BSA Conference – Curiouser and Curiouser: Why Research Matters

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• Date: Thursday 29 September 2022
• Time: 09:15 – 16:00
• Cost: Full BSA Member – £195, Affiliate Member – £295, Non-Member – £390, Full BSA Member Whole School – £450
• Audience: Suitable for any member of staff / particularly useful for staff in leadership roles
• Platform: Zoom (online)

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This one-day online conference will focus on the importance of research culture in helping us explore the complexities of EDI Issues and seeks to challenge our thinking and to drive effective strategy forward in our schools. As well as signposting recent research across a wide range of areas linked to EDI, speakers will consider research as an opportunity and tool that can deepen understanding, challenge perceptions and celebrate creative and critical thinking.

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Programme format and topics:

09:15 – 09:30 Welcome and introduction
Ammy Davies-Potter, Director of Guardianship and Inclusion, BSA Group
Irfan Latif, Conference Chair and Principal, DLD College London
Darcy Bourne, GB and England Professional Hockey Player, Wellington College Alumni

09:30 – 10:15 Why research?
Chair: Nick Wergan, Global Education Director, Inspired Education Group
Speakers: Professor Abigail Harrison Moore, Professor of Art History and Museum Studies, University of Leeds
Louise Banahene MBE, Director of Educational Engagement, university of Leeds

Focusing on EDI, this session will consider the explorative value and power of research and the importance of
engaging ourselves and our pupils in the journey to know, to see and to understand

10:15 – 10:30     Break

10:30 – 11:15     Student led projects and empathy
Chair: Bex Tear, Executive Head, Fulham School
Speakers: Rebecca Crumpton, Curriculum Support Manager, AQA
Ed Kirwan, CEO and Founder, Empathy Week

This session will explore the benefits of student led projects – focusing on how they can support successful transitions as well as building confidence and resilience. Empathy has been shown to increase creativity and reduce biases; Based on recent research that has highlighted the ways in which empathy can increase creativity and reduce biases, this session will address the ways in which empathy can be developed and why it is such a crucial skill to develop in our students.

11:15 – 11:30     Break

11:30 – 12:15     Racial equity in education and adultification of children
Chair: Gavin Horgan, Head, Millfield School
Speakers: Kiki Nartey, Education Lead, FLAIR
Coco Stevenson, Director of Inclusion, St Paul’s Girls’​ School and Educational Consultant

This session will firstly focus on unpacking and highlighting key information and learnings from a recent racial equity in education report. Over 80 schools were surveyed with the aim of finding out how best to create an education system that enables all children and staff to thrive. Secondly, key information and a summary of research around the area of adultification bias will be explored. The damaging limitations of assigning children adult attributes and inappropriate levels of maturity will be considered as will the means through which this can be addressed.

12:15 – 13:00     Lunch

13:00 – 13:45     The why, what and how of using research to further impact: a case study
Chair: Liz Hewer, Head, St George’s School
Speakers: Temi Akindele Barker, Founder, Inclusion Labs
Dr Naomi Leite, Inclusion Consultant and Reader in Anthropology, SoAS, University of London

This case-study focused session will provide the opportunity to hear and learn more about the possibilities offered by the effective use of research to maximise impact.

13:45 – 14:00     Break

14:00 – 14:45     Self-identity and animal assisted interventions

Chair: Natasha Dangerfield, Headmistress, Westonbirt School
Speakers:  Dr Emma Loveridge, Director, Rafan House
Professor Jo Williams, Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology, University of Edinburgh

Following on from the theme of last year’s EDI conference: identity, belonging and connectedness, this sessionwill start by considering how a culture can be empowered to such an extent that    self-identity can be embraced wholeheartedly. Next, in the context of the increase in child and adolescent well-being and health concerns in schools, the opportunity for animal assisted interventions will be discussed. Key areas will include what research tells us about the impact that children’s attachment to pets can have along with animal-assisted therapies and/or learning.

14:45 – 15:00     Break

15:00 – 15:45    Architectural history, bystanders and intercultural pedagogies
Chair: Mark Lauder, Headmaster, Strathallan School and BSA Interim Chair, 2022
Speakers: Professor Abigail Harrison Moore, Professor of Art History and Museum Studies, University of Leeds
Jonathan Charleswoth, Executive Director Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH)
Dr Karem Roitman, Consultant – Education, Gender, Social Inclusion

The last session of the day will start with exploring a school’s physical environment as an effective space and the impact this may have on the sense of belonging for pupils and staff who may respond differently to the fabric of architecture as well as to its historical and cultural references. The role and impact of bystanders will then be considered along with practical strategies to inspire someone to become an upstander. Through the consideration of art and literature as tools for creating empathy, self-understanding and inclusion, our final speaker will share insights from research on intercultural education. They will discuss how these insights might be applied to other areas of inclusion such as neurodiversity.

