North East

Branch

Sue Balmer, Steven Fawkes, Rosemary Hicks, Nathalie Paris, Rene Koglbauer and others organise events for the North East Branch mostly online, but also in person  usually in Newcastle, in collaboration with Network for Languages.  

The ALL North East Branch (ALLNE) works with and supports the Primary Hubs in the North East, which also organise events (see below for the full list of Primary Hubs in the North-East region).

ALLNE works closely with the North-East Festival of Languages (https://expressyourselfne.com/)

ALL members in the North East hear about news, competitions and events through email updates. 

Become a member of ALL today to join your professional community in the North East and stay in the loop about these opportunities.

To get in touch with this group contact Steven Fawkes.

ALLNE organises an annual writing competition for European Day of Languages.

The annual writing competition organised by ALLNE had a good year in 2023, with entries on the theme of ‘Treasure’ in a wide range of languages.

We had what we think was our first entry in Romani.

We are very grateful to colleagues at the Newcastle University Language Centre once again for their detailed work on the HHCL scripts. We are also grateful for Prize funding from our sponsors and ALLNE.
All schools who entered received a letter of congratulations.

Details of the 2023 competition ' Treasure' are here.

A report on the competitition is here.

Details of the 2021 competition are here.

A report on the competition is here

and some sample entries are illustrated here

Tribute to Harmer Parr 

                                                               

Harmer Parr was a member of the ALL North-East Branch committee in the 1990s when he worked as Languages Adviser in Sunderland. He moved later briefly to Stoke-on-Trent and then to Norfolk,  and later still became an HMI and President of NALA.

Sue Balmer is a member of the current ALLNE Branch committee. She recalls here Harmer’s  Sunderland years. Terms in red are glossed below.

Memories came flooding back when I heard that Harmer had died on July 22 2024. It took me a while to digest the sad news and to formulate my feelings into a tribute worthy of the magnitude of the impact he had on my career, the careers of many other language teachers, and ultimately on the students we taught.

For full tribute: Click here

Network

ALL Newcastle Network

The Newcastle Network is hosted by Newcastle City Council in association with ALLNE and International Newcastle and is led by MFL teacher Verónica González Otero.

 

It is intended for colleagues in Secondary Schools to share practice, learn about policy and developments in languages education and opportunities for CPD and enrichment activities. Events will usually be held online, once a term, and are open to interested language teachers in Newcastle and around the NE region.

The Network is part of Newcastle City of Languages. This is a partnership approach engaging local, regional and national partners to benefit language teaching and learning in the city. It shares opportunities, provides enrichment activities, brokers connections for schools and support around languages and careers. It also leads on the annual Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages  which runs annually from January to March.

Primary Hubs

ALL North Durham Primary Hub

The ALL North County Durham Primary Hub  is led by Nathalie Paris (and meets online or in venues in the North of County Durham)

Gosforth Primary Hub

The ALL Gosforth Primary Hub is led by Sarah Freeman.

Newcastle Primary Hub

 

The Newcastle Network is hosted by Newcastle City Council in association with ALLNE and International Newcastle and is led by MFL Primary specialist, Caroline Hewson. 

It is intended for colleagues in Newcastle Primary Schools to share practice, learn about policy and developments in primary languages education and access opportunities for CPD and enrichment activities. Events will usually be held online, once a term.

The Primary Hub is part of Newcastle City of Languages. This is a partnership approach engaging local, regional and national partners to benefit language teaching and learning in the city. It shares opportunities, provides enrichment activities, brokers connections for schools and support around languages and careers. It also leads on the annual Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages  which runs annually from January to March. The Events contact is Sarah Edgar at Newcastle City Council.

Sunderland Primary Hub

The ALL Sunderland Primary Hub is led by Clare Seccombe.

Upcoming Events

European Day of Languages (EDoL) Writing Competition (September / October)
To enter: Click Here
2025 North East Festival of Languages
Primary Calligrams Celebration

Group Support Resources

If you are a leader or co-ordinator of an ALL local group, click here for resources to support your group.

Join your professional community

Becoming an ALL member grants you access to some member-only ALL local events and a host of exclusive member benefits. Find out what our members have to say about the benefits of ALL membership.