Deputy Chief Executive, CST
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.
Head of Communications, CST
James is Head of Communications at the Confederation of School Trusts, helping promote understanding of school trusts and CST’s role in helping the education system in England to keep improving. He also leads our Communications Professional Community. James trained as journalist and has wide-ranging experience across print, digital, and broadcast. Previous roles include media and public relations, marketing, strategy, governance, and data in a range of sectors including education, health, local government, and the arts. This includes both in-house and freelance work for school trusts.
James is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
This is your chance to take control of the agenda – pitch to the community on a tricky topic you want the hive mind to crack, share some great work you’ve done, or explore an issue that never gets enough attention in office. It’s up to you and the community. Come with a prepared idea, or just share something on the day. We’ll collectively choose our sessions for this afternoon.
Head of Communications, CST
James is Head of Communications at the Confederation of School Trusts, helping promote understanding of school trusts and CST’s role in helping the education system in England to keep improving. He also leads our Communications Professional Community. James trained as journalist and has wide-ranging experience across print, digital, and broadcast. Previous roles include media and public relations, marketing, strategy, governance, and data in a range of sectors including education, health, local government, and the arts. This includes both in-house and freelance work for school trusts.
James is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
For Altus Education Partnership, working with others isn't just part of its name - it's part of its DNA. Jane and Richard will outline the trust's approach to relational working with its community, parents, and local businesses, from primary through to sixth form, and the reputational and marketing returns from going beyond the transactional.
Careers and Widening Participation Manager, Altus Education Partnership
Jane is a qualified career adviser with experience of working in a variety of roles across secondary, further and higher education and within adult careers guidance. Her role is to develop provision across academies, embedding an all age careers strategy that supports learners to develop and
realise their aspirations and make successful transitions throughout their educational journey with the trust, and beyond, through the Altus Alumni Network.
Chief Executive, Altus Education Partnership
Richard is the CEO of Altus Education Partnership and former Principal of Rochdale Sixth Form College, a beacon of excellent practice in education. As an Ofsted outstanding provider, the college has been ranked as one of the most consistent colleges in terms of A level progress in the country, has an excellent track record for supporting disadvantaged pupils and has been instrumental in improving the life chances of young people in the borough.
As CEO he has a high profile in the local community and works closely with a wide variety of stakeholders to deliver on the trust's commitment to support all children in an Altus academy to lead happy and fulfilling lives, and make a positive difference to their communities and society.
When change hits, information isn’t enough, people need something to hold on to. At REAch2, brand isn’t just visual identity, it’s emotional infrastructure. Michelle Rosemond, Director of Brand & Marketing Communications, explores how brand, built on purpose and lived values, can become a stabiliser in times of pressure. This session will show how trust, tone, and belonging can turn brand from a broadcast tool into a cultural anchor, a way to create clarity, belonging, and connection for our people. From trust-building communication rhythms to values-led messaging and internal storytelling, this session will offer practical insights into how leaders and comms professionals can shape brand as a cultural anchor, one that helps people orient themselves during change.
Director of Brand & Marketing Communications, REAch2 Academy Trust
Michelle Rosemond is the Director of Brand and Marketing Communications at REAch2 Academy Trust, England’s largest primary-only academy trust. Her role spans pupil recruitment, teacher and trainee attraction, and internal and external communications, all underpinned by a trust-wide brand strategy designed to build pride, belonging, and purpose across more than 60 schools. Before moving into a central leadership role,
Michelle spent over 15 years working in education, including 10 years in senior leadership. Before training to become a teacher, Michelle has a background in journalism, PR, and strategic communications. She is an advocate for values-led branding and storytelling, and believes in the
power of authentic, emotionally resonant communications to foster connection, culture, and clarity across complex organisations.
The way Ofsted inspects schools has changed, and with it comes a new format for inspection reports offering much more detail that old-style headline gradings. Ofsted's Mark Leech will give an overview of the reasons for the changes, what the new online and printed reports contain, and give tips on how school trusts can help staff, parents, the media, and other stakeholders get to grips with the new approach.
Deputy Director of Communications, Ofsted
Mark Leech leads external and internal communications for Ofsted. He joined the inspectorate seven years ago from the Independent Office for Police Conduct where he was Head of Communications. Prior to that he ran the communications team at the London Borough of Havering for eight years.
Sophie and Esi will explain the legal landscape for school trusts and Freedom of Information, looking at some of the types of requests you may receive, the rules around replying, and practical tips on how trusts can take a proactive approach to reduce the costs of compliance.
