A PIONEERING educational conference described as “the first of its kind” in Surrey has been held at Farnham Heath End School (FHES) – a member of the Weydon Multi-Academy Trust.

Taking place on October 19, the conference was run by researchED, an international education conference movement founded by government ‘Behaviour Czar’ Tom Bennett, as part of his mission “to make teachers research-literate and pseudo science-proof”.

The FHES conference had the theme of What does research look like in the classroom/school and gave delegates the opportunity to hear 47 speakers talk about developing professional expertise.

A team of FHES students were also on hand to assist to ensure a “smooth running” throughout the day, helping with lighting, supervising the car park and acting as student guides.

The conference was hailed “an enormous success”, highly praised by delegates.

Lead of the event, vice principal, Jack Tavassoly-Marsh, said: “The speakers left buzzing and inspired by what they had heard and wanting to develop their own practice and pass it on to other colleagues.”

The conference was also praised by speaker Damian Benney, who tweeted: “Yesterday at researchED Surrey was a special day. Hundreds of colleagues from across the UK gladly attending on a Saturday. Hats off to Mr Tavassoly-Marsh and team (and pupils) for running a fantastic day.”

Other tweets heaped praise on the “impressive” students at Farnham Heath End, with another delegate writing: “Just wanted to say how impressive the students at Farnham school were.

“Fabulous ambassadors of student leadership giving up their Saturday and demonstrating true excellence.

“Superbly done: reminding all teachers why we do what we do!”