On 26 March 2019 we were delighted to hold a school partnership celebration event at the Institution of Education (IoE), supported by the Vice-Chancellor’s endowment fund.
This event provided the opportunity for us to get together and celebrate our partnership. Although we could not invite all IoE staff or school partners, we were lucky enough to have a number of our steering committee members, key partners and staff at the event along with alumni and our wonderful Universal Voices community choir. The choir dazzled us with their singing abilities and had us all dancing to the bungalow song.
Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Fellowes welcomed everyone to the event, highlighting the importance of regional and local partnerships to the university. This was followed by Head of School Professor Cathy Tissot outlining some key points, including:
- We work with over 400 schools in our partnership within nine main local authorities (Reading, Wokingham, Bracknell Forest, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Surrey).
- On average, we train around 400 teachers a year through undergraduate, Early Years, Primary and Secondary initial teacher training programmes.
- Since the 2012/13 academic year when we moved to the London Road campus, we have successfully trained well over 2,000 Primary and Secondary teachers and approx. 150 Early Years teachers within the partnership.
- In the latest Ofsted, Initial Teacher Education inspection report, 2016 the inspectors recognised that “The partnership makes a strong contribution to teacher supply in the region.”
As Cathy outlined, none of this would be possible without the strong partnerships we have with schools and we just want to take this opportunity again to 
thank not only those who were able to attend but our entire partnership for making it possible to help shape teachers that are sought after and inspiring.
A special thank you also to our speakers Mrs Lesley Godwin – Head teacher of Marsh Infant and Nursery School; Katie Ray- a mentor from Prospect School; Elizabeth Langer a Primary PGCE student; and Sam Boseley, a Primary PGCE, SEN pathway trainee. Their inputs inspired us all and reminded us what our school partnership is all about.