Speakers

Sarah joined CORE Education Trust in September 2023 as Executive Director for Safeguarding and Wellbeing after leading safeguarding across three national multi-academy trusts covering over 70 academies and 20 local authorities. Before that, Sarah was a school leader, a teacher and a school governor which is where she developed her passion for Safeguarding.

Sarah has recently completed a masters in educational leadership and is currently reading for a second masters in safeguarding specifically. Sarah has spoken at various national conferences including the NSPCC conference on Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) in schools and she has a particular interest in the development of safeguarding culture and reflective practice. In her recent work as Director of Safeguarding, Sarah’s team of DSLs have supported the development of various online NSPCC courses through NSPCC Leaning of which she is immensely proud. Sarah chairs a group of Trust Safeguarding Directors and regularly consults with the DfE on the development of relevant guidance for schools.

Workshops presented by Sarah Bloomer

• Culture of safeguarding

Katy Bradford is the Deputy Chief Executive for Outwood Grange Academies Trust.

Prior to her current role, she worked as a Chief Operating Officer, and  Director of Human Resources and a Business Manager within the Outwood Grange family of schools and has previously worked in education human resources for local authority and further education. Katy has gained a Post Graduate Certificate in Leadership and Management in Education and is also CIPD qualified.

Katy has also recently been part of the founding team for the National Institute of Education, acting as COO.

Cathy is the Director of Governance at The Mead Educational Trust with responsibility for the strategic leadership of governance across her Trust. Cathy has many years of experience in the governance of schools and MATs. She is an experienced governance trainer and provides support to MAT governance professionals across the country. Cathy is also a trained Challenge Partners Trust Peer Reviewer. 

Neil Collins co-founded GovernorHub in 2013 and is now in charge of governance at The Key group. Neil was a chair of trustees at a Norfolk academy trust for many years and is currently a trustee at a special school in Norwich.

Workshops presented by Neil Collins

• 2.1. Building robust and diverse governance capacity
• Diversity for strength

Workshops presented by Alison Hussain

• Governance oversight of growth

Roger Inman is a Partner at Stone King LLP and specialises in all forms of education law, including school governance and re-organisation of school trusts, school finance, admissions and all pupil provision issues. As a recognised national specialist regarding SEN and disability law, Roger works extensively on SEND at Stone King and also works as a Judge in the SEN Tribunal.

Workshops presented by Roger Inman

• 1.3. Connecting with schools: Effective communications across the layers of trust governance
• What does inclusive education look like?

Ernest is the CEO of Edurio, England’s leading stakeholder feedback platform for schools and school trusts. He is a frequent public speaker both in the UK and internationally on effective use of stakeholder feedback in schools and has published extensive research on stakeholder feedback, staff wellbeing and school improvement.

Workshops presented by Ernest Jenavs

• 1.1. Connecting with pupils and parents: Developing effective stakeholder engagement strategies
• Are we hearing our pupils and parents?

Marie currently leads work on the Careers Impact System: A national model for standardised continuous improvement and quality assurance of careers. The Careers Impact System supports schools, special schools and colleges on a journey to maturity in careers provision as a driver for school and college improvement. Before joining The Careers and Enterprise Company, Marie worked within the senior leadership team at Churchill Community College, an 11-18 school in the North East of England, where she was responsible for pastoral systems, safeguarding and careers leadership. Marie took Churchill Community College through the Gatsby pilot and under her leadership the school was one of the first in the country to meet all 8 Gatsby Benchmarks of good careers guidance.

Workshops presented by Marie Jobson

• Where are they going? Destinations and careers guidance in schools

Nicole McCartney has been working in the academies programme since 2007 in both small, local trusts and large, national multi-academy trusts. She was designated a National Leader of Education in 2014 and has a wealth of school improvement experience gained through academy leadership, Executive Principalships and Executive roles within Multi-Academy Trusts.

Cayte is the Safeguarding, Inclusion & Wellbeing Lead for the STAR Multi-Academy Trust and has been in post since 2022. STAR is a Trust of 11 schools, ranging from small rural primaries to large 11- 18 secondary schools, all serving communities in North Yorkshire. Prior to taking on this role Cayte was Deputy Headteacher and DSL for seventeen years at Tadcaster Grammar School - the Trust's largest school. As an English Teacher, Cayte began her career in London and taught overseas, before moving back home to the north of England - her passion and experience being rooted in pastoral leadership, safeguarding, inclusion and student experience. An experienced School Governor, Cayte has sat on a number of Boards in various roles, most recently she was Chair of Governors for a Pupil Referral Service.

Workshops presented by Cayte Mulhern

• Are we hearing our pupils and parents?

