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Leadership

Aspiring To Senior Leadership – Two Day Conference

Course Code:
9612
£649.00+vat

CONFERENCE FOCUS

Educational research and studies show that the standard of leadership in schools has a direct impact on the quality of academic and other achievements for students. Newly appointed senior leaders are often surprised by the number and scale of interesting yet highly challenging responsibilities which accompany their roles: very often, experience in teaching prior to this level has not provided the opportunity to hone the skills required. This new, vibrant and informative conference provides a vital insight for anybody within, or aspiring to, a senior leadership role. The conference brings together leading experts and key practitioners from a range of disciplines, who will give sessions focusing on many of the key areas in leadership: leading on teaching and learning, leading on pastoral care, day-to-day school/MAT operations, complex HR matters, and above all leading staff and pupils to achieve their very best in all areas. Leaders are often called in when things go wrong, but have not always had the first-hand experience to equip them to respond effectively. In time, experience will provide, but problems do not wait, and so senior leaders need key skills to respond straight away. Theses sessions have been designed to provide practical skills and methodologies which can be applied in real settings, allowing newly appointed leaders to hit the ground running. This is a conference not only for those who are newly appointed or who aspire to a role in educational leadership in the near future, but also for experienced professionals who may be supporting newly promoted leaders, or who wish to update their own understanding of key issues affecting educators today.

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

  • Learn best practice from experienced education professionals
  • Gain a full understanding of the breadth of responsibilities for school leaders
  • Develop and hone your leadership knowledge and skills
  • Gain insight into the complexities of organisational and people management
  • Speak to sector leaders about current trends, opportunities and risks in education
  • An overview of school leadership, to appeal to pastoral, academic and operational leads in schools
  • Gain an insight into school leadership to help prepare your application for the next step in your career.
  • Meet other school leaders and build your network of professional support

PROGRAMME – DAY ONE

Introduction & Welcome:

10.00 – 10.10am Ben Gudgeon, your host for this conference, Ben is Headmaster of a specialist music school and Chair of the International Forum of Arts Educators.

Outstanding Whole School Leadership

10.10 – 10.50am
  • Holding the banner for whole school leadership – the vision, mission
  • Change management – influencing change, having an impact in the right way
  • Dynamics of a strong senior leadership team – what do strong leadership teams do differently?
  • Whole school strategies: thinking on a different level – planning, development, policies
  • What do inspectors look for in outstanding, effective, and forward driving SLT teams?
Andrew Robinson – Director of Secondary Education, Sapientia Education Trust

Morning Break

10.40 – 11.10am

Establishing Your Leadership Presence

11.10 – 12.00pm
  • Making the transition from middle to senior leadership
  • How to manage existing relationships with colleagues who were peers but now report to you
  • Ways to establish your leadership presence in school
  • The importance of emotional intelligence in leadership
  • Pushing boundaries, taking risks – going above and beyond, creating an inspirational setting, stimulating learning
Jenny Dwyer – Headmistress and Trustee

Digital Strategy in the World of AI

12.00 – 12.50m
  • AI & secondary education
  • Using digital technology and AI to advance teaching and learning
  • The role of senior leaders in influencing IT policy and strategy
  • AI in the classroom
  • The future of IT in schools
Dr Andy Kemp – Principal, Head of the National Mathematics and Sciences College

Establishing Your SLT Leadership Presence in your SLT Team and across your school/MAT

12.00 – 12.50pm
  • AI & secondary education
  • Using digital technology and AI to advance teaching and learning
  • The role of senior leaders in influencing IT policy and strategy
  • AI in the classroom
  • The future of IT in schools
Dr Andy Kemp – Principal, Head of the National Mathematics and Sciences College

Discussion, Q & A Panel

12.50pm – 1.00pm

Lunch

1.00pm – 2.00pm

Breakout Strand 1

2.00 – 2.50pm

1A: The Ambitious, Aspiring Senior Leader: The Essentials

  • Stepping up from Middle to Senior Leadership – the expertise, skills and tactics required, and how to demonstrate them
  • Taking opportunities, expanding boundaries and taking calculated risks
  • Evaluating your key strengths and what to focus on to raise up to SLT level
  • What are the key criteria looked for in a potential senior leader?
  • Finding opportunities for leadership experience in your current school
Jenny Dwyer – Headmistress and Trustee