Senior Case Officer, Information Commissioner's Office
Sophie Turner is a Senior Case Officer in the Freedom of Information & Transparency Directorate at the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) where she investigates how public authorities have handled information requests. Sophie has also worked with the FOI Upstream Team at the ICO, creating tools, case studies and guidance for information governance practitioners. Before joining the ICO in 2016, Sophie worked for many years as a teacher and teaching assistant in primary schools.
Senior Case Officer, Information Commissioner's Office
Esi Mensah is a Senior Case Officer within the Freedom of Information & Transparency Directorate at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). She leads investigations into how public authorities manage information requests, ensuring compliance and promoting transparency across
the public sector. Esi previously worked in the Public Advice Data Protection Complaints Directorate, where she handled complex data protection cases and participated in initiatives to strengthen departmental capability by mentoring and managing cohorts of case officers within the department. Before joining the ICO, Esi served as an Accredited Immigration Adviser, providing specialist guidance on immigration matters.
We all carry cameras with us every day - but we can be nervous about using them to shoot video. Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust's Kate Caine shares how her background in TV - from news to Emmerdale - has helped her increase video use at the trust, and how she has adapted her skills to modern technology. She'll share tips on how to get good footage from a mobile phone, and how you can empower colleagues to create content that can liven up your marketing and communications work.
Marketing and Communications Manager, Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust
Kate Caine is the Marketing and Communications Lead for Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust and St. Aidan's C of E High School, Harrogate North Yorkshire. She has worked for the school and trust since 2020.
Prior to this role, her experience is in television production. This included being staff at ITV Yorkshire for around 12 years both in the local news department Calendar and then as a first assistant director working on a variety of projects including commercials and drama (mainly Emmerdale). A freelance career followed this along with a career break to raise her family. She also is co-director of her husband's TV camera business.
As trusts evolve, the communications and marketing needs can change. Fiona Taylor from Evolution Academy Trust explains how she grew her role, working with colleagues to prove the value of communications and improve practice within the organisation.
Communications Manager, Evolution Academy Trust
Fiona leads on communications and marketing activity for the trust. She has worked in a range of sectors in communications roles, including charities, higher education and local publications. She holds a diploma in internal communications and is an accredited member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Taking on and turning round schools can leave parents unsettled. Jen Fook from Ted Wragg shares some of the trust's experiences and how they have refined their approach to parent communications, encouraging schools to build on a baseline approach that helps ensure good practice and consistency, while reflecting the individual character and setting of their schools from nursery to sixth form.
Executive Director, Communications, Operations and Growth, Ted Wragg Trust
As the first in her family to go to university, Jen understands how transformative education can be, a belief deepened by her most important role: being a mum of two. These experiences inspire her commitment to ensure every child, regardless of background, has the opportunity to thrive in their local school and dream big for their future.
She began her career in higher education, gaining expertise in project management, executive support and communications. Jen joined the Ted Wragg Trust in 2023 as Senior Project Manager and now serves as Executive Director, overseeing communications, operations and growth. She loves working across the trust’s shared services to support schools and strengthen community ties and enjoys welcoming new schools into the trust, placing the ambition to make sure children love coming to school and staff love coming to work at the heart of its mission.
This is the hour where anything could happen. Expanding on our Communications Room 101 session from previous summits, we’re giving the floor over to the community to select and discuss the topics that matter most, selected at our pitch session earlier in the day.
Head of Communications, CST
James is Head of Communications at the Confederation of School Trusts, helping promote understanding of school trusts and CST’s role in helping the education system in England to keep improving. He also leads our Communications Professional Community. James trained as journalist and has wide-ranging experience across print, digital, and broadcast. Previous roles include media and public relations, marketing, strategy, governance, and data in a range of sectors including education, health, local government, and the arts. This includes both in-house and freelance work for school trusts.
James is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Head of Education, PLMR
As PLMR’s Head of Education, Tiffany provides expert strategic advice and support in reputation management and crisis communications, PR and media relations, public affairs and wider communications disciplines to school trusts and maintained schools; early years, further and higher education institutions; charities; sector bodies; edtech companies and organisations across the education sphere. She is also Chair of Trustees at Maritime Academy Trust, where she has obtained in-depth understanding of issues and challenges facing schools and trusts around the country. She was made an OBE for services to education in the King’s New Year Honours List 2024.
Head of Communications, CST
James is Head of Communications at the Confederation of School Trusts, helping promote understanding of school trusts and CST’s role in helping the education system in England to keep improving. He also leads our Communications Professional Community. James trained as journalist and has wide-ranging experience across print, digital, and broadcast. Previous roles include media and public relations, marketing, strategy, governance, and data in a range of sectors including education, health, local government, and the arts. This includes both in-house and freelance work for school trusts.
James is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Programme and timings are provisional and subject to change
