The Schools North East Patron’s Dinner 2020 took place yesterday, for the first time since March 2019, with over 300 Partner Schools joining us for the evening. The Patron’s Dinner is the most widely anticipated event that Schools North East hosts and in March 2020 it was cancelled just 2 days before it was scheduled, to great disappointment from guests and Schools North East team alike.
Unfortunately, this year our Patron Lord Puttnam couldn’t be with us. However, the Patron’s Dinner is always a very special occasion. It is our most enjoyable event, solely for our Partner Schools and Partner Trusts, as a thank you for their commitment to a truly unique community of educators across the North East; and a thank you for their commitment to working together for the benefit of ALL children in the region regardless of catchment areas, political boundaries, or background. There really is no other network like it in the country – indeed it is envied by many outside of our region.
Every Patron’s Dinner has a different theme and this year the theme was “Game Changers – Inventions which have changed the game throughout history”. A central element of that theme was that our Partner Schools and their colleagues across the region are the most important ‘Game Changer’ there is. They strive to ensure that students from every background and area of our region, can get the bright and prosperous future that they deserve. They ‘Change the Game’ for so many children and young people, every single day. Schools North East Director Chris Zarraga, in his opening introduction, stressed That “this must be recognised fully by Ministers, departments, parents, communities, and especially the media”.
The Patron’s Dinner is a ‘thank you’ to all of Schools North East’s Partner Trusts and Schools who are the heart of a unique and thriving community of schools, the likes of which does not exist outside of the NE. It is a timely and much deserved recognition of the incredible work that they do with children across a hugely diverse region, which grapples with many thorny and perrenial problems. In normal times our schools do an amazing job in very trying circumstances, but the job that they have done through the course of this pandemic has been truly awe inspiring.
To everyone in the network, education is so much more than a narrow set of stats or an ofsted grade, it’s about ensuring that every child in this region has the education and the future that they deserve, the chance to thrive and go beyond the limitations of their background or geography. Every school and trust represented at the Patron’s Dinner is committed to that goal and goes far beyond the boundaries of their job descriptions to achieve it.
Schools North East witnessed this throughout the pandemic, as NE schools delivered food parcels to families, and became, in many places, the one institution that families and all of the other support services could rely upon for unstinting help during some very dark times.
Journalist and television presenter Steph McGovern, who was the event’s Guest Speaker, amplified these points further, declaring that backgrounds should not matter and that educators have the power to inspire children to do great things. Steph reiterated that, had it not been for the teachers in her own education, she would not have achieved half as much as she has and that it is the guests of the Patron’s Dinner who are – on a daily basis – guiding and inspiring young people to become the ‘game changers’ of the future.