15:45 – 16:00     Closing remarks
Irfan Latif, Conference Chair and Principal, DLD College London
Robin Fletcher, Chief Executive, BSA and BSA Group

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Speaker bios:

Ammy Davies-Potter, Director of Guardianship and Inclusion, BSA Group

Ammy is Director of Guardianship and Inclusion and a member of the BSA Foundation Trust. She joined the Group in 2020 following a career in education and was latterly a Deputy Head of an all-girls boarding school. Ammy is a member of the ISC inclusion group and is currently studying for a Masters in Inclusive Education.

 

 

 

Irfan Latif, Conference Chair and Principal, DLD College London

Irfan is currently the Principal of DLD College London, part of the Alpha Plus Group of schools which was recently named ‘Boarding School of the Year’. He has been the Chairman of the State Boarding Schools’ Forum, the Vice Chair of the Boarding Schools’ Association and is its London Chair. He sits on the Executive Committee of the BSA as the Inclusion and Diversity representative for the sector and is a committee member for the Society of Heads. He is the co-founder of the ISC’s Inclusion and Diversity Group, sits on the Board of Directors at AGBIS and is a school Governor. Irfan is also the trustee of various charities and used to sit on the Board of Education at the Diocese of Bath & Wells.

 

 

Darcy Bourne, GB and England Professional Hockey Player, Wellington College Alumni

Darcy is a professional athlete on the GB and England women’s senior hockey teams. During the summer of 2020, a photograph of Darcy holding a sign asking “Why is Ending Racism a Debate?” was taken at the Black Lives Matter protests and shared virally even by the likes of Dr Martin Luther King III. Since then she has been using her platform as an athlete and activist to educate and promote ED&I within the sporting community and beyond. She has spoken on multiple news channels,  TV series, podcasts, radio and at schools. Darcy studied as an undergraduate at Duke University in America. During her time in the States, she co-founded a diversity initiative, Beyond Our Game. The organisation aims to empower college student-athletes of colour through community, education and career services.

 

Nicholas Wergan, Global Education Director

Nick is the Global Education Director for Inspired and is based in London, UK. Nick joined Inspired after six years as Headteacher at Steyning Grammar School and was elected Chair of the Boarding Schools’ Association in 2019. He was appointed National Leader of Education by the UK Department for Education and founded the Pavilion and Downs Teaching School Alliance. Following a successful international career in Investment Banking (leading Emerging European Equity teams at US, UK, and European investment banks, including Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and HSBC), Nick began his career in education following his teacher training at Pembroke College, Oxford in 2004. Presently, Nick is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a winning recipient of the 2007 UK National Teaching Award and holds an MA in Education Studies (University of Sussex). Nick is also a board member of the Safeguarding and Child Protection Association.

 

Professor Abigail Harrison Moore, Professor of Art History and Museum Studies, University of Leeds

Abigail Harrison Moore is the Head of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, and Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at the University of Leeds.  Abigail’s research focuses on the art history of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, particularly the Arts and Crafts Movement, and her last book, Fraud, Fakery and False Business (2011), considered the social, legal and political dimensions of the art and antiques market in 1920s England. She has more recently been working on an international project on the histories and cultures of energy supply, with collaborators from Canada, Austria, Sweden and the US. In the UK, she is very focused on creative education in schools, has helped develop the curriculum in her subject areas, developed the University’s EPQ programme of support and the Discovery Days project, in association with ARTiculation and the Devonshire Educational Trust, and has written widely on the educational challenges for young people from low social and economic groups.

Louise Banahene MBE, Director of Educational Engagement, University of Leeds

Louise Banahene MBE is an experienced higher education professional with expertise in strategic leadership. With a focus on evidence based practice she lead access and student success across all cohorts at the University of Leeds. Roles in her career have involved leading on policy development, strategy and organisational change, recruitment/marketing projects, social mobility across the student lifecycle and admissions. This has contributed to Louise’s ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams and complex projects. Louise was awarded an MBE, in 2018, for services to Higher Education.

 

Bex Tear, BSA Chair 2021 and Executive Head, Fulham School

Bex Tear is currently Executive Head of Fulham School, bringing with her a wealth of experience from ten years as Head of Badminton School in Bristol as well as her voluntary work at Board Level. Bex read Chemistry at Exeter University and whilst undertaking volunteering activities there discovered that teaching was her passion. She studied for a PGCE at The Institute of Education, University College London and since then has enjoyed exploring all aspects of education in a range of settings, from Community Schools to Boarding Schools. Her range of roles, from classroom teacher through pastoral and academic leadership positions and ultimately in Senior Leadership posts, have seen her explore many aspects of school life. Her love of lifelong learning, (MA in Educational Leadership in 2012, qualifying as a Mindfulness teacher in 2016 and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship at The Judge Business School, Cambridge University 2019), fuels her interest and engagement in current educational practice. In addition, Bex continues to ensure she retains a broad view of education; she has previously held the position of Governor on the Board of several independent schools, was Chair of the Boarding Schools’ Association Group and an ISI Team Inspector. 

