Welcome remarks by Steve Rollett, Deputy Chief Executive, CST, and Chair of CST’s School improvement professional community.
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.
Keynote address from Dr Ben Jensen, CEO, Learning First.
CEO, Learning First
Ben has advised governments in Australia, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia on education strategy and reform. Before founding Learning First in 2014, he was director of the Grattan Institute’s School Education Program. He also worked with numerous education systems across the world during five years at the OECD, where he conducted research on education policy and school and teacher effectiveness.
Keynote address from Daisy Christodoulou MBE, Director of Education, No More Marking.
Director of Education, No More Marking
Daisy Christodoulou is Director of Education at No More Marking, a provider of online comparative judgement assessments. She works closely with schools in the UK, Australia and USA on developing new approaches to assessment, and on applications of artificial intelligence in the classroom.
Before that, she was Head of Assessment at Ark Schools, a network of academy schools. She has taught English in two London comprehensives and has been part of UK government commissions on the future of teacher training and assessment.
Daisy is the author of three books about education: Seven Myths about Education (2013), Making Good Progress? The future of Assessment for Learning (2017), and Teachers vs Tech (2020).
Keynote address from Danielle Lewis-Egonu, CEO, Cygnus Academies Trust.
CEO, Cygnus Academies Trust
Danielle Lewis-Egonu is the CEO of Cygnus Academies Trust. She has worked in school improvement and leadership development for over 20 years, supporting schools, leaders and local authorities. She is a published author writing about education and leadership and has recently co-authored a chapter in Outstanding School Leadership published by Bloomsbury Education. The book highlights the positive impact of leaders across the UK and globally.
Keynote address from Anne Heavey, Director of Insights and Dr Neil Gilbride, Associate Dean, Ambition.
Director of Insights, Ambition Institute
Anne is Director of Insights at Ambition Institute. Anne’s previous roles include Priority Project Lead: School Inspection Policy at Ofsted and National Director of Whole School SEND, as well as an earlier career as a music teacher, with extensive experience in schools and education. She has significant expertise in special educational needs and has advised the Department of Education on several occasions, most recently as a member of the 2025 expert group on inclusion in mainstream education.
Associate Dean, Ambition Institute
Dr Neil Gilbride CPsychol is Associate Dean at Ambition institute, and is a subject matter expert on SEND, inclusion, and leadership.
He is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Worcester . As a Chartered Psychologist, he applies the principles of psychology to leadership, learning and organisational behaviour. Neil's research explores the intersection of complexity theory and adult psychology to ask how we can better understand decision making within complex and wicked problems at strategic levels of responsibility. He is also an Associate Dean with Ambition Institute and advisor to the DfE NPQ framework review.
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.