Health & Wellbeing Conference
🏷️ From £200
🎧 School nurses, health/medical centre leads, health/medical centre staff, pastoral leads, wellbeing leads
📍 In person – Haileybury, Hertford SG13 7NU
Course overview:
This will be the first in-person Health and Wellbeing Conference since HIEDA was established, marking a significant milestone in bringing together professionals dedicated to the care and development of young people. With a focus on nutrition, policy development, suicide prevention, and understandings of bereavement, the event offers expert-led sessions designed to provide both strategic insight and practical approaches to supporting young people in educational settings.
The conference will provide opportunities for knowledge exchange, interactive discussion, and reflective practice, ensuring that delegates leave with greater confidence and a refreshed toolkit for addressing emerging challenges in school communities.
This event will be held jointly with:
Programme:
09:30
Registration
10:00 – 10:15
Conference Welcome
David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding & Education and Director, BSA/TIOB
10:15 – 11:00
Session 1 – Performance Nutrition: Supporting Everyday Health and Success
This session will explore how everyday nutrition habits underpin health, wellbeing and performance in both sport and school life. It will focus on practical, evidence-based strategies to support energy levels, concentration and consistency, while challenging common misconceptions around “healthy eating”. The session will emphasise realistic approaches that can be applied in busy school and boarding environments, with clear, actionable takeaways.
Speaker: Dan Richardson, MSc, SENr, Performance Nutrition Expert
11:00 – 12:00
Session 2 – Policy Development for Self-Harm and Health-Harming Behaviours.
Guidance on shaping effective, sensitive, and evidence-informed school policies to respond to self-harm and harmful behaviours.
Speaker: Dr Jody Walshe, Educational and Child Psychologist
12:00 – 13:00
Lunch and Networking
Take the opportunity to meet our fantastic Nurse Advisors, Skyler and Rosie, who’ll be on hand throughout the event to chat and answer any questions you may have.
13:00 – 13:45
Session 3 – Supporting Recovery and Rest: Wound Care and Adolescent Sleep
This session explores two key areas of everyday health care in school settings: effective wound care and the importance of healthy sleep in adolescence. It will provide practical guidance on managing common injuries safely and consistently, alongside evidence-based insights into adolescent sleep patterns and how poor sleep impacts wellbeing, behaviour, and learning. Delegates will leave with clear, practical approaches they can apply immediately to support student health and recovery.
Speaker: Rosie McManus, Nurse Advisor, HIEDA
13:45 – 14:30
Session 4 – Managing Allergies in Schools: New Statutory Guidance
The Government has announced transformative new statutory guidance for all schools in England, coming into effect by September 2026. This session will give independent school nurses clarity on exactly what the new requirements mean for your school and practical guidance on how to implement them confidently.
We’ll cover:
- What the new statutory guidance will require and if you need to follow them
- How these requirements translate into day-to-day practice in your school
- Practical steps to ensure you’re September-ready
- How to move from compliance to genuine confidence in managing allergy safety
With 1-2 children in every classroom living with food allergies, these measures aren’t just about meeting new requirements – they’re about creating environments where every child can participate fully and safely in school life. Whether you’re starting from scratch or building on existing systems, this session will give you a clear roadmap for implementing the new guidance effectively.
Led by Sarah Knight, founder of The Allergy Team, which co-authored the Schools Allergy Code that informed the new statutory guidance and has supported over 400 schools with allergy management.
Speaker: Sarah Knight, The Allergy Team
14:30 – 15:00
Refreshments and Networking
15:00 – 15:45
Session 5 – Suicide prevention in educational settings
Best practices for early identification, intervention, and support. Strategies to build resilience and strengthen protective factors within school communities.
Speaker: Harry Mansfield, The Awareness Key
15:45 – 16:30
Session 6 – Bereavement and grief in schools: The overlooked dimensions
Examining the often-unspoken aspects of grief, including the ripple effects on peers, staff, and family systems. Considerations for long-term support beyond immediate response.
Speaker: Dr Jody Walshe, Educational and Child Psychologist
16:30
CONFERENCE CLOSE
Speaker:
David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding & Education and Director, BSA/TIOB
David is the Executive Director, Boarding and Director BSA/TIOB and joined the BSA group in August 2023. He has over 20 years’ experience in boarding schools and has worked in a range of schools in the UK and Africa, alongside being a prep school governor and a trustee of a MAT. Before taking up his post at the BSA, David was Deputy Head Pastoral at a large co-ed independent school in the South-East.
