Conference Programme | HMC Autumn Conference 2023

‘Networking point’ banners will be in the hotel lobby and the entrance to the Riverside Restaurant for heads who would like to meet others for informal networking.

All members who have joined HMC since 2020 are invited to join this new members’ lunch, which offers an opportunity to meet friends and new colleagues, as well as members of senior staff from Head Office, Chairs of HMC Divisions, and members of HMC’s Professional Development Committee.

Speaker: Dr Simon Hyde

Speaker: Sue Woodroofe, HMC Chair and Principal, The Grammar School at Leeds

Speaker: Ben Walden, Contender Charlie

Chair: Shaun Fenton, Headmaster, Reigate Grammar School

‘Networking point’ banners will be in the hotel lobby and the entrance to the Riverside Restaurant for heads who would like to meet others for informal networking.

Reverend Taylor and Rt Reverend Nicholas Baines, Bishop of Leeds.

Donations to the church collection may be made via card machine or cash at the church.

A buffet supper will be available throughout the evening until 20.30, for those not going to the theatre.

New Members: Tables for all those who have joined HMC since 2020 are reserved in the Ballroom and will be clearly identified.  These tables will be hosted by members of HMC’s Professional Development and Membership Committees.

‘Club’ tables for members who wish to sit with fellow heads and make new connections will be reserved in the Ballroom and will be marked as such.

Ticketed performance

Breakfast available for those staying at the Crowne Plaza.

Fr David Rocks OP, Chaplain to The Oratory School

Reverend Anthony Bewes

Speaker: Sue Woodroofe, HMC Chair and Principal, The Grammar School at Leeds

Speaker: Pat Sowa, Director, Starfish: Wellbeing in Education

Chair: Mark Leppard, Headmaster, The British School Al Khubairat

TRIGGER WARNING: The content of this keynote includes reference to suicide

Speakers:

Charlene Lyons, Chief Executive & Executive Chair, Black Sheep Brewery

Estelle Morris, Baroness Estelle Morris of Yardley, former Secretary of State for Education and Skills

Jonathan Simons, Partner and Head of Education Practice, Public First

Chair: Jaideep Barot, Headmaster and HMC Chair-Elect, Bristol Grammar School

‘Networking point’ banners will be in the hotel lobby and the entrance to the Riverside Restaurant for heads who would like to meet others for informal networking.

The Seymour Room is available for members who wish to have a quiet meeting space for informal discussions.

• 1A: Assessment Innovation in Practice, Julia Martin, Chief Executive Officer, ISEB
• 1B: The future of Rugby Union in schools, Steve Grainger, Rugby Football Union
• 1C: Legal developments in the management of staff, parents and pupils, Tabitha Cave, Partner, VWV and Alice Reeve, Partner, VWV
• 1D: How schools cope with bereavement – putting support in place, Pat Sowa, Director, Starfish: Wellbeing in Education
• 1E: Getting the best out of your SLT, Ed Ampaw-Farr, CoFounder & Managing Director, Be Human First Ltd
• 1F: Sustainability in Schools – the latest research, Andrew Griffiths, Planet Mark
• 1G: Perform Better – Unlocking your students’ potential, Mike Buchanan, Founder, Positively Leading and David Harkin, Founder and CEO of 8billionideas
• 1H: Navigating headwinds – strategies to strengthen your school’s business model to help manage the risks political and fiscal change in an increasingly competitive market, Mark Taylor, Chair, AGBIS and Barney Northover, Partner, VWV
• 1I: Next Generation Assessment, Sarah Fletcher, High Mistress, St Paul’s Girls’ School
• 1J: Fundraising for School Leaders, Lou Bennett, Chief Executive IDPE and Simon Jones, Director of Development, Manchester Grammar School

• East – Harewood Room
• Irish – Boardroom
• London – Ballroom
• North East – Syndicate Room 1
• North West – Syndicate Room 2
• Scottish – Warwick Suite
• South Central – Charlecote Suite
• South East – Packwood Suite
• South West – Blenheim Suite
• West – Hidcote Room

New members’ tables will be clearly identified in the restaurant, and you will be joined by Chairs of HMC’s regional divisions

‘Club’ tables are in the will be clearly identified in the restaurant, for members who wish to sit with fellow heads and make new connections

The Seymour Room is available for members who wish to have a quiet meeting space for informal discussions.

