Its been a busy summer over at BEST Trust HQ and we thought we would update you on what we have been up to. During summer term 2022 our Trust Board took time to reflect on the current educational landscape, where it was clear that schools would all be facing difficult decisions with how to balance budgets, whilst ensuring that pupils and staff get the support they need. In response to this, we decided to redevelop our offer to schools from just providing face to face or online training sessions to also offering Leadership Conversations, Consultancy days from our range of Associates and a commitment to developing a range of digital professional development materials for our members as the year progresses in an accessible cloud based space.
Throughout the summer our new website has been built in the background, to provide the education community with a more accessible and user friendly experience. Some of the new features include a simplified navigation menu, an overview of all our Associates and their expertise, the ability for visitors to book and pay for things within the website and a new blog that will be shared on a fortnightly basis to highlight developments from BEST and some of the latest thinking from the world of education. As always, July and August have also been a time to put together our autumn program, based on the needs of our members and also some of the latest curriculum developments.
After lots of discussion, we have also brought back our termly course outline brochure of all our training, which will be sent to all our members. It will also be available to download through our website. This newly designed brochure is now colour coded to each of the different areas we provide training on, so that readers can easily navigate to the aspects they are interested in, whether that be leadership, EYFS or specific curriculum areas.
After reviewing the feedback from our members, we have started to set up our new consultancy days and we welcome any schools making contact with us to discuss getting involved or finding out more about what is on offer. In a nut shell, our consultancy days are personalised to individual schools or Trusts and aim to provide an opportunity for them to tap into expertise across a range of educational aspects. This might be in the form of a full day, two half days, a series of linked staff meetings or specific projects to enquire, develop or reflect on identified school development priorities.
Currently, the team are putting together BEST’s 2023 Leadership Conference Overview and we are looking forward to sharing this in the coming months through our website and Twitter feed. The conference takes place at the fabulous Lakeside Hotel on the edge of Windermere over 2 and half days in March, providing leaders in both Primary and Secondary schools with space to network, reset their thinking and time to hear from a range of speakers on a variety of relevant themes.
All in all, its certainly been a busy summer and here at BEST the team are always looking at ways to support teachers and leaders to be the best they can be. We always welcome requests for possible training and we are always open to welcoming new Associates to our growing community of people who are looking to make a difference to the lives of young people.
“Education is improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.”
Marian Wright Edelman
