Conference Programme | HMC Spring Conference 2025

Coffee and refreshments available amongst the exhibitors

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

Speakers: Melvyn Roffe, Chief Executive Officer, Clifton College Education Group and Chair of HMC Public Benefit and Partnerships Committee with Tom Campbell, E-ACT CEO and Ian Davenport, Programme Director Hg Foundation STEM Horizons

Speaker: Ali Henderson, Chief Executive, Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation (RNCSF)

Speaker: Marcus Shepherd, Education Director, E-ACT

Chair: Melvyn Roffe, Chief Executive Officer, Clifton College Education Group and Chair of HMC Public Benefit and Partnerships Committee

Coffee and refreshments available amongst the exhibitors

Speakers: Gordon Montgomery, Deputy Head Partnerships, Oundle School; Richard Shaw, Head, Kettering Buccleuch Academy; and Emily Gaunt, Principal, Thomas Deacon Academy

Chair: Leon Spence, Public Affairs Officer, HMC

Speaker: Philip Britton, HMC Chair-Elect and Head of Foundation, Bolton School

• HMC 2030 Strategy: Simon Hyde, General Secretary, HMC and Aatif Hassan, Founder and Chairman Dukes Education
• Launch of the new HMC Associate membership category for heads of state-funded schools:  Melanie Horsburgh, Director of Member Services, HMC

Lunch available amongst the exhibitors

i. Civitas report on the future of independent education: findings and recommendations
Speakers: Jim McConalogue, CEO, Civitas and Jodh Dhesi, Chief Executive Officer, King Edward VI Foundation, Birmingham

The Great Hall

ii. Creating, sustaining and developing partnerships
Speakers: Jeremy Walker, Head Master, St Peter’s York and Sharon Keelan-Beardsley, Head, All Saints Catholic School, York

Council Chamber

iii. Transformative partnerships – doing more with less
Speakers: Andrew Grounds, Housemaster, St Edward’s Oxford and Bex Holmes, Head of School Northern House Academy

Prince’s Room

iv. Feltham Sixth Form College – The story behind the foundation of a pioneering sixth form college in an historically underserved borough of London
(This workshop will run for 1 hour across both workshop sessions)
Speakers: Mark Nicholson, Deputy Head, Hampton School; Sarah Bainbridge, Head of Partnerships, Reach Academy; and Rebecca Taylor, Director of Outreach and Co-Curricular, Lady Eleanor Holles School

Worcester Room

i. Leveraging successful partnerships to enable young people to fulfil their potential
Speakers: Dr. Gitanjali Bhattachary, Head of Access and Partnerships, Director of Lumina and Tim Dalton, Director of Shaftesbury Enterprise

Council Chamber

ii. Understanding and communicating the impact of your partnerships: practical, low resource and meaningful ways to evaluate impact
Speaker: Ben Jones, Director of Partnerships, Alleyn’s School and Karl Edwards, Managing Director, ImpactEd Evaluation

The Great Hall

iii. Towards a National Strategy for Partnerships
Speaker: Dr Joe Spence, Chief Executive, School Partnerships Alliance

Prince’s Room

Speaker: Munira Wilson, MP

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Education, Children and Families)

Chair: Philip Britton, HMC Chair-Elect and Head of Foundation, Bolton School

Speaker: Philip Britton, HMC Chair-Elect and Head of Foundation, Bolton School

Drinks reception amongst the exhibitors