Leeds universities unite to win Teach First’s residential training event

The University and Leeds Metropolitan University have together successfully bid to bring one of Teach First's residential training events, worth £5.5 million, to the city in 2014 and 2015.

(l-r) Professor Susan Price, Vice-Chancellor, Leeds Met, Reuben Moore, Director of Leadership, Teach First, Sir Alan Langlands.

(l-r): Professor Susan Price, Vice-Chancellor, Leeds Met, Reuben Moore, Director of Leadership, Teach First, Sir Alan Langlands

Leeds’ two largest universities worked together to secure the residential element of Teach First’s Summer Institute, a huge event which, in previous years, has taken place at the University of Warwick. Partners First Direct Arena, and accommodation providers Unite, Downing and Grey Star, will provide additional venue space and bedrooms for the delegates’ 28,000 bed nights.

Teams from Meet in Leeds and Well Met Conferencing at Leeds Metropolitan University spent months in talks with venue finding company VFI 360. It is the first time the universities have collaborated so closely on an event, and it is hoped that this will provide a model for attracting further large-scale events in the future.

From 19 July to 2 August, over 3,000 graduates will attend Teach First’s annual residential training event where they will be provided with seminars, tutorials and social activities to prepare them for teaching in schools in England and Wales from September.

Sir Alan Langlands says: “This closely-knit collaboration between ourselves and Leeds Metropolitan University has been absolutely crucial to the success of this bid. We have learnt that together we can achieve great things for Leeds, as neither partner would have been able to secure this event without the help of the other. The Teach First Summer Institute will be a vibrant addition to the city’s conference calendar.”

Reuben Moore, Teach First’s Director of Leadership said: “As we continue to recruit more participants and ensure that all of them are able to make a difference to young people, Leeds Universities provide the perfect setting both in terms of the capacity that the universities have, and for their location in the heart of the city – a fact that allows us to work closely with those in the community, including local businesses and schools.

Venue finding agency VFI explored over 45 different cities for us, and in terms of scope for development and ease of access, we are delighted to say that Leeds came out on top.”

Teach First is a charity with the vision that no child’s educational success should be limited by their socio-economic background. The charity’s mission is to end inequality in education by building a community of exceptional leaders who create change within classrooms, schools and across society. Teach First achieves this by finding and training graduates with leadership potential to work in schools serving the lowest income communities in the UK.

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