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Annual Conference for Heads

Name: Annual Conference for Heads
Start: 2024-05-07T09:00:00+01:00
End: 2024-05-08T17:00:00+01:00
Location: Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5

May 7 @ 9:00 am - May 8 @ 5:00 pm

Date: May 07-08, 2024
Time: 10:30 – 17:00
Cost: BSA Member delegate rate – £595, BSA Affiliate member delegate rate – £895
Cost will include two-day conference, conference refreshments and annual awards dinner on the evening of May 07.
Audience: Heads
Venue: Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5
Accommodation: Please note accommodation is not included in the delegate rate. Delegates are able to book accommodation for the two-day conference using the online booking platform, Roomex. Click here to login and secure your room using your school email address domain. A helpful BSA conference user guide is also available to watch here. If you would prefer to stay in the same hotel where the conference will be taking place, please select ‘Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5’ when booking via the platform. Roomex searches 35 global sources to provide the best hotel solution in one place and can save you up to 25%. If you need assistance with your Roomex login, please email priority@roomex.com
Exhibiting and sponsorship: We are delighted to be able to welcome organisations sponsorship and exhibition opportunities at this event, for full details please reach out to Neil Rust, Head of Commercial neil.rust@bsagroup.org.uk or Laura Brain, Senior Commercial Consultant, +44 (0)207 798 1580, laura.brain@bsagroup.org.uk
“Head to the Castle” 5 mile run: BSA are pleased to offer the opportunity to join a 5 mile run the morning of Wednesday May 8 before day two of the conference begins. The route will leave from the Hilton Hotel at 07:00 and finish at St George’s, Windsor with time for refreshments before a bus ride back to the conference. BSA will be donating to charity for every participant so the more the merrier. If you would like to join the run, please email bsa@boarding.org.uk in advance so we can accommodate numbers.

Sponsored by:

We’re looking forward to welcoming Heads from our member schools to our Annual Conference for Heads, sponsored by Schoolblazer which takes place on May 07-08, 2024.

This two-day conference will bring together leading boarding heads to reflect on the benefits of boarding and how to support heads in their leadership roles.

The conference also includes the BSA’s Annual Awards and Conference Dinner, this year, taking place on May 7, 2024. The award categories for the BSA Supporting Excellence Awards are open for entries. Click here to view the categories and entry details.

VIEW OUR CONFERENCE PROGRAMME HERE

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As always the BSA Annual Conference was a wonderful opportunity to meet new colleagues, reunite with old and dedicate the necessary time and space to the joys and challenges of leading our incredible schools. The BSA Annual Conference is a unique and special opportunity to dedicate thought and time to boarding and all that it brings to us, our staff and our students.

Jo Cameron, Principal, Queenswood School

Guest Speakers:

Inga Beale, Former CEO, Lloyd’s of London

Dame Inga Beale was the first female CEO at Lloyd’s of London between 2014-2018. With over three decades of global business experience she was awarded her Damehood in 2017 for services to the UK economy. Drawing on her own experiences, Inga will discuss what it means to lead cultural change and steer a company through a technological transition without losing its core character.

Brian Holliday, Managing Director, Siemens Digital Industries

Brian Holliday is Managing Director for Siemens Digital Industries, a technology company serving the manufacturing and industrial-infrastructure sectors. He is co-chair of the Made Smarter Commission and a long-standing non-executive director at Make UK, The Manufacturers’ Organisation.

He is an advocate for engineering, innovation, skills and advanced technology deployment, contributing regularly to media, policy forums and peer networks as a former board member for the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and former chair of the CBI’s Manufacturing Council too.

Brian has been a community governor at a north-west primary school, in addition to serving on the governing body at a University Technical College. He has contributed to parliamentary select committees on the topics of Industry 4.0 and skills, indeed being upstaged by Pepper the robot, on the first occasion AI had been used in such a forum.

A 2022 Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Brian started his career as an apprentice with Texas Instruments and has degrees from Cardiff and Manchester Universities in addition to an honorary doctorate from Middlesex University.

