This year our conference was held across 5 sites for 3 distinct groups of staff. Secondary Teachers, Leaders and support staff attended their conference at Faringdon Community College. The day was a great success – bringing together staff from all four secondary schools to work collaboratively and in unity across faculties, attending workshops and engaging in a keynote address from Dr Keith Walton from NACE. With over 30 years’ experience of working in educational settings, Dr Keith Watson drew on his experiences as a former MAT CEO, Teaching School Leader and published researcher. Keith led the work on Portswood Primary School being the first school in the country to attain the NACE Challenge Award three times.

Primary support staff, teachers and leaders chose one of 3 conference locations to participate in a range of workshops, networking sessions and to hear from Dr Keith Watson for the keynote speech. 

Administrators, site staff, HR, Finance and operations staff came together for an innovative day at St Johns. Here they also took part in a range of workshop and networking sessions and joined together for a keynote address from Laura Williams.

Laura is a coach, trainer and all-round champion of school support staff, with nearly 20 years of leadership experience in the education sector. She’s a former School Business Manager, COO and CFO with specialist CIPD and CIPFA qualifications.

She now coaches school leaders at all levels, hosts the School Business Leadership and MAT Chat podcasts, runs an online SBL Coaching Community and works as a consultant with CST. Laura’s also an experienced governor and trustee, a speaker at education events across the UK and someone who believes support staff are the unsung heroes of every school. She’s powered by tea, Formula 1 and an ever-growing collection of to-do lists.

Feedback from the conference is always incredibly positive, with staff citing particular highlights as 'It is just brilliant to work with others from other schools in a similar role as mine. We are like one big team!' (Primary Administrator) and 'The professional development offered is vast. There is so much to choose from in terms of workshops, and the Keynote speaker hit the mark on uniting us in our current priorities.' (Teacher). We look forward to building on the successes of this year for our 2026 conference.