The Siddiqui Summary Newsletter January 2025

Hi Everyone,

Due to some fantastic advice by Jodie Lopez 🇬🇧🇮🇪🇫🇷 , I've made the decision to bottle my weekly email newsletters in to a monthly LinkedIn Summary. As a fan of all things alliteration, 'The Siddiqui Summary' LinkedIn newsletter will be a monthly break down of the work I'm doing in education.

To get more frequent insights in to the work I'm doing, get links to resources for schools and find out a bit more about the wider Siddiqui family, please do subscribe my email newsletter.

An inspiring Start to 2025

The year started off in the most positive way possible as I got the chance to catch up with Matt Crawford , CEO of the Embark Federation .  

Matt is someone who continues to inspire me with all the incredible work he and Embark do to support their schools and communities. I'm so excited to explore exciting plans in the future with Matt and this very special trust. I also got to see their new digs at the University of Derby Speaking of which…

Get Ready for Uni is Back…and It's Award Winning

I am thrilled to announce that I am continuing my relationship with the amazing folks at the University of Derby, with the very special and award winning Get Ready for Uni Campaign. Get Ready for Uni is designed to help students make well-informed decisions about their future. 

 Colleges and sixth form students can use the collection of skills-based workshops and university-approved resources to help develop essential university skills like research, cooking, and building confidence. A huge thank you to Liam Dowson , Elly Sample and the rest of the University of Derby team for brining this project to life.

 Get Ready to Podcast Competition

We are also again, running the fantastic Get Ready to Podcast competition, which encourages students to showcase their creativity and communication skills by creating their own podcasts. 

 It’s a fantastic way for them to dive into a creative project while developing valuable skills. For more details and to hear about last years winners, check out the competition page.

Kick Starting the TCS Mini London Marathon in Schools

I had the privilege of joining the launch of the UK's largest free children’s event – the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools. I helped kick off the event with the children of Red Gates Primary School in Croydon, leading warm-ups and supporting them as they completed their challenge in the local community. 

 This initiative, supported by Joe Wicks and WWF-UK encourages schools to get children active by completing a two-mile walk, jog, or run.

 It was inspiring to see the students embrace the challenge, connect with nature, and promote physical and mental well-being. Over a million children have already taken part, and I encourage more schools to get involved. 

 It’s a fun and impactful way to get kids active and boost their health in a meaningful way. You can find out more about how to get involved by going to my Value For Schools Page. 

Thank you to the TCS London Marathon Events team for asking me to be involved in this brilliant initiative.

Bett 2025 

I’m officially wrapped up with Bett Global 2025, and what a great time it was! 

 It was fantastic reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones from the education world. A huge thank you to Everway (formerly Texthelp) for having me keynote at their stand and inviting me to the Bett and Battle party – the cowboy hat lives on!

 Special shout out to the Pickatale team as we caught up to celebrate all thing Pickatale and Books on the Box as well as discuss plans to add more books to my Mr Siddiquis Curious Careers series. Watch this space!

 I also caught up with Dan Fitzpatrick who was kind enough to sign a copy of his new book Infinite Education. If you are unsure on the role of AI in education that Dan is most definitely the man. In fact, I'd strongly urge you to seek out his Ai In Education Daily Podcast. I recently reviewed it and am happy to say it's fast becoming essential listening.

 Bett was full of inspiration, but the best part was the spontaneous catch-ups with inspiring people, including Ian Hunter , Daren White and many more.

 Last but by no means least, it was brilliant chatting with Sam Jordan about brining my Let’s Thrive workshops to life. It’s a busy but incredible time and I’m blessed to have a such a supportive network around me. 

Celebrating the 2025 FE First Awards

A huge thank you to everyone who made the FE First Awards 2025 such a memorable event. I had the honour of being the awards presenter, and I truly enjoyed celebrating all the unsung marketing heroes of the evening. 

 It was wonderful to see so many guests having a great time, with laughter, celebrations, and plenty of selfies all around! I'm so grateful for the warmth and enthusiasm shared by everyone, making this celebration of excellence in FE marketing unforgettable. 

 Thank you to all the amazing people who made this evening possible and for letting me be part of it. Congratulations has to go to Emma Wilde and the The College Marketing Network for putting on a master class of an evening after a busy day of conferences.

 Siddiqui Education is Seven Years Old

As I'm frantically writing this newsletter to make sure it comes out before the end of January, I am having a lot of LinkedIn messages pop through. 

 These messages are from well wishers, congratulating me on the seven year anniversary of Siddiqui Education. It feels so surreal to say it's been just over seven years that I made the decision to leave full time education and begin my journey in delivering motivational, entrepreneurial workshops in schools. 

 The people I have met a long the way and projects I have been involved in have helped me grow so much and I'm excited to see what the rest of this year brings. If you are a regular reader of my newsletter or have followed my journey over the last few years, you'll notice there is a lot of biting and bopping between projects. 

 The golden thread that runs through everything I do is my passion to support young people in whatever they do next and celebrate the amazing efforts of everyone who works within the education ecosystem. Here's to many more collaborations and celebrations and once again, the most sincere thank you for all your support. 

Thank you

Thank you for taking the time to read my first ever LinkedIn newsletter. As well as the advice from Jodie on starting this, I must mention that a huge inspiration comes from Al Kingsley MBE and his brilliant Al's Edu Recommends Newsletter. If you're not a subscriber then be sure to sign up here. https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/al-s-edu-recommends-7081942119963078656

If you'd like a weekly dose of my newsletter, please subscribe here.

See you next time.

Baasit