1B: Leading Change: Going For Excellence

  • Creating the right culture, environment and conditions to lead change
  • How to drive high-quality teaching, learning and other achievements
  • Ambitious, inspired, and motivational leadership for effective change
  • Key strategies, policies and processes that work successfully to effectively lead change across the whole school
  • Effective worked examples
  • Taking risks and expanding boundaries
Michaela Khatib – Executive Headteacher, Cobham Free School

1C: The Role of the Senior Leader in Driving Excellence in Teaching and Learning

  • Collaborative staff development: creating a first-rate teaching and learning education
  • The Senior Leadership Team’s role in developing the right culture and conditions for high quality teaching and learning and other achievements
  • Methods to establish highly ambitious subject and pedagogical knowledge, to promote deep knowledge and understanding across the curriculum
  • Policies to ensure all staff have the same high expectations for all pupils
Nicola Smith – Joint Principal, Chetham’s School of Music

Break

2.50 – 3.00pm

Breakout Strand 2

3.00 – 3.50pm

2A: Raising departmental performance

  • Approaches to improve the quality of teaching & learning through effective staff leadership
  • How to ensure your staff use assessments effectively and used robustly to effect rapid student progress and outcomes
  • Approaches to building in regular planning and adaptability to levels of stretch and challenge
  • Interventions and support strategies – evaluating and putting in place the most appropriate strategies to support your at risk pupils
  • Ways to address weaker teaching to maintain over department high attainment levels
Michaela Khatib – Executive Headteacher, Cobham Free School

2B: Managing Difficult Conversations & Challenging Scenarios

  • Approaches to managing conflict successfully
  • Challenging conversations – different scenarios presented
  • Creating the right culture to get the most out of staff
  • Holding staff to account – strategies to apply when dealing with reluctant or under-performing staff
  • Dealing with difficult parents and pupils
  • ‘Poacher turned gamekeeper’ – how to manage your former teammates
  • When to be tough and when to give in
Steve Gibbs – Experienced Head of School

2C: Academic and Pastoral Tracking: making the data work for you

  • Academic and pastoral tracking
  • How and when to collect data
  • What does data tell you about your curriculum and the mood of your school?
  • From assessment, analysis, data analysis, to tracking, monitoring and feedback – how effective is your academic & pastoral data interaction and flow in achieving rapid student programme and high levels of attainment?
Trevor Greenhill – STEER Tracking

PROGRAMME – DAY TWO

Learning from 10k Schools – Why Leaders Need to Lead on Inclusion

10.00 – 10.45am
  • Understanding the range of inclusion issues in schools
  • Why inclusion is important
  • Expectations of modern schools
  • How to embed a culture of inclusion in your school
  • Ideas to help you promote and champion inclusive initiatives
Daniel Sobel – Founder and CEO, Inclusion Expert

Break

10.45 – 11.05am

Leading on Children’s Personal Development

11.05 – 11.50am
  • Character education – ways to help students develop as individuals, developing confidence, resilience, grit, and initiative
  • Top considerations for devising a pastoral strategy
  • Ways to develop pupils to be highly reflective, aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and to understand how to improve their learning
  • Excellent ways to explore topics such as personal identity, future careers, universities of the world, issues that affect the wider society, extensive curriculum enrichment and diversity.
Victoria Raynor – Safeguarding Consultant; Chair of the International Forum of Safeguarding Professionals

Managing Complaints, Grievances and Investigations: How to run a fair and legally sound process

11.50 – 12.35pm
  •  Explore strategies to minimise stress for SLT in dealing with challenging situations
  • Tips for efficient record-keeping
  • Preparing for the barriers used to disrupt, delay or undermine procedures, and how to overcome them
  • Responding to complaints from pupils, parents and staff
  • Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
Maria Strauss – Partner at Farrer & Co. and one of the Founding Members of Farrer & Co’s Safeguarding Unit

