Dame Alison Peacock is Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, a charitable Professional Body that seeks to empower a knowledgeable and respected teaching profession through membership and accreditation. Prior to joining the Chartered College, Dame Alison was Executive Headteacher of The Wroxham School in Hertfordshire. Her career to date has spanned primary, secondary and advisory roles. She is an Honorary Fellow of Queens' College Cambridge, Hughes Hall Cambridge and UCL, a Visiting Professor of Glyndŵr University and a trustee for Big Change, the Helen Hamlyn Trust and an adviser to the Institute for Educational & Social Equity.  She is a Director of the Edge Foundation and has honorary degrees from the University of Brighton and the University of Bath Spa. She is a Deputy Lieutenant for Hertfordshire. Her research is published in a series of books about Learning without Limits offering an alternative approach to inclusive school improvement.

Dame Alison Peacock will be delivering a session for all attendees at 9:15 titled ‘Our great teaching profession’.

Jenna Crittenden is the Curriculum Design Lead at the Chartered College of Teaching. She leads a national project Rethinking Curriculum, working within the primary sector to support schools to develop their own curriculum design. Prior to joining the college Jenna was a small school headteacher and primary teacher for over 17 years and has served as a chair of governors for a small school. Jenna is passionate about curriculum development and implementation and an advocate for primary uniqueness in the education life of young people.Jenna serves as a trustee of Team Up, a charity providing volunteer-led tuition to pupils from low-income backgrounds and MTPT (Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher), a charity supporting schools to be family and life friendly workplaces in order for teaching to be a sustainable profession for all.

Jenna will be leading the session ‘Rethinking Curriculum- subject leadership in small schools’ in the curriculum strand at 14:30.

Phil Banks has been a class teacher, held four headship roles and founded a large, primary Multi-Academy Trust. He worked in Dubai for two years, but returned to Cornwall to take up the role of CEO for the North Cornwall Learning Trust. In 2024, NCLT merged to become part of Westcountry Schools Trust, where feel now holds a Director role.
Phil is completing a PhD focused on the impact of 'Belonging.' You can follow and interact with his work at thebelongingcollective.blog
His work has been intertwined with small schools and he has a great deal of experience in managing the demands and celebrating the opportunities in these settings.

Phil is joining us to leadership session ‘ Building a sense of belonging’ at 10:30.

Emma Kerr is an experienced Executive Leader of rural and town schools, including a new Free School. She holds the NPQH, has a BSc (Hons) degree in Business and completed a PGCE. Prior to being a teacher she worked in London buying programming for ITV, moving to Cornwall in 2005 to train as a teacher, be closer to family and enjoy being by the sea. She has taught in a variety of schools across the South West, across all age ranges and also in Sydney, Australia. Emma is an Education consultant, facilitator for NPQ programmes via Teach First/NIoT and an Academic Partner for the Professional Teaching Institute (PTI).

Emma is joining us for the leadership panel session ‘Wearing many hats’ at 14:00.

Stuart Tiffany is an experienced primary school teacher, subject lead and history specialist, author and consultant. He works nationwide supporting schools, MATs, museums and other heritage organisations to develop their history education offer. Stuart has written for organisations such as BBC Bitesize, Pearson, the Historical Association, Teach Primary, and his first book was published in 2023. Pedagogically Stuart uses a blend of child development, cog-sci and classroom experience alongside rich conversations with colleagues to move history forward..

Stuart will be leading the session ‘History has the word story in it for a reason!’ in the teaching and learning strand at 14:30.

Heena is the Co-Founder of Climate Adapted Pathways for Education (CAPE) and served as a Senior Curriculum Designer for the Teacher Development Trust. Formerly, she was a Learning Design Manager at Ambition Institute, Head of Science at Bedford Free School and co-authored 'Cracking Key Concepts in Secondary Science'. Prior to this Heena was a Research Manager at the Environment Agency.

Heena Dave and Professor Leigh Hoath - Co founders of CAPE will be leading the session ‘Implementing Climate Change Education: a Curriculum of Hope’ in the teaching and learning stream at 11:00.

Leigh started teaching secondary science in the late 90s and moved into Higher Education where she has led on science teacher education in 3 universities before she was appointed as Professor of Science Education. She is Deputy Dean for the School of Education at Leeds Trinity University and a consultant to BBC Teach where she created the Blue Planet Live teacher materials and their Regenerators education campaign. Leigh is the immediate past Chair of the Association for Science Education and the cofounder of CAPE – Climate Adapted Pathways for Education – with Heena.

Heena Dave and Professor Leigh Hoath - Co founders of CAPE will be leading the session ‘Implementing Climate Change Education: a Curriculum of Hope’ in the teaching and learning stream at 11:00.

Christopher Such is the author of The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading and Primary Reading Simplified. He is an experienced teacher, school leader and consultant, who delivers professional development for schools, trusts and ITT providers on the subject of evidence-informed reading, mathematics teaching and curriculum development. He also works part-time as a member of Ambition Institute’s learning design team where he co-designed their NPQ in Leading Literacy.

Chris Such will be sharing his session ‘The art and science of primary reading’ at 10:00 in the teaching and learning stream.