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

As trusts grow, operational processes multiply in complexity. Many are beginning to automate, but moving from isolated efficiencies to consistent, organisation-wide practice brings new challenges. This session explores how trusts get started with workflow automation, the processes they prioritise, and how they sustain clarity, ownership and governance as adoption scales. Leaders will share practical examples of what has worked and where challenges emerge. A key focus is how trusts maintain coherence as their workflow landscape evolves - how systems interact, where processes sit, and how fragmentation is avoided - ensuring automation delivers meaningful, sustainable impact.