At a time when reading is more important than ever, we’re delighted to be supporting a free Teach Meet for secondary English teachers at the University of Sussex on Tuesday 8 July, from 4.15pm to 6.45pm.
Organised in partnership with NATE, this event will bring together English teachers from across the region to explore the theme ‘Reading Matters’ through conversation, collaboration and the sharing of practical classroom ideas.
What is a Teach Meet?
If you’ve never attended a Teach Meet before, you’re in for a treat.
Teach Meets are informal, teacher-led professional development events where colleagues share short, practical ideas that have worked in their classrooms. They’re a fantastic opportunity to meet other English teachers, exchange good practice, and leave with new strategies to try in your own lessons and departments.
The success of a Teach Meet depends on teachers being willing to share their own experiences. Sessions are deliberately short and accessible — just ten minutes each — and focus on approaches, resources or activities that have made a genuine difference to pupils’ learning and engagement.
Programme
Those volunteering to present will deliver their session twice, allowing attendees to visit a range of different presentations during the evening. Presenters are encouraged to share any accompanying slides or resources so that these can be circulated electronically after the event.
4.15pm – Arrival, registration and refreshments
4.30pm – 5.00pm – Keynote from Professor Julia Sutherland
5.00pm – 5.15pm – Presentation from Poetry by Heart
5.15pm – 5.20pm – Presentation from George Lippiett, Children’s BookFest
5.30pm – 6.45pm – TeachMeet carousel sessions, featuring classroom practitioners and guests including award-winning YA author Nicola Garrard and Bright Torches director Tom Davey
6.00pm – 6.45pm – Teen Reads Final Meeting and UKLA shortlist voting
Get involved
Whether you’d like to attend, present, or simply connect with fellow English teachers, we’d love to see you there.
You can sign up either as an attendee or as a presenter willing to share a short classroom idea. No elaborate preparation is required — just something that has worked well in your teaching and that others might find useful.
Please also share this opportunity with colleagues and contacts in other schools. The more voices we have in the room, the richer the conversations will be.
Sponsors and support
We’re hoping to secure some freebies and prizes from sponsors to enhance the event experience. If you have suggestions for organisations, publishers, educational charities or other partners who may be interested in supporting English teachers, we’d be delighted to hear from you.
We look forward to welcoming you to Sussex for an evening dedicated to celebrating reading, sharing practice and strengthening our English teaching community.
Featured image: iStock/GrahamJohnston