Speakers

Annabel Bates is the Executive Director of Children's Services for Middlesbrough Council. As the statutory DCS for the town, Annabel works with schools and settings across the local area to improve services and opportunities for children and young people. She was previously director of education & inclusion for the London Borough of Newham, the education representative for the London Adolescent Safeguarding Oversight Board and co-chair of the London Safeguarding Children's Partnership's Education Sub Committee.

Christina Johnston is Head of Liberty Research School and a doctoral candidate at the University of East London. With a background in psychology and special education, she has also worked as therapy team lead within Thames Valley School with a focus on improving outcomes for autistic young people. Her research and practice centre on co-producing evidence-based approaches with pupils, families and professionals, ensuring that interventions enhance education, wellbeing and safeguarding.

Dai is a recognised safeguarding expert and regularly supports trusts with complex safeguarding issues including handling disclosures of abuse, managing allegations against staff and involvement in Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews. He also supports trusts with safeguarding governance reviews.

Dai is an experienced trainer and national coach and mentor for trust designated safeguarding leads (DSLs). He provides "invaluable” guidance and a "reassuring, safe place” where individuals can improve their knowledge and learn from best practice. As well as speaking at national safeguarding conferences and delivering his tailored courses to trust DSLs, Dai also delivers CST's masterclass on safeguarding and the safeguarding module of the CST Essential Trustee Programme.

Jon originally trained as a nurse specializing in adolescents with life limiting illness before moving to become an advisor to a large strategic health authority and a commissioner in a primary care trust. He worked briefly as a specialist advisor on two World Health Organization projects before becoming the lead for early help and multi-agency working in a large local authority.

He became an education safeguarding advisor 16 years ago managing the support offer to 530 schools and for the past six years has worked as the National Director of Safeguarding & Mental Health for the Oasis Trust.

He qualified as a PhD in Education Safeguarding at Liverpool Hope University and has recently published a book on managing sexting in education. He acts as a mentor to five young men starting out in industry ensuring that they develop to their full potential. In his spare time, he is a voluntary youth worker. When (if) he ever relaxes he is a keen fan of Korean dramas (though must use subtitles).

Eugene Gilkes is Head of Inclusion for the Oasis family of charities, where he leads a group-wide strategy to embed inclusion as a cultural and organisational priority across 56 schools and more than 6,000 staff and volunteers. He helps to shape systemic structures and practices that strengthen inclusion, leadership, and performance across the trust.

Eugene is the creator of the TIDES of CHANGE® framework, which integrates purpose, inclusion, and cultural intelligence to support organisations in building thriving ecosystems. He is working with leaders across Oasis to develop new mechanisms that close the ‘promise to practice’ gap and ensure that no one is left out.

Prior to his work in education and organisational performance development, Eugene was an international decathlete and Commonwealth Games medallist. He brings over 35 years of cross-sector leadership experience and contributes regularly to national conversations on inclusion and cultural transformation.

Fiona Jarman is the Safeguarding and Mental Health Lead for GLF Schools - a trust which serves over 19,000 children and young people aged two to 19 in a diverse array of settings. She has worked in education for over 30 years in multiple roles within schools in London and Surrey, joining the school support team for GLF in 2013, originally as an SLE for behaviour.

She now leads professional development and supervision for DSLs, SMHLs and thrive practitioners in GLF and has had the great privilege of seeing the direct impact these colleagues have had, making a difference to so many children and young people particularly those who have lived through adverse childhood experiences. As a former young carer herself, Fiona is keen to ensure that the voices of disadvantaged, quiet or neurodivergent children and young people are heard so they are empowered to make real change.

Jayne Lowe is an Attendance and Behaviour Adviser to the DfE. She has previously been a pupil referral headteacher and managed attendance and inclusion services within a local authority. She has successfully developed and implemented strategy and leading practice with schools and local authorities across the country. Jayne is External Expert to the Youth Custody Service and has been instrumental in the set up of the only secure school in the country. As the founder and managing director of Bright Green Learning she has provided school improvement support to over 100 schools, with a particular focus on leadership development, attendance, safeguarding and behaviour.

Katherine Fowler is the Safeguarding Content Lead at The Key, where she is responsible for the content that sits on The Key Safeguarding. She joined the organisation in 2020 as a content editor and has since progressed to her current leadership role, drawing on her extensive experience to create essential resources for schools. Prior to her time at The Key, Katherine worked as a research manager at NFER, where she developed a strong foundation in data analysis and educational research. Her background provides her with a unique perspective, allowing her to deliver practical and evidence-based resources to help schools meet their safeguarding duties effectively.

