Grant funding can offer schools valuable support for projects, improvements and wider development, but successful applications need more than a good idea. This practical session will help school business professionals understand how to find suitable funding opportunities, assess eligibility and build stronger applications.  Delegates will explore the common features of successful bids, from evidencing need and demonstrating impact to avoiding the mistakes that often weaken applications.

Workforce planning is about more than just filling roles-it’s about building a strategy for the future. Learn how to identify skills gaps, develop succession plans, and align workforce strategies with your school’s long-term goals. This session will give you the tools to futureproof your school’s staffing needs.

School business leadership has never been a small role, and the pressures attached to it have become harder to ignore. Drawing on four years of research into the mental health and wellbeing of school business leaders across England and Wales, Education Mutual brings those findings together to reveal the bigger picture. This session explores the pressures that remain constant, the emerging demands reshaping the role, and what the data tells us about where signs of progress are beginning to appear, and where challenges remain unresolved.

In a more demanding procurement landscape, a strategic approach matters more than ever. For schools and trusts, procurement is no longer just about compliance or process. In the post-PA23 environment, leaders need to think more carefully about tendering, specification, contract set-up, supplier oversight and long-term value. This session explores what that looks like in practice, and how a broader commercial approach can help organisations strengthen contract performance, manage risk and secure better outcomes over time.

With school budgets under increasing strain, the need to understand and control energy costs has never been greater. This session breaks down the realities schools are facing today. You'll come away with 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 will look at everything from smarter procurement and contract alignment to the quick-win operational efficiencies that make an immediate difference.

This session helps you regain control by identifying the real “time thieves” in your environment and in your own habits, then building simple, practical techniques to respond. We bring in Edward de Bono’s tools as a simple structure for clearer, faster thinking under pressure, including his Six Thinking Hats approach and lateral thinking prompts to break stuck patterns and find better options.  This supports a mindset of protecting time for high-value work, reducing rework, and designing routines that stop firefighting becoming the default.

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

Plenty of schools and trusts are making hard decisions right now.  The difference is whether those decisions build confidence or fuel distrust.  Lorna shares a practical approach to financial viability that works across a primary trust and translates well to maintained schools too. Explore how to use radical transparency without creating politics, how to apply a five-year affordability lens so short-term fixes do not become long-term traps, and how to communicate “not this year” decisions so staff, heads, governors and boards stay aligned.

 In this session, Sharon shares how her trust has intentionally designed its people strategy to create belonging, grow talent and enable high performance across the workforce. Grounded in development, wellbeing, workload and staff voice, this session looks at how a coaching-led and inclusive approach can move beyond traditional CPD and help people choose to grow and succeed.  Sharon will explore practical steps to invest in people, and the measurable difference this has made to retention, recruitment, staff satisfaction and organisational success.

Belonging is when pupils and staff feel part of the school, valued, and able to contribute. When it is missing, the impact shows up fast. This session turns belonging into an operational and financial lever, not a slogan.  Drawing on Phil’s CEO experience, MBA perspective and PhD research, you will leave with a clear line of sight between belonging and what you are accountable for: staff stability, school improvement capacity, risk, and cost control.

The MAT sector is entering a more mature phase, shaped by financial pressure, structural change and rising expectations around scale, resilience and impact.  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. With finance, merger and structural change firmly on the agenda, it looks at how trusts of different sizes can prepare for what’s coming, while keeping purpose and impact at the centre.

Rising food costs, escalating staffing pressures and increasingly complex compliance requirements mean school catering is under strain. This session lifts the lid on where hidden savings can be found and how a strategic shift in catering provision can reduce waste, ease staffing demands and still meet nutritional standards.  Using real examples from schools and trusts, we explore how the right catering model can enhance financial resilience, support inclusion and improve the overall dining experience for pupils.

In this workshop, you will access practical course materials, tailored advice and actionable strategies to help you take control of energy and carbon reduction in your setting. Led by Zenergi's Head of Consultancy Delivery, Harry Eaves, and Consultant School Business Leader Helen Burge, ISBL Fellow and Trustee, this ISBL-accredited workshop gives you the tools and insights needed to build confidence, strengthen your planning and drive meaningful change across your school or trust.