Speakers

Amy is the Director of Primary Education within St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust. She joined the St Joseph CMAT following headship within REAch2 Academy Trust, the largest primary only trust in the country. She has an unrelenting focus on ensuring that all children receive the best possible education, and has a strong track record of successful school improvement within areas of high deprivation. Amy brings extensive experience of working with the most vulnerable children and has demonstrated the ability to improve children’s lives through education. With a driving force for collaboration and developing expertise, Amy has supported many schools and individuals to demonstrate excellence and thrive in their settings. Amy’s support ensures that school communities are empowered to achieve the very best educational success for all.

Andrew is the first substantive Chief Executive Officer of St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust. In his previous role, Andrew was the executive headteacher of two Ofsted-rated outstanding academies in Sheffield and a third school, which was in special measures when he took it on, that is now judged to be good in all areas. Andrew founded Learning Unlimited Teaching School Alliance, a teaching school with one of the strongest track records in South Yorkshire, was the strategic lead for St Wilfrid’s English Hub and a member of the English Hubs Council. Andrew is a National Leader of Education and has been personally responsible for a number of highly successful, large-scale school improvement projects

Felicity Gillespie is the Chief Executive of Kindred2, a private foundation focused on improving the quality of early childhood development. She is currently a member of the independent expert panel advising Sir David Bell’s Review of Early Years, commissioned by the Labour Party.

Felicity has been an Advisor to the UK Department for Education since 2011 and the lead specialist Academy Governance Advisor for six years. A board member of Ofsted, previous roles include establishing the Broadcast Training and Skills Regulator and The National Teaching Awards. As the education and training advisor at the Confederation of British Industry, she represented the UK on EU education and training programme boards.

A former Associate of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and of the National College of School Leadership, Felicity has served as a national judge of the UK National Training Awards on many occasions and speaks on the British education system at conferences and seminars in the USA, Middle East and UK.

Gill works for Busy Bees Nurseries as their international lead for quality and safeguarding. She also leads the CST Professional Community for Early Years.

Until recently, Gill was the deputy director for schools and early education at Ofsted, where she was responsible for school inspection policy, the curriculum unit, SEND, early years regulation and inspection, ITE, literacy and inspector training. She also led on the inspection of reading and worked closely with the DfE English hubs. As a HMI, she inspected schools, children's centres, SEND, local authorities and early years settings.

Before joining Ofsted, she was a headteacher of several primary schools. Her specialist subjects are English, particularly the teaching of reading, and music.

Jennifer is the Research and Impact Manager at the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales where she supports their early years and mental health programmes. Jennifer has also recently worked as a research assistant at King’s College London, most notably contributing to the analysis of interviews conducted for the ESMI-II study into the effectiveness of community perinatal mental health services. She is also a part-time PhD student at the Section of Women’s Mental Health at the IoPPN at King’s, where her research centres around the concept of maternal instinct.

Jenny joined Busy Bees in 2006 and has been an integral part of its quality team for over a decade. With significant experience as a frontline educator, Jenny brings a thorough understanding of child development and the importance of quality early years education to develop a lifelong love of learning.

As Lead Academic Research and Developer for Busy Bees, Jenny has worked collaboratively with a range of early years professionals to develop 'Bee Curious'; Busy Bees' expertly developed, playfully taught curriculum. Alongside her commitment to Busy Bees, she gained a masters degree in early childhood education in 2021.

Katharine Young is Head of School/Deputy Head Teacher at Elmhurst Primary School, a large, outstanding primary school in Newham, East London. She has over 15 years teaching experience in Primary Education, including nearly 10 years in school leadership. She is a keen advocate for reading for pleasure, having written a reading for pleasure leadership programme for the English Hubs network.

Katherine Roberts is an Assistant Head Teacher at Elmhurst Primary School which is a large, outstanding school in Newham, East London. The school is part of New Vision Trust, a group of five schools across Newham and Redbridge. Katherine is an experienced senior leader with over 20 years of teaching experience in Key Stage 1 and early years. She is an expert reading leader and has supported schools through New Vision English Hub in improving their phonics provision.

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.

Rachel is Headteacher at New Marston Primary School, an RLT primary school for children aged 2-11 with a hearing resource base and SLCN enhanced provision. She is also a teacher development trust facilitator. Prior to her role as headteacher, Rachel was a special education needs coordinator. Rachel is passionate about making sure school is a positive experience for everyone in the community: all pupils, including pupils with SEND, families and staff.

With a background in early childhood education, Sadie has hands-on experience working with two to three year-olds and supporting children with complex physical disabilities. Since joining Community Playthings in 2012, Sadie has held several roles, including head of the room design department, in which she specialised in creating bespoke environments. Sadie now works as an Account Manager, using her knowledge of childcare and design to better serve Community Playthings' customers. On weekends, Sadie enjoys spending time outdoors with her three daughters.

Siân has recently been appointed as new CEO ERIC. She brings both clinical and commercial experience, having spent more than 40 years in the health, social care, and education sectors. She previously served as chief executive officer of two hospices notably Haven House babies' children’s and young person's hospice. She continues as Chairman of the Board for Achieving for Children Ltd. She has held executive and chief nurse roles in the independent mental health, specialist education and adult social care sector, in addition to her clinical expertise with neonates, children and young people.

Passionate about making a difference, she has devoted her career to improving outcomes for children and young people and brings with her a strong network of connections in the children’s health, education and social care spaces.