Laura Phillips began her teaching career in Surrey in 2006 and has since held a range of senior leadership roles, including SENCO, DSL and deputy headteacher. She is now Trust Lead for Safeguarding, Attendance and Inclusion at King’s Group Academies, overseeing the development and delivery of safeguarding and SEND strategy across the trust.

Laura is passionate about equity in education and improving opportunities for all children. She leads the trust’s work on tackling violence against women and girls and plays a key role in developing inclusive practices that have real impact on young people’s lives. Alongside this, she supports leadership development by facilitating SENCO and NPQSL courses, helping staff grow in confidence and expertise. She also works collaboratively with colleagues in other trusts, sharing best practice and strengthening safeguarding and inclusion at a wider level.

Lynne has spent over 17 years as a charity CEO, leading organisations across the third sector with a focus on social justice, health, and advocacy. Her work has supported young people, survivors of sexual violence, older adults, and people with learning disabilities, reflecting a deep commitment to equity and inclusion.

Nicola Law is an experienced safeguarding leader with a strong background in education. She began her career as a family support worker and designated safeguarding lead, later becoming a specialist leader in education supporting schools across multiple partnerships and trusts. Nicola has held senior safeguarding roles in large academy trusts, including regional safeguarding lead and deputy director of safeguarding, overseeing safeguarding strategy across a diverse range of schools. She now serves as Director of Safeguarding at Liberty Academy Trust, an autism specialist trust, leading safeguarding, behaviour, attendance and therapeutic strategy across the trust.

Rick is the Managing Director of CPOMS, bringing over 20 years’ experience in EdTech. Having worked with leading organisations such as RM, Advanced Learning, Impero and Iris, he specialises in delivering cross-platform integrations to support data-driven decisions in education.

Sam is a Senior Product Manager at CPOMS, specialising in safeguarding and wellbeing solutions for schools and school trusts. With more than a decade of experience across education, safeguarding and ed-tech, Sam leads product strategy and development for tools that help organisations use data to strengthen practice and improve outcomes. Sam’s background in school leadership, including work as a designated safeguarding lead, provides a practical understanding of the pressures faced by safeguarding teams and the operational insights leaders need. This experience informs a user-centred approach to product design and ensures CPOMS Insight supports trusts at every stage of their data driven safeguarding journey. Sam is passionate about helping education providers build scalable, intelligence led safeguarding systems that support both day to day work and strategic decision making.

Shahista Zamir is the Headteacher at Regents Park Community Primary School in Birmingham. She has worked in schools for over 13 years, with over eight years of senior leadership experience across maintained and multi-academy trust schools, serving diverse inner-city communities. A highly experienced Designated Safeguarding Lead, she has led through multiple inspections and supported other leaders to strengthen safeguarding culture and practice.

Shahista has spoken nationally on emotional-based school avoidance (EBSA), attendance, and inclusion, and has been invited to contribute to several national conferences, including the CST Safeguarding Conference, where she brings the perspective of a maintained school headteacher and a DSL.

She holds the national professional qualification for headship (NPQH) and is currently completing a masters in educational leadership at the University of Birmingham. Her leadership is values-driven, rooted in integrity, compassion, and a commitment to equity, belonging, and the wellbeing of all pupils.

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.

Viv’s passion for Thrive started as headteacher and executive headteacher of primary schools across Barnsley, first becoming a licensed practitioner, then a Thrive trainer. She introduced the approach into schools and saw first-hand the impact it has on behaviour, attendance, and attainment as well as mental health and wellbeing.

Viv has taught across all age ranges and often in schools in challenging circumstances. Having specialised in early years and SEN, Viv was thrilled to take on leadership roles as SENCO, assistant head, deputy head and eventually into headship. Viv was asked to become a school improvement partner and to lead a school special measures, this included embedding Thrive as a core approach and tool to improve every area of practice. She was part of the team that established a co-operative trust and a multi academy trust.

In 2015, Viv was thrilled to join the team, originally as regional development manager for the north before moving to become head of innovation and Thrive’s principal trainer, and now head of product and innovation.

Currently, Viv is a director of a multi academy trust and a foster carer leading a Mockingbird constellation. Viv is endlessly passionate about supporting other professionals to embed Thrive practice.