STOKE, STAFFORD AND CHESHIRE

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SELECT & BOOK YOUR SESSION:

Welcome to the seminar timetable and selections page. Here you will see an overview of all the sessions running at the event and choose which you would like to attend.

STEP ONE

View our seminar timetable here

We have collated information about which seminar options are available for each seminar stream, along with a brief overview of those sessions and their speaker, in our seminar timetable, which you can view below

Please note:

There are several options for each session, please choose one seminar per session from the options below. Some sessions run more than once to give you the opportunity to attend seminars at a different time if you're spoilt for choice.

To make the day as flexible as possible for all delegates, we offer an extended working lunch period which offers a hot lunch, networking time and exhibition time. During this period, we also run a small number of sessions, which are shorter sessions available to delegates who like to cram their day with more learning and less exhibition and networking time. These sessions are completely optional – if you prefer a little more downtime to enjoy the exhibition and networking with colleagues, just select no thanks for the optional lunchtime sessions. If you’d like to attend more organised sessions within your day, choose one or two of the lunchtime sessions on offer

Seminars will close when they reach capacity, so do make your selections early to avoid disappointment. If your first choice isn't available on the list, this is because that session is now fully booked and has been closed – seminars will be removed from the booking form once they’ve reached their delegate capacity. In this instance, please select an alternative seminar for that session.

If you would rather we choose a selection of seminars on your behalf, simply do not complete your selections and we will build an itinerary for you.

You will receive a printed copy of your seminar selections and personalised itinerary on the day as part of your registration

STEP TWO

MAKE your SEMINAR

selectionS HERE

Once you’ve made your seminar session choices, use our form linked above to make your selection.

This form offers you a choice of available seminar sessions in any given seminar stream; simply select your choice from the options, and continue through the sessions until complete.

Seminar TIMETABLE

option one

SEND Reform White Paper Update

When the SEND system is strained, decisions can become slower, tougher and more contested. This legal update focuses on the practical 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 will also highlight what the expected changes will mean for the existing and future arrangements with the local authority for SEN funding and support. You will leave with 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 for reserves and contingency.

In this session we explore

• What is changing, and what is not, in SEND reform and LA decision making.

• What matters now, what to watch next, and likely operational pinch points.

• Getting the basics right early, evidence, chronology, records and decision logs.

• Funding routes in practice, what to ask for, how to frame it, and how to evidence need, provision and cost.

• Challenging decisions, informal resolution, complaints, mediation and escalation routes, including common time traps.

Take home points

Pre-legal checklist. Template chronology. Evidence prompt list. Escalation map. Common SEND scenarios.

This session is for

Chief Executive Officers, school business leaders and trust operational teams dealing with EHCP funding, LA decisions, complaints, appeals and funding challenges

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Income Generation That Matters

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.

In this session we explore

The income generation landscape for trusts, what is realistic, repeatable and aligned to charitable purpose

Decision filters that keep things disciplined: margin, cashflow timing, risk rating, governance workload, and opportunity cost

Practical routes to income, including trading activity, partnerships, lettings, grants, sponsorship, and community-facing services

Compliance essentials: charity duties, procurement conflicts, VAT considerations, trading subsidiaries, and reputational risk controls

How to avoid “random acts of fundraising”, and instead build a trust-wide pipeline and framework that school and central teams can use

What usually fails, why it fails, and the warning signs that something is becoming a distraction

Take home points

A clear framework for evaluating income ideas like an investment decision

A shortlist of trust-appropriate income streams, with the pros, cons and governance implications

The non-negotiables for compliance and reputational protection

A simple model for tracking performance, cost, and return on leadership time

A practical “stop doing” list, the common time sinks that deliver little value

This session is for

Trust leaders and central teams responsible for strategy, finance, operations, governance, compliance, estates, and stakeholder engagement, including those leading income generation activity across schools and services.

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AI and Automation for School Operations

Automation and AI are quickly becoming powerful tools for school business leaders, transforming how high-performing trusts run estates and operations and link this data to budget-setting. AI can bring together information from finance, estates, staffing and pupil numbers, highlight patterns and risks, and provide fast, reliable insight when decisions need to be made.

This session shows how schools and trusts can 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 is already working and how to adopt it without expensive systems or complex implementation.

In this session we explore

Connecting finance, estates and operations data to reveal trends and pressure points

Using real-time insight to model budgets, pupil movement and estates demand

Scenario planning for growth, contraction and changing pupil profiles

Turning complex data into clear options for decision makers

Strengthening budget-setting using estates and operational insight

Reducing workload through streamlined audits, planning and compliance

Using AI dashboards to answer leadership questions quickly

Protecting institutional knowledge and avoiding unnecessary software spend

Making “more with less” work at scale

Take home points

How AI can reduce admin and improve decision making

Practical uses of AI in budgeting, forecasting and planning

Faster, evidence-based responses to leadership questions

Confidence to adopt AI in a way that saves time and supports sustainability

This session is for

School business leaders, COOs, CFOs, estates and operations leads, and central teams in MATs and maintained schools seeking practical ways to use AI to connect data and drive smarter decisions.

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option three

option two

option one

Sharper Challenge, Stronger Trusts

Every academy trust is required to have internal scrutiny and a financial audit in place. The critical question for trustees and leaders 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. It explores what strong, value-adding assurance looks like in practice, how expectations should evolve as trusts grow in size and complexity, and how to recognise when current arrangements are no longer providing the level of challenge, insight, or assurance the organisation needs.

The risk of failing to level up is rarely sudden or dramatic. More often, it presents as quiet drift: assurance becomes routine, familiar issues remain unchallenged, and weaknesses sit in plain sight. By the time they surface meaningfully, time, money, or reputation may already be at risk.

Rather than focusing on technical audit detail or theory, this session is designed to help trustees and senior leaders sense-check the quality, depth, and impact of the assurance they rely on - and to build confidence in making informed decisions about continuity, re-scoping, or change.

In this session we explore

• Why minimum compliance is not enough

• What strong, risk-based assurance looks like in practice

• How growth changes what you should ask for, and what good challenge looks like

• When to push, re-scope, re-tender, or change provider

Take-home points

• A quick framework to rate the quality and impact of your current assurance

• Questions that test independence, depth, and added value

• Indicators it is time to evolve, without adding unnecessary burden

This session is for

CFOs, COOs, finance and compliance leads, plus audit and risk committee members who want assurance that keeps pace with the scale and risk profile of their trust.

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Financial Benchmarking That Drives Better Decisions

Financial benchmarking is only valuable if it leads to better decisions. This session goes beyond surface-level comparisons to explore what the numbers are really telling you about performance, capacity and sustainability.

Drawing on financial insight from one of the UK’s largest multi-academy trusts, this practical 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.

In this session we explore

• Financial benchmarking insights from the UK’s largest MATs

• How to interpret benchmarking data without chasing averages or league tables

• Using benchmarking to identify pressure points, inefficiencies and opportunity

• Core budget-setting assumptions for 2026/27 and beyond

• How to use benchmarking to support stronger conversations with executive teams and trustees

Take home points

• A clearer understanding of what “good” looks like when benchmarking trust finances

• Practical guidance on setting realistic, defensible budgets

• Confidence to challenge assumptions using data, not gut feel

• Insight into how peers are structuring and resourcing business support

This session is for

CFOs, COOs, trust finance leaders and senior business professionals involved in strategic planning, benchmarking and budget setting across MATs.

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Make Governance More Strategic

Governance should drive strategy, clarity and confidence. Yet too often, meetings slide into operational questions, overly detailed scrutiny or long lists of compliance checks that add workload without improving outcomes. 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 offers fresh insight into how you can reset that balance. We will explore the core pillars of effective governance, how to keep conversations anchored in strategic intent rather than operational detail, and how to shape reporting that genuinely 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.

In this session we explore

The difference between strategic and operational governance and how to reinforce it
Where governance, compliance and operations overlap and how to keep boundaries clear
How to recognise when you're being asked for detail instead of insight
Practical ways to redirect questions towards strategy, risk and impact
What purposeful financial and risk reporting looks
How to make the most of volunteers' expertise while managing challenging dynamics

Take home points

Clear, workable boundaries for what belongs on a board agenda
Language and framing that lift conversations out of the operational weeds
A simple structure for reporting that supports strategic decisions
Practical approaches for strengthening relationships with governors and trustees

This session is for

School and trust leaders who want more focused, strategic board conversations, reporting that drives better decisions, and the confidence to guide governors and trustees towards the issues that matter most.

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option two

option three

option one

What’s Next for Trusts?

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.

Led by Stuart Gardner, CEO of The Thinking Schools Academy Trust, it draws on experience of trust growth across 26 schools in multiple regions, alongside his MBA study and the idea of 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 for what’s coming, while keeping purpose and impact at the centre.

In this session we explore

• What may be in store for the MAT sector over the next 5-10 years

• How to use a practical ‘blueprint’ approach to step back, hypothesise and plan for what comes next

• Why CFOs, COOs and business leaders will shape future trust models

• Growth, merger and structural change, and what they mean in practice

• How service delivery has evolved, from standalone schools to centralised MATs and beyond

Take home points

• A clearer sense of where the sector is heading, and why

• Practical considerations for financial and structural planning

• Options for service models that support sustainable growth

• Practical food for thought on leading through change

This session is for

CFOs, COOs, senior business leaders and operational leads in small, medium and large MATs who want to step back, look ahead and shape the future of their trust with confidence.

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OPTIONAL SESSIONs

To make the day as flexible as possible for all delegates, we offer an extended working lunch period which offers hot lunch, networking time, exhibition time and some optional sessions that delegates can choose to sign up to or not – it’s totally down to personal preference .

OPTIONAL SESSIONS are shorter sessions available to delegates who like to cram their day with more learning and less exhibition and networking time.

Reminder, these sessions are completely optional – if you prefer a little more downtime to enjoy the exhibition and networking with colleagues, just select no thanks for the quick fix sessions, if you like to attend more organised sessions, choose one or two of the quick fix session on offer.

There is enough time planned into the day to allow you to comfortably attend at least one optional sessions if you wish – as well as lunch and exhibition time

option one

option two

Handling SARs safely

Managing subject access requests (SARs) can be one of the most time-consuming and complex aspects of data protection. Overseeing the management of these and ensuring they do not lead to further, more complex or undesirable outcomes for the school 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 session we explore

What the law actually requires regarding time limits and extensions
When to seek evidence of ID, authorisation and clarification
How to do a reasonable and proportionate search
What supplementary information you must provide alongside a copy of the personal data
Key considerations when dealing with safeguarding information and the personal data of other people
When you can refuse to respond to a SAR
Information security considerations

Take home points

A legally robust SAR workflow you can apply across a school or trust

Clear guidance on documenting decisions so they stand up to scrutiny

Practical and risk based tips

This session is for

Those handling SARs directly and senior leaders who oversee the process and carry accountability.

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Framework or Fees? Buying Better and Procuring Well

When catering or cleaning contracts are up for renewal, school business leaders face a familiar dilemma. Do you use a framework for speed and compliance, or go out to tender to drive value and control costs? There is no one-size-fits-all answer, and the wrong route can cost time, money and confidence at audit.

We explore why procuring complex services, via frameworks, which are often of significant costs to schools, may not be the optimal solution for school, academies or Trusts.

We examine some of the opportunities and risks associated with complex procurements, where the price is important, but buying the service you actually want, is potentially more important.

This session breaks 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.

In this session we explore:

•The difference between frameworks and direct tendering, in plain English

•When frameworks work well and when they can quietly cost more

•The hidden risks and fees that SBLs often miss

•How to judge value, not just compliance

•What auditors, governors and trustees expect to see

•How to choose the right route for your setting, not someone else’s

Take home points:

•Clarity on which route to market suits your school or trust

•Confidence to justify your decision to auditors and boards

•A practical checklist to support your next catering or cleaning procurement

•Better control of cost, quality and contract risk

•The ‘cost of the time’ of an SBL should be an important consideration

This session is for:

School business leaders, finance leads and operations teams responsible for catering, cleaning or wider contract procurement in maintained schools, academies and MATs.

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option One

Tackling the Time Thieves!

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. It gets harder when you manage teams across sites or support multiple settings. The result is constant chasing, capable colleagues waiting for direction, and leaders stuck in the weeds.

This session keeps the practical time management focus, but adds the leadership layer. You will identify the biggest 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.

In this session we explore

• The most common time thieves: duplication, unclear ownership, slow approvals, inbox churn

• Leadership impact and unintended consequences, where bottlenecks are created

• “It’s not them, it’s you” diagnostics, accidental disempowerment

• Delegation that sticks: outcomes, authority, guardrails, follow-up

• Coaching through complexity, building capability not dependency

• Diagnosing root causes, reducing recurring issues and rework

• Collaborator vs decisive leader, matching approach to the moment

• Boundaries, triage, batching and clearer comms across teams and sites

Take home points

• A diagnostic for time loss and bottlenecks

• Delegation techniques that speed up delivery

• Coaching approaches that reduce escalation

• Simple changes that cut rework and repeat chasing

• A clearer way to protect time for strategic work

This session is for

School business leaders, SBMs, CFOs, COOs, operations leads and senior leaders managing teams and delivery in school settings, including where work is shared across sites or locations."

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Procurement That Works

Strategic buying bringing consistency and value, that stands up to scrutiny.

This session takes a clear, practical look at what effective procurement really looks like across schools and trusts, and why it so often becomes fragmented, inconsistent and quietly inefficient.

Drawing on patterns seen across a wide range of schools and trusts, it explores how procurement can support both consistency and local autonomy, rather than pulling them into conflict. The focus is on proportionate processes that reduce risk, stand up to scrutiny and actually make procurement lighter work for schools.

From contract creep and missed renewals to duplicated “low value spend” that adds up fast, the session unpicks where procurement commonly goes wrong and what stronger organisations do differently. It looks 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.

In this session we explore

• What effective, proportionate procurement looks like across schools and trusts of different sizes

• Where procurement typically leaks value, including duplicated contracts, inconsistent buying and overlooked renewals

• The CFO and COO lens: risk, governance, audit readiness and why procurement decisions are rarely low risk

• Supporting schools to follow good procurement practice without adding workload

Take-home points

• A practical “checklist” to tighten procurement oversight across multiple schools

- Ways to identify and reduce hidden cost created by fragmented, low value spend

• Clear guidance on balancing compliance, quality and cost in a way that supports both scrutiny and school autonomy

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Wellbeing That Improves Retention

Staff wellbeing isn’t a “nice to have” — it’s a strategic driver of retention, productivity, trust and organisational stability. 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 rather than rely on goodwill. Creating a culture of psychological safety is central to this, giving staff the confidence to speak up, collaborate and perform at their best.

This session explores the science of wellbeing and evidence-based techniques that reduce stress, avoid burnout and optimise performance for both staff and students. We will look at how to design 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. You will also consider practical steps to attract and retain top talent in a competitive labour market.

In this session we explore

• Why staff wellbeing must be a strategic priority linked to retention, recruitment and school performance

• Evidence-based techniques for staff and students to reduce stress, prevent burnout and optimise performance

• How to build wellbeing KPIs and measure impact across your workforce

• Workload management, psychological safety and structured wellbeing planning

• Creating peer support networks and leadership accountability

• Strategies that improve recruitment and retention in your setting

Take home points

• A practical approach to embedding wellbeing across policy and practice

• Tools for measuring and reporting wellbeing outcomes

• Evidence-based stress reduction and burnout prevention techniques

• Staff retention strategies linked to wellbeing culture

This session is for

School and trust leaders, business managers, HR, people or wellbeing leads and anyone responsible for staff wellbeing, retention and organisational culture.

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option TWO

option three

Final Word: What Matters Most Right Now

Your chance to share ideas and insight, ask questions and hear what resonates most with your SBL colleagues

As we close the day, this final session brings the whole delegate network together for a focused, expert-led Q&A with a panel of experienced school business leaders from across the schools landscape. It’s a chance to explore the themes that have surfaced across the day, raise questions that didn’t fit elsewhere and hear how peers are tackling and overcoming the pressures in their schools and trusts.

The panel will respond to questions from the floor and from the wider SBL community via social media platforms and our magazine readership. We will discuss the issues that you tell us matter most, offering practical insight, challenge and ideas.

Whether you want to join the conversation or prefer to listen and absorb, this is a valuable opportunity to consolidate learning from the day and leave with clearer thinking, reassurance and ideas you can use immediately.

What to expect

• Honest, experience-led responses from expert SBL panellists

• Questions from delegates on the day’s topics, challenges and real-world scenarios

• Insight into the common themes, sticking points and priorities emerging across the sector

• Space to reflect on how learning from the day translates back into your setting

This session is for

All delegates who want to end the day with practical insight, clearer perspective and a stronger sense of how fellow SBLs are approaching the challenges ahead.

OPTIONAL SESSIONs

OPTIONAL SESSIONS are shorter sessions available to delegates who like to cram their day with more learning and less exhibition and networking time.

There is enough time planned into the day to allow you to comfortably attend optional sessions if you wish – as well as lunch and exhibition.

OPTION one

Procurement That Doesn’t Work

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.

In this session we explore

Why well-intentioned tenders so often unravel — and the hidden fault lines that sit beneath “routine” procurement activity

The moments in a process where risk quietly creeps in, long before anyone talks about challenge, dispute or re-running a competition

How small decisions in design, process and evaluation can have disproportionate consequences — and why these are so often missed at the time

The behaviours and habits that create unnecessary exposure, even when you believe you are doing everything “by the book”

What tends to happen after award when things start to falter — and why the way you respond can either contain risk or rapidly escalate it

Take home points

• A simple “challenge triggers” checklist you can apply to any tender

• Practical ways to strengthen defensibility without adding workload

• Clear guidance on what to tighten before you publish, and what to watch during evaluation and award

This session is for

SBMs, SBLs, CFOs, COOs, contract and procurement managers in maintained schools, academies and MATs.

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Energy Buying, Budget Control and Net Zero

With school budgets under increasing strain and key grant schemes scaled back or withdrawn, the need to understand and control your school's energy costs has never been greater. As one of your biggest overheads, energy represents both a risk and an opportunity. Get it wrong and losses can escalate fast. Get it right and the savings can be genuinely transformative. This session breaks down the realities schools are facing right now. Volatile markets, tight budgets, and changing policy and funding landscapes. 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 both your budget and your 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, along with the longer-term steps needed for decarbonisation planning.

In this seminar we explore

Common risks to avoid when procuring energy
Industry changes and market drivers impacting costs
How to evaluate different procurement strategies
Practical quick wins for reducing energy use
Funding to support energy efficiency and decarbonisation

Take home points

Energy procurement strategies. Funding opportunities. Practical energy saving actions that can be applied straight away.

This session is for

School business leaders who are looking to make their energy budget go further by buying better and reducing waste. Trust Leaders: You will understand the latest procurement rules and learn how to unlock efficiencies by coordinating your strategy across your organisation and accessing funding. Primary school leaders: You will take away simple actions that create immediate savings. Secondary school leaders: You will learn how to manage higher energy loads and spot the biggest opportunities for efficiency.

Order Now