Discussion, Q & A Panel

12.35 – 12.45pm

Lunch

12.45pm – 1.45pm

Breakout Strand 1

3.00 – 3.50pm

3A: The Day-to-Day

  • Managing your time effectively; the pros and cons of delegation
  • ‘Triage’ – balancing leadership priorities
  • The role of Senior Leaders in compliance, policy and preparation for inspection
  • ‘Cabinet responsibility’ – mutually supportive leadership within the team to provide collective accountability
  • Maintaining freshness and enthusiasm: professional and intellectual development
  • Managing daily operations
Nicola Smith – Joint Principal, Chetham’s School of Music

3B: How to include the most difficult parents, children and staff

  • Psychological tips and tricks for dealing with the hardest meetings and behaviours
  • Tips for allowing your most vulnerable pupils to feel included
  • How to work with, instead of against, those who need the most support
Daniel Sobel – Founder and CEO, Inclusion Expert

3C: Latest developments in Safeguarding – what leaders need to know and do

  • A child-centred and coordinated approach to safeguarding
  • How to ensure your staff are trained and confident
  • Current concerns and trends in safeguarding
Victoria Raynor – Safeguarding Consultant; Chair of the International Forum of Safeguarding Professionals

Break

2.40pm – 2.50pm

FRIDAY AFTERNOON ZINGERS

2.50 – 3.30pm
  • Pit your wits against a variety of complicated employment scenarios
  • Why everything you thought you knew about HR is now wrong
  • Keeping up to date with ever-changing laws
  • A fun, informative, and engaging way to end the conference
Maria Strauss – Partner at Farrer & Co. and one of the Founding Members of Farrer & Co’s Safeguarding Unit

Discussion & Depart

3.30pm – 3.45pm

If you would like more information or to discuss this conference further with our CPD team get in touch on 01625 532974 or click below.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Daniel Sobel – Author, Speaker, Founder and CEO of Inclusion Expert Inclusion Expert’s founder, Daniel Sobel, is an internationally respected leader in inclusive education and has advised the DfE, the EU and governments abroad. Daniel is a well-known speaker, writes regularly for publications including Headteacher Update and The Guardian, and is the author of several books including Narrowing the Attainment Gap. Daniel left school with no A Levels and read his first book aged 18. Gradually he fell in love with study and managed to secure a place on a Master’s course in Education Psychology. He went on to take four graduate courses in Psychology and Education, eventually running out of money in the middle of doctoral training.

Daniel moved to full time teaching and quickly became a SENCO. Dismayed by how much of the job was pointless meetings and paperwork, he started designing tools to better support his students. During a stint as Assistant Head he continued to develop simple systems to help teachers manage information and maximise the impact of their interventions. Realising that many teachers were struggling with inclusion, that his ideas really worked, and that there was an opportunity to make a difference to children across the country, Daniel left teaching, somewhat hesitantly, to form Inclusion Expert. Over the last few years the company has grown rapidly to encompass a team of experienced practitioners who share Daniel’s vision that every child deserves the opportunity to achieve their potential, regardless of needs, background or ability.

Dr Andy Kemp – Principal, Head of the National Mathematics and Sciences College Dr Andy Kemp is Principal of The National Mathematics and Science College, based in the Midlands on the edge of the Warwick University campus. The National Mathematics and Science College is the top performing specialist STEM sixth form day and boarding school in the UK. Joining NatMatSci was something of a homecoming for him as he studied for his BSc in Mathematics, PGCE, MSc and EdD in Mathematics Education all at the University of Warwick. More recently he has completed his MBA at UCL in 2017. He has spoken at conferences around the world in relation to the role that technology and AI play in education, and has been published in several journals, magazines, and collective works.

Maria Strauss – Partner, Farrer and Co. specialist in employment and safeguarding Maria advises clients including not-for-profit organisations, independent schools, sports clubs and faith-based organisations on employment and safeguarding matters. She also acts for senior executive clients, particularly in the context of investigations or inquiries that they may be involved in. Maria has guided employer clients through many complex matters ranging from one off cases to issues that may involve or impact many staff members. She also advises HR teams (from all sectors) on more routine areas of employment law, such as performance management and staff exits. Maria was one of the founding members of Farrer & Co’s Safeguarding Unit. She advises all types of organisations who work with children on their legal obligations and has helped clients embed safer cultures through audits and support with policies and procedures. As well as advisory work, Maria has advised on a significant number of safeguarding cases. Maria is a versatile lawyer with excellent knowledge of related legal areas such as GDPR, charity law, disputes and insurance law. She co-leads the firm’s investigations practice.

