Teach First: Welcome Back to Leeds

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 13^th 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.”