Speakers

Ally is a founding alumna of Teach First (‘03), and an experienced educationalist and leader, who lives in Bristol. She is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and also of the RSA.

Ally has been in education for 21 years, and in senior leader positions for the last 17; working in schools internationally, as well as in both urban and rural contexts here in the UK. She is also an experienced free school developer; founding one in London, rated Outstanding by Ofsted, and one which recently opened in Bristol. She has a particular passion for curriculum and careers, and has worked with Ark and Oasis multi-academy trusts on national curriculum design and implementation, and Bristol City Council’s Learning City Partnership on careers progression for young people aged 16-25 across the city.

She is currently Head of Leadership Development at Academies Enterprise Trust, focusing on the recruitment, onboarding, and development of high quality senior and executive leadership across their 57 schools and central team, and consulting into the Education Team on network and improvement strategy.

When not at work, Ally is proud to sit on the Boards of Clifton College and the Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol.

Andy Wolfe is Executive Director of Education for the Church of England and oversees the programmes, networks and research of the Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership – working with thousands of school leaders across the UK. He is committed to combining rich theological reflection with evidence-informed approaches to improving teaching, learning and leadership in schools. He has authored many of the Church of England’s educational leadership resources, including pioneering the ‘Called, Connected, Committed’ leadership framework co-written with Professor David Ford – www.cefel.org.uk/ccc – which has led to similar international frameworks in Australia (with CSA) and Canada (with Christian Schools Canada). He has also co-written ‘Flourishing Together: A Christian Vision for Students, Educators and Schools’ with Dr Lynn Swaner from ACSI. Andy also oversees the Church of England’s ‘Growing Faith’ national work in relation to faith development in schools, churches and households, the Archbishops’ Young Leaders Award, a range of national policy briefs and the SIAMS national inspection framework for the 4674 Church of England schools.

Cat Scutt is Deputy CEO, Education and Research at the Chartered College of Teaching, the professional body for teachers. A former English teacher, Cat’s roles have since focused on supporting teacher development both online and through face-to-face activities, with a particular focus on development using digital technology, through collaboration and by engagement with research and evidence. She has worked in education in both the state and independent sector, as well as in corporate learning and development. Cat leads on the Chartered College Of Teaching’s work around teacher development and certification, including the Chartered Teacher programme, and their research activities and publications, including their award-winning peer-reviewed journal, Impact. She is currently completing her PhD at the UCL Institute of Education. She received an MBE for services to education in 2021 and has been a member of several government advisory groups.

Catherine is a Trust Improvement Partner with the Advance Learning Partnership which consists of a family of twenty primary and secondary schools located in County Durham. Her areas of specialism are teaching and learning, professional development and leadership development for staff of all career stages. She is passionate about ensuring that staff receive high quality professional development and enjoys creating opportunities for collaboration which enable pupils and staff to flourish. Prior to her current role she worked as a Senior Leader and Subject Leader and she has over twenty years of experience of teaching secondary English.

Appointed in 1998 to her first headship in a large and socially deprived school in ‘Special Measures’, Cathie was at the time the youngest headteacher in England and led the school to become ‘Good’ in just over one year. Until February 2013 Cathie was Executive Headteacher of three primary schools and it was the national reputation of Mount Street Academy as a twice ‘Outstanding’ school and Cathie’s work across the country as a National Leader of Education which drew the attention of other school leaders, national educational academics and Department for Education officials. In 2012, Mount Street became Lincolnshire’s first Teaching School. Cathie joined REAch2 at the end of 2012 as its first employee when there were only 4 schools in the Trust. She has overseen its growth to over 60 schools today, serving over 20,000 pupils. In that time the number of schools judged as Good or better has risen from 4 schools in 2013 to 58 schools today. Appointed CEO in April 2022, Cathie retains her passion for enabling children to flourish in an environment of outstanding practice: “School leadership at its heart is about transforming lives”; it remains an honour for her to champion each and every school in its transformation and to lead the growing team.