Andy Robinson – Director of Secondary Education, Sapientia Education Trust Andrew joined Sapientia Education Trust in January 2023, having previously led significant school improvement as a Headteacher in Ipswich. He has always worked in schools that support a high number of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and is committed to providing exceptional educational opportunities for all children. Starting as a Science teacher in a challenging school in London, he briefly pursued a career in finance before swiftly returning when he realised how much he had missed working in schools. He went on to gain leadership roles as Head of Science, Assistant Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher. Andrew holds a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford and is currently studying for an MBA from University College London. His experience and commitment contribute to Sapientia Education Trust’s mission of ensuring that every child flourishes.

Jenny Dwyer – Experienced Headteacher, Governor & Trustee Jenny has wide ranging experience in education, as a school leader both nationally and internationally and as a Governor and Trustee. Following two Headships of independent boarding schools spanning almost 20 years Jenny was Head of Schools Practice at Saxton Bampfylde where she completed over 100 leadership appointments working with prestigious independent school and MATs. Latterly she has been working as a consultant and a Principal in an IB school in Jordan. She has chaired the GSA inspections committee and served as an ISI inspector as well as being on the ISI Board. Jenny has been a Trustee and Governor at a number of schools, both Preparatory and Secondary and is at present a Trustee of Sapientia Trust where she chairs the secondary education committee. She brings extensive understanding of educational leadership and recruitment. She read mathematics and education at Homerton College, Cambridge.

Michaela Khatib – Executive Headteacher, Cobham Free School Michaela Khatib read Education and Music at Homerton College, Cambridge, holds a Masters Degree in Leading Innovation and Change in Education and has completed the National Professional Qualification in Executive Leadership. Michaela’s career has involved leadership roles in the independent and state sector, and managing the Partnerships and Outreach programme at The Yehudi Menuhin School, Surrey. Following a successful bid to the DfE, Michaela founded Cobham Free School and now leads the all-through establishment as Executive Headteacher. She has written various articles on education topics, including for the TES, been on advisory boards for ‘Best Practice Network’ and ‘Parents and Teachers for Excellence’ and recently collaborated with Northumbria University on a research publication about ‘how to create a school’.

Description

CONFERENCE FOCUS

Educational research and studies show that the standard of leadership in schools has a direct impact on the quality of academic and other achievements for students.

Newly appointed senior leaders are often surprised by the number and scale of interesting yet highly challenging responsibilities which accompany their roles: very often, experience in teaching prior to this level has not provided the opportunity to hone the skills required. This new, vibrant and informative conference provides a vital insight for anybody within, or aspiring to, a senior leadership role.

The conference brings together leading experts and key practitioners from a range of disciplines, who will give sessions focusing on many of the key areas in leadership: leading on teaching and learning, leading on pastoral care, day-to-day school/MAT operations, complex HR matters, and above all leading staff and pupils to achieve their very best in all areas.

Leaders are often called in when things go wrong, but have not always had the first-hand experience to equip them to respond effectively. In time, experience will provide, but problems do not wait, and so senior leaders need key skills to respond straight away. Theses sessions have been designed to provide practical skills and methodologies which can be applied in real settings, allowing newly appointed leaders to hit the ground running.

This is a conference not only for those who are newly appointed or who aspire to a role in educational leadership in the near future, but also for experienced professionals who may be supporting newly promoted leaders, or who wish to update their own understanding of key issues affecting educators today.


BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

  • Learn best practice from experienced education professionals
  • Gain a full understanding of the breadth of responsibilities for school leaders
  • Develop and hone your leadership knowledge and skills
  • Gain insight into the complexities of organisational and people management
  • Speak to sector leaders about current trends, opportunities and risks in education
  • An overview of school leadership, to appeal to pastoral, academic and operational leads in schools
  • Gain an insight into school leadership to help prepare your application for the next step in your career.
  • Meet other school leaders and build your network of professional support

PROGRAMME – DAY ONE

Introduction & Welcome:

10.00 – 10.10am

Ben Gudgeon, your host for this conference, Ben is Headmaster of a specialist music school and Chair of the International Forum of Arts Educators.


