Boarding Future Project – Training Day

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• Date: June 18, 2024 
• Time: 09:30 – 15:15
• Cost: BSA Full Member Whole School Rate – £215, BSA Affiliate Member – £325, BSA Additional Affiliate Member – £140, Non-member School Rate – £430
• Audience: Heads, Senior Deputy Heads, Compliance Leads, Marketing team, Pastoral and Safeguarding leads, Bursars and Governors
• Platform: Zoom

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Sign up for this course – one price for as many participants as you want for the whole school. This day is designed to support the different departments within a school to all work together to plan for the uncertain future we all face. A school ticket will allow a variety of members of staff to access the session(s) relevant to them during the day.

This conference will address political, economic and social trends and challenges that the boarding sector should be looking to face head on. Bringing together a range of sector experts and leading voices, delegates will have the opportunity to reflect on essential themes with the aim of being less reactionary and better prepared for what the future has in store for boarding. The boarding sector can develop and improve with the view to strengthen as well as safeguarding its future if due consideration is given to current and arising issues. 

BOOK NOW

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Programme:

09:30 – 10:30

Session 1 – Political session 

Global politics impacts on the day-to-day running of our boarding schools, and the sector continues to make headlines through its potential political campaign weight. Our panel of experts will consider the latest and most significant political themes for boarding schools and encourage delegates to face these head on in planning, strategy and risk mitigation.   

• Chair: TBC
  • Speaker: Simon Nathan, Deputy Chief Executive & Head of Policy, Independent Schools Council (ISC)

10:30 – 10:45

Break

10:45 – 11:45

Session 2 – Compliance session

It remains essential for our schools to not only be compliant, but to strive for excellence and best practice in key areas relating to the delivery of care for young people, and the wider school community. This session will highlight and consider important changes to compliance and process to support delegates in their journey beyond compliance and to excellence.  

• Chair: David Walker, Director, BSA
  • Speakers: Kate Hollyer, Legal and Public Affairs Director

11:45 – 12:00

Break

12:00 – 13:00

Session 3 – Pupil Recruitment – Marketing and Finance session

Our prospective boarding families are currently faced with reviewing financial priorities. This is therefore a crucial time to consider the marketing efforts and processes of your school. Are you maximising current efforts, and have you considered new and cost-effective ways to reach prospective students? This session will make recommendations for members to consider utilising in their settings.  

• Chair: TBC
  • Speaker: James Wilton, Deputy Head (Marketing & Admissions) and Director of Digital Development, Repton College

13:00 – 14:00

Lunch

14:00 – 15:00

Session 4 – Mental health and staff wellbeing 

Arguably the most important resource for a boarding school, healthy staff are hugely valuable and a tremendous asset. Living and working in boarding can often combine personal and professional pressures, this session will consider new initiatives or schemes that promote and support staff wellbeing and focus on investing in good mental health practices for staff, who in turn can lead by example.   

• Chair: Jo Cameron, Principal, Queenswood School and Chair, BSA
  • Speaker:
    • Jenny Griggs. Head of Student Emotional Health and Wellbeing, Wellington College
    • Sian Rees-Evans, Director of Communications and Marketing, Wycombe Abbey
    • Sophie Harle, Director of People, Wycombe Abbey
    • Alicia Drummond, Founder of Teen Tips Ltd
    • Mark Solomon, Founder of Welbee

15:00 – 15:15

Conference close

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Speakers:

David Walker, Director, BSA

David is the BSA Director 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.

 

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Kate Hollyer, Legal and Public Affairs Director

Kate is Legal and Public Affairs Director of BSA Group and Director of BSA Group Legal Services Ltd, BSA Group’s SRA-regulated law firm. As a qualified solicitor of England and Wales with more than 12 years’ experience advising clients on UK immigration and nationality law, Kate supports members with all UK immigration matters including UKVI sponsor licence compliance. Kate is a member of the Home Office Education Advisory Group and is the boarding sector representative for this group. Prior to joining BSA in 2022 Kate was Partner and Head of Department at a leading full-service UK law firm. Having resided in state, preparatory and senior school boarding houses since 2014 with her Housemaster husband, Kate has a unique perspective of boarding life.

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Simon Nathan, Deputy Chief Executive & Head of Policy, Independent Schools Council (ISC)

Simon leads the policy and political affairs team for the ISC – a trade association representing 1,400 independent schools. This includes managing ISC’s relationships with Ministers, civil servants and MPs on behalf of member schools. Since taking post in January 2019, Simon has led ISC’s work on promoting the value of independent schools within political debate and co-ordinating the sector’s response during  Covid.  Prior to joining ISC Simon worked for trade bodies in construction and the education policy team at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). He has a degree in economics and politics from Cambridge University.

 

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Jo Cameron, Principal, Queenswood School and Chair, BSA

Jo Cameron has been Principal of Queenswood School since 2016, having previously worked as Deputy Head at Ipswich High School for Girls.