With two decades of experience in the UK energy industry working for suppliers, consultancies and representing customers I'm well versed in the intricacies and peculiarities of this complex market. As Director of Ginger Energy I'm passionate about working for our public sector clients to secure the best procurement solutions and lived experiences for their energy needs.

Chris Kirk has enjoyed 25 years in leadership, management and strategy in the education sector, with senior roles in the UK civil service, a Partnership within one of the largest Accounting and Consulting companies, and an international CEO role for a large school group. 6 years ago, Chris founded www.cjkassociates.co. CJK works extensively with the education supplier and investor market, and frequently carries out market studies to compare the services, quality and price of education service providers (School Improvement, Finance, HR, IT support) and software (MIS, Assessment, Curriculum). Corporate clients have included The Key for School Leaders, Arbor, Scholarpack, Juniper Education, Herts for Learning, BBC, TES, ESS SIMS and Supporting Education Group. Investors include Horizon Capital and Montague Private Equity. CJK Associates works with Multi-Academy Trusts and other school groups to develop strategies and implement better operating models and has provided the material hosted by The Key which guides Trust leaders about strategy, operations, collaboration and accountability. Chris teaches the National Professional Qualification for Executive Leaders for Teach First and previously for Ambition. Chris is a Trustee of Weydon Multi Academy Trust, an adviser to OPERA (a charity supporting unemployed youth into work) and to The Education Partnership, Nigeria (a pro-poor education charity). He has previously held roles as Adviser to OFSTED’s Strategy Group, The Careers and Enterprise Company, Getting Ahead London, World Economic Forum and Business in the Community. Chris’s post-graduate education includes PwC London Business School Director& Partner development programme, PwC Consulting Skills Programme, Cranfield Institute of Management DPP, Civil Service Fast Stream, and the Financial Practitioners Certificate.

Chris Moon has lived through experiences few have survived, and even fewer would undergo with such impressive fortitude and positivity. He has been imprisoned and blown up, and now takes on some of the toughest marathons in the world.

After serving in the army Chris joined HALO, the Hazardous Areas Life-Support Organisation. While supervising former Cambodian soldiers doing mine clearance, Chris and two others were kidnapped by Khmer Rouge guerrillas. Chris kept his nerve and negotiated his release, despite being told no one had ever left their captivity alive.

After Cambodia Chris assumed control of large-scale mine clearance in Mozambique. Walking through a cleared field, he encountered a mine his team hadn’t been able to find. The explosion should have killed him, and doctors back at base said he wouldn’t survive long enough to be rescued. A combination of treating himself and mental and physical strength saw him pull through. He focused on what he had to live for and why it mattered that he make it.

Less than a year later he completed the London Marathon. He went on to become the first amputee to take part in the Great Sahara Run and has since taken on some of the toughest, longest marathons and ultramarathons in the world including running 700km down the length of Cambodia. Chris has since taken part in dozens of challenges, raising thousands of pounds for charity.

Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a scientist and broadcaster.

She is the presenter of the The Sky at Night, has fronted a number of space documentaries, and regularly appears on science and non-science programmes.

From a modest background and diagnosed with dyslexia, Maggie overcame the naysayers to study at Imperial College where she obtained her degree in Physics and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. After her studies, she toured the UK speaking to inner-city schools about what scientists do, why they do it, and how to be one with the aim of inspiring the next generation of physicists.

Since then, she has spent her career making novel, bespoke instrumentation in both the industrial and academic environments, ranging from hand-held land mine detectors to an optical subsystem for the James Webb Space Telescope. She has worked for the MoD on missile warning systems, and for aerospace giant EADS on projects to monitor the earth’s atmosphere.

Maggie is a research fellow and an Honorary Research Associate at University College London, and continues to work to engage the public with science. She was made an MBE for services to science and science education.

Dame Rachel is a nationally recognised educator and advocate for improving the life chances of disadvantaged children. Before her appointment as Children’s Commissioner, she led two schools from failing to outstanding, before founding and leading the Inspiration Trust, a family of fourteen schools in East Anglia. The trust was twice ranked as the nation’s top group of comprehensive schools based on pupil progress at GCSE. She was made a dame in 2014 for services to education.

