Delegates should have taken from this conference an understanding of effective pedagogical approaches which are appropriate to the 21st Century, as well as an understanding of the most effective ways of developing and supporting teachers as they make the pedagogical and cultural shift.  The conference explored approaches to learning which empower teachers, parents and learners, and which have been shown to improve learning outcomes.

Who attended: school senior leaders and aspiring senior leaders; CLC managers; teachers; subject leaders from primary and secondary schools; school improvement professionals (including independents and those from LEAs and other organisations); elected members; school governors and those involved in initial teacher training and in the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Listening or viewing online and downloading mp3 audio files: You can listen to or view the presentations again by clicking on the relevant icon which should launch your media player.  If you don't already have it you can download the free Windows Media Player from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia.   Mac users may need to download the free wmv player from http://www.flip4mac.com to be able to play the videos using QuickTime.  To download the mp3 audio files for later playback on your PC, iPod or mp3 player, or for burning to CD, right mouse click on the icon and choose 'Save Target As' from the menu.  Many audio CD players will now play mp3 files directly, or you can use the Windows Media Player to burn a standard format audio CD.  For reasonable quality online audio and video you will need a broadband connection.

This conference was organised by Stoke-on-Trent City Learning Centres and is part of the CLCs commitment to support schools in their BSF planning and implementation.  The afternoon seminars provided a valuable opportunity for delegates to ask searching questions and explore in more depth the issues raised by the speakers earlier in the day.

Venue: The Best Western Stoke on Trent Moat House

Date: Thursday 6th July 2006 (10.00am – 4.30pm)

Delegate rate: £175 + VAT (included all refreshments and a full lunch)

Overnight hotel accommodation was available at the venue for the evening of Wednesday 5th July for the special rate of £85 per person including breakfast.

To register your interest and be placed on our conference mailing list to receive further information about future conferences, please email Stephen Holland (sholland@sgfl.org.uk)

The Conference Office address is: Haywood City Learning Centre, Haywood Rd., Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent, ST6 7AH  (phone 01782 233531)

This event built on the enthusiastic response to last year's highly successful conference with Alan November and Sir Dexter Hutt - web archive available here.

See below for:  Event Outline;  Seminar Programme;  Speakers;  Exhibitors;  Internet Access;  Directions

9:30 - 10:00

10:00 - 10:05

10:05 - 10:15

10:15 - 11:00

11:30 - 12:30

Seminar 1

Professor Stephen Heppell - an opportunity to question Stephen in detail about issues arising from his earlier presentation.

Listen online (43:03)

mp3 (17.24MB)

Listen online (35:51)

mp3 (14.36MB)

View online (01:17:12)

Seminar 2

Robert A Dilley and Sue Wood - an opportunity to question Robert and Sue in detail around issues raised in their earlier presentation.

Seminar 4

Improving learner engagement through the effective use of classroom technologies - Jenny Hulme, Stephen Holland, Judith Barnes and Karen Hodgkinson

A workshop focusing on how the effective use of interactive whiteboards, visualisers, voting pads and digital media can empower teachers, engage learners and improve learning outcomes.

'A New Beginning' – Andy Williams, Centre Manager of Sunderland CLC@St Roberts

A workshop based on the unique project at Sunderland CLC@St Roberts where year 10 students where taught about thinking skills and produced their own 3D Learning Based Game that is being used to teach younger pupils about bullying and the transition to secondary school. Discuss and explore how the project allowed year 10 pupils to realise true Meta cognition objectives.

“We have all experienced bullying of some form over the last few years. If we weren’t personally bullied, we knew someone who had been. We wanted to develop a game that would help other kids cope with bullying and know what to do in the event of being bullied,” says Corey Grant, aged 15, from St Roberts RC School & Sixth Form College and a member of the development team at Sunderland CLC at St Roberts

Andy Williams outlined the process of the project from the introduction of the year 10 students to Bloom’s Taxonomy, the students decision to focus on bullying/transition, the tools/process they used to author the tasks in the game and the experiences of the students and teachers involved. Andy also outlined future developments for the project that already included other students authoring new tasks and the sharing and review of the tasks worldwide by students as far away as New Zealand.

The Guardian describes Stephen Heppell as “Europe's leading online education guru". He was the Director of ULTRALAB for 22 years where he established, according to the Financial Times, “One of the most respected research centres in e-learning in the world”. ULTRALAB enjoys an enviable global reputation for creativity, innovation and common sense. Stephen now heads his own policy, research and practice consultancy Heppell.net (http://www.heppell.net), at the heart of a network of innovative collaborators worldwide. He chairs or sits on a number of boards and committees, including: Notschool.net - a long term virtual school producing exceptional success for children excluded from school by circumstances or behaviour; Teachers' TV - a TV channel for teachers with over 800 programmes on-line, podcast and broadcast traditionally; and the government's Building Schools for the Future working group. In addition, he has a guiding role in the BBC's Digital Curriculum project, and UNESCO groups in Europe and S E Asia.