Faizal started his career at the Co-operative Group, working in a range of regional and national HR roles across a wide range of businesses and disciplines. After leaving the Co-operative Group, Faizal worked as an independent HR consultant, mainly within the NHS, before joining ALDI UK & Ireland during a period of massive growth and leading on its approach to employee engagement and training & development. In 2016, Faizal joined Star Academies as head of HR, driven by his strongly held view that education is the most influential tool available to society to tackle the unfairness faced by disadvantaged groups across the UK. During his 6 years at Star, he led on the people agenda across the organisation as it grew to over 30 academies before joining Dixons in March 2022.

Workshops presented by Lizzie Oliver

• Governance oversight of growth

Claire is Anthem’s Director of Governance – General Counsel. She has worked for the trust in various forms for over 12 years, most recently as Head of Legal. Claire is a qualified solicitor, specialising in education law and is also Anthem's Data Protection Officer and Company Secretary. She is also an Academy Councillor for Lime Hills Academy, a special school and part of Cabot Learning Federation. She was recently appointed by the King, on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, as a Recorder - a part-time circuit judge.

Claire has previously worked for Education Development Trust as in-house legal and senior education development consultant, and as a senior education solicitor at education specialist law firm Veale Wasbrough Vizards.

Workshops presented by Emma Perkin

• Governance oversight of growth

Samira Sadeghi is Director of Trust Governance for CST. Prior to that, she was Head of Governance and Company Secretary at Academies Enterprise Trust, a multi-academy trust with 57 schools., and served as Regional Governance Officer at Ark Schools for four years. Before moving to the UK with her family in 2010, she was a criminal defence attorney and spent 12 years representing clients on California's death row in their post-conviction proceedings.

Karen has a career spanning more than 30 years in child protection and safeguarding. As a registered social worker she has worked with passion, energy and vision in a variety of settings and sectors. Karen has held a number of senior leadership and management positions in both the statutory and third sectors. As Local Services Director at the NSPCC she is responsible for the delivery of services and local behaviour change campaigns to children and families across the UK. Karen has taken a lead role in the development and implementation of the UK’s most far reaching school-based abuse awareness programme. The 'Speak out. Stay safe.' programme has been delivered into over 90% of UK primary schools to date and reaches over a million children each year. Karen has a lead role in the development and delivery of the equality, diversity and inclusion strategy at the NSPCC. She is a member of the NCB’s Anti Bullying Alliance Advisory Group and is a trustee for an LGBTQ+ charity in Sheffield.

Workshops presented by Karen Squillino

• Culture of safeguarding

Workshops presented by Jo Sykes

• Where are they going? Destinations and careers guidance in schools

Following 20 years undertaking IT Service Management and Business Change Management roles in the retail, hospitality and banking sectors, Rama has been a management consultant in the education sector since 2005.  He currently supports various multi academy trusts in their growth strategies, but also offers his time in governance roles across the mainstream, special and independent school sectors, i.e. as a Chair of Trustees of a special and mainstream primary school trust of 10 schools; a Trustee and former Chair of a primary school trust of 20 primary schools; a Trustee on the family board of a special school trust of 14 schools and 9 college centres; a Member of a secondary school trust of 6 schools; a Member of a secondary single academy trust; and a Chair of Governors of an independent special school.  Rama also sits on the DfE’s London Region Advisory Board and was awarded an MBE for services to education in the 2023 New Years Honours list. 

Katherine Walsh is the Director of Inclusion for River Learning Trust. She is an experienced teacher and school leader and has led SEND provision in primary and secondary schools in England and America. Over the past ten years, Katherine has developed particular expertise in working with leadership teams to develop school-wide systems, establishing shared and inclusive visions for the education of children and young people with SEND. Katherine was a lead author on the Department for Education commissioned Whole School SEND Teacher Handbook: SEND.

Workshops presented by Katherine Walsh

• What does inclusive education look like?

Sunita has over a decade of experience in governance from both HE and school sectors. Sunita is currently Head of Governance for Ormiston Academies Trust and holds volunteer positions as a trustee at both SHINE Academies and St Bartholomew's CE Multi Academy Trust which are local to her in Wolverhampton. Previously,

Sunita has worked in student unions, in the student voice team and has chaired the Aston Students' Union trust board. She has also worked as a governance reviewer for the NUS, as well as running a governance consultancy service, Governing Together.

Workshops presented by Sunita Yardley-Patel

• Diversity for strength

Elin was Managing Director of PLMR where she established a highly successful education practice and was a Director of Bite Back 2030. She brings strategy and PR expertise to the ImpactEd Group board.