From subject leaders to teaching assistants, business managers to headteachers, everyone in the education sector is constantly having to perform a balancing act; providing the best possible learning experiences, while managing workloads, with limited time and resources - and making the right procurement decisions.

BESA is proud to share the news of a brand new series of LearnED Roadshows in partnership with the Department for Education (DfE). There will be eight one-day events focused on exploring the best ways for teachers to incorporate edtech into their classrooms. The first event will take place on Thursday 29 November at The New York Stadium in Rotherham and is free to attend.

The events are designed for headteachers and ICT leads and will aim to inspire and inform school decisionmakers through peer-to-peer panel discussions and DfE keynote speakers. The aim is to improve teaching and learning outcomes, assessment and support leadership and management across the whole school.

The concept, created by BESA and the DfE, comes after Damien Hinds’ announcement this summer on the UK government championing edtech. BESA’s members are some of the most trusted and high-quality edtech suppliers in the UK. We feel that a collaboration between top quality suppliers and school leaders would be highly beneficial when incorporating edtech seamlessly into classrooms.

BESA’s director general, Caroline Wright, is delighted to share this initiative with teachers and the education supplies sector:

“I am delighted that the DfE’s plans place teacher training and support at the heart and soul of their future approach to edtech. As Damian Hinds says, technology can be used in the classroom in ‘revolutionary ways’ – allowing students to explore a rainforest from their classroom, or programme a robot.

“There are many examples of ministries of education across the world evangelising about the revolutionary potential of education technology, often supplied by UK companies. It’s very welcome that our own Department for Education is now setting out a vision for edtech that, if realised, could have a ground-breaking impact upon its implementation worldwide.”

We would like to invite all headteachers, ICT Leads and members of school senior leadership teams in the Rotherham area to attend our first event on Thursday 29 November. We will be announcing speakers, panellists and the full agenda in the coming weeks, but tickets will go fast, so be quick!

Get your free ticket to the Rotherham event here. Not from the area? Don’t worry! There will be a further seven shows taking place around the country throughout the academic year. To find an event in your area, click here.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact William Prieto-Parra. We look forward to seeing you there!

_{By Roisin McHugh - Events and Communications Coordinator}

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#EduFootyAid is a new charity football event with a twist: all the players are primary school teachers. It will raise money for Mind, the country’s leading mental health charity. #EduFootyAid is organised by the Striker Boy campaign, which was set up in memory of former primary school teacher Jonny Zucker who sadly took his own life in 2016. Mental health is a key concern for the education sector, particularly primary education, with rates of suicide amongst primary school teachers nearly double the national average.

The event is set to run twice a year, with the first match taking place at Lanchester Primary School in Durham on Saturday October 6th. Gates open at 12pm and kick-off is at 2pm. Every player is raising a minimum of £50 in sponsorship and overall the event hopes to raise £3,000.

Although it's for a serious cause, the event itself will be a joyful and inclusive community day, ideal for children and adults of all ages. As well as the football there will be stalls, raffles, face-painting, refreshments and all the merriment that you’d expect to find at a great British school fair. The event is free for spectators and you can register via the Striker Boy campaign Facebook page.  

Jane Davis, headteacher at Lanchester Primary School said: “We’re delighted to be hosting the first ever #EduFootyAid event. This event is a fantastic opportunity for us to engage the local community and raise money and awareness for a really important cause.”

If you would like to show your support for the teachers playing in #EduFootyAid you can make a donation on JustGiving. Any teachers who would like to play in future #EduFootyAid events should head to www.strikerboy.com to register their interest.

This event has only been made possible thanks to generous sponsorship from a number of suppliers within the education sector, namely; The TES, Think-IT, Groupcall, Animate2Educate, The Literacy Shed, Primary PE Passport, and 2Simple.

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It’s both rare and refreshing to hear the words “intersectionality”, “systemic change”, “call to arms” and “rockets up asses” within the first half an hour of an educational training event. But at headteacher Hannah Wilson’s Flexible Working event at Aureus School on 10th March, we learnt that the education sector must become open to new ways of working if we are to recruit and retain the best staff.

In June this year, 1500 7-11 year olds, teachers and parents will get to see their youngsters' work on the British Film Institute (BFI) IMAX’s cinema screen as part of a new initiative to improve literacy using filmmaking. The Lit Film Fest, featuring films written, performed and filmed entirely by Primary school pupils, is soon to hit Britain's biggest cinema screen. Powered by A Tale Unfolds and supported by Innovate My School, the festival will premier at the BFI IMAX Cinema in Waterloo, London, allowing children aged 7-11 see their work showcased on the 20 x 26 metre screen!

The Whole School SEND Consortium are running their first Summit on 23rd February 2017 at The Crystal (located on London’s Royal Victoria Dock), and the event will be hosted by the hosted by The London Leadership Strategy. This gathering will bring together new and established voices to discuss SEND in an innovative and discursive format. The aim is to utilise the experience and expertise of everyone in the room - school leaders, teachers, SENDCos, parents, young people and third sector organisations - in order to develop thinking and practice in SEND, and create a lasting, collaborative community dedicated to improving outcomes for children with SEND.

In an effort to celebrate what’s great about teaching, we’re teaming up with BESA to throw ‘Reasons To Be Cheerful About Education’, a panel and networking event to be held at Chester Racecourse on 9th February. The event will be free-of-charge for teachers to attend.

Manchester’s Russell Scott Primary School will be holding a free-of-charge Speed Learning Apple RTC event on Thursday 1st December. Running from 4:30pm to 6pm, the event will begin with a keynote from the renowned deputy head and ‘ideas factory’ Julian Wood, and will feature 10 top table hosts who will share how they use Apple tech across the Primary curriculum. These sessions will repeat every ten minutes in the style of speed-dating. What’s more, edtech experts JTRS Training will be supplying festive snacks to be served throughout.

On Friday 9th December, Dudley’s Village Hotel Club will play host to one day event devised to help teachers hone their edtech knowledge and skills. The EdTech Impact Conference is being held by ‘household’ education names Mark Anderson, Nina Jackson and Lee Parkinson, and will run from 8:30am to 3:30pm, offering teachers (EYFS to Further Education) a whole school day’s worth of insight. Ticket prices range from £106.69 to £169.99.

Bett, the leading global education event, will from 25th to 28th January return to ExCel London, with a fresh focus on game-changers within education. The event attracts more than 30,000 educators from across the world each year who come to see the latest and most innovative learning resources and to learn from the various seminars. The Bett Show is free to attend.