News
The Year in Review
December 2023
A look back at 2023…we’ve been busy!
Completing two important exhibitions for school leadership (The Schools & Academies Show and The Education People Show), supporting the 30:30 Skills careers networking event at Wye School, PSHE classes for year 11 at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham, and sponsoring local community youth teams (Eclipse - F1 in Schools Team, Fatboy Finn and Faversham Strike Force Football Club)…phew!
Lots more planned for 2024 - we are dedicated to education.
'Tis the season
December 2023
The 2023 Christmas cards are here, Classic FM is playing Christmas music...mince pie anyone?
Wishing all our candidates and clients a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
Best wishes from the Dedicate Team.
To celebrate the season, our office will be closed from 21st December – 1st January.
The Education People Show
November 2023
We exhibited at The Education People Show on 8th November - the South East's leading educational expo and conference. The show featured a high-level conference, inspirational workshops and a comprehensive exhibition of leading suppliers of services to schools and academies.
This is a free-to-attend annual event at the Kent Event Centre in Detling for the county’s Head Teachers, Finance Directors, Bursars, Business Managers, Governors, Local Authority education leaders, PTA’s, IT Managers and school leadership teams from the state, academy and private sectors.
Finn Finishes First!
October 2023
Huge congratulations to Finn Smart-Weeden - WINNER of the 2023 HEL Performance British Junior Supersport Championship. Finn was crowned at the weekend following the final race of the series at Donington Park. Love this photo, well done Finn and team!
We have been delighted to sponsor, support and follow Finn during the championship, with the Dedicate logo proudly displayed on his bike.
School Racers Head to World Finals
September 2023
We celebrated with Team Eclipse from QE Grammar School as they prepared for the F1 in Schools Final in Singapore being held in early September. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet the team, families and sponsors while learning more about their F1 experience. Wishing the team great success!
Dedicate Recruitment Director Liz Nevitt pictured with Eclipse Team Principal Javier and their car design - featuring our sponsored logo on the front wing.
Education People Show 2023
August 2023
Join us at the Education People Show at The Kent Event Centre, Detling on 8th November - the South East's leading educational expo and conference.
The Education People Show is Kent’s premier event for the promotion and development of effective school leadership, management, learning and teaching featuring a high-level conference, inspirational workshops and a comprehensive exhibition of leading suppliers of services to schools and academies.
Keynote speaker this year is Rav Wilding, a former soldier and police officer and a very experienced and popular television presenter and voiceover artist fronting numerous entertainment shows.
This free-to-attend event is Kent’s largest exhibition and conference for the county’s Head Teachers, Finance Directors, Bursars, Business Managers, Governors, Local Authority education leaders, PTA’s, IT Managers and school leadership teams from the state, academy and private sectors.
It's our birthday - Celebrating four successful years
July 2023
Happy 4th birthday to us!
We are super grateful to all of our supportive clients and candidates for helping us to realise our dream in running a successful business. Here we are, four years down the line and still going strong!
We couldn't have achieved this without the help and support we received in the first days of setting up and we will always appreciate the help and guidance we had - and still have! We love what we do and we hope it shows in the recruitment experience we give our clients and candidates.
Here's to the next four years and more!
Flying Finn
July 2023
We are delighted to support Finn Smart-Weeden taking part in The HEL Performance Junior Supersport Championship. Finn will be racing at Brands Hatch (21-23 July) to maintain his lead following a win at Snetterton on 9th July.
EDIT: Finn finished #2 at Brands Hatch, next race in September!
Good luck Finn!
Photo credit: Tom Weeden
The Dedicate Difference
July 2023
The recruitment sector is a very crowded place - what makes the Dedicate Difference?
Unlike most recruitment companies, we are education sector specialists. In fact, we are ‘double niche’ - dedicated to placing support staff within schools, colleges, universities and multi-academy trusts across the UK.
Our primary focus is to provide an outstanding level of service to our clients and candidates, achieved through consistent attention to detail and providing regular progress updates. We will invest time and resources to ensure we understand our client and candidate requirements.
This month (July 2023) we are celebrating four years in business, drawing on close to three decades of recruitment experience within a range of sectors, including fifteen years within education. To support our knowledge and experience of best recruitment practice, we are a Professional Member of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), the professional body for recruitment companies.
Liz meets Game of Thrones Bran Stark!
July 2023
We had the privilege of attending a Q&A session this month with Isaac Hempstead Wright aka Bran Stark of the huge HBO hit TV series Game Of Thrones. He is an ex-pupil at our sons' school and it was organised by their brilliant Film Studies teacher (who is a huge GOT fan which helps!).
Isaac was candid, gracious and uniquely grounded! He was a child star at 10 YO, he talked about studying for his GCSE's and A - Levels during filming, which he achieved successfully, and the happy memories he had of school. After GOT ended (not to everyone's satisfaction!) he undertook a degree in Neuroscience where he contributed to a pilot study of eye movement patterns which could be an early indicator of Parkinsons. Now he is embarking on training to become a Doctor! As the teacher said "is there anything you can't do?".