Surgeon Rear Admiral Fleur Marshall KHP MRCGP MA, Director Medical Personnel and Training

Fleur Marshall joined the Royal Navy as a medical cadet in 1992 and has served in a variety of ships deploying from the South Atlantic and Antarctica to the Middle East and Far East. Since qualifying as a GP, she worked for Flag Officer Sea Training, deployed at sea and served in Royal Navy Establishments in healthcare delivery roles. She is a graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff Course 12.

Since promotion to Surgeon Captain she has been Regional Clinical Director (South) in the Defence Primary Healthcare organisation, served as Medical Officer in Charge of the Institute of Naval Medicine and as Assistant Head, Medical Defence Engagement. She is a Member of Royal College of Defence Studies completing the course in 2016.

In Feb 19 on promotion to Surgeon Commodore, Marshall took over as Head of Healthcare Plans, within HQ Defence Medical Group and was involved in early stages of modernisation of the DMS. In Apr 21, Surg Cdre Marshall became the Head of Healthcare for the Royal Navy and Head of the Royal Navy Medical Service.

In Mar 23 she was promoted to Surgeon Rear Admiral and appointed as Director Medical Personnel and Training in HQ DMS.

Ben Collingwood, Partner, Charities, Independent Schools, Moore Barlow

Ben specialises in advising independent schools and other charities on wide ranging areas of education law, with particular focus on reputation issues, pastoral, safeguarding, historic abuse allegations, SEN, exclusions, parent/pupil complaints, data protection, parent contracts, admissions and staff matters of all types.

Ben has written and spoken widely on issues facing the independent schools sector, providing comment in The Times, The Guardian, The Lawyer and Law Society’s Gazette and at the national conferences and training programmes for the various associations that support independent schools including BSA, ISBA, HMC, IAPS and AGBIS.

Ben lives with his wife and three children in West Sussex. He has been a devoted surfer since my childhood and loves to spend as much of his free time as possible in the sea and walking his pointers with his family.

Adam McRae-Taylor, Legal director | Independent schools, Moore Barlow

Adam specialises in employment and education law and advise on issues such as unfair dismissal, discrimination cases, safeguarding, parent contracts and data protection issues including in relation to the GDPR.

His approach is to work with schools and charities to ensure that they are managing their staff fairly and lawfully, as a happy workforce. This not only helps an organisation thrive and grow, but also prevents managers from being distracted by disputes. Where contentious issues do arise, he is experienced in employment tribunal litigation and he regularly advises on employment claims such as unfair dismissal, whistleblowing and discrimination.

He trained and qualified in employment law with a Magic Circle firm in London. Before joining the Schools & Charities Team at Moore Barlow LLP (formerly Barlow Robbins LLP), he spent two years working in-house for a charity which gave him an invaluable perspective on how to provide practical advice on the issues charities commonly face.

Joanna Lada-Walicki, Head of Schools & Charities, Moore Barlow

Joanna heads the Moore Barlow’s independent schools and charities practice. She specialises in education and employment law. She advises on a range of employment and pastoral issues, in particular when the reputation of a school is at stake.

An area of particular interest for Joanna is safeguarding and she has spoken widely on this subject national conferences and has also written widely on this and other issues affecting schools and charities.

A major part of our practice is in relation to the management of allegations against staff as well as child-on-child abuse, including guidance on making appropriate referrals. This inevitably overlaps with the question of sex and gender and Joanna has particular interest in how schools support and safeguard trans-gender people.

James Wood, Regional Security Director, Northern Europe , International SOS

In this role, James provides strategic security advice, guidance and support to clients throughout the region on all aspects of our Security service delivery.

Prior to this, James led International SOS’ global Security Consulting Practice between 2019 and 2022. He also led a team of 35 security experts who focus on expert consulting engagements with clients in their geographic regions of responsibility, as well as thought leadership, operational delivery and oversight and delivery of International SOS solutions.

