Leading lights in the education world from the Government to the TV screen joined hundreds of academy principals and teachers in a landmark new combined conference and expo in the East Midlands.
Leading education visionary Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith, educator Baasit Siddiqui of Gogglebox fame and academy trust CEO Dr Paul Heery, one of the Government’s specially appointed school improvement advisors, all took to the stage at the packed MEET and MATNetworks event in Derby.
Organised by Derby technology company L.E.A.D. IT Services, the MEET event was aimed at equipping teachers and principals with the latest advances and best practice in digital education. The day brought together the MEET event with the UK-wide MATNetworks educational leadership conference for the first time.
Headline speaker Dr Aubrey-Smith, named by Education Business as one of the top 50 visionary women in education and on the advisory board for the famous London BETT conference, spoke on shifting mindsets from ‘ed tech’ to ‘ped tech’, putting pedagogy at the heart of digital tools in the classroom to benefit children’s learning.
Dr Heery, founding CEO of the White Hills Park Trust, told the audience how the Government’s RISE (Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence) scheme was helping schools, while break-out sessions covered use of AI in the classroom and practical tips on using 3D printers and virtual reality headsets.
Dr Heery said: “This event is about wider networks, it’s about bringing people together. What’s nice is that you’ve got people who work with schools as well as in schools.
“The link is the children. When I talk to schools, particularly those which are trying to improve, one of the things we talk about is how to access data and how to use it.”
Baasit Siddiqui, who as well as starring on TV’s Gogglebox runs Siddiqui Education, said: “I came last year as an attendee so to be on the stage and being given the opportunity to share my insights and the wonderful work that I’m able to do because of brilliant sponsors was a real joy. For me, it was, again, a fantastic opportunity to learn, gain new insights, and network with some brilliant educators. I really value that opportunity to be able to do that.
“There were so many conversations happening between educators, education, support providers and policymakers. It was just wonderful to see this education ecosystem within my community.”
Matt Crawford, CEO of Embark Federation, a family of 25 schools across Derbyshire, said it was great to see so much collaboration between school leaders on the day.
He said: “If you can take one or two ideas from an event such as this that you can then take back and practise, then it’s more than worth the effort to go along.
“As a trust, we’ve taken so many ideas on board, so I think we’ve benefited from others a lot. We’ve tried to do our bit and share back as well.”
Martin Stephens, special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) at Weston-on-Trent CE Primary School in South Derbyshire, said: “The MEET event was great. I got so much from it. I met several suppliers who we would be interested in working with at our school, and I thought the talks on the day were very interesting.
“It can be easy for teachers and heads to be caught up in their day at school because it is always extremely busy but you can get such a lot out of an event like this. Normally you would have to travel to a big city like Birmingham or London so it was great to have it on the doorstep.”
The conference saw many different educational suppliers displaying the latest classroom technology, and there were also pupils from different schools taking to the stage to give music performances and talk about how cutting-edge tools in areas like maths are helping them learn.
Sam Wilkinson, from ed tech company Elementary Technology, said: “I think the event is amazing. There have been so many people here. Everybody has been really responsive – it’s organised incredibly well, it’s good to see like-minded people sharing really good ideas for education.”
L.E.A.D. IT Services director Lee Jepson said: “We set up MEET to bring together different schools and multi-academy trusts and allow them to collaborate. Combining with MATNetworks this year was a great opportunity to make it bigger and better! Hearing the conversations and feeling the energy in the room was a great endorsement of our collaborative education family here in Derbyshire – all working hard to give children the best start. Thank you to everyone who came and we look forward to next year!”
This story was written and shared on behalf of L.E.A.D. IT Services by Lucy Stephens. Can we share your news and get you in the headlines too? Find out how we can help by getting in touch.
