Robyn Ellis

School Trust Leader – Operations, Dixons Academies Trust

Robyn Ellis joined Dixons Academies Trust in March 2022, to lead on Dixons OpenSource, onsite, insight and external partnerships. Robyn now looks after communications, projects and the office of the school and college trust leaders. Prior to working at Dixons, Robyn was the global head of leadership development and manager enablement for Booking.com, a leading digital travel company. She has held a number of roles in change, communications, programme management, strategy, talent development and leadership. Robyn started her career in education, consistently working with leaders in schools in the most challenged areas and is deeply committed to our mission of challenging educational and social disadvantage in the north of England.

Building digital capability and capacity

1 Workshop series three

Evaluating what matters: Improving your digital capability in practice

Room: Innovation

Situated within the wider operational excellence context, this session explores how trusts are evaluating and strengthening organisational digital capability in practice. Drawing on the AI, Digital and Data Standards alongside wider improvement approaches, trust leaders will reflect on how they have benchmarked capability, identified gaps and vulnerabilities, prioritised improvement activity, and developed clearer roadmaps for improvement. The discussion will explore the practical realities of building digital capability - including leadership, sequencing, organisational readiness and culture - alongside the tangible signs of impact trusts are beginning to see.

1 Workshop series one

Circles in action: A smarter system for strategic delivery

This workshop introduces the Dixons Circles operating system, a high-value, low-bureaucracy approach to delivering strategic priorities through expertise-led collaboration. Participants will explore how big-move, standing and transformation circles operate, how decisions flow through clear cycles of delivery and review, and how circle leads ensure accountability. Through practical examples, the session will examine how radical transparency and healthy professional relationships enable faster problem-solving, stronger cross-trust alignment and more disciplined execution of the work that matters most.