A certified Business Continuity expert through the Business Continuity Institute, James joined International SOS in May 2011 as Coordinating Security Manager for the Asia Pacific region where he supported clients during security incidents such as violent unrest in northern Papua New Guinea, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and flooding in Jakarta.

He subsequently moved, in September 2014, to the role of Regional Security Operations Manager in the Europe Regional Security Centre, with a focus on Europe, Central Asia and West & Maghreb Africa. In 2015, James moved to London where he helped to set up the 24/7 Security Centre. In this role, James oversaw the company’s security support to client Crisis Management and Business Continuity Teams and the evacuations of their employees during escalations in locations including UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Burundi.

Between July 2017 and December 2018, James was the lead security consulting resource in the UK & Ireland and latterly EMEA, working closely with clients at a strategic level to ensure appropriate support to their Risk Mitigation and Resilience teams.

Prior to joining International SOS, James was a police officer with Thames Valley Police, UK. Having spent time as a uniformed officer in Oxfordshire dealing with incidents ranging from large scale protests to murders, he then moved to a specialist detective unit investigating acquisitive crime throughout the southeast of England. While in this post he also organised and conducted surveillance, investigation, and disruption operations, gathering intelligence and targeting Organised Crime groups throughout the Thames Valley area and with other UK police services.

James has a BA (Hons) in French and History from the University of Warwick, specialising in French foreign policy and American politics and is a member of both the Security Institute and the Business Continuity Institute.

Maya Birch, Senior Business Manager – Project Development, Education, HAYS

Maya Birch is an education recruitment professional with over 14 years of experience with Hays. Maya provides innovative and effective talent acquisition solution-led services for schools and MATs. She currently holds a national role in client engagement, working closely with BSA to curate a new recruitment platform for boarding schools. The objective of which is to help schools manage all vacancies cost-effectively and improve practices for staff attraction and retention.

Katherine Whipps, Account Director, HAYS

Katherine Whipps is an Account Director with 24 years of experience at Hays. Katherine holds a national role and manages relationships with some of Hays’ most valuable PSL customers, being their central point of contact. Katherine builds meaningful relationships with key stakeholder clients and offers solution-based consultancy to achieve integral recruitment objectives. Katherine’s experience spans many sectors including Construction and Property, Telecoms and Education, with the BSA partnership being the most recent.

Berman Zhigalko, Consultant, FAIRER Consulting (DE&I Advisory Services, Hays International)

Berman is a consultant at FAIRER Consulting, a part of DE&I Advisory Services at Hays International. He is an experienced professional in diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as talent advisory.

Currently, Berman supports various clients across the private sector and is exploring new ways to embed DE&I into various processes within organisations.

He has supported and led several client projects around DE&I audit and talent acquisition, with his key interest lying in building DE&I strategy, as well DE&I behavioural change and activities.

Dominic Norrish, CEO, IAPS

Dominic is Chief Executive Officer of IAPS, the largest Heads’ association in the independent sector, serving schools in the UK and globally. Prior to this, he was Chief Operating Officer at United Learning, with responsibilities spanning digital, HR and marketing for their then 90+ independent and state schools, his experience leading them through the pandemic capping a decade spent working at scale to create education-focused services to support school effectiveness. He began his career as a Year 5 teacher before moving into school leadership roles and time spent in the private sector.

Mark Coleman, Founder and Group CEO, The SDS & IA Group of Companies

Ed Dorrell, Partner, Public First

Ed is a Partner at Public First. Before taking up this role, he was one of the most experienced and respected education journalists in Britain. He was deputy editor of the Times Educational Supplement (TES) for seven years, a role he combined with being comment editor and before that he was news editor for five years. Previously he was news editor of the Architects’ Journal, where he was a well known commentator on planning and regeneration. He has also written for most national papers including the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph and the Independent. He is known for his sharp policy analysis, his wide ranging network in the media, and his skill at writing and shaping news and opinion from leading politicians, chief executives, high profile individuals, and large and small organisations. He offers high-value counsel and insight on media affairs, public opinion and policy formulation to many of Public First’s major clients.

