Primary & Early Years Subject Conference visits the Isle of Man

Edge Hill representatives received a very warm welcome at Ramsey Grammar School recently as our first ‘Primary and Early Years Subject Conference' was held on the Isle of Man for pupils in years twelve and thirteen.

The conference was organised by Ryan Duncan, one of Edge Hill's Education Liaison Officers, following positive feedback he received about the University when attending an Isle of Man education fair. Although normally held at Edge Hill's Ormskirk campus,  the organisation of a dedicated subject conference on the Isle of Man enabled over fifty pupils to attend the teaching taster day from schools including Ramsey Grammar, Queen Elizabeth II, St Ninian's, Castle Rushen and Ballakeermen.

The event gave pupils the opportunity to learn about the undergraduate and postgraduate routes into teaching from Greg Parker, Assistant Head of Primary and Early Years Education, who also gave information about teaching as a professional vocation and the outstanding features and facilities available at Edge Hill's Faculty of Education.

The afternoon session began with detailed advice about the application and interview process followed by a fun but informative ‘snowball' style question and answer activity, where questions where written down and thrown to the front to be answered by the Edge Hill panel.

To support the activity two of Edge Hill's current students, Chris Lawson and Heather Walton, also attended to give their personal accounts of university life as well as their teacher training course and school placement experiences.

Ryan comments: "The feedback from both staff and students has been very positive and the Education Liaison Team look forward to running further events and visits as our relationship with the Isle of Man Schools develops. These pupils are at a time when they are making important decisions about their future, so what better way to inform these than in a fun but educational way."