Today, Innovate My School were approved as official BESA members by the organisation's executive council. The trade association for the world's leading educational suppliers, BESA operate on a not-for-profit basis and has an 80-year heritage serving the UK education sector, representing over 300 educational suppliers in the UK. Innovate My School will be using this new alliance as a chance to bring even more edu-insights to its audience than ever before.

As Sir Anthony Seldon stood on the stage, he slipped his jacket down his arms, slid his shoes off and kicked them to the side, chatting away to the audience as though nothing was amiss… then, out of the blue, he flipped himself upside down, into a headstand, balancing solidly, still. “I think I’ll do the rest of the talk this way,” he said, humour in his tone. The great academic from Wellington College was doing a yoga move on the stage and the audience went nuts! Where was this great feat of physical and mental strength happening? At The IPEN (International Positive Education Network) Festival in Dallas, Texas.

On Friday 21st October, educators of all kinds are encouraged to head to Ipswich for the Suffolk Festival of Learning, an event aiming to connect business with education, and to provide all education professionals with influential and inspirational speakers, workshops and CPD. The first event of its kind in the region, this gathering boasts 1000 delegates from all sectors of education on board for a day of keynote presentations and workshops.

It’s been a busy year for UK schools, with new edtech, academisation and changes to the exams system on teachers’ minds. As a result, we’ve been working with more educators than ever before. The 2015/16 year saw 621 articles published and 62 speed dating events run, with three major Twitter projects and a new website on top. Here are some highlights from the past 11 months:

Innovate My School has partnered with the Bett Show to back the third Bett Futures. Launched in 2015, Futures brings Bett delegates the most exciting and inspiring edtech startups from across the world. Innovate My School joins BESA, Naace, Edspace Hoxton, The EdTech Exchange and WORLDbytes in getting involved with the future of educational technology. The Bett Show will take place at ExCeL London on 25th-28th January 2017.

Primary schools across the country are inviting local teachers in to experience first-hand an innovative, one-to-one Maths intervention that has seen outstanding success at KS1 and KS2 in Primary schools. Over 70 schools are taking part in this programme of showcases. Each of these schools has been using Third Space Learning’s one-to-one tutors on a weekly basis to provide catch-up Maths lessons to pupils in Years 2-6.

A Levels students across the country are being encouraged to submit their questions for Hay Levels Live, an education panel that is part of Hay Festival (26th May – 5th June). Kicking off on Friday 27 May, this is a new initiative offering Sixth Form students the chance to quiz distinguished speakers live at Hay Festival 2016 and online. Questions on Physics, Maths, Biology, Tudor history and Shakespeare can be submitted online now at the Hay Levels Live website, or through Twitter using @HayFestival / #HayLevels, before the experts take to the stage to offer their answers.  

Friday 1st July will see High 5 a Teacher Day, a new event celebrating top teaching practices. A Twitter-held holiday, #High5aTeacherDay will ask teachers, school staff, pupils and parents to high-five a teacher / teachers, and explaining what makes their high-fivees special. Those taking part are encouraged to include a video or (well-timed) photo to show off the occasion.

TeachMeets are free-to-attend events and offer excellent CPD opportunities. Here are just a few such events being held in April 2016; all will likely still be accepting presentations, so be sure to get involved.

Games trade body Ukie are this week showcasing their range of computational thinking workshops run through the Digital Schoolhouse programme at The Big Bang Fair, the UK’s largest celebration of STEM subjects, from Wednesday 16th March to Saturday 19th March. The Big Bang Fair is being held at the Birmingham NEC Arena, and The Digital Schoolhouse can be found at stand #409. The activity on the Digital Schoolhouse stand will include a full programme of inspirational speakers and interactive workshops over the four days of the Fair.