Due to the uncertainty around the coronavirus outbreak, this year’s Festival of Education will be cancelled. A full statement from the event’s organisers – which includes Schools Week’s publisher LSECT – and important details on refunds can be read below.
The Festival, at Wellington College, was first held in June 2010. This will be first time organisers have had to cancel the event, which was expected to host over 250 speakers and 5,000 education professionals from across the UK. International delegations were also expected from countries including China, Australia, India, Canada, Zimbabwe and USA.
The Festival’s sister events in China, due to be held in April across three cities, were cancelled earlier this year due to the impact of coronavirus.
Statement | Wellington College & Lsect
It is with a heavy heart that we have made the following decision regarding the 11th Festival of Education, due to be held on 18-19 June 2020 at Wellington College.
Due to the current uncertainty around Covid-19, we have decided to cancel this year’s Festival of Education. The next Festival of Education will now take place on 24-25 June 2021 at Wellington College.
Wellington College and Lsect are devastated by this decision, but it is the only viable option given the significant disruption and uncertainty caused by the current pandemic, Covid-19.
The Festival of Education is a year-long project and the next three months are crucial in terms of logistics, speaker management, sponsorship bookings and ticket sales. Given the current situation, we do not feel that we could stage the Festival of Education in the form our attendees and partners expect.
We’ve been overwhelmed by the interest in this year’s event, with record ticket sales and what was set to be an epic line-up! We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have worked with us in recent months. Your efforts have not been wasted, and we look forward to working with you over the coming year on next year’s Festival.
All tickets and exhibition stands purchased for this year’s Festival will be automatically transferred to the 2021 event. Refund requests will, of course, be accepted. Further information regarding tickets and sponsorship bookings is available on our website.
In the coming weeks, we will be announcing plans to broadcast some Festival content during the 18-19 June 2020 via the internet. Look out for further details.
On behalf of the Wellington College and Festival of Education Community, we apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment caused.
Best wishes during this difficult period,
James Dahl, Master, Wellington College & Iain Henderson, Deputy Head & Festival Director, Wellington College | Shane Mann, Managing Director & Festival Director, Lsect Ltd
Important information | Festival cancellation
Individual tickets
If you booked your tickets via our Eventbrite purchasing system and not part of a group booking, your ticket has automatically been transferred to the Festival of Education 2021. This event will take place on 24-25 June 2021 at Wellington College.
If you wish to attend next year’s Festival you do not need to do anything at this stage.
If you do not wish to attend this event and would like a refund for your tickets, this can be processed directly on Eventbrite (refer to your booking confirmation email) or alternatively please complete our refund request form. All refunds will be accepted and processed. This is a busy period and we will aim to respond within the next 4 weeks to confirm your cancellation.
Group Bookings
If you booked your tickets via our Group bookings system, your tickets have automatically been transferred to the Festival of Education 2021. This event will take place on 24-25 June 2021 at Wellington College.
If you wish to attend next year’s Festival you do not need to do anything at this stage.
If you do not wish to attend this event and would like a refund for your tickets, this can be processed – please complete our refund request form. All refunds will be accepted and processed. This is a busy period and we will aim to respond within the next 4 weeks to confirm your cancellation.
Exhibition and sponsorship sales
If you have made a booking for 2020, we will automatically transfer this booking over to the 2021 event. This event will take place on 24-25 June 2021 at Wellington College.
If you wish to cancel this booking please contact the Festival Partnership’s Manager, Adele Kilby (adele.kilby@lsect.com), who will be able to assist in processing any required refunds. This is a busy period and we will aim to respond within the next 4 weeks to confirm your refund.
Speakers
The speaker application process for 2021 will open in September 2020. The first round will be open for all those speakers who were successful in 2020. The second round will open in October and will be open to everyone.
Festival of Education Online
The Festival organisers will release further information in the next few weeks about Festival of Education content to be broadcast online during 18-19 June 2020.
We know this won’t have the same exciting buzz of the Festival, but we’re committed to provide you with some of the amazing content we had lined-up for 2020.
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