Dan Richardson, MSc, SENr, Performance Nutrition Expert
Dan Richardson is a performance nutrition expert who supports elite and school-level athletes to optimise their health and athletic potential. He’s worked professionally as a nutritionist with teams such as Manchester City, Sale Sharks, Warrington Wolves and currently is currently the Academy Nutrition Lead at Leeds United. His approach to nutrition is simple, evidence-based & food-first, focusing on utilising the latest nutrition research to support all students and athletes.
Skyler Moulder, Senior Nurse Advisor, HIEDA
Skyler did her Adult Nursing BSc at Kings College London in 2011 and went straight into community nursing. After the birth of her first son she stumbled into community school nursing and never looked back. During her time as a community school nurse she covered primary and secondary schools all across Cambridgeshire. She completed training such as the CAMHS foundation module, Sexual Health and Contraception module and was trained in Safeguarding Children Level 3. She completed her PG Diploma in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing in 2016 when she was pregnant with her second son, which she later topped up to a full MSc in 2023 when she was pregnant with her daughter! This also included qualifying as a Nurse Prescriber. Skyler co-lead the development of a 0-19 Duty Desk and the introduction of the Chathealth text service in Cambridgeshire Community Services. In 2019 she became a Team Manager for the CCS Healthy Child Programme – managing a team of Nursery Nurses, Health Visitors and School Nurses during the pandemic. In 2020 she was recruited to be the Lead Nurse at The Leys in Cambridge, to lead a team covering 24 hour care for around 575 pupils (over half of which are boarders). This is where she is now and where her passion for independent school nursing started.
Rosie McManus, Nurse Advisor, HIEDA
Trained at Great Ormond Street, Rosie made the move to the independent sector in 2006. With an MA in Medical Ethics and Law and the Specialist Community Pubic Health Nurse qualification her passion remains promoting the Healthy Child Programme, and promoting the visibility of school nurses in the independent sector.
Harry Mansfield, The Awareness Key
Harry Mansfield is an award winning trainer and best-selling author, better known as “The MindPower Champion”. She teaches how to achieve a VIPMind®; a mind that is Victorious, Ignites and Protects the right way.
Coaching for 25 years, she and her licensees offer a trackable, training blueprint teaching you how to “Power Up Your Mind Before It Powers You Down®”, giving students and staff skills for todays’ fast paced, ever changing world of high expectations.
To date all qualifications in this country have been reactive. Harry, and her licensees, show you how to train your mind to achieve success and avoid daily suffering. She shows the only way forward is to not have our heads in the sand and how to address the root cause.
Sarah Knight, CEO and Founder, The Allergy Team
Sarah Knight is Founder and CEO of The Allergy Team, which supports schools to manage food allergies. The company co-created the Department for Education backed Schools Allergy Code, a framework for best practice, and runs Designated Allergy Lead training as well as the Schools Allergy Register. Before setting up The Allergy Team, Sarah was a senior TV executive working on prime-time BBC shows including Your Home Made Perfect and the flagship consumer show, Watchdog. Sarah has two children, both with food allergies.
Dr Jody Walshe, Educational and Child Psychologist
Dr Jody Walshe is an Educational and Child Psychologist working in London borough. Jody completed her doctorate at the University of East London. She is also a Consultant Psychologist providing consultations for foster carers and supervising social workers. She is a registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council. Before commencing her training, Jody worked as a teacher, learning support assistant and tutor with young people from 5-19. The focus of much of her work looked at anxiety and mental health issues in school settings. Her doctoral research explored the experiences, perceptions and training needs of secondary school staff working with self-harm.
Tracey Boseley, Head of Education Sector Support at Child Bereavement UK
Tracey’s links with the education sector began early in her career as she developed an outreach programme for schools and universities. This led her to qualify as a teacher and she has taught across the primary phase. She specialised in supporting vulnerable pupils and their families, particularly young people with autism and sensory processing disorder. In 2018, Tracey joined Child Bereavement UK; her role includes raising the profile of bereavement across the education sector, research projects, supporting education professionals, developing resources and content for training courses. She has also designed online resources for education professionals in collaboration with London Grid for Learning.