Amy Lockwood, Education Manager, Childnet

Amy joined the Childnet team in November 2017 as Education Officer. Amy is a qualified teacher who taught KS2 in Ely after completing her PGCE at the University of Cambridge.

Prior to this, she graduated from Aberystwyth University with a degree in Human Geography. During her degree studies Amy pursued her interest in how young people engage with the digital world, completing a dissertation titled ‘#digitalcitizenship. A geographical study of the construction of youth citizenship through social media and the Internet.’

Amy grew up as an active Internet user and is passionate about the exciting opportunities the digital world has to offer young people.

Fellow Head Speakers:

Jo Cameron, BSA Chair, 2024 and Principal, Queenswood School

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 26 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.

Irfan Latif, Principal, DLD College London

Irfan is Principal of DLD College. Over the past decade he has served as BSA State Boarding Schools’ Forum Chair, BSA Vice Chair, BSA London Boarding Forum Chair and BSA Executive Committee Inclusion and AGBIS representative. Irfan is a Society of Heads committee member, co-founder of the ISC’s Inclusion and Diversity Group, a director of AGBIS and a school governor. He is also a charity trustee and former member of the Diocese of Bath & Wells Board of Education.

Sir Anthony Seldon, Head, Epsom College

Sir Anthony Seldon, is one of Britain’s leading contemporary historians, educationalists, commentators and political authors. Head of Epsom College since February 2023, he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham from 2015 to 2020 after being a transformative head for 20 years of Brighton College and then Wellington College. He is author or editor of over 45 books on contemporary history, including the inside books on the last six Prime Ministers, was the co-founder and first director of the Institute for Contemporary British History, is cofounder of Action for Happiness, was honorary historical adviser to 10 Downing Street for ten years, was the UK’s Special Representative for Education to Saudi Arabia, was Deputy Chair of The Times Education Commission, was a member of the Government’s First World War Culture Committee, was chair of the Comment Awards, is a director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, is the President of IPEN, (International Positive Education Network), is Chair of the National Archives Trust and is initiator and deputy chair of the “commission on the centre” run by the Institute for government. He is patron or on the board of several charities, founder of the Via Sacra Western Front Walk, and was executive producer of the film Journey’s End. He appeared on the Desert Island Discs in 2016. For the last fifteen years he has given his money from writing and lecturing to charity. He has three children; his wife of 34 years, Joanna, died of cancer in December 2016. He married Sarah in April 2022.

Wayne Brown, Headmaster, Whanganui Collegiate School, New Zealand

Wayne Brown is Headmaster of Whanganui Collegiate School, New Zealand. Whanganui Collegiate is held in high esteem as the preeminent co-educational boarding school in NZ. Wayne has held boarding, and senior educational positions in the UK and Australia, along with serving as a trustee on several NFP boards in the last 10 years. Wayne has extensive knowledge, understanding, experience and passion for education, in particular boarding schools, building good young men and women to be inspiring role models within a global community. Wayne has also had a career in professional sport, both as a player and coach in basketball, notably, being Assistant Coach with the NZ Breakers in the professional Australian National Basketball League, and as an advisor and technical video coach with the National Team – Tall Blacks in the early 2000’s. A graduate of the Said Business School, Oxford University, where he studied Executive Leadership, Wayne has been recognised as a futurist thinker in character education and has been asked to speak at several conferences across NZ and overseas.

Tom Rogerson, Headmaster, Cottesmore School

Tom Rogerson has been working in the independent school sector for 32 years and is in his 16th year of Headship at Cottesmore School, an academic boarding prep school for girls and boys on the border of Surrey and Sussex.

Cottesmore is ‘Prep School of the Year 2020/ 21’ Tatler Schools Awards, ‘Boarding School of the Year’ Times Educational Supplement Schools Awards 2019 and ‘Happiest Boarding School’ Muddy Stilettos Schools Awards 2023. Cottesmore was nominated for ‘Prep School of the Year 2024’ at the Tatler Schools Awards, ‘Boarding School of the Year 2023’ at the Independent Schools of the Year Awards and ‘Prep School of the Year’ at the Times Educational Supplement Awards 2023.

