Speakers

Tiffany
Beck OBE

Head of Education, PLMR

Tiffany is Chair of Trustees at Maritime Academy Trust and Head of Education at communications consultancy PLMR, working across the public affairs, media relations and wider communications disciplines, specialising in strategy, reputation and crisis management, change management, PR and stakeholder engagement.

Claire
Gething

Director of Communications, Windsor Academy Trust

Claire is Director of Communications at Windsor Academy Trust (WAT), a family of 12 schools located across the West Midlands. Claire sits on the trust's executive team and has overall responsibility for marketing and communications across the trust's family of schools. Claire also has strategic oversight of civic leadership - one of the trust's strategic 'big moves' - supporting schools with community engagement, leading civic partnerships and managing the WAT Community Foundation. Prior to joining WAT, Claire spent 18 years working in PR consultancies, providing strategic communications advice and support to national clients across a range of different sectors. 

James
Goffin

Head of Communications, Confederation of School Trusts

James is Head of Communications at CST, helping promote understanding of school trusts and CST’s role in helping to build an excellent education system in England. James trained as journalist and has wide-ranging experience across print, digital, and broadcast. For the past 10 years he has worked across media and public relations, marketing, strategy, and governance in a range of sectors including education, health, local government, and the arts. This includes both in-house and freelance work for school trusts.

James is an accredited practitioner and member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Tahmina
Jahan

Executive Director of Communications, Dixons Academies Trust

Tahmina Jahan joined Dixons in May 2022 as executive director of communications, responsible for developing and delivering the communications strategy for Dixons trust and its now 17 schools. Tahmina has several years’ experience working as a strategic communications specialist for cross-sector businesses which include big tech companies, recruiters and non-profit organisations. Tahmina is also committed to supporting the development of future leaders through her work as a fellow for the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative and as a mentor for the Girls’ Network.

Abi
Merritt

Head of Development & Engagement, Mercia Learning Trust

Abi, the Head of Development & Engagement at Mercia Learning Trust, is a driving force in the outward-facing initiatives of this thriving school trust in Sheffield. Over four years, she has successfully steered the communications, marketing strategy, and strategic growth of the trust and its schools. Abi's passion extends beyond promoting the exceptional schools, staff, and students within her trust; she is actively involved in civic engagement, regularly contributing to Sheffield’s Chamber of Commerce, fostering links with careers bodies, and participating in community regeneration schemes.

Richard
Morton

Head of Accessibility, Central Digital and Data Office, Cabinet Office

Richard is Head of Accessibility at the Central Digital and Data Office which is part of Cabinet Office, focusing on transforming government services, and managing the cross government digital accessibility community to build accessibility capability across government and the wider public sector through Accessibility Lab sessions, clinics, training, talks and webinars, and standards, guidance and blog posts. 

Steve
Rollett

Deputy Chief Executive, Confederation of School Trusts

Steve Rollett is Deputy Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), the national organisation and sector body for school trusts in England. Before joining CST, he was Curriculum and Inspection Specialist for the Association of School and College Leaders. Steve has sat on a range of advisory bodies, including Ofsted’s curriculum advisory group. Most recently he has supported Oak National Academy and the Department for Education’s remote learning advisory group. Originally trained as a history teacher, Steve was a vice principal of one of England’s most improved secondary schools before moving into a career in education policy.

Jon
Severs

Editor, Tes

Jon Severs is editor at Tes. He joined Tes in 2012 to run its teaching and learning content, before becoming commissioning editor, and then editor in January 2021. Jon is from a teaching family but has always worked as a journalist, having previously written for a range of trade and consumer magazines, as well as national newspapers.

Richard
Tilley

Communications Manager, River Learning Trust

Richard Tilley leads on communications and marketing for River Learning Trust, an Oxford-based school trust made up of 28 schools. He is also the founder of state sector comms and marketing agency Comms for Schools. The firm specialises in raising pupil numbers in an era of collapsing birth rates, as well as improving teacher recruitment.
Richard has a background in regional journalism. He is a former editor and is a tutor and examiner for the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

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