School Leadership Conference

Malcolm Trobe CBE is the former Deputy General Secretary for the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). He worked full-time for ASCL for 10 years including a fifteen-month period as Interim General Secretary. For 17 years he was the Headteacher of Malmesbury School in Wiltshire. Malcolm now works as an independent educational consultant specialising in leadership and governance, strategic planning and curriculum and his work has included being the Director of the ASCL NPQ Executive Leadership programme for phase 1 NPQs. He now works on a number of trust governance and leadership matters with the Confederation of School Trusts (CST). Recently he has been involved in the development of the draft Code for Academy Trust Governance.

Malcolm has worked on many DfE committees and chaired the 2020 Review Group on Headteacher Standards for the DfE and is currently on the DfE Expert Group on Teacher Recruitment and Retention. Malcolm is the Chair of Archway Learning Trust.

As NGA’s joint chief executive, Emma co-leads the charity to fulfill its aim of improving the educational standards and wellbeing of young people. Emma leads the organisation under the direction of NGA’s board of trustees.

Emma promotes the interests of the school governance community and represents the voice of NGA’s members at a national level with legislators, policy makers and education sector organisations and in the media. Emma also oversees NGA’s Professional Development services, ensuring they respond to the sector’s emerging needs and impact positively upon standards of governance.

Emma has over 25 years’ experience in education, leadership and school improvement. She has significant experience in maintained school and academy governance, as well as serving as an Interim Executive Board (IEB) member and mentoring others.

Stephen has a 20-year career history in operations and finance, working at a senior level in the public and private sectors, both in the UK and abroad.

Stephen presided over the development and implementation of nationally recognised school business leadership professional standards and led the transition from the National Association of School Business Management to the Institute of School Business Leadership.

Stephen works closely with the Department for Education in areas of policy reform, and his commitment to research to aid our self-improving system includes ongoing engagement with international jurisdictions including Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.

Hugh Greenway has been CEO of the Elliot Foundation, a primary-only MAT of 32 schools, since its inception in 2011. Before Elliot, he ran education businesses across Europe for the IIR Group and Reed Global. Hugh volunteers as a trustee and Vice President for Learning at BCS the Chartered Institute for IT and as trustee at two other Multi Academy Trusts. He serves on the British Council’s and EPI’s education advisory boards.

Tanya Arkle started her career as a microbiologist before moving to a range of policy roles across government. She has worked in Cabinet Office, assisted UK companies establish export opportunities in China, led the team which designated the South Downs National Park, negotiated UK fish quota in Brussels and delivered Civil Service Reform across a number of Arm’s Length Bodies. She has worked in the Education and Skills Funding Agency for the last five years. She was responsible for Academy funding in the South-West and South-East of England, before moving to lead the School Resource Management Division. She is a strong advocate for improving diversity across Whitehall. Tanya is also a non-executive director for a Multi Academy Trust in Bristol.

As a Learning Network Inspector and School Improvement Partner, Charles has undertaken the monitor and challenge role for maintained secondary schools, and has also been employed as School Improvement Partner by particular Academies.

For the LA, Charles has run the Secondary Deputy Headteachers’ Forum, and from September 2021 a KS5 programme aimed to bring the borough’s post-16 vocational outcomes in line with academic outcomes. He presents regularly to the LA’s Headteachers’ Forum.

James Zuccollo joined the EPI as Director for School Workforce in 2018. Before joining the EPI, he led the economic research programme for the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the macroeconomic research for the think tank Reform and worked as a consulting economist in New Zealand. His work has encompassed the measurement of graduates’ wellbeing, development of value-added and teaching intensity measures in higher education, and evaluation of large public investments. He has written for publications such as The FT, The Guardian, City AM, New Statesman and Prospect and has discussed his work on the BBC’s Today programme among others.

Carolyn Roberts was a headteacher in Hartlepool and Durham before joining Tallis in 2013. She is a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and formerly ASCL Honorary Secretary. Carolyn chaired the Ethical Leadership Commission between 2016-2019. She has published on the curriculum: Knowledge and the Future School: Curriculum and Social Justice, Bloomsbury 2014 and ethics: Ethical Leadership for a Better Education System: What Kind of People Are We? Routledge 2019. She is Co-Director of the PTI, the subject CPD charity founded by the former Prince of Wales.

Edel Gillespie’s career in education spans 25 years. During this time, she has progressed from classroom practitioner to the post of headteacher of an above average sized primary school in an area that is classed as “deprived”. Edel has also worked as a teaching and learning consultant for the local education authority where she supported schools with multiple challenges. During this time, she has completed a number of postgraduate modules, gained a master’s degree in education, worked as a lead moderator for Key Stage 1 and served as an Ofsted inspector for a number of years.

Sandra Appleby has taught in primary schools across London and Northamptonshire for more than 25 years. She joined the David Ross Education Trust (DRET) in 2015 as the headteacher of Greenfields Primary School and Nursery in Kettering and journeyed the school to Outstanding in 2020. She has been a System Leader within the DRET multi-academy trust for six years and is currently the Senior Regional Director leading the school improvement division. Sandra’s role involves steering educational development for its 23 primary schools, providing training, support and challenge to the principals, senior leadership teams, staff and governors across the trust in order to ensure the best quality of education for all pupils. She is also responsible for trust-wide leadership of DRET’s strategy to support its most disadvantaged pupils. To this end, Sandra has widened the scope of her impact by playing an active role as a member of the local authority schools forum and is a trustee for another Northamptonshire multi-academy trust serving a larger than average proportion of schools in areas of significant deprivation.

