Discover Your Ideal Education Event

Are today’s classroom technologies really making teachers’ lives easier? In this episode of Teachwire Talks, Helen Mulley is joined by Ashleigh Kennedy from Dell Technologies and product marketing consultant Richi Fontaine to explore whether edtech is living up to its promise. Together, they discuss how technology has transformed schools, from interactive whiteboards to AI, and examine why workload remains such a challenge, even as new tools continue to emerge. Finally, they share practical insights into using digital tools more strategically, helping you save time while improving teaching and learning. About ED360 Teachers are under growing pressure to manage heavier workloads, respond to diverse student needs, close learning gaps, and confidently adopt new digital and AI-enabled approaches in the classroom. To support them effectively, schools need practical tools and accessible professional learning that can make an immediate difference. A clear next step is to register to join ED360 – Dell’s hub for smarter teaching – where educators can explore practical ideas, tackle common challenges, and see how modern technology and AI can support teaching and learning. The platform includes webinars, podcasts, classroom-ready resources, and expert-led content designed to help schools embrace future-ready IT and bring AI-driven learning into the classroom. Alongside ED360, educators can also benefit from other valuable resources such as Microsoft Learning Zone and Intel Skills for Innovation. Intel Skills for Innovation helps educators integrate technology into everyday learning through ready-to-use lesson plans, professional development, and real-world projects that build digital, problem-solving, and innovation skills. Microsoft Learning Zone is an AI-powered education app from Microsoft designed to help teachers create interactive lessons and learning activities more quickly. Register to join ED360 here . By encouraging teachers and school leaders to engage with ED360 and these wider resources, we can help reduce pressure, build confidence, and give educators practical support to create more engaging, inclusive, and future-ready learning experiences.

British Red Cross

Young people are growing up with overlapping crises: climate change, conflict, displacement, cost-of-living pressures and rising anxiety about the future. Many bring these questions and worries into the classroom, and teachers are often left to hold complex conversations without feeling fully equipped. This webinar will explore two elements of the citizenship curriculum. First, how do we teach children about resilience? And second, how do we work with young people to discuss the climate debate? Learning outcomes By the end of this webinar, attendees will: Will have explored ideas for teaching resilience with young people Will have more confidence for leading and teaching a curriculum which looks at climate issues and sustainability We will discuss: Which elements of citizenship or personal development are most engaging for students? Approaches in schools to build belonging and resilience in students Approaches which are effective in teaching students about the climate crisis How can we evaluate the impact of our teaching in these areas? What lessons can we learn from the British Red Cross Humankind programme? Given that the curriculum review intends to embed climate and sustainability education throughout England’s school curriculum, what are the key challenges schools face in teaching about these issues and how can we overcome them? Top tips in leading a citizenship and personal development curriculum.

This best practice webinar considered practical ideas for academic enrichment activities in secondary schools that develop key skills and effectively prepare students for higher education. Hosted by SecEd in partnership with our friends at The Brilliant Club , our expert panel identified the skills that are most important for further and higher education and the modern workplace before discussing how enrichment activities and learning beyond the curriculum can teach and enhance these skills. We considered skills including critical-thinking, independent learning, self-efficacy, oracy, and other so-called “soft skills” that are vital to student progression and outcomes. The webinar considered how enrichment activities can target disadvantaged students, including Pupil Premium, and open opportunities. We then drew on the experience and lessons learned from The Brilliant Club’s work with schools (the education charity works with almost 900 schools and 20,000 students a year). The webinar also considered the forthcoming curriculum reforms. The Department for Education, in its response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, has confirmed it will be working “on the development of a new set of benchmarks, to set out the steps every school and college can take to provide every child with access to a strategically planned and ambitious enrichment offer”. Ofsted will also be taking account of these benchmarks once they have been developed. As such, we discussed what we might expect from these benchmarks, the tenets of an effective enrichment programme, and what schools need to consider to ensure their offer to students is broad, balanced and ultimately effective.

This session brings together two teacher educators to discuss how multilingual realities shape English teaching in Southeast Asia. Speakers explore how teachers use learners' home languages as a resource, challenge 'English-only' assumptions and promote inclusive, culturally responsive practices. Donna Lim focuses on young learners and Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali talks about pre-service teachers. Learn about strategies that you can use in your classroom, wherever you teach. About the speakers Mai Tuyet Ngo is an associate professor in TESOL and applied linguistics at Flinders University, Australia. She has been working as an English language teacher educator for 30 years, and has coached and mentored many young early-career Vietnamese schoolteachers, university lecturers and leaders to become healthier and happier. Her research interests are teachers' social well-being and happiness pedagogies.   Donna Lim is a lecturer with the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She specialises in primary English language teaching methodology courses. Her area of interest is in developing literacy with a focus on teaching writing. She has considerable teaching experience with young learners.  Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali is an associate professor in the Masters of English language education at Satya Wacana Christian University (Salatiga, Indonesia). He holds a PhD in Language, Literacy and Technology Education. He also serves as the director of publications at Indonesia Technology Enhanced Language Learning ( iTELL ) journal. 

