It’s a chilly cornish Saturday morning. I’m fresh from a glorious train ride through stunning, if somewhat drizly, countryside. I’m standing in front of a pub, preparing to go in and talk to a group of educators about looking after their wellbeing. Including managing your working hours. The irony is not lost on me. Later I discover that I’m not the only person who hesitated at the door.
So why were these people spending their precious Saturday gathered in a room above the pub, a stone’s throw from Truro cathedral? #BrewEdCornwall, that’s why.
The #BrewEd concept can be summed up in 4 words – CPD in a pub. Founded by @MrEFinch and @darynsimon the idea is to put some educators together in an informal atmosphere, add a few pints* and a pub quiz, and see what happens. What happened at #BrewEdCornwall was terrific fun. Reading the tweets from other #BrewEd events this is the norm.
Run by the amazing@computinggal and @helenjwc, the day was a mix of speakers, interspersed with loads of time to chat and some piping hot pasties from @primabakeries..
The theme was passion. There was no PowerPoint, just people connecting and sharing their stories. We heard from Helen about EYFs maths, @mrsgclass shared how her love of reading has impacted her class, and @PaulGarvey4 spoke about his career and the unexpected turns it has taken. There was restrained ranting. Everyone was kind enough to listen and contribute when I spoke too quickly about wellbeing and why I’m so passionate about it. We played a super maths game that was incredibly simple and amazingly difficult all at the same time. Our quiz team discovered that we know next to nothing about Poldark. We had a bloody good laugh. The atmosphere can be summed up in this tweet –
Just heard “I haven’t heard so much laughter at a CPD event! “ #BrewEdCornwall— Cornwall Rocks Ed (@CornwallRocksED) January 12, 2019
In short, it was a great day with terrific people. Something about it being in a pub makes it so easy to chat and mingle with people you don’t know (or only “Twitter know”). If there’s a #BrewEd near you, go along. Details can be found here.
*Tea, coffee and soft drinks too, of course. We’re not irresponsible.
