Posts
MEETinLEEDS welcome over 3,000 teachers as the UK’s largest teacher training event returns to Leeds
From 18 July to 1 August, the University of Leeds, along with Leeds Beckett University will welcome the UK’s largest and most ambitious teacher training event to the city for the second year running.
Bigger than ever before, education charity Teach First will host over 3,000 delegates as part of its 13th annual residential training event, Summer Institute. Delegates will include: Teach First 2014 and 2015 participants, university tutors plus school and business leaders. Across 2014, and now 2015, the event will contribute a total investment of £5.5m to the city of Leeds.
During the two weeks, Teach First will also host the Impact Conference 2015 (29 – 30 July). This unique education conference is the biggest in the charity’s history, with seminars, lectures, workshops and panel debates. Delegates will be able to network and collaborate with over 150 practitioners and peers in 140 sessions. They will also be able to explore resources and career opportunities at an exhibition of over 85 education and business exhibitors.
Speaking at this year’s Impact Conference will be Teach First’s Founder and CEO, Brett Wigdortz OBE, the television producer behind Blackadder and QI, John Lloyd and newly announced, the Right Honourable Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education.
This year Barclays has been announced as the Impact Conference headline sponsor, who are supporting the event as part its 5 Million Young Futures goal to help young people build enterprise, employability and financial skills. 2015 also sees Pearson become the Impact Conference’s CPD sponsor, whose research shows that effective professional development for teachers is one of the most powerful ways of improving outcomes for learners.
The MEETinLEEDS team at the University of Leeds worked together with Well Met to secure the event for Leeds, which had previously taken place at the University of Warwick.
“The event space provides the perfect setting in the heart of Leeds, where we can accommodate all of our participants and deliver our high quality training”
The two weeks are the culmination of the six week, nationwide Teach First Summer Institute. However, this is just the start of the training that participants will undergo as part of the two-year Leadership Development Programme, teaching in schools serving low-income communities across England and Wales. This includes Yorkshire and the Humber, where Teach First has placed over 500 teachers since 2009. This year, the charity will place 166 teachers, including in Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.
Speaking ahead of the event, Director of Leadership for Teach First, Reuben Moore said: “Teach First has worked closely with our colleagues at Leeds Beckett University and the University of Leeds over the last year, planning and preparing the venues and a packed programme. The event space provides the perfect setting in the heart of Leeds, where we can accommodate all of our participants and deliver our high quality training, as part of their two-year Leadership Development Programme.
“Our teachers are committed to helping more young people believe in themselves and helping to make a positive impact on society by closing the gap in educational inequality. Without the right space to prepare and train our participants, this would not be possible.”
Sir Alan Langlands, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds said:
“The Teach First Summer Institute represents a real coup for the city of Leeds. At the University of Leeds, we have been inspiring students to be the best that they can be since 1904 – not only in terms of academic excellence, but in life too.
“We have a common objective with Teach First and yourselves – to address educational disadvantage and inequality. Like them, we have worked hard and made substantial investments to achieve progress in this area.”
Leeds Universities to welcome over 2600 teachers to the city as part of the UK’s largest teacher training event.
From Saturday 19 July to Friday 1 August, the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University will welcome the UK’s largest and most unique teacher training event to the city. As the country’s biggest graduate recruiter, Education Charity Teach First will welcome 2,600 new teachers to its annual residential training event, in an event worth £5.5m for Leeds in 2014 and 2015.
Part of the Teach First Summer Institute, the event brings together universities and schools to ensure that the expertise of those working across education is shared with those set to go into classrooms serving disadvantaged communities up and down the country.
Teams from Well Met Conferencing at Leeds Metropolitan University and MEETinLEEDS at the University of Leeds worked together to secure the University-based element of Teach First’s Summer Institute, which, in previous years, has taken place at the University of Warwick. Partners first direct arena, and accommodation providers Unite, Downing and Grey Star provide additional venue space and bedrooms for the delegates’ 28,000 bed nights.
Delegates include Teach First recruits at the end of their first year of teaching and over 1400 new teachers set to begin teaching in schools and early years settings from September.
Speaking at the event will be Teach First’s Founder and CEO, Brett Wigdortz OBE, International Author and Teacher, Tal Ben Shahar, the President for the NUT, the country’s largest teaching union, Max Hyde and General Secretary for the ATL, Dr Mary Bousted.
“…Leeds Universities provide the perfect setting both in terms of the capacity that the universities have, and for their location in the heart of the city”
This event forms a crucial part of Teach First’s annual Summer Institute and the start of the subsequent in-school training that trainees undergo during the two-year Leadership Development Programme whilst working in low-income communities across the UK. This includes areas across the Yorkshire and the Humber region where the charity has placed over 450 teachers since 2009. This year, Teach First will be placing an additional 162 teachers in the poorest areas of the region including 23 new teachers in the most disadvantaged areas of Leeds.
