Managing subject access requests can be one of the most time-consuming and complex aspects of data protection. Overseeing these and ensuring they do not lead to more complex or undesirable outcomes can be an even bigger challenge, especially when SARs sit alongside safeguarding, HR, complaints and exclusions. This 30 minute session shares legal insight and practical tips to help you effectively respond to SARs. It focuses on the realities schools face and explains the legal and governance implications when SARs are mishandled.

In this quick fix session, we look at the uncomfortable side of procurement. Not the strategy, but the stuff that trips you up, triggers challenging correspondence from bidders, forces reruns, or leaves you stuck with a contract that never delivers. In this fast-paced 30 minute session we look at why tenders get challenged, where the risk really sits, and the early warning signs that your process is drifting off track. It is practical, real-world and designed to help you spot issues before they become expensive problems.

This legal update focuses on the steps schools and trusts can take to work effectively with local authorities, understand SEND reform and strengthen their position when requesting support and challenging decisions. We highlight what the expected changes will mean for the existing and future arrangements with the local authority for SEN funding and support. Gain a clearer view of the new SEND landscape from a legal standpoint, plus how to evidence provision and cost so funding discussions land faster, with fewer surprises.

Every academy trust is required to have internal scrutiny and a financial audit in place. The critical question is whether these arrangements genuinely reflect best practice - or simply meet the minimum standard. This session focuses on how trusts can level up the audit and internal scrutiny provision they receive. Explore what strong, value-adding assurance looks like, how expectations should evolve as trusts grow and how to recognise when current arrangements are no longer providing the level of challenge, insight, or assurance the organisation needs.

Time thieves are rarely just personal habits. They sit in how work moves between people: unclear ownership, duplicated tasks, slow sign-off, meeting creep and decisions escalating upwards. This session keeps the practical time management focus but adds the leadership layer. Identify time thieves in school operations and use diagnostics to spot where your own behaviours may be reinforcing them. We cover delegation under pressure, coaching through complexity and shifting from symptom firefighting to root-cause fixes.

The MAT sector is entering a more mature phase, shaped by financial pressure, structural change and rising expectations. This session steps back from day-to-day firefighting to explore what the next 5-10 years could hold for trusts, and the central role business leaders will play in navigating it - building a practical ‘blueprint’ for what may be coming next. With finance, merger and structural change firmly on the agenda, it looks at how trusts of different sizes can prepare, while keeping purpose and impact at the centre.

Budgets are tight, cost pressures are sticky, and “just fundraise more” is not a strategy. This practical session looks at realistic, scalable income opportunities for trusts, and the governance and finance controls needed to do them properly - with a simple model for tracking performance, cost and return on leadership time. We focus on what actually works in practice, what usually wastes time, and how to effectively build income activity that is ethical, compliant and worth the effort.

Get a clear, practical look at what effective procurement really looks like, and why it often becomes fragmented, inconsistent and inefficient. Explore how procurement can support consistency and local autonomy, with a focus on proportionate processes that reduce risk, stand up to scrutiny and make procurement lighter work. We look at how CFOs, COOs and SBLs can create clearer oversight without centralising every decision, and how procurement can become a strategic enabler rather than a bureaucratic brake.

Financial benchmarking is only valuable if it leads to better decisions - go beyond surface-level comparisons to explore what the numbers are really telling you about performance, capacity and sustainability. Drawing on insight from one of the UK’s largest multi-academy trusts, this session looks at how benchmarking can be used to test assumptions, spot emerging risk and strengthen strategic planning. It also includes a forward-looking view on budget setting, helping trusts sense-check plans for 2026/27 and beyond.

When catering or cleaning contracts are up for renewal, school business leaders face a familiar dilemma. Do you use a framework or go out to tender? In this session we examine some of the opportunities and risks associated with complex procurements and break down the real-world pros and cons of frameworks versus direct procurement, with a focus on catering and cleaning. It helps you make informed, defensible decisions based on your school or trust’s size, capacity, risk appetite and commercial priorities.

Automation and AI are quickly becoming powerful tools for school business leaders. This session shows how to use AI in a practical, affordable and responsible way to improve forecasting, strengthen budget and estates planning, and support clearer, quicker conversations with SLT, governors and trustees. Focused on real trust-level use cases, it cuts through the hype to show what works and how to adopt it without expensive systems or complex implementation.

With budgets under increasing strain, the need to control energy costs has never been greater. This session breaks down the realities schools are facing - volatile markets, tight budgets and changing policy and funding landscapes. Get a clear view of where savings can be made, what to prioritise and how to build a smarter approach that protects your budget and long-term plans. We look at smarter procurement, contract alignment and quick-win operational efficiencies, along with the longer-term steps needed for decarbonisation planning.

Both governors in maintained schools and trustees in MATs are expected to focus on strategic priorities, risk and long-term impact, but many boards struggle to hold that line in practice. This session explores effective governance, how to keep conversations anchored in strategic intent rather than operational detail, and how to shape reporting that supports better decisions. You'll also look at the nuances between governing bodies and trustee boards, and how to work with volunteer members confidently and constructively.

With schools reporting ongoing recruitment and retention challenges, and education staff showing lower wellbeing than the wider workforce, leaders need to embed wellbeing into policy and practice. This session explores wellbeing and evidence-based techniques that reduce stress, avoid burnout and optimise performance. We look at measurable wellbeing strategies that include workload management, wellbeing KPIs and structured planning, as well as how peer support networks and leadership accountability make wellbeing sustainable.