Dame Rachel was appointed Children’s Commissioner in 2021. In this role she has unique legislative powers, is an advocate for children across the country, and represents children’s needs across Government. In role, Dame Rachel has completed the two largest-ever surveys of children ‘The Big Ask’ with over half-a-million responses and most recently, The Big Ambition. Dame Rachel is now building on the over a million voices she has captured directly, to present young people’s ideas to politicians and policy makers about how to make their lives better.

Dawn is Chief Executive Officer of Windsor Academy Trust, with 15 schools across five local authorities in Priority and Education Investment Areas across the West Midlands. Dawn became CEO in January 2022 having previously served as Deputy CEO and Education Director. Dawn is a member of the Confederation of School Trusts Improvement Inquiry and sits on two DfE Priority Education Investment Area Local Partnership Boards. Dawn’s career has included her being the founder and Chief Executive of the Student Engagement Trust. She also spent 10 years at the Youth Sport Trust where she led two strands of the government’s Physical Education and School Sport Strategy for Young People. Dawn established the Youth Board for the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Denise Inwood is Founder and CEO of BlueSky - the leading solution for appraisal and people development in schools. Denise founded BlueSky in 2001, based on her experiences as a teacher, Senior Leader and an Advisory Teacher for a London Local Authority. Denise knows the changing and challenging landscape of the education sector and works tirelessly to empower those on the ground, piloting the improvement of teacher and school staff development processes, and ultimately, the outcomes of young people.

Calum is the Executive Director for Research and Best Practice. He joined the National Institute of Teaching from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he focused on evaluations of complex interventions in health, disability-inclusion and education. Calum also spent a year at the Education Endowment Foundation and remains a member of its Evaluation Advisory Group.

Raj is a Senior Research Associate at the National Institute of Teaching, and also currently teaches Maths and Economics at a comprehensive secondary school in Hackney. He has led education research teams at Nesta and the Behavioural Insights Team and has a PhD in Economics from the University of Bristol.

Dr Vanessa Ogden is CEO of the Mulberry Schools Trust (MAT) in East London. Vanessa is an NLE and has undertaken school turnaround work in urban and rural settings. Vanessa has a doctorate specialising in education policy and school improvement. She continues to work on initiatives to deal with London poverty. Vanessa is the Chair of the Fair Education Alliance and of the Unicorn Theatre. She is on the Education Committee of the Haberdashers’ Livery Company. Vanessa features in the first ‘Female Lead’ book by Edwina Dunn. Vanessa has founded Global Girl Leading, a global sisterhood of girls advocating for girls’ leadership, voice and visibility through investing in girls’ education. In 2015, she welcomed Michelle Obama to Mulberry School for Girls and was invited to take students to the White House to visit the First Lady. Vanessa was awarded a CBE in the King’s 2024 New Year Honours List.

Ed Vainker is the CEO of the Reach Foundation. He is the co-founder and former Principal of Reach Academy Feltham and the co-founder of the Reach Children's Hub, part of Reach's Cradle to Career model in Feltham. He works with Trusts around the country to help them develop their own Cradle to Career models. Ed is a trustee of AET and Chairs the Hounslow Education Partnership. He is on the Advisory Board of the Children's Commissioner and the Royal Foundation's Centre for Early Life. He is an Ambassador of Teach First and spent three years with Teach for All based in Washington DC prior to founding Reach Academy Feltham.

Emma has over 15 years’ experience in generalist HR in both the private sector and the public sector. Emma has worked as HR Director and regional HR Business Partner for two large, national trusts and regularly networks with other HR leaders in the education sector. This enables Emma to keep abreast of the challenges that schools, academies and trusts are facing today. Emma hosts a number of our collaborative forums for clients and non- clients. Well networked, Emma is able to bring insights and great practice from organisations across the sector to help inspire new approaches to HR. Whilst at Browne Jacobson, Emma has carved out expertise supporting Boards with executive pay setting and reward redesign. Emma has also carried out many senior level investigations, ranging from fraud allegations through to tricky bullying and harassment issues. Emma has led on many business transformation projects, including a complex national restructure. Emma has also worked with trade unions at a national level, covering everything from policy negotiation to terms and conditions through to more tricky industrial disputes involving ACAS conciliation and strike action. Emma is a regular speaker at education conferences across the country and will often take part in sector-wide webinars and other HR commentary. Until recently, Emma was the Chair of Trustees at a trust comprising sixteen primary academies. This role gave Emma great insight into the challenges that Boards face. Emma is currently a Trustee for the Institute for Employment Studies, a research organisation that works to bring about sustainable improvements in employment policy and HR management.