Educated at Eton and Cambridge, Tom has since taken only one year out of teaching in order to work for Vivendi-owned conglomerate Universal Music International in the A&R department looking after American artists such as Eminem, Nelly Furtado and Erica Badu.

He is in a rock band called The Replicant Saints who met at school; he would like to start a band made up of heads.

Andy Kemp, Principal, National Mathematics and Science College

Dr Andy Kemp is Principal of The National Mathematics and Science College, based in the Midlands on the edge of the Warwick University campus. The National Mathematics and Science College is the top performing specialist STEM sixth form day and boarding school in the UK. Joining NatMatSci was something of a homecoming for him as he studied for his BSc in Mathematics, PGCE, MSc and EdD in Mathematics Education all at the University of Warwick. More recently he has completed his MBA at UCL in 2017.

He has spoken at conferences around the world in relation to the role that technology and AI play in education, and has been published in several journals, magazines, and collective works.

Simon Henderson, Head, Eton College

Ginny Rhodes, CEO, The Circle Trust

Ginny has been a fully qualified teacher of some 30 years standing, latterly as Headteacher at St Crispin’s School in Wokingham which is a large (1,450) mixed comprehensive secondary school. Her leadership was rated at outstanding and is described by OFSTED as providing “… absolute clarity on the school’s focus for improvement and has created the conditions for all staff to feel included in driving standards forward.” Currently Ginny is the founding CEO of The Circle Trust which is a Multi-Academy Trust of currently of ten schools (and growing!) Schools in the Trust span from Infant Schools with nursery provision to Secondary Schools with Sixth Forms and serves over 5000 pupils and 500+ employees. Multi-Academy Trusts are educational charities they exist to do one thing and that is to promote education for the common good. To this end Ginny is a Governor at Wellington College playing a pivotal role in developing the state and independent school partnership. She also serves as a Trustee for AQA the country’s largest exam board and is a Lead OFSTED Inspector.

Lucy Pearson, Director of Education, FA

Lucy plays a strategic role within the technical directorate at St. George’s Park, with overall responsibility for coach education and the professional development programme with a key objective of growing the number of qualified and appropriately-skilled coaches across the game.

Working at the national football centre, Pearson brings the benefits of a high-achieving career in education coupled with an elite sporting background.

Formerly the Head of Cheadle Hulme School in Cheshire, where she was the first woman to hold that position in its 150-year history, Pearson played cricket for England between 1996 and 2005, and has been a director of the England and Wales Cricket Board since 2016.

Speakers from the BSA Team

Robin Fletcher, Chief Executive

Robin Fletcher is CEO of BSA Group, comprising BAISIS (British Association of Independent Schools with International Students), BSA (Boarding Schools’ Association), BSA Legal, HIEDA (Health in Education Association) SACPA (Safeguarding and Child Protection Association) and TIOB (The Institute of Boarding). A former journalist, editor and communications director, Robin is a non-executive director of the manufacturers’ trade body Make UK, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Dale Wilkins, Senior Director, BSA and BSA Group

Dale joined the BSA during Summer 2017 with responsibility for safeguarding and standards, having previously been a course tutor since 1998. In July 2019 he also assumed responsibility for the BSA’s training programme, including both day seminars and accredited training courses. Dale leads on all safeguarding and inspection matters for the BSA, including managing the Commitment to Care Charter and has also developed a process of BSA Accreditation for our international members. He also liaises with ISI, Ofsted and DfE on matters relating to compliance and inspection standards, and compiles the BSA Self-Assessment toolkit, which he first produced in 2002, since which time he has been closely involved in inspection in state and independent boarding.

For 31 years Dale was a boarding practitioner. After boarding positions at Norwich School and Tettenhall College, Dale became a Housemaster at Old Swinford Hospital in 1992, and was promoted to Deputy Head in 2007, and subsequently also DSL. He has also been a multi-agency trainer for the Dudley Safeguarding Children’s Board.

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.

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.