This session focuses on teacher and learner well-being, drawing on classroom practice to explore how joy, emotional safety and positivity can enhance English learning. The presentation shares practical ways teachers can create happier, more connected classrooms.  About the speakers Mai Tuyet Ngo is an associate professor in TESOL and applied linguistics at Flinders University, Australia. She has been working as an English language teacher educator for 30 years, and has coached and mentored many young early-career Vietnamese schoolteachers, university lecturers and leaders to become healthier and happier. Her research interests are teachers' social well-being and happiness pedagogies.   Donna Lim is a lecturer with the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She specialises in primary English language teaching methodology courses. Her area of interest is in developing literacy with a focus on teaching writing. She has considerable teaching experience with young learners.  Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali is an associate professor in the Masters of English language education at Satya Wacana Christian University (Salatiga, Indonesia). He holds a PhD in Language, Literacy and Technology Education. He also serves as the director of publications at Indonesia Technology Enhanced Language Learning ( iTELL ) journal. 

In this teaching sequence, pupils are guided by a virtual visit from bestselling author Lisa Thompson to develop ideas for engaging and memorable characters. Based on an episode of the Author in Your Classroom podcast, this fully resourced unit helps pupils explore how to create compelling characters for their own stories. Using The Graveyard Riddle as a springboard, the unit breaks down the creative process, showing how professional authors craft distinctive characters and build intrigue through careful use of detail and dialogue. How to use this resource Across five structured sessions, pupils listen to selected podcast extracts and respond through discussion, planning and writing. They start by gathering unusual and interesting character ideas, then shape these into original, fully formed characters. Pupils analyse how Lisa Thompson introduces characters, investigate how dialogue reveals personality and practise their own dialogue through talk and role play. The sequence concludes with pupils writing and refining a short narrative scene that incorporates purposeful, correctly punctuated speech. Learning outcomes Pupils gain practical strategies for generating character ideas, understand how dialogue conveys personality and information, and apply these techniques in their own writing. The unit also develops spoken language, planning, drafting and editing skills, with clear progression and opportunities for peer discussion and feedback.

Bring a bestselling children’s author into your classroom and guide pupils through planning and writing a story centred on a supervillain. In this episode of Author In Your Classroom , award-winning author and illustrator Liz Pichon, creator of Shoe Wars and the Tom Gates series, shares practical tips for crafting memorable villains and the worlds they inhabit. She demonstrates how everyday events and real-life stories – like a disagreement between two brothers who made shoes – can spark funny and exciting story ideas. This teaching sequence supports pupils in developing characters, plotting scenes and applying descriptive writing techniques. It takes them from generating initial ideas to creating their own supervillains and writing scenes that bring those characters to life. Carefully selected podcast extracts accompany the unit, providing insight into a professional author and illustrator’s process and encouraging pupils to see themselves as storytellers. Teaching overview Over four sessions, pupils begin by exploring where story ideas come from, collecting inspirations from personal experiences, observations and interests to build a bank of potential stories. They then design a main villain, developing appearance, personality, behaviour and backstory, learning how motivation and depth make characters compelling. Pupils plan and write a scene introducing their supervillain, using techniques modelled by Liz Pichon, including humour, dialogue, alliteration, similes and vivid description. Finally, they expand their story universe, creating settings, objects and doodles to bring their villain’s world to life, using working walls or personal notebooks as inspiration. By the end of the unit, pupils gain confidence in creating imaginative characters and scenes, connecting their writing to authentic author practice while building creativity and storytelling skills.