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.

James has a strong technical background, with many years’ experience of supporting ICT programmes in education and supporting the delivery and scrutiny of capital building programmes for the Department for Education. As a member of the executive team, James is responsible for directing the work of the estates, ICT, procurement and data protection teams, who work across the organisation and focus on supporting OAT in delivering its strategy and providing the best resources possible for pupils and staff. James is responsible for OAT’s facilities management and building life-cycling strategy to develop and maintain our £1b+ estate and driving best value from purchasing goods

Jennese Alozie is the CEO of University of Chichester Academy Trust because she is passionate about what education and learning must mean for generations of children, young people, and adults. She began her career as a secondary school English teacher and has held a range of senior and executive leadership roles within schools, local authorities and school Trusts. Currently, Jennese is an experienced board member and believes that as system leaders and architects, collectively we have the expertise and innovation required to reshape our society and how we see ourselves within it.

Katy is a Director of Learning Design at Ambition Institute where she oversees New Programme Design. Prior to this she led the design of the reformed NPQ suite and led the design of ITT and NPQ curriculum at Ark Teacher Training. Before moving into teacher development, Katy was a history teacher and Deputy Director of Sixth form in a London school.

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.

Victor Adebowale is Chair of the NHS Confederation, and was Chief Executive of the social charity Turning Point for over a decade. As well as more than 25 years experience in the health, social care and housing areas he is a leadership consultant for both private and public sector organisations. Raised in Yorkshire, Victor left school, worked as a street sweeper, moved to London and returned to education. After working for various housing charities he joined Centrepoint as Alcohol Recovery Project Director and became Chief Executive. After five years leading the homelessness charity he moved to become Chief Executive of Turning Point, the integrated community care organisation working across a wide spectrum of social and health care issues. Victor helped turn the organisation around and Turning Point now helps over 100,000 people and has a nationwide workforce of over 2,500 working in areas from drug and alcohol abuse to mental health, learning disabilities and unemployment. Victor has advised both Labour and Conservative administrations on housing, employment, social care and public service reform. As a leadership and organisational consultant he has worked with companies including Shell, KPMG and with local government. He is also a non executive director of the Co-Op, health IT consultancy St Vincents, and TomahawkPro, a collaborative software company. He is Chair of Social Enterprise UK and was a member of the Audit Commission.

Lucy Heller is CEO of Ark, an education charity. There are 39 primary, secondary and all-through schools in the Ark network and its venture organisations are focused on bringing positive change to key areas of education such as curriculum, teacher training and early years. Lucy joined Ark in 2004 as the founding director of Ark Schools. She became CEO of Ark in 2012. Before Ark, she was Managing Director of TSL Education and Managing Editor at The Observer. She is currently a trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation, Purposeful Ventures and Now Teach.

Matthew joined the NHS Confederation as its chief executive in June 2021, having been chief executive of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) for 15 years.  During his tenure, Matthew transformed the RSA into a global institution, with 30,000 fellows and a high profile and influential research programme. Before the RSA, Matthew was chief adviser on political strategy to Prime Minister Tony Blair and he also ran the Institute for Public Policy Research for 5 years. He is a widely known commentator on policy, politics and public service reform and regularly appears on national media programmes, including as a panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze.  He was series editor for the Thames and Hudson ‘Big Ideas’ books and his own book ‘Do we need to work?’ was published in 2021. He was commissioned by the Conservative government in 2016 to carry out an independent review into modern employment practices. Matthew presents the podcast series ‘Health on the Line’ (for NHS Confederation). He tweets @ConfedMatthew

Melanie has been the Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute of Teaching since its foundation in 2022. She has spent more than 25 years working in education, most recently as executive director of Star Institute, the learning and development centre for Star Academies. Prior to joining Star, she helped establish the national network of teaching school hubs, was CEO at Ambition Institute and Education Director at Business in the Community. Whilst at the government’s Teacher Training Agency she oversaw the introduction of the first SCITTs and established the agency’s teacher research function. She has been a primary school governor, a multi academy trust trustee, a trustee of Teach First and is currently a member of a school trust in Cheshire.

