ONE hundred new teachers were urged to bring life, vitality and energy to the classroom to inspire the next generation of children in their learning.
Leading national figure in education Nick Conway told graduates at the Carmel Teacher Training Partnership: “You bring us hope and new life into our schools so please be ambitious for yourselves, your pupils and your classrooms.
“Education helps you be better people and citizens and this is your opportunity to expand other people’s horizons.”
Trainee teachers from across the North-East and North Yorkshire have spent the past year learning their craft in schools in Darlington, Sunderland, Newcastle, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Billingham, North and South Shields, Bishop Auckland, Durham, Washington and Bedlington.
This culminated in a graduation ceremony at Carmel College, Darlington, where teachers were joined by family to mark completing the course and joining a career dubbed the best in the world.
CTTP has been training teachers for the past 18 years and is one of the largest and most successful providers in the region creating professionals to open and shape the minds of countless young people.
Carmel Education Trust chief executive Maura Regan said: “It is important to reflect on the enormity of the fact we have so many graduates becoming teachers today. I have had 40 years in education and it has served me very well. Our graduates should feel proud to have chosen such an honourable profession.”
Mr Conway, of Norton, is executive headteacher of St Aloysius Hebburn and St Michael’s, Newcastle, taking the former from requiring improvement to outstanding in just two years. He is one of 750 National Leaders of Education and has been involved with CTTP for 13 years.
Before handing out certificates Mr Conway told the newly qualified teachers: “Carmel grows every year as does the quality of training. Carmel is the best there is and deserves your thanks.
“High expectations are essential to realise any ambition. Young people need you to be hopeful and ambitious for them. We need to teach them that they can be anything they want to be as long as they give their all.
“Our children need to be inspired to be surgeons and joiners. As a teacher you must be a life-changer. Never forget how lucky you are; to work with children is such a joy.”
CTTP director Mike Shorten added: “A hundred trainees have worked in 64 schools, while 98 professional teachers have shared with them their love of teaching. There have been 500 school visits and for one primary and one secondary the assignments have totalled 27,250 words. You have already started to make your mark on children’s lives.”