National Association of Head Teachers annual conference
3 Jul 07The National Association of Head Teachers is to hold its high-profile annual conference in Liverpool for the first time.
The event, which has previously attracted speakers such as Tony Blair and Prince Charles, will be held at the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool in May next year.
Around 600 school leaders will attend the three-day conference, which has previously been held in destinations such as Bournemouth, Harrogate and York.
The NAHT, the association for all school leaders, has over 28,000 members and is the largest association of its kind in Europe. Its conference consistently attracts a large amount of national media interest due to the calibre of its speakers and its policy debates which take place during the conference.
The NAHT President elect, Clarissa Williams, has set the theme for the conference as "Dare to be Creative".
She said: "Sadly, there is evidence that opportunities to be creative have been diminished and stifled by an over emphasis on measuring standards. In choosing this theme for the conference, we wish to reclaim creativity as an energising force throughout education.
"I should like the message to sound out to leaders in all our schools that daring to be creative will encourage everyone to work together across boundaries, to re-discover the creative spirit within all of us. Liverpool is surely the place to be, with its history of cultural diversity and its dynamic artistic heritage."
The Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool is a £146m project on the city's famous King's Waterfront, which will open in January 2008.
The convention centre will have 1,350 seats, a 3725 sq metre multi-purpose hall and 18 further meeting rooms offering complete flexibility. Total exhibition space is in excess of 7000 sq metres. The adjoining Liverpool Echo Arena will have 10,600 seats and will play host to major entertainment and sporting events.
Lyn Gilroy, Conference and Exhibitions Organiser for the NAHT, said: "ACC Liverpool is a wonderful facility and the NAHT felt being in the city during its year as Capital of Culture would be an opportunity not to miss."
"When we visited the site we really thought the location of the ACC Liverpool was hard to rival, particularly in such a vibrant city."
Council Leader Warren Bradley said: "The NAHT conference is extremely high profile and it's fantastic that Liverpool is now attracting events of this calibre.
"This is just one example of the lasting benefits ACC Liverpool will bring to the whole of Merseyside."
Jacquie Rogers, Convention Centre General Manager, said: "The NAHT annual general meeting and conference is a real coup for Liverpool."
"The event is very high profile and attracts a huge amount of interest from media right across the UK. We are absolutely delighted to be working with such a large and prestigious organisation."
ACC Liverpool already has 83 confirmed events ahead of its opening next year.
Other organisations bringing their events to the facility include the British Chambers of Commerce, the Royal College of Nursing and the British Society of Rheumatologists, who have signed up to hold their conferences at ACC Liverpool until 2014.
ACC Liverpool's partners are Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Vision, English Partnerships, the European Objective One programme and the North West Regional Development Agency.
For more information, contact Jane Wolstenholme at Factory Communications on 07983 649 747 or email jane@factory-pr.co.uk