 

Rebecca Crumpton, Curriculum Support Manager, AQA

Rebecca is a Curriculum Support Manager at AQA and manages Project Qualifications as part of a portfolio of qualifications. A qualified teacher, she worked in schools and an outstanding sixth form college for 10 years prior to joining AQA.

 

 

 

Ed Kirwan, CEO and Founder, Empathy Week

Ed Kirwan is the CEO, founder and filmmaker at Empathy Week – a global educational programme using the power of film to develop the skills of empathy and leadership in every student. In just two years Empathy Week has engaged 100,000 students with a mission to build the #EmpathyGeneration. Previously a teacher and Head of Chemistry in a North London School for 3 years, Ed also completed a Masters in Education and Leadership at UCL IOE. He then moved into a career of filmmaking, human-led storytelling and leadership facilitation. Since then he’s worked with some of the world’s largest school groups such as Cognita as well as companies such as Snapchat during Empathy Week. Ed believes that in order to change the world we first have to understand the people in it. Empathy shouldn’t be an add-on. It is the most crucial skill to lead better personal and professional lives.

 

Gavin Horgan, Head, Millfield School

Gavin Horgan became Headmaster of Millfield in September 2018. Gavin was previously Headmaster of Worksop College in Nottinghamshire since 2012, where he delivered academic turnaround aligned with a substantial building programme and whole school restructure.

Prior to Worksop College, Gavin’s earlier career included working internationally in schools in Sri Lanka and Argentina, before returning to the UK in 2009 as the Deputy Head of The Glasgow Academy, an independent co-educational school with 1300 pupils. Gavin also has extensive experience of the state sector at schools in Hampshire and Lambeth.

 

 

 

Kiki Nartey, Education Lead, FLAIR

Kiki Nartey is FLAIR’s  Education Lead. An alumna of James Allen’s Girls’ School, Kiki wrote an open letter to her former school, which inadvertently led to her full-time role at FLAIR. Kiki also attended the University of Warwick and has an NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Equality and Diversity.

 

 

 

Coco Stevenson Director of Inclusion, St Paul’s Girls’ School and Educational Consultant

Coco Stevenson has worked in a number of schools in senior leadership roles most recently at St Paul’s Girls’ School and City of London School. Coco led a safeguarding team at City of London School, as well as partnering with the City of London Corporation network in a variety of safeguarding areas. This involved training, policy development, case management, multi-agency working and maintaining a culture of awareness. Coco also spent two years in Asia designing, managing and implementing a Global Learning and Development Programme for the British Council. She speaks, advises and consults widely on both Safeguarding and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Recent consultancy work includes: reviews/audits/strategic development for schools in the independent sector; mentoring for Finito Education; supervision and coaching for senior leaders in a wide range of schools; advisory work on EDI for the Independent Schools Council and the Boarding School Association.

 

Liz Hewer, Head, St George’s School

Liz Hewer has been Head of St George’s since September 2016. She attended the all-girls King’s High School in Warwick, going on to Jesus College, Cambridge to study Geography and later complete her PGCE. Prior to joining St George’s, Ascot, Mrs Hewer spent 10 years at nearby St Mary’s Ascot where she was a Geography teacher, Housemistress, Director of Studies and latterly Pastoral Deputy Head for 7 years. Outside St George’s, Liz is Chair of the Girls Schools Association Boarding Committee, a Governor of two Prep schools, and works with ISI as a Boarding Team Inspector.

 

 

Temi Akindele Barker, Founder, Inclusion Labs

Temi Akindele Barker is the founder of Inclusion Labs, an impact organisation that partners with schools to build more inclusive communities. Temi is passionate about developing mission-driven concepts and at the heart of Inclusion Labs’ schools programme is getting them to interrogate who they are and what they are doing today that will get them closer to who and where they want to be tomorrow.

Inclusion Labs believes a collaborative approach to bold ideas can empower anyone to take on society’s biggest and most pressing problems. Whilst they do not place a limit on the range of issues — from social justice to education – their focus is centred on young people and how any of these issues affect their ability to thrive. Which is why their launch programme focuses on where there is potential for the greatest impact – where you find the most young people collectively – in schools.