A graduate of the University of Surrey (St Mary’s College) with an honours degree in

Environmental Science, for the past 23 years Mrs Cameron has worked almost exclusively in

all girls’ schools. She began her teaching career as a Science teacher specialising in Biology at St Mary’s, Wantage, where she quickly progressed to become Head of the Science Department. She has a deep understanding and appreciation of the unique opportunities that single sex education offers, and is firmly of the belief that ‘happy girls are successful girls’.

Beyond the classroom, in her spare time Mrs Cameron is a keen sportswoman, with a passion for hockey, running and equestrianism.

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Alicia Drummond, Founder of Teen Tips Ltd

Alicia is passionate about providing evidenced-based advice to parents, teachers and all those looking after children and young people, so they can be pro-active in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of those in their care.  Alicia also works directly with children and young people empowering them to look after their mental health and wellbeing.

Alicia draws on the latest research from psychotherapy, psychology and neuroscience, along with her experience of working as an adolescent therapist.

Alicia is a BACP accredited therapist, parenting expert, sought after keynote speaker, member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for a Fit and Healthy Childhood, author and a mother.  She is regularly sought for her expert opinion by the media.

Having worked with schools across the UK for more than a decade delivering webinars, talks and workshops to parents, carers, staff, and pupils; in 2020 Alicia created The Wellbeing Hub. This award-winning platform offers a proactive approach to young people’s mental health and wellbeing by providing evidenced-based support for the whole school community – staff, parents, carers and pupils.  The platform is currently impacting more than 130,000 pupils in over 220 schools.

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Sophie Harle, Director of People, Wycombe Abbey

Sophie Harle joined Wycombe Abbey in April 2022 as Director of People and leads the School’s HR function. She leads on planning and implementing the people strategy in line with Wycombe Abbey’s values and strategic direction and is a member of the Staff Wellbeing Committee. Sophie has an MA in Social and Political Sciences from St John’s College, Cambridge as well as an MSc in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck College, University of London. She is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a member of the Independent Schools Bursar’s Association.

Sophie previously worked as Director of Human Resources at Tanglin Trust School in Singapore.

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Jenny Griggs. Head of Student Emotional Health and Wellbeing, Wellington College

Jenny is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with 18 years’ experience working in CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service) within the NHS, in her own independent practice, and for the University of Reading. Jenny specialised in CBT and has a passion for working with teenagers and young adults.

Jenny’s role at Wellington College has been designed to drive forward the momentum of Wellington’s wellbeing provision as the College builds the right support structures to help current and future pupils. She has oversight of all pupils who are struggling with their mental health and will ensure they receive the right care at the right time. This might be via Wellington’s expanding team of highly trained school counsellors or through external support.

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Mark Solomon, Founder of Welbee

Mark Solomons, a former Sainsbury’s bank retail director and operating board member, has spent the last 15 years working with hundreds of schools, MATs, and Districts to help them improve leadership, culture, and staff wellbeing. He is a Trustee and has participated in school governance in this role or as a governor for over 20 years.

He co-founded a national charity taking Olympians into schools to support the 2012 games, with over 250,000 students benefiting from the programme. He founded Welbee, a highly effective staff wellbeing measurement and improvement platform, creating a systemised process with a focus on helping schools to take action and deliver change.

His second book, “What makes teachers unhappy and what can you do about it? Building a culture of Staff Wellbeing,” was published by Routledge in September 2023.

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Sian Rees-Evans, Director of Communications and Marketing, Wycombe Abbey

Following a career in Higher Education working at the University of Oxford, Sian Rees-Evans has worked in independent schools since 2013. Currently Sian is Director of Communications and Marketing at Wycombe Abbey, a girls’ boarding school in Buckinghamshire. She is a member of the Wider Senior Leadership Team and works closely with the Executive Team, development and alumni relations, admissions, and partnerships colleagues to develop and implement the School’s vision, values and strategy and also plays a key role in supporting the School’s commercial activity and international expansion. Sian is a lay panellist for the Teacher Regulation Agency (Department for Education). She has a PhD from King’s College London and a BSc (Hons) from the University of East London and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketers.  Sian was a founder member of the Staff Wellbeing Committee at Wycombe Abbey and is passionate about making a positive impact on staff wellbeing across the whole staff body.

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James Wilton, Deputy Head (Marketing & Admissions) and Director of Digital Development, Repton College

James Wilton is Deputy Head at Repton, where he has taught since 2011. Leading Repton’s Marketing and Admissions team, he has overseen complete review and renewal of these functions alongside wider strategic planning through his role on the Executive. Previously at Whitgift School in South London where he was Deputy Head of Sixth Form and Oxbridge Coordinator, he was Head of English at Repton for four years before taking over as Housemaster of New House. Passionate about every aspect of education, in recent years he has, as a Microsoft Fellow and Director of Digital Development, spearheaded the effective use of IT in teaching and learning at Repton. Educated at a local Derby state school, he graduated from Oxford University in 2002 with the Violet Vaughan Morgan Prize for English Literature. He is proud husband to Lucy and father to Betsy (13) and Teddy (11), both at Repton Prep.