Matt Freeston

CEO, Learners' Trust

As founding CEO, Matt has designed the operational model and led the Learners’ Trust since its inception in 2016. Matt is pupil premium kid who grew up in Sheffield and has worked in education leadership for 20 years across Derbyshire and Rotherham. He has completed various qualifications for leadership, including a recent first-class MBA in Executive Education at Buckinghamshire University. Matt’s skills and areas of interest are in school improvement strategy, leadership development and operational effectiveness. He is a qualified executive coach and has worked with colleagues across the country, supporting their development as leaders. Matt is a self-confessed IT nerd and poor-quality; guitar player, singer and golfer.

Laying strong foundations

1 Workshop series three

From manual to managed: Designing and sustaining workflows at scale

Room: Mercian

As trusts grow, operational processes often become fragmented and harder to manage consistently. Many are beginning to automate workflows, but moving from isolated efficiencies to trust-wide coherence brings new challenges around ownership, governance and system design. This session explores how trusts are approaching workflow automation in practice - where they begin, which processes they prioritise, and how they maintain clarity as adoption scales. Leaders will share practical examples of what has worked, where challenges emerge, and how they are creating clearer, more connected operational workflows across their organisations.