 

Dr Naomi Leite, Inclusion Consultant & Reader in Anthropology, SOAS, University of London

Naomi Leite is an independent Inclusion Consultant and a Reader in Anthropology at SOAS, University of London. She received her MA and PhD in socio-cultural anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Naomi’s work focuses on identity, identification, exclusion, inclusion, and belonging across domains and scales of social life, from the interpersonal to the institutional to the nation and beyond. She has a strong interest in cultural logics and modes of reasoning, lived experience, meaning-making, expressions of kinship, commonality, and relatedness, and the social, cultural, and intersubjective constitution of self, especially in relation to prevailing systems of social classification. She frequently consults for NGOs, government agencies and businesses on issues relating to diversity and inclusion, community identification, identity and consumption, and social inequality.

 

 

Natasha Dangerfield, Headmistress, Westonbirt School

Charismatic leader, Natasha Dangerfield, took the helm as Westonbirt Headmistress in 2013. In the years preceding her headship, Natasha enjoyed success as Head of PE and Sixth Form Boarding at North Foreland Lodge, Director of Pastoral Care at Gordonstoun and Deputy Headmistress at Harrogate Ladies.

A mother of three teens who is described by the Good Schools Guide as “energetic, fiercely determined and a force to be reckoned with,” Natasha is passionate about inspiring young minds. She has fostered a nurturing environment at Westonbirt where students are supported to become the best version of themselves, and has driven significant growth at the school which successfully transitioned to co-education in 2019.

Dr Emma Loveridge, Director, Rafan House

Founder and Director of Rafan House, Emma’s role is to ensure the centre continues to provide a compassionate depth of therapeutic approaches for families and individuals while also encompassing a wide knowledge of the national and international organisational complexity with which so many of us have to work. She has spent the last twenty-five years working with people who are emotionally struggling but who also have complex decisions to make for themselves and others, personal and professional, in the midst of this.

As a psychotherapist, Emma has worked in the NHS settings as well as with private clients. She trained at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation, also spending time studying at the IGA (The Institute of Group Analysis) as well as the TCCR (The Travis Centre for Couples Relations)

 

Professor Jo Williams, Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology, University of Edinburgh

Professor Jo Williams is an applied developmental psychologist with research interests in child and adolescent health and mental health, the development of health concepts, developmental disabilities and children’s interactions with animals.

Her career in Edinburgh began as a post-doctoral research fellow examining psychological factors associated with child and adolescent injuries. In 1996, Jo took a two-year lectureship in Psychology, and from 1998 to 2012 she was Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Psychology, in Moray House School of Education.

Since 2012 Jo has been Senior Lecturer/Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology  in Clinical and Health Psychology.  she coordinates Children, Adolescents and Animals Research (caar), and is Deputy Director of the Centre for Applied Developmental Psychology. Jo contributes developmental psychology teaching on a range of postgraduate programmes including the MSc Psychology of Mental Health (Conversion).

Mark Lauder, Headmaster, Strathallan School and BSA Interim Chair, 2022

Mr Lauder began his teaching career at Shiplake College in Henley-on-Thames, where he was Head of the History Department and Master I/c Rowing. Over a career that has taken him to St Edward’s, Oxford, Felsted School in Essex, and, before Strathallan, as Headmaster at Ashville College in Harrogate, Mr Lauder has been embedded in boarding as a Housemaster, Head of Boarding and Deputy Headmaster, and Headmaster, as well as a passionate rugby and rowing coach and CCF officer.

 

 

 

Jonathan Charlesworth, Executive Director of Education Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH)

Jonathan Charlesworth is Executive Director of the multi-award-winning charity EACH – Educational Action Challenging Homophobia – with over 30 years’ experience in consultancy, training delivery and resources on homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. In 2019 he co-developed Wales’s statutory anti-bullying guidance for its Government’s schools and is the writer of national guidance to schools for the Department for Education.

 

 

Dr Karem Roitman, Consultant – Education, Gender, Social Inclusion

Dr Karem Roitman is the lead author of Oxford International Curriculum’s Global Skills Project Curriculum. Karem founded and directs Thinkers Meet Up, an online platform where education’s potential for global change is explored by bringing kids worldwide together to discuss human potential in its many forms. Karem is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has lectured at Oxford University, Regents University, and the Open University as well as teaching children in community centres and schools around the world. Karem was born in Ecuador, is an immigrant, and the granddaughter of refugees.

 

 

Robin Fletcher, Chief Executive, BSA and BSA Group

Robin Fletcher, MBA, MPhil is CEO of BSA Group, comprising the BSA (Boarding Schools’ Association), SACPA (Safeguarding and Child Protection Association) and BAISIS (British Association of Independent Schools with International Students). Robin was a journalist, editor and communications director before joining BSA in 2014.

As BSA CEO, Robin is a member of the Department for Education’s Systems Partnership Oversight Board. Outside BSA, he is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff Metropolitan University, a Governor of Rugby School, President of the Rugbeian Society and a non-executive director of the national trade body Make UK.