Outstanding Whole School Leadership

10.10 – 10.50am

  • Holding the banner for whole school leadership – the vision, mission
  • Change management – influencing change, having an impact in the right way
  • Dynamics of a strong senior leadership team – what do strong leadership teams do differently?
  • Whole school strategies: thinking on a different level – planning, development, policies
  • What do inspectors look for in outstanding, effective, and forward driving SLT teams?

Andrew Robinson – Director of Secondary Education, Sapientia Education Trust


Morning Break

10.40 – 11.10am


Establishing Your Leadership Presence

11.10 – 12.00pm

  • Making the transition from middle to senior leadership
  • How to manage existing relationships with colleagues who were peers but now report to you
  • Ways to establish your leadership presence in school
  • The importance of emotional intelligence in leadership
  • Pushing boundaries, taking risks – going above and beyond, creating an inspirational setting, stimulating learning

Jenny Dwyer – Headmistress and Trustee


Digital Strategy in the World of AI

12.00 – 12.50m

  • AI & secondary education
  • Using digital technology and AI to advance teaching and learning
  • The role of senior leaders in influencing IT policy and strategy
  • AI in the classroom
  • The future of IT in schools

Dr Andy Kemp – Principal, Head of the National Mathematics and Sciences College


Establishing Your SLT Leadership Presence in your SLT Team and across your school/MAT

12.00 – 12.50pm

  • AI & secondary education
  • Using digital technology and AI to advance teaching and learning
  • The role of senior leaders in influencing IT policy and strategy
  • AI in the classroom
  • The future of IT in schools

Dr Andy Kemp – Principal, Head of the National Mathematics and Sciences College


Discussion, Q & A Panel

12.50pm – 1.00pm


Lunch

1.00pm – 2.00pm


Breakout Strand 1

2.00 – 2.50pm

1A: The Ambitious, Aspiring Senior Leader: The Essentials

  • Stepping up from Middle to Senior Leadership – the expertise, skills and tactics required, and how to demonstrate them
  • Taking opportunities, expanding boundaries and taking calculated risks
  • Evaluating your key strengths and what to focus on to raise up to SLT level
  • What are the key criteria looked for in a potential senior leader?
  • Finding opportunities for leadership experience in your current school

Jenny Dwyer – Headmistress and Trustee


1B: Leading Change: Going For Excellence

  • Creating the right culture, environment and conditions to lead change
  • How to drive high-quality teaching, learning and other achievements
  • Ambitious, inspired, and motivational leadership for effective change
  • Key strategies, policies and processes that work successfully to effectively lead change across the whole school
  • Effective worked examples
  • Taking risks and expanding boundaries

Michaela Khatib – Executive Headteacher, Cobham Free School


1C: The Role of the Senior Leader in Driving Excellence in Teaching and Learning

  • Collaborative staff development: creating a first-rate teaching and learning education
  • The Senior Leadership Team’s role in developing the right culture and conditions for high quality teaching and learning and other achievements
  • Methods to establish highly ambitious subject and pedagogical knowledge, to promote deep knowledge and understanding across the curriculum
  • Policies to ensure all staff have the same high expectations for all pupils

Nicola Smith – Joint Principal, Chetham’s School of Music


Break

2.50 – 3.00pm


Breakout Strand 2

3.00 – 3.50pm

2A: Raising departmental performance

  • Approaches to improve the quality of teaching & learning through effective staff leadership
  • How to ensure your staff use assessments effectively and used robustly to effect rapid student progress and outcomes
  • Approaches to building in regular planning and adaptability to levels of stretch and challenge
  • Interventions and support strategies – evaluating and putting in place the most appropriate strategies to support your at risk pupils
  • Ways to address weaker teaching to maintain over department high attainment levels