Speaking ahead of the event, Leeds based Director of Leadership for Teach First, Reuben Moore:
“Education in England continues to be a postcode lottery for children from poorer families, particularly in areas of Leeds.
“Through our own work in challenging schools, we know that bringing high quality graduates and career changers into the teaching profession is key to addressing this problem. As a result, we are incredibly proud of the way that Teach First has played a crucial role in ensuring that teaching in challenging circumstances is now seen as the most prestigious and popular destination for the country’s best graduates; a fact that is reflected in the massive scale of Teach First’s largest and most ambitious teacher training event in partnership with Leeds Universities.”
“As we continue to recruit more participants and ensure that all of them are able to make a difference to young people, Leeds Universities provide the perfect setting both in terms of the capacity that the universities have, and for their location in the heart of the city. This allows us to work closely with those in the community, including local businesses and schools to help tackle the national crisis of educational inequality, a crisis that is especially prevalent in the heart of Yorkshire and the Humber.”
Professor Susan Price, Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University said:
“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Teach First’s Summer Institute to Leeds. At Leeds Metropolitan University, we share Teach First’s vision and ambition, with a long and proud history of raising educational aspiration and supporting the success of students from very diverse backgrounds. We are proud to be part of this collaborative project and to be hosting such a high profile and significant event.”
Sir Alan Langlands, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds said:
“The Teach First Summer Institute represents a real coup for the city of Leeds. At the University of Leeds, we have been inspiring students to be the best that they can be since 1904 – not only in terms of academic excellence, but in life too.
“We have a common objective with Teach First and Leeds Metropolitan University – to address educational disadvantage and inequality. Like them, we have worked hard and made substantial investments to achieve progress in this area.”
Pictured left to right: Professor Susan Price, Reuben Moore and Sir Alan Langlands.
Leeds universities unite to win Teach First’s annual residential training event for the city.
The University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University, have successfully bid to bring one of Teach First’s residential training events worth £5.5m to the city in 2014 and 2015.
The MEETinLEEDS sales team has been working with the events team from Leeds Metropolitan for almost two years in order to secure Teach First’s Summer Institute, a huge event which, in previous years, has taken place at the University of Warwick. Partners First Direct Arena, and accommodation providers Unite, Downing and Grey Star, will provide additional venue space and bedrooms for the delegates’ 28,000 bed nights.
It is the first time the universities have collaborated so closely on an event, and it is hoped that this will provide a model for attracting further large-scale events in the future.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Leeds, Sir Alan Langlands, says:
“This closely-knit collaboration between ourselves and Leeds Metropolitan University has been absolutely crucial to the success of this bid. We have learnt that together we can achieve great things for Leeds, as neither partner would have been able to secure this event without the help of the other. The Teach First Summer Institute will be a vibrant addition to the city’s conference calendar.”
Teach First is a charity with the vision that no child’s educational success should be limited by their socio-economic background. The charity’s mission is to end inequality in education by building a community of exceptional leaders who create change within classrooms, schools and across society. Teach First achieves this by finding and training graduates with leadership potential to work in schools serving the lowest income communities in the UK.
Reuben Moore, Teach First’s Director of Leadership, has been impressed with what he has seen so far:
“As we continue to recruit more participants and ensure that all of them are able to make a difference to young people, Leeds Universities provide the perfect setting both in terms of the capacity that the universities have, and for their location in the heart of the city – a fact that allows us to work closely with those in the community, including local businesses and schools.
“Venue finding agency VFI explored over 45 different cities for us, and in terms of scope for development and ease of access, we are delighted to say that Leeds came out on top.”
From 19 July to 02 August, over 3,000 graduates will attend Teach First’s annual residential training event where they will be provided with seminars, tutorials and social activities to prepare them for teaching in schools in England and Wales from September.
Lurene Joseph, Chief Executive at Leeds and Partners, is excited about the possibilities this brings for the city:
“Teach First’s decision to come to Leeds is great news for the universities and the wider Leeds economy. More than 2,000 people visiting the city will be a tremendous boost to our retail, cultural and food and drink sectors.
“We are delighted to be working with Leeds Metropolitan University and the University of Leeds to drive added value in the tourism marketplace. This will be supported by forging further links with VisitEngland and VisitBritain to bring forward key campaigns to position Leeds as one of the top UK conference destinations.”
The conference and events team at MEETinLEEDS are looking forward to welcoming Teach First to the campus next year.
Accreditations
News & Blogs
Contact us
We’d love to hear from you.
Contact our team using our enquiry form.
Call us on 0113 343 6100. Or contact us via our social channels:
