Wednesday 29 April 2015

Where Next? [2015]

The TLREH Team at the Ismaili Centre, March 2015

The London RE Hub’s inaugural conference was attended by over 100 London teachers and was a great success. Faith insiders, educators and other supportive partners offered a wide range of sessions, reflecting the scope, depth and richness of this incredible subject. We are hugely grateful for the support given by Culham St Gabriel’s, NATRE and RE Today, as well as from True Tube, OUP, and Learn 4 Life, and are indebted to our amazing hosts at the Ismaili Centre. We would also like to say another thank you to our amazing speakers and session leads. Thank you so much.

After such an amazing day, the key question faced by the team is "Where next?"

We have met as a team and discussed a few possible ideas for moving forward: you are members of the Hub, please share your thoughts and ideas, so our next steps reflects what all members need and want:

1) A second conference in March 2016

Is this the best way to network and learn? What sessions would you like to see? What overall theme do you think would work? What are you willing and able to contribute to a conference?

One of our aims is a strong commitment to affordability. Good CPD shouldn’t be beyond the reach of teachers and schools. We might be in straightened financial times, but we still have to learn and develop. Therefore we want to keep the cost of attendance at around £30. In order to achieve this for a second year running, the Hub must consider various options. The first is limiting time spent on admin; only allowing payment directly through Eventbright rather than invoicing achieves this goal. Do you foresee any problems with this?  The second most important issue is who will run the sessions, manage the conference and provide quality control? Are you willing to be part of this process?

2) Twilights

Would one, two or three twilights over a year, focusing on one religion, be preferable to a day’s conference? What religion would you like to focus on? Would you be able to commit to all the twilights? Would you like to help organise twilights? How can we ensure suitability and usefulness of the content?

This idea would enable Hub members to focus specifically on one faith and deepen their understanding. It would be a different commitment to an annual conference, but still requires  organisation and time. The twilights would last for around two hours, cost around £10-15 including provisions, and would offer the same format as was launched at the conference: faith insiders exploring one ‘beautiful idea’ with teachers and educators. If you prefer this idea do you have requests/ ideas for what faiths? What venues and what to focus on? Would networking opportunities be lost without an annual conference?

3) Webinars/ Online Sessions

Technology exists which would enable remote teaching and learning. Is this a viable alternative for busy teachers? Would you prefer to learn in this way, or is networking in the ‘real’ world still important?

"Where next?"


The whole concept of the Hub was that everyone was a member and shared in the future of the Hub. We want your input, your suggestions, your ideas... and potentially your commitment! Any individuals or organisation is more than welcome to share in the vision.



Please do 3 things to help us decide the future of The London RE Hub.



1) Please vote in the poll below

2) Leave a comment on this blog post
3) Email us via TheLondonREHub@gmail.com
We can't wait to hear from you!



Monday 20 April 2015

Conference Reflections [2015]: Jessica


Feet were thumping, shoulders were rubbing, tube doors were slamming and minds were spinning with curiosity. This was what was going on in South Kensington at 9:00am on Saturday 28th of March. The day had finally arrived. The London RE Hub Conference was taking place all day at the Ismaili Centre nearby, and many people had turned up to see what it had to offer.  It was a day for teachers, promoters and supporters of religious education to get together and share ideas. These big, beautiful concepts formed the underpinning of the whole conference, weaving together numerous minds to form a range of new and exciting possibilities.

Read the rest of Jessica's blog <here>