Summit 2015: The Power of Collective Ambition
SCHOOLS NorthEast held its seventh annual Summit which saw over 450 delegates attend from all across the region. This is a flagship, well-established conference that grows year on year and has become the must-attend education event for all school leaders in the North East.
What will it take? was the Summit question this year and our speakers, including a number of North East head teachers, discussed how to establish strong relationships between schools and employers, develop a positive approach to mental health, get parental engagement right, develop great teaching and much more.
‘Collective’ was the keyword of the day, with Director Mike Parker making
it clear during his opening speech that “the power of collective ambition is what makes us stronger than other regions.
“In the current climate of ever more fragmented school structures, I firmly believe it is this strength that will serve us well.”
This was resonated by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw in his keynote speech which praised the region for this unique attribute.
Mike stated that the region is improving and has consistently done so over the past five years, citing data that shows the number of Good or Outstanding primaries has increased by 16% to 90% and the number of schools that Require Improvement or are Inadequate dropped from 1 in 4 to 1 in 10.
Whilst the situation sits differently for secondary schools, Mike said: “we only have 170 secondaries in the region so an upwards shift of just five schools would bring parity.
“This isn’t a race for the bottom, nor is it an apologist’s view on performance – but it is context we should keep at the forefront of our minds.”
Looking forward at a Vision for 2020, Mike made the point that schools are not islands and that school leaders should not be considered solely responsible for the performance of North East children.
“The sooner stakeholders in this region join up strategies for adult literacy, parental ambition and improved early years education, the greater the opportunity our schools will have of concentrating on teaching and not on backfilling the foundations that children in other parts of the country can take for granted.”
You can read Mike Parker’s entire Summit 2015 speech on the SCHOOLS NorthEast website.