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Positive partnerships

Published: 2 July 2021

The annual conference is one of the highlights of the partnership year, and last month teachers from across our network gathered (virtually) to take part. More than 120 teachers joined us over the course of two afternoons to learn from expert practitioners and to share ideas, enthusiasm and expertise.

During the two days, the conference provided a valuable opportunity for the Trust to share tips, tricks and requirements for partnership planning, management and reporting. Partnership co-ordinators were also able to ‘meet’ with their local regional rep to talk about ideas, issues and opportunities specific to their local areas.

The conference featured a wealth of ideas for the classroom including Deep Space Diaries, the Youth Climate Action Network, the science capital teaching approach for primary science, Youth STEMM awards and My Marking Machine. Education research sessions considered effective CPD, investigative science and teacher well-being. Each session at the conference provided a positive forum for online chat and sharing.

“The enthusiasm of the teachers [had a big impact on me personally]. It made me feel so proud of the great science work going on in other schools and has inspired me to try new things.”

“The past 15 months have been incredibly challenging for teachers,” says Wendy Cox, Head of Education for the Trust. “We worked hard to bring inspirational guest speakers to the conference and to give practical advice, support and ideas which have hopefully helped to fortify and inspire the teachers we work with.

“The online chat, the networking and the sharing has been fantastic to see. I hope the conversations will continue now the connections have been made,” adds Wendy. “And that next year, we will be able to meet again in person to celebrate and share physics teaching experiences and more fantastic ideas from across our network.”

The Trust has set up a chat group on the STEM Community so that teachers in the Ogden network can continue to share ideas, activities and resources for partnership events and ask questions on physics education. It is available to any teacher in a partnership school. If you are in a partnership would like to join this group, please email: charley.philips@ogdentrust.com.

If you are not currently part of an Ogden partnership, you can visit the partnership section of our website to find out more. Applications for new partnerships will open in September.

A taste of the conference

  • What the delegates said
    “Two amazing days, thank you for all the sessions!”
    “Thank you, brilliant couple of days. Much to think about.”
    “Thank you for another inspiring conference.”
  • YCan
    “Even our four-year-olds are ambassadors for change. This is something that the children feel really passionate about; something that they can throw their energy into and feel like they can make a difference. I would really encourage you to have a look at the website. It is put together by fantastic students and is phenomenal.”
    Emma Crisell, teacher involved with YCan
    Visit the YCan website to find out more.
  • Science capital teaching approach for primary
    “It’s just general tweaks to everyday lessons. Nothing major! It gets very easy to pull out where things fit [to the science capital approach] … it’s just small tweaks that end up making a really big difference.”
    Emily Royal, Ogden Teacher Fellow, science capital teaching approach

“The reflection we’ve seen in our pupil voice and our progress through this approach has been outstanding.”
Claire Loizos, Ogden Teacher Fellow, science capital teaching approach
Visit the UCL website to find out more about the research.

  • Youth STEMM Awards
    “I think that Year 7 and 8 would really enjoy this kind of activity! Often there is more time for extra-curricular at KS3 as well as by Year 11 they are very much focused on exams….”
    Delegate
    Visit the Youth STEMM Awards website to find out more.
A close up of the discovery diary

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