Sarah Johnson has worked in education for the last nineteen years. As a qualified teacher, Sarah has enjoyed roles in mainstream schools, Pupil Referral Units, Alternative Provision and psychiatric in-patient services. Sarah is the author of the book ‘Behaving Together: A Teacher’s Guide to Nurturing Behaviour’ and two upcoming books published by Routledge on Social and Emotional Mental Health. As a member for the Department of Education’s Alternative Provision stakeholder group, she has supported development of policy such as the recent SEND and AP green paper as well as chairing a range of panels and events within the education sector.

Clare Barnett has enjoyed a successful career holding several senior level HR, training and organisational development roles across a variety of industries including retail, manufacturing, IT, automotive and the public sector. Today, Clare works alongside organisations such as the NHS, the Police and Independent Schools, to design and deliver effective organisational development and coaching programmes.

Clare is a Master Practitioner with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the ILM, and a Member of the British Psychological Society. She has a Masters is Coaching and Mentoring as well as an MA in Human Resource Management and her expertise lies in strategic organisational development.

Sasha Furze joined Enrich Learning Trust as the Primary Education Lead in 2021 following 20 years in teaching and senior leadership in Essex. She has worked across a diverse range of schools, but primarily in areas of high disadvantage. With a history of working closely with families through her early career as a SENCo and Inclusion Manager, Sasha also undertook the role of Trust Inclusion Lead alongside her Primary School Improvement role where she works closely alongside a wider ‘Innovation and Development’ team to help develop the trust’s aspirations in achieving outstanding provision for their most vulnerable learners.

Hannah Stolton has been CEO of national education charity Governors for Schools since January 2020. Hannah joined the organisation in 2017 where she managed the development of operations. After starting her career as a primary teacher, Hannah moved into the recruitment field, managing the UK operations of an in-house agency. She brings 20 years’ experience in this area to Governors for Schools, where she focuses on expanding reach across England and Wales. Hannah has been a governor for 9 years and is currently chair of governors at a primary school in Essex.

Harry James has been involved in governance for over 20 years and has supported schools and Trusts across the range as Chair or member of boards at primary, secondary, sixth form college, alternative provision, PRUs and special schools. He is currently Chair of The Auriga Academy Trust, a group of special schools, and Chair of College Hall, a Pupil Referral Unit. Harry was a National Leader of Governance for many years being appointed in the first cohort in 2010. He is a Founder Member of IGovs, an independent governance organisation. He has worked with many schools and trusts, conducting reviews of governance, developing strategic plans, coaching and mentoring chairs of governing boards and trusts. He has also developed and delivered a number of training packages for Entrust. Harry has partnered a number of organisations such as: GovernorMark, Teach First, The Key and DfE to bring about improvements in governance across the sector. He was also a director of the education charity Education Support.

Mark Sims has been an inspector of schools, local authorities and ITE providers since 1998. He gained accreditation in inspecting English, Urdu and equalities. Between 2004 and 2023 he was one of Her/His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI). For 16 years he was Ofsted’s lead for EAL, ESOL and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Pupils, leading training for inspectors on EAL and race equality. He led national surveys for Ofsted, including Every Language Matters (2008) and Removing Barriers for Roma Pupils (2014). He has represented Ofsted on policy issues with the DfE, sitting as member of their Gypsy, Roma and Traveller stakeholder school and on expert panels on EAL, such as the Education Policy Institute. He has spoken at a number of national and international conferences on the inspection of EAL, race equality, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils.

Jonathan Taylor is the founding CEO of Sapientia Education Trust (SET). Previously he served as Principal and Executive Principal of Wymondham College, rated ‘Outstanding’ in all areas by Ofsted. Sapientia currently has 22 schools with  ‘above average’ outcomes at GCSE and ‘A’ level in trust league tables and rapidly improving KS2 outcomes.

The Good Schools Guide described his career as ‘a swift progress, leaving outstanding Ofsted reports in his wake’ and his approach as ‘thoughtful and immensely hard working – yet he hasn’t disappeared in a cloud of management initiatives, preferring lots of contact with pupils and staff.’

Jonathan was appointed as a DfE RISE advisor in January 2025.

Brian Walton is currently the headteacher at Brookside Academy – a two-form entry 0 – 11 provision with a 50 place specialist provision in the heart of the school. Brian has been a headteacher for almost 20 years across the south of England. He is also Chair of Governors at a Pupil Referral Unit. Brian’s book, ‘Lesson’s from the Head’s Office’ was released in July 2023 and he is passionate about inclusion and school leadership.

Malcolm Trobe CBE is the former Deputy General Secretary for the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). He worked full-time for ASCL for 10 years including a fifteen-month period as Interim General Secretary. For 17 years he was the Headteacher of Malmesbury School in Wiltshire. Malcolm now works as an independent educational consultant specialising in leadership and governance, strategic planning and curriculum and his work has included being the Director of the ASCL NPQ Executive Leadership programme for phase 1 NPQs. He now works on a number of trust governance and leadership matters with the Confederation of School Trusts (CST). Recently he has been involved in the development of the draft Code for Academy Trust Governance.

Malcolm has worked on many DfE committees and chaired the 2020 Review Group on Headteacher Standards for the DfE and is currently on the DfE Expert Group on Teacher Recruitment and Retention. Malcolm is the Chair of Archway Learning Trust.