Moira epitomises the Trust’s aim of transforming young people’s futures through exceptional education no matter what their background. She started her career as a History teacher at Feltham Community College in West London she first came to the South West in 2007 as Deputy Headteacher at St James School, later becoming Headteacher in 2011. Whilst at St James, the school transformed from one of the lowest performing schools in the country to one of the top performing in Devon. She is at the heart of our Trust and has been part of it since before it was formed in 2013. She believes passionately in the benefit of local schools working together to be the best they can be for all our children across the region and she has been an instrumental force in realising the huge educational benefits of working with lead Trust education partners; Exeter College and The University of Exeter. Moira is a Member of Uffculme Academy Trust, Chairs the Plymouth place based group, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Devon, received a Doctorate from Exeter University in 2019 for services to education.

Natalie joined The Education Policy Institute in September 2015 as Executive Director and Head of Research. Natalie worked in the Department for Education from 2002 to 2014 on a range of policies including early years, children’s services, school funding and the Pupil Premium. Between April 2014 to May 2015, Natalie was seconded to the Cabinet Office where she worked in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office. In December 2020, Natalie became CEO of EPI. She currently serves as a Trustee of two school trusts as well as the Fair Education Alliance and also sits on the Board of the Queen’s Street Group.

Paul Barber, Director of the Catholic Education Service (England and Wales) Paul Barber read Law at Jesus College, Cambridge, won an Exhibition to the Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in 1992. He practised in the ecclesiastical and civil courts, and taught law at Sussex University, King’s College, London and Westminster University, where he was also a Visiting Fellow. He also holds law degrees from London (MA Canon Law) and KU Leuven (JCL) and is a Judge of the Southwark Metropolitan Tribunal. Paul has been engaged with education policy and legislation at national level for more than two decades and has held governorships in a range of educational institutions. He is a Fellow and founding Council Member of the Chartered College of Teaching and, in 2019, was elected President of the International Education Office (OIEC) for a three-year term. Paul sits on the Legal Affairs Commission of COMECE (Episcopal Conferences of the EU) and the Legal Advisers’ Group of CCEE (Episcopal Conferences of Europe). He is a member of the Council of the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge, a member of the Editorial Board of the Christian Law Review “Law and Justice” and a committee member of the Ecclesiastical Law Society. He was Director of Education for the Diocese of Westminster for over ten years and has been in his present post since 2013.

Phillippa has spent two decades working with education, government and business leaders to improve data-driven decision-making. She is the founder of two free schools in England and the leader of the team at Arbor responsible for bringing on 5000 schools and 400 trusts across Arbor, ScholarPack and Integris.

Start-ups rarely survive their second birthday. Even established firms in the UK and the US average a lifespan of only fifteen years. So how can a company build and sustain success for decades to come? Professor Alex Hill has the answers. He has identified the habits that predict a company’s success and longevity. Hill is an academic and the co-founder and Director of the Centre for High Performance. Hill started his career running organisations, before moving into academia at Oxford University. There he began specialising in what makes great organisations tick. He has since worked with a wide number of high-performing arts, business, education, sport, technology and military organisations globally. Alex Hill is the author of several popular books on this subject of high performance. He has also published articles in leading academic journals such as the Harvard Business Review and was an advisor to the UK government on educational policy. His most recent book Centennials: The 12 Habits of Great, Enduring Organisations is based on a groundbreaking 13-year study of a clutch of organisations that have outperformed their peers for over 100 years - from NASA to the New Zealand All Blacks, from Eton College and the Royal College of Art to the Royal Marines and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Centennials shows how these organisations have defied conventional wisdom and identifies the 12 traits that have set them apart for over a century. From the way they analyse success and failure to their approach to finding the best people and the brightest new ideas. In so doing, Hill identifies the strategies and habits an organisation can employ to create a strong, stable core and ensure the same long-term prosperity while remaining dynamic.

