CONTENTS Dear Reader,
Welcome to the latest issue of Education Today!
January saw the sector come together in London for Bett 2025 - and what an event it was! Over three days, Bett welcomed 35,000 educators, policymakers and solution providers from over 130 countries. It was great to see so much excitement and engagement on the show floor - a true reflection of what a wonderful, crucially important sector we work within, where educators and suppliers are genuinely committed to making a difference. Check out some of the highlights from the event on pages 4-6.
Our Feature Focus this month is on Intelligent Building Design, where we hear from Hannah Gains, National Education Manager at Net Zero Buildings, who delves into how we can use building design to safeguard children in schools. Meanwhile, Tiffany Beck OBE, Head of Education at PLMR, and Emma Hughes, Partner and Head of Education HR at Browne Jacobson, share their thoughts on how schools can best handle complaints when they arise - and where good communication comes into play - in our Parental Engagement feature. Having seen firsthand at Bett 2025 what’s going on in the seriously exciting - but often misconceived - world of esports. I take a closer look at the potential for esports within education in our very first Esports feature.
In our Buildings, Maintenance & Refurbishment feature, Christelle Barnes, UK Country Manager of SolarEdge Technologies, tells us what solar power can do for schools. And on the Computing & IT side of things, Simon Freeman, Managing Director for IRIS Education, talks SEND support through education management systems; and Leo Hanna, UK Executive Vice President at TechnologyOne, tells us how universities can use data to improve the student experience.
Elsewhere in the issue you will find all the usual news, views and expert insights - and as ever, we always love to hear from you, so please get in touch via email, or you can reach us @EdTodayMag on X. Enjoy!
Charlotte Westwood Managing Editor
In this issue...
4-5 BETT REVIEW A wrap-up of Bett UK 2025 8-14 NEWS
The latest from across the sector 16 WELLBEING
With Mark Solomons, Founder of Welbee 17 ACADEMY 21
With Alessandro Capozzi, Executive Head at Academy21
18 BESA CORNER
With BooksForTopics and This is School 19 VIEWS
With BESA and Cerys Griffiths at BBC Education 20 CONTRIBUTORS
With Class People’s Naomi Howells and Gareth Conyard at the Teacher Development Trust
21 SEND
With Options Autism’s Emma Sanderson; and Mandeep Bains and Rebecca Smith from Ethos Academy Trust
22-23 VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
With Alex Grainge, Associate Principal at Judgemeadow Community College
24-29 VIEWS & OPINION
Comments and insights from across the sector 30-31 FEATURE FOCUS: INTELLIGENT BUILDING DESIGN
With Hannah Gains, National Education Manager at Net Zero Buildings 32-33 FEATURE: PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT
With Tiffany Beck OBE, Head of Education at PLMR, and Emma Hughes, Partner and Head of Education HR at Browne Jacobson
34-36 FEATURE: BUILDINGS, MAINTENANCE & REFURBISHMENT
With Christelle Barnes, UK Country Manager of SolarEdge Technologies 38-39 FEATURE: ESPORTS
With Charlotte Westwood, Managing Editor of Education Today 40-41 FEATURE: COMPUTING & I.T.
With Simon Freeman, Managing Director for IRIS Education 42 FEATURE: COMPUTING & I.T.
With Leo Hanna, UK Executive Vice President at TechnologyOne
On the cover...
Business Director: Carl Hearnden Managing Editor: Charlotte Westwood Artwork Editor: Kirsty Hood Secretary: Tracey Ballard Published by:
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datateam@c-cms.com Tel: 01580 883844 Fax: 01580 883849 Subscription Prices 2020 Number of editions per year: 11 UK: £52 Overseas: £132
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Education today
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