On Friday 14 February Lighthouse Schools Partnership hosted our first ever staff conference looking at addressing disadvantage for pupils.

Hosted at Ashton Gate Stadium, 1000 teachers, teaching assistants and pupil support staff attended to hear from a range of speakers including:

• Lord Marvin Rees OBE
• Professor Lee Elliot Major
• James Townsend from the Reach Foundation
• Dr Dan Nicholls
• Lucy Livings, Regional Director from the Department of Education

All speakers are experts in the field of supporting children from disadvantage (financial or otherwise) to thrive.

The morning sessions deepened our understanding of the impact of poverty and highlighted the unique opportunities that schools within our Trust have to minimise and overcome these challenges. Our thinking was undoubtedly stretched, and the call to tackle these issues was made clear.

In the afternoon an online session was held, live from America, with Doug Lemov and Hannah Solomon from Teach Like a Champion. Their aim is to improve teaching through the study of exceptional teachers and sharing best practice so that classrooms can be effective and successful for all children but especially in areas where inequities are high.

Disadvantaged children living in the South West have the worst educational outcomes in the country – from their early years to A-level results. With 33 schools in the area we wanted to upskill and inform our staff on how best to support our children.

Our Trust vision states that ‘disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils are given priority’ and this conference was just one part of addressing this mission.

Gary Lewis Chief Executive said “The day was a really proud moment for our Trust. To have a range of highly experienced and respected speakers delivering training for our staff, for the benefit of our pupils, is exactly what we believe impactful CPD should be. It was also the first time we had some many LSP colleagues in one room, to see the scale that our organisation has grown to was just incredible”.

You can see a selection of images from the day below.

Thank you very much to all those who contributed to the day.