chairman reported that there had been a ‘high ranking’ attendance at the Comino funded, Dart Centre Europe conference at St George’s House regarding trauma issues experience by news correspondents.  A working group is to continue the outcomes of the conference and trauma will figure, more prominently, in media training.

The Development Fellow advised that:
The Black Country Comino Centre are involved in a DFES project seeking to address the under representation of black and ethnic minority children on the National Gifted and Talented Register.
The Ideas Foundation/Wigan/Liverpool Comino Centre collaboration has become significant in the search to provide necessary industry links to support the Specialised 14-19 Creative and Media Diploma outside London.
David Ellis will continue to be involved with the Homeground project (Liverpool Comino Centre) although he has been promoted to Deputy Chief Executive of Local Solutions the umbrella organisation under which Homeground operates.
The launch of the Sheffield Smart Science primary science materials at the ASE conference in Birmingham has been greeted enthusiastically.
The Association for Science Education sends five students, competatively selected, to an international conference in Sydney every two years. Unexpectedly, funding this year is not available and student participation was about to be cancelled. Comino Scholarships were agreed to make the finance for travel available.