Why the Tees is so important
EDUCATION
Partnerships – PLACE director Sean Harris and Tees Valley Education chair Katrina Morley OBE.
Why the Tees is so important
Partnerships in
PLACE
Tees Valley Education is a multi-academy trust with academies serving Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland. Sean Harris, director of PLACE, explores how partnerships are making a meaningful difference to children and families across the Tees Valley.
At Tees Valley Education, we are proud of the places we serve. Tees Valley has a rich heritage of place and possibility.
Middlesbrough was once farmland, with only 25 people living there in 1801. Today, more than 140,000 people live and work there.
Redcar began as a small fishing village in the 1300s and is home to the Zetland, the oldest surviving lifeboat in the world.
Our teachers often draw on local examples, stories and knowledge in the curriculum because we want children to understand why the Tees is so important.
This is why children learn about local industries from an early age. Partners such as PD Ports, Casper Shipping and AV Dawson are examples of organisations anchored locally while connected to global opportunities.
Tackling inequality together We also know that life can feel difficult for many families. Rising costs, housing pressures, food prices and other everyday challenges put pressure on family life.
For some children, these pressures affect learning, wellbeing and opportunity. This is why we created PLACE.
PLACE( People, Learning and Community Engagement) helps us work with families, schools, charities, businesses and local organisations to better understand local need.
In particular, we work to understand and tackle issues linked to bed poverty, food insecurity and health inequalities associated with child poverty.
This is sometimes called a place-based approach: working together locally to find practical solutions. Alongside partners, we recognise that children are more likely to learn, belong and thrive when the right support, opportunities and relationships are placed around them. For example: > Our Classroom to Careers initiative has connected more than 750 children with local industries, including AV Dawson and PD Ports this year alone. Across these projects, more than 98 % of pupils said it improved their understanding of local communities and jobs.
> Our sleep inequality work with Zarach and The Sleep Charity, delivering more than 200 beds to families and training more than 150 Sleep Champions to support schools and settings locally.
> Young PLACE Makers, where children work with researchers, charities and community partners to understand local issues and help shape solutions.
Award-winning impacts Tees Valley Education was delighted to recently receive a Pearson National Teaching Award in the category of partnerships making a difference.
We are proud of this recognition, but we see it as a shared award. It belongs not only to our academies but to the many children, families, charities, businesses, funders and community partners who make PLACE possible.
PLACE has always been built through relationships. Its impact comes from people and organisations choosing to come together around a shared belief that children and communities in the Tees deserve support, opportunity and hope.
We want system change beyond this, which is why we work with partners, policymakers and national organisations to share learning through PLACE.
Recent highlights include contributing evidence to parliament, winning a national award for our book Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools, and working with more than 8,000 educators and leaders.
Recognition is encouraging, but the real achievement is the work happening every day such as children discovering new opportunities, families receiving support with dignity and partners sharing their expertise because they care about the places they serve.
Thank you to our many partners and those interested in serving with us. If you’ re going to dent the universe, start with the Tees Valley.
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