Samira Sadeghi

Director of Trust Governance, CST

Samira Sadeghi is Director of Trust Governance for CST. Prior to that, she was Head of Governance and Company Secretary at Academies Enterprise Trust, a multi-academy trust with 57 schools, and served as Regional Governance Officer at Ark Schools for four years. Before moving to the UK with her family in 2010, she was a criminal defence attorney and spent 12 years representing clients on California's death row in their post-conviction proceedings.

1 Workshops series two

Panel: The impact of AI on trust strategies

AI has the potential to transform education, but it also feels like the wild west. How should trustees be thinking about the role of AI in their trust strategies? In this panel discussion, we will consider the possibilities as well as the required guardrails to ensure effective and ethical use of AI in trusts. We will also be joined by Rory and Matilda, two pupils from Epsom College and Chertsey High School. They’ll be sharing their experiences and thoughts on AI and its benefits to their learning.

1 Workshops series one

Next-gen board leadership: Looking beyond skills

A traditional ‘skills audit’ will no longer suffice to capture the type of leadership style required for next-gen governance. In this panel discussion, we will explore sense-making, how it impacts decision making and how trusts can both recruit for and develop governance leaders who can lead through complexity.

09:15

1 Main programme

Welcome remarks

10:00

1 Main programme

Stewardship: Evolving our leadership style

Sam and Andy will delve into the concept of stewardship as a mindset and leadership style, exploring the 10 proposed shifts in thinking, practice, policy and implementation contained in the <a class="Hyperlink SCXW70054170 BCX8" href="https://cstuk.org.uk/knowledge/discussion-and-policy-papers/flourishing-together/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flourishing Together</a> and <a class="Hyperlink SCXW70054170 BCX8" href="https://cstuk.org.uk/knowledge/discussion-and-policy-papers/next-gen-governance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Next-gen governance</a> papers.

15:55

1 Main programme

Final reflections and close

Final reflections on the conference with the formal close at 16:00.

1 Workshop series three

The business of education: Using KPIs to achieve excellent outcomes for pupils

How can all parts of a school trust contribute meaningfully to excellent educational outcomes? And how can trust leaders and boards align around strategic priorities and be assured that all endeavours of the trust are focusing on delivering the best education for pupils? Ben March, Chief Finance and Operations Officer at STEP Academy Trust will be talking to Samira Sadeghi, Director of Trust Governance at CST about how STEP uses KPIs to facilitate educational outcomes. This session will cover how operations within STEP enable excellent educational outcomes for pupils, and how trustees engage with and support this practice. Ben will share how STEP developed a framework that balances consistency of expectation whilst appreciating the context of each school, how KPIs are using as part of this process, the importance of establishing the right interplay between KPIs to avoid unintended outcomes, and the impact that this is having across the trust.

15:05

1 Main programme

Principles of an effective safeguarding audit: A trust-led approach

CST's Samira Sadeghi will introduce a project to develop practical new support for trust-led safeguarding audits in partnership with our Safeguarding professional community. She'll set out the vision for a framework and principles that can be used in trusts of all sizes to underpin developmental and supportive audits, and how community members can share ideas and experience to help shape them.