Unique funding opportunity open to teachers

Education charity, SHINE has launched a funding competition ‘Let Teachers SHINE’ which seeks to support teachers with bright ideas that could boost the attainment of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

The charity is urging teachers in the North who have innovative ideas to enter. The winning ideas will benefit from a £1million investment over the next three years by SHINE. 

The new funding will enable some of the country’s brightest and best teachers to develop their ideas in the classroom through the Let Teachers SHINE competition. 

Let Teachers SHINE has already supported more than 100 teachers since its launch in 2012. 

Successes have included Times Tables Rock Stars and Hegarty Maths, which were both supported in their early days. These two innovations alone reached 300,000 children in disadvantaged areas of the North last year. 

CEO Fiona Spellman said: “At SHINE we’ve always believed in the power of great teaching ideas, but there is often limited support and help available to help test and scale-up the practice that really works. 

“Thanks to our incredibly generous supporters, we will be able to back more teachers than ever before and reach the children that need it most. 

Fiona added: “COVID-19 has shown the incredible resilience and tenacity of teachers, even in the most challenging of times, and we can’t wait to see the ideas this year’s programme will bring.” 

Chairman of SHINE, Cameron Ogden said: “This investment has been made possible thanks to an extraordinary gift from philanthropists who share our passion for backing teachers. 

“This is a huge step forward in realising our ambitions for Let Teachers SHINE, and a significant vote of confidence in our teaching profession. 

“We believe this gift will be transformative in helping us ensure less privileged children in the North can achieve their full potential. 

Cameron added: “We want to express our deepest thanks for this visionary gesture, which is leading the charge in philanthropy-backed innovation in education and is already helping attract wider support for the competition.” 

Let Teachers SHINE offers support to passionate, creative teachers, to help them develop fresh ideas to enable disadvantaged children to achieve their full potential at school and beyond. 

Teachers can apply for grants of up to £25,000 to develop their ideas into programmes that can be expanded beyond their own schools. 

Applications close on January 11, 2021. For more information, see letteachersshine.org.uk.