Drawing on CST and The Reach Foundation’s joint paper, The Partnership Dividend, this session will set out a vision for the trust sector that is rooted in a cultivation of a partnership mindset, for the educational benefit of the children we serve. This approach involves an integrator’ mindset. It is not intended to create further burdens on schools or expect schools to take on the remit of other services. Rather, it invites system leaders operating at a level of scale while drawing on local knowledge, experience and relationships to create real and tangible change.
Chief Executive, CST
Leora Cruddas is the founding Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts – the national organisation and sector body for school trusts in England. She has advised successive governments and sits on several Department for Education advisory bodies. She was recently the vice chair of the Head Teacher Standards Review Group, a member of the external advisory group for the Schools White Paper, SEND National Implementation Board and the Regulatory and Commissioning Review.
Prior to founding CST, she was Director of Policy and Public Relations for the Association of School and College Leaders. Leora has six years of experience as a director of education in two London local authorities. She is a visiting professor at UCL Institute of Education. Leora was made a CBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours.
Managing Director, The Reach Foundation
In this session, the Minister will discuss her work with engaging communities and the importance of leading in place. She will share lessons from her time as Leader of Camden Council and her work on ‘test, learn and grow’ in the Cabinet Office.
Minister for School Standards, Department for Education
Georgia Gould was appointed Minister of State (Minister for School Standards) at the Department for Education on 6 September 2025. She was previously Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office between 9 July 2024 and 6 September 2025. Georgia was elected as the MP for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale in July 2024.
Lee will be joined by pupils from Outwood Grange Academy to showcase the trust’s ‘Out There’ initiative, a partnership-driven programme empowering young people as community changemakers. Co-designed with students, the initiative connects pupils with charities, local services, and employers to deliver projects addressing real-world issues such as sustainability, inclusion, and social isolation. Through over 100 student-led projects, young people develop agency, leadership, and civic responsibility while strengthening community ties. Attendees will gain practical insight into building effective cross-sector partnerships, embedding student voice, and scaling youth-led social action within educational settings.
Chief Executive, Outwood Grange Academies Trust
Lee Wilson is the Chief Executive of Outwood Grange Academies Trust, bringing a wealth of experience and an unwavering passion for educational excellence. He has a proven track record of transforming schools and improving outcomes for children.
Throughout his career, Lee has demonstrated an ability to work collaboratively across different phases of education, both in primary and secondary academies. His dedication and strategic leadership have played a pivotal role in rapidly enhancing the quality of provision and achieving outstanding outcomes for students.
Lee is a strong advocate for community-based civic leadership. He firmly believes that schools are integral to fostering community strength, partnership, and cohesion. In line with this vision, he has spearheaded Outwood Grange Academies Trust's strategy to establish family and community support hubs within various academies. These hubs serve as vital resources, not only for students but for the wider community, strengthening the bonds that hold communities together.
A reflection from the minister on the afternoon’s sessions.
Minister for School Standards, Department for Education
Georgia Gould was appointed Minister of State (Minister for School Standards) at the Department for Education on 6 September 2025. She was previously Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office between 9 July 2024 and 6 September 2025. Georgia was elected as the MP for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale in July 2024.
In this session, Maggie will explore how effective leadership begins with how we relate to ourselves. Grounded in awareness, kindness, curiosity, care, and ethics, this approach positions self-understanding as the foundation for leading others with authenticity and humanity. Particularly relevant to education, the session will examine how these principles shape compassionate, values-driven leadership in schools. Participants will reflect on their own practice and consider how nurturing inner awareness can strengthen relationships, decision-making, and organisational culture.
Director, Empowering Leadership
Maggie has worked for many years in senior leadership positions in schools and local authorities. She was the director for leadership development, research and succession planning at the NCSL in England and interim chief executive until 2013.
She now works internationally with leaders and their teams in education and other sectors fostering practices that reduce stress, anxiety and overwhelm and increase effectiveness and resilience through the practice of presence & compassionate leadership. She is the author of Leading with Presence; it's an inside job, published in 2022 by Cadogan Press.
She is a Trustee of L.E.A.D. Academy Trust, of Bedfordshire Schools Trust, The Chair of the School of Contemplative Life, and has just finished a nine year term as a trustee of The Story Museum, Oxford; a museum dedicated to the power of story to change lives.
She was awarded the CBE for services to Education in 2014.
A chance to reflect with colleagues.
Chief Executive, CST
Leora Cruddas is the founding Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts – the national organisation and sector body for school trusts in England. She has advised successive governments and sits on several Department for Education advisory bodies. She was recently the vice chair of the Head Teacher Standards Review Group, a member of the external advisory group for the Schools White Paper, SEND National Implementation Board and the Regulatory and Commissioning Review.
Prior to founding CST, she was Director of Policy and Public Relations for the Association of School and College Leaders. Leora has six years of experience as a director of education in two London local authorities. She is a visiting professor at UCL Institute of Education. Leora was made a CBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours.
Welcome remarks from Leora Cruddas CBE, Chief Executive, Confederation of School Trusts.