Reuben is the NIoT’s founding Chief Programmes Officer. He was previously the executive director of programme development for Teach First. He was also a member of the government advisory groups that created the Core Content Framework, the Early Career Framework and the National Professional Qualifications.

Richard has over 23 years’ experience in advising schools and local authorities on a wide range of education issues including admissions, exclusions, SEN, disability discrimination and other Equality Act issues. His advice has covered both state funded and independent schools. Richard also has significant experience in SEND law and other local authority education issues such as transport, school re-organisation, legal challenges and complaints.

In addition to leading our national Education Sector Group of over 70 lawyers, Roger specialises in school governance and re-organisation (notably for multi academy trusts or "MATs"), school finance, admissions and also all pupil provision issues. A recognised national specialist regarding special educational needs law, Roger also works as a judge in the SEN Tribunal in addition to his role at Stone King. Roger contributes to the education sector more generally by working closely with national schools’ membership organisations, notably the Confederation of Schools Trusts, the Institute of School Business Leadership and the Co-Operative Schools Network on education developments. Outside work, Roger volunteers as a trustee for a sixth form trust.

Sam Freedman is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and writes regularly on politics and policy for Prospect, New Statesman, TES, FT, Guardian and Sunday Times. Sam and his father, Lawrence Freedman, co-author their popular Substack newsletter ‘Comment is Freed’ which has over 33,000 subscribers. Previously he was CEO of Education Partnerships Group, which supports governments in sub-Saharan Africa to develop education policy and was an executive director at Teach First. He worked at the Department for Education as a senior policy adviser to Michael Gove between 2010 and 2013. Sam is also a senior adviser to the education charity Ark; Vice-Chair of Ambition Institute; and a trustee of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

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.

Shaun joined the National Institute of Teaching in 2023 as the Director of Data. He has more than 15 years of experience in the education sector, working with primary, secondary and multi-academy trusts to improve their data quality, analysis and reporting. He has also advised and supported numerous schools and trusts on how to develop and implement effective information governance policies and practices. Shaun is passionate about using data to enhance teaching and learning outcomes, and to drive evidence based innovation and excellence in the education system.

Simon has worked in Special Education for more than twenty years and is Joint Headteacher at Frank Wise school, a community special school for children aged between two and nineteen with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities. He has sat on the DfE panels developing both the Professional Standards for Teaching Assistants and the Standard for Teachers’ Professional Development and is currently a member of the Teaching School Hubs Council with a focus on SEND. He regularly writes and contributes comment and content to a range of publications and events on the theme of SEND, including DfE guidance documents and qualification frameworks, and was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Education by Brookes University.

Sir Dan Moynihan is the Chief Executive Officer of the Harris Federation, a group of academies educating over 44,000 young people in and around London. He has led the Harris Federation since 2004, starting with one school where he was head teacher to 54 Academies today. Two thirds of the schools were previously failing but most are now Outstanding. The group is regularly amongst the highest performing large multi-academy Trusts in England. He has co-authored various Economics and Business Studies textbooks for Oxford University Press. From 2015 to 2022 Sir Dan chaired the Cabinet Office Education Honours Committee and now Chairs the National Institute of Teaching and the DfE Advisory Group for Computing.