The Schools White Paper Every Child Achieving and Thriving raises expectations for inclusion - earlier, more consistently, and across every school, backed by £1.8bn in new investment. But for many trusts, the challenge isn’t understanding what’s expected. It’s making it work in practice, at scale. Practice varies between schools. Capacity is stretched. Needs are more complex. What works in one school doesn’t always translate across others. Research from Thrive and ImpactEd, based on over 1,000 education professionals, highlights a clear “inclusion readiness gap” - between expectations and the conditions needed to deliver them. At the same time, £1.8bn in new investment creates a significant opportunity - but only if it’s used to strengthen delivery across the trust. In this session, Tom Preston, Viv Trask-Hall and Liz Murray will share what they’re seeing across the system and what seems to be making a difference. You’ll learn: What the White Paper means in practice for trust-wide inclusion Where delivery tends to break down across schools Why some approaches don’t scale - and what to do instead How to use new investment to build capacity across your trust How to assess and strengthen inclusion readiness

What’s next for inclusion - and what will it really take to move from good intentions to embedded practice? Thrive is proud to be forging a new strategic partnership with the International Forums of Inclusion Practitioners (IFIP) - a global community committed to strengthening inclusive practice for every teacher and every learner.  To mark the partnership, join Viv Trask-Hall, recently recognised as a Distinguished Fellow of IFIP, for a relaxed fireside conversation with Daniel Sobel - Chair of IFIP, President of the World Inclusion Congress (WIC), and Chief Exec of Inclusion Expert.  Together, Viv and Daniel will explore what this partnership means in practice, what’s shifting globally in inclusion right now, and Daniel’s vision for Inclusion 2.0 - the next phase of inclusion that moves beyond policy into culture, leadership and everyday practice.  We’ll also dive into questions including: What’s the biggest misconception schools hold about inclusion today? What does inclusion look like when it’s truly embedded — not just talked about? What patterns are emerging internationally, and what can we learn from them? Expect a candid, practical discussion, with space for audience questions and real-world reflections for leaders, practitioners and educators.

What is the webinar about? Children and young people are growing up alongside AI tools that respond instantly, adapt to them, and feel surprisingly conversational. These moments can spark curiosity and connection, but they also introduce pressures that may shape how young people feel, relate and regulate - and the pace of change is faster than our understanding of its emotional impact. Join us for a fireside conversation where Thrive’s Viv Trask-Hall is joined by digital education specialist, Anthony Magee, and Safeguarding and Mental Health GLF Trust Lead, Fiona Jarman, to explore the emerging ways AI is shaping children’s emotional and social worlds, and how schools can respond. You’ll gain a high-level understanding of the emerging impact of AI, drawing on data and behavioural insights, alongside relational perspectives on supporting young people’s wellbeing as technology evolves.

What is the webinar about? Children’s Mental Health Week 2026 theme, This Is My Place , invites us to notice the moments that help children feel emotionally “at home” in school. Research shows that one of the strongest drivers of this feeling is mattering - the sense of being noticed, valued and significant. When children feel they matter, their brains are more able to regulate, connect and engage with learning. But what does mattering look like in everyday practice? And how does it support a deeper sense of belonging and wellbeing? Join Thrive’s Viv Trask-Hall and Laura Nicholson alongside Victoria White, Trust Leader Quality of Education, at The Consortium Academy Trust, as they explore how emotional safety, mattering and relational practice work together to help children feel settled and secure. They unpack the science behind these ideas and link it directly to what educators see in real classrooms. You’ll leave with clear insights, practical reassurance and renewed confidence.

Webinar series: AI in Primary History Session 4: AI Black Box: responsible use for primary teachers Presenter: Dr Vanessa Cui, Dr Louise Wheatcroft, Dr Jordan Bird Generative AI offers incredible potential for resource creation for teachers, but the current dominant generative AI tools' core function is to be an agreeable, helpful assistant. This often leads to oversimplified narratives and a lack of necessary nuance and criticality, not to mention the common ethical challenges generative AI tools present such as bias, inaccuracy and environmental impact. These challenges potentially can compromise the quality of teaching materials and the ethics of teachers' practice. This focused 60-minute session is designed to inform teachers about principles of how dominant Generative AI models function, including the crucial role of Alignment (training on human preference) in the way generative AI responds to human inputs with the aim to empower teachers to confidently understand, evaluate, and responsibly use generative AI tools across their professional practice. This session includes: Understanding agreement: explain the principle of alignment (human preference training) to teachers and why it causes AI to avoid complexity, challenge, and conflicting evidence. The criticality challenge: evaluate the key pitfalls of using AI for history — including historical bias, presentism, and factual hallucinations — and learn to spot them. The CLEAR Prompting Framework: you will gain an actionable framework designed for more critical engagement with dominant generative AI tool and consider its use in your practice. Action plan for responsible use: leave with a concrete plan, identifying up to three actions you can responsibly integrate AI into your professional practice, including the necessary steps for safe and ethical implementation in your school. Non-member instant-access price: £45.00 HA Members can get instant access for £30.00