Robert A. Dilley is the Head Teacher of Coopers Technology College in Chislehurst, Kent. The school was an early adopter of Microsoft’s ‘Learning Gateway’ – a set of technologies which effectively allowed the school’s learning platform, communications systems and the management information system to be accessed (as appropriate) by staff, learners and parents via a single web portal from any location. Robert, together with E-Learning Director Sue Wood, will describe the impact that this implementation has had upon staff, students and parents, together with the staff development and other challenges they faced along the way. They will explain how technology has helped to transform the way in which the school now operates and the effect that all of this has had upon culture, ethos and attainment.

Richard Gerver is currently Headteacher of Grange Primary School in Long Eaton. He has worked in various schools in Derby and Derbyshire and spent a year working for Derbyshire Local Authority as a Literacy Consultant before being appointed to his current post. He has a passionate belief in child centric learning that focuses on experience and context. He has worked with the DFES Innovation Unit on developing creative approaches to the curriculum and Personalised Learning. He is currently working with the QCA and the NCSL on remodeling the curriculum. He is an advisor to the DFES and the Government on many areas of education policy, mostly in defining school change for the 21st Century. He also works with Alistair Smith and Sir Ken Robinson on developing the creativity agenda.

Grange has been identified as one of the most innovative and creative schools in the UK, it has been featured on a number of documentaries on Teacher’s TV (click here to view). Richard is the current Headteacher of the Year for the East Midlands and was a National Finalist for the award. He has recently returned from speaking at the UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education in Lisbon.

You can find out more about Richard and his work at Grange Primary School by visiting the Teachernet website at: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/schoolinfocus/grangeprimaryschool/ and also the school website at: http://www.grange.derbyshire.sch.uk

Karen Hodgkinson, An Advanced Skills Teacher and Association for Science Education ‘Primary Science Teacher of the Year’ Karen brings a holistic approach to her role as Science Subject Leader at Christchurch C.E. Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent. A first class honours graduate in Life and Environmental Science, Karen is passionate about harnessing ICT to improve standards across the whole primary curriculum. She demonstrates, through her own practice, how ICT promotes more effective learning and teaching.

Karen has been very actively involved in a number of innovative research projects including the use of puppets in science (funded by the Nuffield Foundation) and the use of voting pads as tools for assessment. She is a member of the Initial Teacher Training Primary Partnership Steering Group for Manchester Metropolitan University and has given demonstrations of effective practice with interactive whiteboards and voting pads at Keele University. In addition to co-authoring questions for the KS2 software ‘Raising Achievement in Science’ from Robert Powell Publications, Karen has also worked in close partnership with energy supplier N-Power to update one of their publications which contains information and activities for KS2.

Swisscom Eurospot  The hotel has wireless Internet access provided by Swisscom Eurospot. When you switch on your wireless enabled laptop or PDA at the Moat House and launch your Internet browser, the Swisscom Eurospot login page will automatically appear.

You can now enter your username and password (purchased on a card from the hotel reception desk) or alternatively, use your credit card to buy a subscription online using the ‘buy now’ button on the Swisscom Eurospot login page. Swisscom Eurospot will send you a receipt via email.

If you do not have Windows XP or Mac OS, make sure that the Network Name (SSID) in your wireless client software is set to eurospot (all lower case).

When Swisscom Eurospot access codes are purchased from the hotel reception the charges are as follows:30 mins costs £3.00; 2 hours costs £5.00; 24 hours costs £17.00.

Do note that this service is not ‘pay as you go’ and that the clock starts following a successful login. For more information on this service visit the Swisscom Eurospot website at http://www.swisscom-eurospot.com/.

3G/GPRS  We have tested an Orange Mobile Office PCMCIA Card (3G/GPRS) with a laptop at the venue and received a strong signal on the Orange high-speed 3G network. We have not tested other mobile networks but would anticipate similar results given the location. Check for coverage on your provider’s website using the hotel’s postcode (ST1 5BQ).

COMING FROM THE SOUTH ON THE M6: Leave the M6 at Junction 15 (then refer to 1 below)

COMING FROM THE NORTH ON THE M6: Leave the M6 at Junction 16 (then refer to 1 below)

1. Follow the A500 towards Stoke-on-Trent.

2. Follow the brown signs for Festival Park, which, after taking you off the A500 up a slip road to a large roundabout and onto the A53, will soon bring you down to a second roundabout under a flyover.

3. Take the first exit into Festival Park.

4. The hotel is located straight ahead over a third but small roundabout after which watch out for the hotel entrance driveway on the left.

COMING FROM THE EAST ON THE A50 (from Derby / M1)

Follow the A50 to Stoke on Trent past Longton, Fenton etc. and the football stadium; all the way to a large roundabout where it meets the A500. Turn right towards Stoke and follow from 2 above.

PLEASE NOTE  If coming from the South on the M6 or from the East on the A50 (from Derby / M1) then expect delays on the A500 in Stoke-on-Trent because of road works. I would advise you to allow 30 mins extra on your journey for this.

ARRIVING BY TRAIN  The Stoke-on-Trent Moat House is a short taxi ride (5 - 15 mins depending on traffic) from the railway station.

The hotel address and phone number is:

The Best Western Stoke on Trent Moat House
Etruria Hall
Festival Way
Stoke-on-Trent
ST1 5BQ

(01782 609988)

For a location map please use the following web link:

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?Postcode2Map?code=ST1+5BQ&nolocal=X