Schools North East would like to wish a Happy New Year and a welcome back to you all for the start of the Spring term.

We hope you had a restful Christmas break and have returned refreshed and ready for whatever challenges the new term has to offer.  As your network, Schools North East will be focussing on supporting you as much as possible to meet these challenges and in this respect there are lots of things to look forward to this term as we support and champion all schools from across our region.

Networking support for you and your colleagues

This term, our popular series of virtual roundtables will continue; enabling you to talk with colleagues across the region, to share your concerns but also solutions to the issues facing you as we move through the year.  Make sure you join your colleagues to support and be supported by fellow professionals at the sharp end of education.  There will be roundtables happening for:

MAT CEOs;
Special and Alternative Provision CEOs and Head Teachers;
Deputy Head Teachers in primary, secondary, and special settings;
Nursery School Head Teachers; and
Meetings with your local Member of Parliament to ensure that they can keep abreast of the challenges you face but also the many successes of you and your students and staff.
If you would like to join your colleagues please email policy@schoolsnortheast.com for further info and joining instructions.  The first of this term’s roundtables will be starting next week.

Ednorth Advocate relaunch – championing evidence-based practice within our schools

The Schools North East powered Ednorth Advocates programme, suspended during the height of the pandemic,  will be relaunched on Wednesday 9th March at The Durham Centre. Ednorth aims to inspire a long-term shift in all classrooms across the North East to one led by evidence-informed practice, research, collaboration and excellence. Join us as we drive regional and national policy regarding evidence-based education from the NE chalk-face.

The Advocate programme is aimed at anyone wanting to influence the development of classroom practice based on what works in your settings.  If you would like to know more or attend the launch event click here for further details. 

The relaunch of Ednorth will link in with Schools North East’s annual TeachMeet programme – click here for more information –  and the popular annual CelebrateEd – The Northern Celebration of Education to bring classroom  practitioners together to connect, engage and inspire each other throughout 2022.

Academies conference 2022

Schools North East will kick the year off with our much-anticipated Academies conference, taking place at St. James’ Park on Thursday 27th January.  Network with your colleagues from across the region as we have a whole host of informative sessions, engaging speakers and exciting sponsors all lined up for you.

We are delighted that Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Education Baroness Barran MBE will be one of our keynote speakers, alongside former Director of Curriculum for QCA, Mick Waters and Steve Rollett, Deputy CEO of Confederation of Schools Trust, and Catherine Cowell RSC North region.

Whether you are a MAT Leader, or have a finance based role, the Academies conference will offer sessions exploring the unique challenges you face. As well as being relevant to School Leaders, Trustees, SBMs and Finance Directors from both Academies and MATs, this event caters for staff from Maintained Schools seeking to join or form a MAT, or simply explore options moving forward.

Annual Governance conference 2022

February will see our annual Governance Conference return over two days as a virtual event, so that there are more opportunities for delegates to hear from experts and network with colleagues. This event will provide each attendee with 5+ hours of CPD, as accredited by the CPD Certification service, as they are provided with latest updates, guidance and best practice. The conference takes place on Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th February and is open to all schools and trusts across the country.

The Patron’s Dinner finally returns!

March sees the long awaited, much anticipated return of our annual Patron’s Dinner. After being unable to host it last year, due to Covid, we are very much looking forward to an evening of networking with colleagues from schools across the region and special guests, to truly celebrate the amazing work of our region’s school leaders.

If you have not done so already, please be sure to confirm your place as soon as possible.

Curriculum conference 2022

With schools entering the post-lockdown landscape the discussions around what makes an effective and engaging curriculum are more important than ever. The issues around ‘recovery’ and ‘catch-up’ are hot topics, whilst concerns around areas such as learning loss and assessment are at the forefront of pedagogical discussion.

To meet these challenges attend the Schools North East  Curriculum conference. Held at the Beacon of Light on the 31st March, delegates will hear from a range of practitioners, academic experts, and colleagues from North East schools on the subject of curriculum including keynote speakers John Tomsett, former Head Teacher and Mick Waters, former Director of Curriculum, QCA. 

And much much more……

Throughout the Spring term and beyond, we also have many other webinars, events and roundtables scheduled. These forums allow representatives from our Partner Schools and Trusts to discuss the challenges they face, share potential solutions, network with others and to celebrate everything that is going on in their schools.

We know that, whatever is thrown at them, schools in the North East will continue to strive and thrive, going above and beyond for all of their students.