My passion for teaching is nourished by the connections with fantastic educational contacts I have made by attending, presenting at and hosting grassroots events. My PLN inspire me, empower me and connect me.
Teaching can take it out of you. It can drain your time and your energy, but a bit like going to the gym when you are knackered coming out feeling good about yourself, going to a grassroots CPD event can top up your reserves to keep you going for the rest of the half-term. Go forth and find your tribe, create those collaborations with the outward-facing, like-minded people who you will connect with.
So, what’s on the horizon for September?
16th September, #PedagooHampshire
Building on the success of #PedagooHampshire 15 and 16, this event returns this year bigger and better. Martyn Reah, our host, has recruited 62 presenters to explore the #Teacher5aday pillars: #connect, #learn, #exercise, #notice and #volunteer. For more information, visit www.martynreah.wordpress.com/pedagoohampshire17.
20th September, Whole SEND Strategy Summit, London
Following the success of the first Whole School SEND Summit in February, the Strategy Summit will focus on approaches to including and supporting learners with SEND across regions, local authorities, MATs, clusters and other groups of schools. This event is for regional leads, inclusion leads, directors of inclusion, teachers, senior leaders, SENDCos, parents, trustees and governors. The aim of the event is to strengthen the SEND community of 4000 schools, leaders and advocates in order to develop thinking around cross-school inclusion and drive improvement nationwide. For more information visit www.wholeschoolsend.com/strategy-summit.
20th September, Diverse Leaders Celebration event, London
We are looking to celebrate the successful completion of our DfE funded Diversity and Equalities Grant collaboration. Harris Federation TSA and GLF TSA have been collaborating for the last year in supporting 75 leaders from the #WomenEd and #BAMEed communities. At this event, the baton is passed on as we open recruitment for our next cohorts, and our cohort 1 delegates become mentors for cohort 2. For more information, follow @DiverseLeaderEd.
23rd September, #WomenEd #SENDed, London
To celebrate the National Inclusion Week, #WomenEd and #SENDed are collaborating to bring you an event to nurture leadership talent in women leading inclusion. Vijita Patel and the team at Swiss Cottage School will be our hosts for a day of keynotes and workshops to support serving and aspiring leaders of SEND:
- clarifying our leadership vision.
- communicating our leadership values.connecting with other SEND leaders.
- developing our leadership confidence.
- creating future collaborations across the SEND sector.
- realising you are part of a wider SEND community.
- supporting you to lead challenge.
- encouraging you to affect change.
For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/womened-sended-networking-development-event-london-tickets-32699359665.
27th September, #WomenEd #Coachmeet
We are piloting a new event format – building on the success of #teachmeet and #leadmeet – we bring you a #coachmeet. This is an opportunity to come and find out more about the power of coaching and the DfE's coaching pledge for women leading in education.
The event will feature an opening keynote from a DfE coach and coachee to share their partnership and how it has developed them and impacted their leadership journey. There will then be a speed-dating style coaching carousel to meet local women leading in education coaches.
This is a great opportunity to register to coach, be coached and find a coaching match through the DfE coaching database. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/owlie-womened-coachmeet-oxford-tickets-33343874426.
28th September, HR in Schools Conference
Cost-effective recruitment and retention strategies are big HR concerns for schools. The HR in Schools Conference will be an opportunity to explore this topic in detail and receive updates on procedures for handling grievances and discipline, managing staff absences and how to deal with work-related stress:
- Creative ways to recruit staff whilst working with smaller budgets.
- Creating a positive environment for your team and working through stress.
- Understand performance-related pay and analyse your organisation’s performance.
- Dealing with discipline and grievance procedures, legalities and handling allegations.
- Employment law update: changes you need to be aware of.
For more information, visit https://www.forumbusinesstraining.co.uk/conferences/education/event/621-hr-in-schools-london.
29th September, #NakedTeachingDay
Teachers are urged to "go naked" on this date to raise awareness of children around the world who are attending schools in slums or refugee camps. The goal of the day is to imagine what it would be like to teach stripped bare of any resources.
For #NakedTeachingDay, teachers are being asked to put their supplies back in the cupboard, switch off the interactive whiteboard and rely on teaching without worksheets or textbooks. The day has been organised by the UK charity World Wide Education Project, which supports education in developing countries and disaster zones through services such as exporting redundant educational furniture and equipment from the UK for reuse abroad. For more information, visit www.wwep.org.uk/nakedteachingday.
30th September, #WomenEd Unconference 3, Sheffield
We at #WomenEd are holding our 3rd National Unconference in Sheffield. Sheffield Hallam University are hosting us, and the event is being facilitated by Sam Twistleton. The Microsoft Education team are sponsoring the catering and the TES Institute are sponsoring the free creche. The Unconference will build on the #IWD17 theme of #BeBoldForChange by exploring how we can 'be bold for self' and 'be bold for others'. The event has a fantastic lineup of speakers, cross-phase, cross-sector, representing the diverse voices, experiences and identities of our community. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/womened-unconference-iii-sheffield-delegates-tickets-35806671719.
Visit www.thehopefulheadteacher.blog for more information.