“The weekend went too quickly even though I was there
from Friday afternoon and one of the last to leave!!”
Sangita Thakor – Dollis Hill, Cricklewood and Chalfont St Peter

The First Class Learning Annual Conference held at the Hilton Hotel, Milton Keynes, on 17th September was indeed the biggest and best yet, with 120 delegates attending.

Keynote speaker Dr Madeleine Portwood, Senior Educational Psychologist and Honorary Fellow of the University of Durham, gave an entertaining and informative presentation on Optimising Learning by Identifying the Barriers, with delegates having the opportunity to use some of her diagnostic tools. In workshop sessions, delegates discussed marketing, student enrolment and developing independent learning.

“We met so many inspirational people and have come away so motivated,
with clear goals and ambitions in mind. Thanks to the organisers
and all centre managers and guests that made the weekend so great.”
Mona Gomila – Ashford

The conference ended with the presentation of awards to Centre Managers Helen Loizou, Bob Blake and Carolyn Williams, who joined FCL at the very beginning. Aynit Shah, Manager of three FCL centres in Leicester, received the inaugural Ron Thompson Award for outstanding contribution to FCL in the course of the year. This award is given in memory of one of FCL’s founders, and its first Managing Director, and was presented to Aynit by Ron’s wife Ellen.

I was truly inspired and very impressed.
Meeting so many managers on one day was Christmas come early.
The one thing I took away from the conference is the unity and friendships that I saw brew ….one big happy family!!!
Shehnaz Razak – Walthamstow

Most importantly, the weekend provided many opportunities for managers to get together, share good practice and advice, and simply enjoy a good chat.

My thanks for an excellent conference; brilliantly organised and
thoroughly enjoyable. Also great to catch up with everyone –
I came back motivated and inspired!
Simon Deacon