• 2A: Vocational Qualifications, Michael Punt, Headmaster, Bromsgrove School
• 2B: Sports Participation – A Pathway to Wellbeing?, Amanda Vernalls, Head of Research and Insight at YST
• 2C: Supporting transition: navigating the journey from school to university safely, Nick Weaver, Headmaster, Ipswich School and Sarah Kerr-Dineen, Head, Oundle School
• 2D: Closed workshop, open to HMC member heads only
  Head to Head, Chris Wheeler, Principal, Monkton Combe School, Louise Simpson, Head, Exeter School, Martin Reader, Head, Cranleigh School and Toby Seth, Head, Pocklington School
• 2E: DAUK – digital trends report/survey, Charlotte Robertson and Emma Robertson, Digital Awareness UK
• 2F: Practical and proactive approaches to supporting wellbeing in schools, ‘How do we create a wellbeing culture for colleagues in our schools?’, Rachel Cooper, Head of HR, The Grammar School at Leeds
• 2G: Safeguarding: can school staff realistically manage the current challenges and who is safeguarding them?, Ruth Sullivan, Head, Sherborne Girls and Lisa Gritti, Deputy Head, Nottingham High School
• 2H: Navigating headwinds – strategies to strengthen your school’s business model to help manage the risks political and fiscal change in an increasingly competitive market, Mark Taylor, Chair, AGBIS and Barney Northover, Partner, VWV
• 2I: Getting the best out of your SLT, Ed Ampaw-Farr, CoFounder & Managing Director, Be Human First Ltd
• 2J: Inspection – Update on F23, Jason Slack, Head, The King’s School in Macclesfield

Speaker: Professor Steve Munby

Chair: Janet Williamson, Principal, The Royal Belfast Academical Institution

‘Networking point’ banners will be in the hotel lobby and the entrance to the Riverside Restaurant for heads who would like to meet others for informal networking.

The Seymour Room is available for members who wish to have a quiet meeting space for informal discussions.

Speakers: Professor Qing Gu and Dr Andy Hodgkinson, UCL IOE Centre for Educational Leadership

Chair: Ben Vessey, Headmaster, Canford School

To include drinks reception and optional tours of the Great Hall and State Rooms.

Drums: Jon Cox, Royal Grammar School, Guildford

Vocals: Lisa Kerr, Gordonstoun

Double Bass: Mike Windsor, Abingdon School

Pianist: Alex Wilson

Breakfast available for those staying at the Crowne Plaza.

Fr David Rocks OP, Chaplain to The Oratory School

Reverend Anthony Bewes

Registration required.

Speaker: David Olusoga

Chair: Martin Collier, Master, Haileybury

In 2023 history is front-page news. Long marginalised histories, most of them linked to Empire and Slavery, as being debated and contested as never before. While institutions across Britain, including many schools, are confronting their own uncomfortable pasts. And underpinning all of this is a deep gulf in attitudes between the generations. How can schools and teachers navigate through the history wars?

‘Networking point’ banners will be in the hotel lobby and the entrance to the Riverside Restaurant for heads who would like to meet others for informal networking.

The Seymour Room is available for members who wish to have a quiet meeting space for informal discussions.

Speaker: Jaz Ampaw-Farr

Chair: Jane Lunnon, Head, Alleyn’s School

Speaker: Sue Woodroofe, HMC Chair and Principal, The Grammar School at Leeds

End of formal conference – Two optional RSC run workshop sessions are available for those who have pre-booked. Please see further details below.

New members’ tables will be clearly identified in the restaurant.

‘Club’ tables are in the will be clearly identified in the restaurant, for members who wish to sit with fellow heads and make new connections

The Seymour Room is available for members who wish to have a quiet meeting space for informal discussions.

• 1. RSC workshop: Voice and Impact – This practical session will give participants the opportunity to hone their public speaking and communication skills through theatre-based techniques. The first half of the session will focus on exercises that help improve vocal health, tone and clarity, before exploring exactly what it is that makes a communicator deliver with “impact”.

• 2. RSC workshop: Creative Pedagogies – This session will focus on how the RSC’s rehearsal room approaches support a creative and critical engagement with cultural capital/literacy that raises moral and social questions to build cultural democracy. It will include dialogic exercises to expose and explore the expectations in the room around Shakespeare’s place on schools’ curricula. We will explore examples through practice of how creative and playful engagement with complex texts builds transferable skills and competencies of oracy and literacy. The session will focuson the openings of Twelfth Night and Hamlet; no prior knowledge needed (but welcomed).