Yesterday I went with Dean of Education Dr John Moss to attend a reception at Church House in London to hear a review of the work of CEFEL (https://www.cefel.org.uk/) and especially to celebrate the contribution of James Townsend and Bridget Havard who have worked tirelessly over the last few years to drive forward the Foundation’s ambition to support the flourishing of every child in the Church of England’s network of schools. James was a 2009 Teach First trainee and so Canterbury has a special connection with him. NICER has been thrilled to work with him and the team at the Foundation over the last few years. These have been marked by its initiatives to develop a vision for education, a project to support the development of Character education, and their resource to develop leadership in these areas, initiatives which the work of NICER has been able to support. We look forward to continuing to work with the Foundation and are inspired by its ambitions. In the meantime, we at NICER wish farewell to Bridget and James as they move on to new ventures.

[In September 2016, Schoolsweek wrote a profile piece about James and the work of CEFEL here.]