Michaela Khatib – Executive Headteacher, Cobham Free School


2B: Managing Difficult Conversations & Challenging Scenarios

  • Approaches to managing conflict successfully
  • Challenging conversations – different scenarios presented
  • Creating the right culture to get the most out of staff
  • Holding staff to account – strategies to apply when dealing with reluctant or under-performing staff
  • Dealing with difficult parents and pupils
  • ‘Poacher turned gamekeeper’ – how to manage your former teammates
  • When to be tough and when to give in

Steve Gibbs – Experienced Head of School


2C: Academic and Pastoral Tracking: making the data work for you

  • Academic and pastoral tracking
  • How and when to collect data
  • What does data tell you about your curriculum and the mood of your school?
  • From assessment, analysis, data analysis, to tracking, monitoring and feedback – how effective is your academic & pastoral data interaction and flow in achieving rapid student programme and high levels of attainment?

Trevor Greenhill – STEER Tracking


PROGRAMME – DAY TWO

Learning from 10k Schools – Why Leaders Need to Lead on Inclusion

10.00 – 10.45am

  • Understanding the range of inclusion issues in schools
  • Why inclusion is important
  • Expectations of modern schools
  • How to embed a culture of inclusion in your school
  • Ideas to help you promote and champion inclusive initiatives

Daniel Sobel – Founder and CEO, Inclusion Expert


Break

10.45 – 11.05am


Leading on Children’s Personal Development

11.05 – 11.50am

  • Character education – ways to help students develop as individuals, developing confidence, resilience, grit, and initiative
  • Top considerations for devising a pastoral strategy
  • Ways to develop pupils to be highly reflective, aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and to understand how to improve their learning
  • Excellent ways to explore topics such as personal identity, future careers, universities of the world, issues that affect the wider society, extensive curriculum enrichment and diversity.

Victoria Raynor – Safeguarding Consultant; Chair of the International Forum of Safeguarding Professionals


Managing Complaints, Grievances and Investigations: How to run a fair and legally sound process

11.50 – 12.35pm

  •  Explore strategies to minimise stress for SLT in dealing with challenging situations
  • Tips for efficient record-keeping
  • Preparing for the barriers used to disrupt, delay or undermine procedures, and how to overcome them
  • Responding to complaints from pupils, parents and staff
  • Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

Maria Strauss – Partner at Farrer & Co. and one of the Founding Members of Farrer & Co’s Safeguarding Unit


Discussion, Q & A Panel

12.35 – 12.45pm

 


Lunch

12.45pm – 1.45pm


Breakout Strand 1

3.00 – 3.50pm

3A: The Day-to-Day

  • Managing your time effectively; the pros and cons of delegation
  • ‘Triage’ – balancing leadership priorities
  • The role of Senior Leaders in compliance, policy and preparation for inspection
  • ‘Cabinet responsibility’ – mutually supportive leadership within the team to provide collective accountability
  • Maintaining freshness and enthusiasm: professional and intellectual development
  • Managing daily operations

Nicola Smith – Joint Principal, Chetham’s School of Music


3B: How to include the most difficult parents, children and staff

  • Psychological tips and tricks for dealing with the hardest meetings and behaviours
  • Tips for allowing your most vulnerable pupils to feel included
  • How to work with, instead of against, those who need the most support

Daniel Sobel – Founder and CEO, Inclusion Expert


3C: Latest developments in Safeguarding – what leaders need to know and do

  • A child-centred and coordinated approach to safeguarding
  • How to ensure your staff are trained and confident
  • Current concerns and trends in safeguarding

Victoria Raynor – Safeguarding Consultant; Chair of the International Forum of Safeguarding Professionals


Break

2.40pm – 2.50pm


FRIDAY AFTERNOON ZINGERS

2.50 – 3.30pm

  • Pit your wits against a variety of complicated employment scenarios
  • Why everything you thought you knew about HR is now wrong
  • Keeping up to date with ever-changing laws
  • A fun, informative, and engaging way to end the conference

Maria Strauss – Partner at Farrer & Co. and one of the Founding Members of Farrer & Co’s Safeguarding Unit


Discussion & Depart

3.30pm – 3.45pm

Additional information

Location and Date

London | Thursday 20 & Friday 21 June 2024

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