Sir David was the product of a comprehensive school in South Wales and was the first member of his family to go to university where he studied for a Music degree at Royal Holloway College, London. Making a difference to the lives of children has been a huge motivation to him throughout his career. He began his career as a music teacher in 1983 and went on to become a Local Authority music advisor, a headteacher, an executive head and the CEO of the Cabot Learning Federation, a multi academy trust in Bristol. In 2014 Sir David was appointed to be the first Regional Schools Commissioner in the South West and took up the position of National Schools Commissioner (NSC) in De-cember 2015. As NSC, his focus was firmly on building capacity so that the trusts that run our most challenging schools can sustain improvement over time. From 2018 to 2021 Sir David was the Director of System Leadership at the Ambition Institute and now works with a number of schools and trusts advising them on their strategy. In August 2020, Sir David published his book “Leading Academy Trusts-why some fail but most don’t” with the book having hit the target of 4000 sales in the summer of 2022. Sir David has been a trustee at several charities including Centrepoint, the charity that is aiming to eradicate youth homelessness, a trustee of the charity that oversees the annual Teaching Awards as well as being on the board of the Talent Foundry Trust, a charity creating new opportunities through wider enrichment and support for dis-advantaged children. Sir David continues to place family, music, golf and Cardiff City FC at the heart of his relaxation time and continues to be very proud of being awarded a knighthood for his services to education in the summer of 2013.

Sir Hamid is Chief Executive of Star Academies. He has led the trust since its inception. Sir Hamid is passionate about the highest of ambition for children and young people from the most disadvantaged communities across the country, and this vision has guided the philosophy of the trust and his work in particular.

Sir Hamid is a member of several national and international strategic educational and policy forums. In this role, he has contributed to the development of strategies and programmes as diverse as teacher training, leadership development, community cohesion, curriculum reform and social mobility. He is committed to the development of a strong and world-class academy sector, and actively works to improve its reputation.

In recognition of his service to education, Sir Hamid was made a CBE in 2015 and awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021.

Sir Hamid is Chair of the Confederation of School Trusts.

Sir Ian took over the role of Chief Regulator in January 2024. Before that, he had served as Chair of the Board of Ofqual from January 2021 and had been a Board member from March 2018. Before becoming Chief Regulator, Sir Ian led a multi-academy trust. Sir Ian is Chair of Oak National Academy, an arm’s length body of the DfE.

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 after qualifying as a teacher in the Department for Education, 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.

Sir Martyn Oliver started as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills in January 2024. He has worked in education since 1995 starting as a teacher and joined Outwood Grange Academies Trust in 2009 where he became Principal of Outwood Grange Academy and then a National Leader of Education. In 2016, Sir Martyn was appointed Chief Executive and Accounting Officer for Outwood, a role he held until he started as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector. Sir Martyn has also previously held Trustee positions for the Office for Students, Education Endowment Foundation, Confederation of Schools Trusts and for the David Ross Education Trust, was a board member of the Department for Education’s Opportunity North East and has advised both the government and the DfE on a number of groups.

Sir Mo Farah CBE is a multiple Olympic, World and European Champion athlete. For many he is Britain’s greatest ever athlete having accumulated 10 global titles which includes the ‘double double’ of gold medals over 5,000m and 10,000m at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He holds numerous European and British Records and has the World Best for the One Hour Run (21,330m).

His achievements are a far cry from his humble beginnings in Somaliland, arriving in London at the age of eight and speaking very little English. Mo grew up in West London and began running at school when spotted by his PE teacher, who saw potential in his young student.

Sir Mo is passionate about philanthropic work and is a Save the Children Ambassador and the first ever global Goodwill Ambassador of the International Organisation for Migration.

At the start of 2024 he became the National School Sport Champion for the Youth Sport Trust, embarking on ‘Mo’s Mission’ to encourage young people to be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day.

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.

Since leaving school headship in 2006, Susan has held a number of key roles with a variety of national and international organisations. She currently shares her time between the Eden Academy Trust and the British Council. As CEO of the Eden Academy Trust, Susan is responsible for its strategic vision and direction. The trust comprises eight schools in West London and the north of England, all of which have been judged as good or outstanding. Susan was instrumental in the founding and development of the trust which provides education for children aged 3-19 with a range of complex needs. In her position as senior adviser at the British Council, Susan provides sector expertise and advice to a wide number of educational programmes involving ministries of education, school leaders and teachers across approximately 40 countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. She has particular interest in leadership and professional development, and inclusion. Susan is a trustee of the National Federation of Educational Research and was made a CBE for services to education in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2021.