S.P.A. Summer Forum in Eastbourne

We didn’t quite get the sunny weather we were hoping for, for our trip to the seaside, but we did get the insight and inspiration we promised…in spades (pun intended).

Our Summer Forum at Eastbourne College was a huge success, thanks to everyone who made the journey to join us.

Francesca Milling, Amie Bennett, Mary Leggett, Linda Salway FRSA, Jack Cornish and Helen Barkshire shared their stories of local partnerships involving Bede’s School, Eastbourne College, Lancing College Preparatory School at Worthing and Brighton College as part of the Coastal Schools Partnership.

We heard from some truly brilliant students from Willingdon Community School who took time out of their GCSE schedule to talk to us about their experiences of being involved in partnerships and what they mean to them. Emily May thank you so much for bringing them and we wish them all the luck for their exams! They were accompanied by students from Bede’s School who talked about reading with local primary children as part of their Bede’s Diploma.

The second half of the session was a stellar line up of Kerri Hall from Enrichment For All who talked about the renewed focus on enrichment and what this means for schools and partnerships moving forward, Sarah Seleznyov from Big Education who encouraged us to rethink what schools and learning could be and how we need to move towards a “Head, Heart, Hand” model of education, and Ali Gellett FRSA who gave us an overview of the Big AI Project and the training available to schools. Julia Roberts offered insights from her perspective as CEO of CULTURE SHIFT CIO.

We also heard, of course, from our very own Margaret Hunnaball about her sports partnerships research, and from Joseph Spence about our plans here at S.P.A.

Thank you so much to our generous sponsors Oxford University Press and Louis Wilkes for sharing their ambitions around education and partnerships.

And finally, a huge thank you to our wonderful hosts Eastbourne College – Thank you for everything Tom Lawson and Linda Salway FRSA – we couldn’t have asked for better hosts and organisation. And the buffet was top-notch.