Chief Executive, CST
Leora Cruddas is the founding Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts – the national organisation and sector body for school trusts in England. She has advised successive governments and sits on several Department for Education advisory bodies. She was recently the vice chair of the Head Teacher Standards Review Group, a member of the external advisory group for the Schools White Paper, SEND National Implementation Board and the Regulatory and Commissioning Review.
Prior to founding CST, she was Director of Policy and Public Relations for the Association of School and College Leaders. Leora has six years of experience as a director of education in two London local authorities. She is a visiting professor at UCL Institute of Education. Leora was made a CBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours.
Hannah Woodhouse and Sir Jon Coles will share the learning from the work in Bristol which involves the collective school community (maintained schools and trusts) working together in a deep partnership to improve outcomes for children.
Executive Director of the Children and Education Directorate, Bristol City Council
Hannah Woodhouse is the Executive Director of the Children and Education Directorate, and is responsible for children and families, and education and skills at Bristol City Council. Prior to this, Hannah was the regional schools commissioner for South West England.
Chief Executive, United Learning Trust
Since January 2012, Sir Jon Coles has been Group Chief Executive of United Learning, a group of over 100 academies and independent schools founded in the 19th century. Prior to this, he spent much of his career in the Department for Education after qualifying as a teacher, including four years on its board as Director General for Schools. Before that, he was Director of 14-19 Reform and Director of London Challenge, wrote various green and white Papers, took the 2002 Education Act through Parliament, implemented the infant class size pledge and developed a strategy for e-government on secondment to the Cabinet Office.
As trust leaders within education, how can we be effective at leading in place, for the wellbeing of the children we serve? In this panel, Anne-Marie Canning will be joined by sector stakeholders to discuss different approaches and insights into this question.
Opportunity Mission Challenge Director, UK Research and Innovation
Anne-Marie has led the Brilliant Club since March 2020. She has developed the charity’s strategy, scaled existing programmes and led the establishment of new areas of work. She is widely acknowledged as a powerful voice in social mobility and education and has advised institutions, ministers and policy makers.
During her time as a Director at King’s College London Anne-Marie provided strategic, institution-wide leadership for social mobility and had significant successes in widening participation, student success, academic support, communication, evaluation and fundraising. Anne-Marie helped to establish the What Works Centre for Access and Student Outcomes and co-founded an award-winning parental engagement and community organising endeavour, Parent Power.
For over six years Anne-Marie held a public appointment as the Independent Chair of the Department for Education’s Bradford Opportunity Area and has significant expertise in place-based working.
Anne-Marie has a Masters with Distinction in Public Policy and Management from Birkbeck, University of London. She holds a University of Oxford Teaching Award and was awarded an MBE for services to higher education in 2018.
Chief Executive, Sheffield City Council
Kate Josephs CB joined Sheffield City Council as Chief Executive in January 2021, having spent 20 years in national government in the UK and United States. She leads a diverse organisation of over 8000 staff, supporting the cross-party political administration to deliver on their priorities for England’s fourth largest city. Kate has overseen a comprehensive programme to transform Sheffield City Council and focus action around the outcomes that matter most for residents.
Kate’s career as a senior leader in the UK civil service included positions in HM Treasury; the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit; and the Department for Education (DfE). In June 2021 she was awarded Companion status, The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, in HM the Queen’s birthday honours in recognition of exemplary public service during her civil service career.
Relationships are at the centre of everything we do. They shape communities, organisations, and societies; in a world that prioritises speed and shallow connection, the Founder of The Relationships Project, David Robinson, will challenge attendees to rethink how we relate to one another. At a time where society feels more and more divided, how are strong, meaningful relationships the key to underpinning the wellbeing, equity, and collective success of the next generation? How must we prioritise connection over transaction? David will make the case as to why we must consider practical ways to embed relational approaches in all our contexts, where relationships are not an add-on, but the foundation.
Founder, The Relationships Project
David is a community worker, co-founder and now co-lead, of the Relationships Project. Good relationships are the foundations of everything that matters. The Project gathers evidence, makes tools, delivers training, runs support networks and is currently developing the Relational Practice Academy - a new centre for applied learning in relationship centred practice.
Amongst other innovations David also co-founded and led Community Links from the kitchen table to the Community Enterprise of the Year award, Discover – the UK's first story centre for children and their families, and Shift – applying behavioural insight and award winning design to social change. He helped to create the Social Impact Bond, chaired the first SIB funded project and established and led the Prime Minister’s Council on Social Action from 2007 to 2010. He was the first Practitioner in Residence at the LSE Marshall Institute, is an Ashoka Senior Fellow and is currently chair of the Flying Seagulls. He was once described by the Guardian as “the godfather of the community sector, equally admired on the left and right”.
Leora will reflect on the discussions over the two days and outline an approach to taking the work forward.
Chief Executive, CST
Leora Cruddas is the founding Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts – the national organisation and sector body for school trusts in England. She has advised successive governments and sits on several Department for Education advisory bodies. She was recently the vice chair of the Head Teacher Standards Review Group, a member of the external advisory group for the Schools White Paper, SEND National Implementation Board and the Regulatory and Commissioning Review.
Prior to founding CST, she was Director of Policy and Public Relations for the Association of School and College Leaders. Leora has six years of experience as a director of education in two London local authorities. She is a visiting professor at UCL Institute of Education. Leora was made a CBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours.
