The Power of Networking

This Friday night we joined the team at Chiltern Learning Trust for their annual Racial Equity Network Dinner (#REND). We had been unable to make it the last two years running despite really wanting to attend and support it, but this year we were able to make it happen.

We sponsored a Diverse Educators’ table and invited some of our collaborative partners from the race section of our DEI DIrectory to join us on our table. It was brilliant to finally all be together in person! It is not very often we are in the same room, at the same time – the energy was palpable and we were very much the ‘naughty table’ as we needed to take advantage and connect whilst we could.  

Thanks for joining Hannah, Audrey and Adrian from #DiverseEd:

• Nadine from Aspiring Heads
• Rhia from Black Teachers Connect
• Jemma from Let’s Start a Conversation Today
• Aretha and Youlande from Mindful Equity   
• Louise and Marcus from MixEd

Getting to Luton for 6pm on a Friday night, at the end of a long year and a hard term, was not for the faint-hearted. Our table travelled from Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Watford, London, Kent, the New Forest and Bath to attend the event. The journey to the event is very much a metaphor for the direction of travel of the work – it is non-linear, frustratingly slow and there are lots of obstacles to navigate including poor conditions and route closures. 

We were delighted to be in the room where it was happening, along with 480 other attendees, who all care about and are committed to affecting change when it comes to racial equity in the education system. We had a lot of other connections and collaborative partners at the event including:

• Diana from the Academy of Women Leaders
• Frankie from BAMEed SEND 
• Albert and Johnoi from Black Men Teach
• Iona and Sam from Edurio
• Daryl from Flair
• Paul and Andrea from the Institute for Educational and Social Equity
• Penny from The Linking Network
• Bukky, Flora, Yamina, Kiran and Emma from #WomenEd

In the more formal part of the event before the eating and networking started, there were a series of short presentations from a range of speakers:

• Sufian Sadiq – shared a heartfelt reflection on the fatigue and frustration of how slow the rate of change in this work is for him, his peers and his family. His call to action was for solidarity.  
• Professor Paul Miller – shared the systemic data to highlight the structural and societal barriers for people of colour in our sector. His call to action was for allies to leverage their power.
• Sarah Owen MP – shared a personal narrative of being a biracial pupil and how this work could have helped her journey as a pupil but also now as a politician. Her call to action was to create greater belonging.
• Dr Patrice Evans – shared a quote from Obama and reflected on her journey being the only black woman in many spaces. Her call to action was to collect the stones and to use them to build empires. 
• Hannah Wilson – shared her awareness of being a white person speaking to a room of global majority and then used the space to amplify the organisations in the room doing brilliant work in this space. Her call to action was to join the coalition. 
• Assistant Professor Derron Wallace – shared a comparative lens to the data and the activity in the US compared to the UK and questioned what our collective strategy for racial equity is. His call to action was that everyone needs to own the role they have to play.  

In the less formal part of the evening it was great to see, chat to and smile across the room at Alison from CCT, Mary from Myatt and Co, Tom from Ambition School Leadership, Phillippa and Sajid from PACT, David and Ena from Venturers Trust, James and Sharon from Inclusive MAT, Antonia and Bhamini from Pioneer Educational Trust, Adam from OTSA, Thahmina and Omar from CST, amongst others.

#REND is a brilliant example for the power of networking. The event was a magnet for people seeking a shared vision, a unified purpose, a collective agency. Together we are stronger, and we can go further.

Do check out the social media posts via the event hashtag #REND and put the draft date for the 2024 #REND event in your diaries: Friday 12th July. We will have a table there again and will invite new partners from our DEI Directory to join us. It would be great to see you there and they are increasing capacity to 600 for next year’s event.