3 April 2025 at the Eastside Rooms, Birmingham
Advance tickets are now available for this popular event, which brings together school trust leaders from across the country.
The event will focus on the strategic issues that matter most to this important aspect of education, with speakers drawn from trust practitioners, policy experts, and the wider sector.
Full details of the programme and speakers will be released nearer the date but you can secure your place now.
Hear from some of today's leading educational thinkers
Give you and your leadership team time to re-think how your trust works
Connect with colleagues from school trusts across the country
Engage with innovative providers to the school trust sector
This conference is an extension of the CST School improvement professional community - a unique space for school trust staff to network, share, and learn, all year round. Community membership is an integral part of CST membership.
HM Chief Inspector, Ofsted
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.
Athlete and campaigner
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.
Children’s Commissioner for England
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.
Scientist and broadcaster
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.
CST members only: Full conference access including keynotes, workshops, lunch, and resources
Book your place£420 inc VAT at 20%
CST members only: Full conference access including keynotes, workshops, lunch, and resources plus a networking dinner the night before the conference
Book your place£468 inc VAT at 20%
Non-CST member place for conference including keynotes, workshops, and lunch
Available soon£498 inc VAT at 20%
Our conference takes place at the Eastside Rooms, Birmingham.
We recommend using public transport wherever possible to attend. The venue is within Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone and there may be additional fees for driving to the venue.
Eastside Rooms
2 Woodcock Street
Birmingham
B7 4BL
The conference takes place on 3 April 2025.
The full programme will published nearer to the event date, but delegate registration is expected to begin at around 08:30 with main programme running approximately 09:30 to 16:00.
Delegate places include full access to conference main sessions, workshops, and exhibition, plus refreshments, and lunch during the day.
Overnight accommodation is not included and delegates are responsible for their own travel arrangements.
The event programme is provisional and subject to change. Booking terms and conditions apply.
Imagery is from past events and may not reflect the 2025 programme.
Confederation of School Trusts · Registered in England & Wales, company no: 05303883 · Charity no: 1107640.
CST Professional Development Ltd · Registered in England & Wales, company no: 10354936 · VAT Registration Number 270 0880 18
Registered offices both at Suite 1, Whiteley Mill, 39 Nottingham Road, Stapleford, Nottingham, NG9 8AD.