Ark Teacher Training celebrates the class of 2024

Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang, a former English teacher and the founder and director of Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust, returned as the keynote speaker. Emmanuel shared the lessons he learned in his early teaching days including the importance of building relationships with students, learning from mistakes, developing resilience and finding work/life balance.

In her speech, primary school teacher, Hannah Paines from Ark Castledown in Hastings, expressed her gratitude for the invaluable support she received from everyone involved in the programme. She said added that she was filled “with a sense of purpose and determination”.

Ammaar Hussein, a history teacher based at Ark Elvin, shared his experience as a trainee with hearing difficulties. He thanked colleagues and tutors for the pivotal role they’d played in his journey and shared how he hoped to support teachers and pupils with similar disabilities in future.

Head of Ark Teacher Training, Beth Sherman, said, “The class of 2024 is our biggest to date and the graduation ceremony was a joyous occasion – with inspiring and memorable contributions from our guest speakers. We celebrate this important milestone in our trainees’ teaching careers and wish them the very best as they embark on the next steps of their teaching journey.”