It was a super experience and Isaac made many references to his Mum - which I think is partly why he is such a down to earth young man, and who will be a great success in his new career.
Feel The Force
July 2023
Congratulations to Faversham Strike Force Football Club and the Under 17's Thunder team for an incredible season!
It has been an amazing experience to support this local youth football team over the past 3 seasons. We've witnessed the players gain skills and grow as a squad - developing teamwork and leadership qualities along the way - with some epic goals to boot!
We look forward to supporting you in 2023/24.
Schools & Academies Show 2023
May 2023
We had an excellent day (17th May) at The Schools & Academies Show meeting key Senior Leaders, Head Teachers and Managers from across a broad education spectrum.
The buzz in the Excel arena was electric and it was fantastic to be part of such a pioneering event with keynote speakers including Mo Farrah, a good mix of CEO's from a number of schools & Academy Trusts and Matt Hancock who presented an insightful talk on Getting Pupils with Dyslexia the Support They Need, drawing on his own personal experience.
We are also pleased to announce the winner of the chocolate bouquet competition is Kurt Ringmo, Operations Manager of University Schools Trust. We hope you enjoy it Kurt!
Careers Networking at Wye School
May 2023
We were absolutely delighted to be involved with the 30:30 Skills careers networking event for sixth form students at Wye School in Kent this month, organised by Paul Andrews at Jobs in Kent.
During the event, businesses heard from local authority and relevant recruitment groups, while students took part in an employment-related workshop. Then both groups got together for facilitated speed-networking. We were pleased to hear of their plans to attend university or apprenticeships - amazing young people!
Official Partner for 'F1 in Schools' National Champions
March 2023
Dedicate Recruitment are a new official partner for team Eclipse - supporting them on their journey to the 'F1 in Schools' 2023 World Finals.
The team from Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Faversham, Kent, are competing in the world's biggest STEM competition for students, F1 in Schools. The challenge is to design, test and manufacture a miniature Formula 1 car, powered by a CO2 cartridge, produce portfolios supporting the project, construct a pit display and deliver a verbal presentation.
Over the past 3 seasons, Eclipse have earned 15 awards over various competition stages. In January 2023, they achieved the pinnacle by being crowned UK National Champions. The student team now go on to represent the UK at the World Finals in Singapore this September, competing against teams from 40 countries.
Prize Winner Announced!
November 2022
Congratulations to the winner of our chocolate bouquet draw! Richard Dearing, Director of Finance & Operations at University Schools Trust, was the lucky name drawn from over 60 entries, and it was a pleasure to present him with this lovely chocolatey prize. Richard assures us he will be sharing the goodies with his team!
Thank you to everyone who entered on the day at The Education People Show.
Ensure you book your place for next year, you never know, this could be you!
The Education People Show 2022
November 2022
Great attendance numbers, a stellar keynote speaker programme and a varied group of exhibitors made for a superb event this year for the Education People Show. We were delighted to meet so many head teachers and members of senior leadership teams from across the county.
So impressed that we've already pre-booked our space for the 2023 event, see you there!
Opportunity for All
April 2022
The Government’s ‘Opportunity for All’ schools white paper (published March 28th) sets out an academy shakeup within England’s school landscape – with significant reforms for multi-academy trusts, schools and local councils.
Most interesting is the announcement that trusts are expected to have at least 10 schools or 7,500 pupils by 2030, currently 53% of existing trusts have one school, and 75% have under five. Free schools would be a possible exception, which could initially open as a standalone trust.
In January 2010, there were just 203 academies with fewer than 200,000 pupils. Last year over 4.5m pupils were educated in nearly 10,000 academies. According to a recent survey of multi-academy trust schools, they reported improved expertise-sharing, recruitment, retention and curriculum resources. The trust expansion outlined in the white paper is planned to be supported by £86 million funding over three years.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi commented: “This is levelling up in action. The ‘Opportunity for All’ White Paper will deliver for every child, parent and family…harnessing the incredible energy and expertise of the one million people that work in schools.”
Careers advice for Grammar School students
January 2022
We’ve been delighted to work with Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Faversham to provide year 11 students with careers advice including CV writing and interview techniques. As part of their PSHE (Personal, Social, Health & Economic Education) class, Recruitment Director and company founder Liz Nevitt led a series of presentations with students taking part in role-play and interaction.
Liz commented; "These students were brilliant, so engaged and we had a lot of fun with interview role plays. I have absolute admiration for the teaching community. Keeping 30 minds connected is a huge task! My favourite takeaway? Me: "How can you help prepare yourself for an interview?", Year 11: "Have a shower, Miss!". Priceless!".
