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Day 1, Thursday 11 December |
| 9.00am |
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Registration, refreshments and exhibition |
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| 10.00am |
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Welcome and introductions
Claire Armitstead, ASCL Cymru Director |
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| 10.10am |
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Together We Heal: Building Trauma-Informed School Communities for Children Affected by Trauma and Mental Ill Health
Dr Asha Patel, CEO and Clinical Psychologist, Innovating Minds
Delegates from Rhyl Cluster
Dr Asha Patel will share how the Healing Together programme is being embedded in North Wales schools to build a culture of trauma-informed practice. The training equips staff across all roles to support children affected by domestic abuse, anxiety and angry feelings - with schools reporting its powerful impact on practice and outcomes for pupils. |
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| 10.45am |
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SMARTcurriculum - building efficient, effective and ethical curricula
Chris Jones, Founder and CEO, SMARTcurriculum
As the exciting opportunities of Curriculum for Wales take shape, success lies in turning vision into practice. This session, led by lifelong educator, passionate international curriculum practitioner and author Chris Jones, explores how purposeful curriculum design and efficient resource planning are essential to delivering on ambition. Designing an inspiring and engaging curriculum that supports high-quality learning, staff well-being, and long-term sustainability of our schools must be at the heart of all decision-making. But there are challenges and considerations to navigate at both the design and implementation stages. Join Chris to consider the strategies and tools available to ensure schools can innovate confidently and deliver a curriculum that is fit for the future and enables every learner to thrive. |
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| 11.15am |
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Keynote
Lynne Neagle MS, Cabinet Secretary for Education (invited) |
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| 11.55am |
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Refreshments and exhibition |
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| 12.30pm |
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ASCL Cymru Director's Address
Claire Armitstead, ASCL Cymru Director |
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| 12.45pm |
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ASCL General Secretary's Address
Pepe Di'Iasio, ASCL General Secretary |
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| 1.05pm |
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ASCL President's Address
Jo Rowley, ASCL President 2025-26 and Deputy Headteacher, Walton High School |
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| 1.25pm |
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Keynote
Owen Evans, HMCI Education and Training |
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| 1.55pm |
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Headline sponsor: Steplab |
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| 2.00pm |
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Lunch and exhibition |
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| 2.40pm |
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ASCL Cymru President's Address
Neil Foley, ASCL Cymru President 2025-26 and Headteacher, Prestatyn High School |
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| 3.00pm |
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'Plus One' Development of Teaching
Mark Burns, Director, Plus One Learning Ltd and author of The Learning Imperative
Lucy Feliciello, Deputy Headteacher, Christ The Word Catholic School
Sharing the learning from developing impactful teaching at Christ The Word Catholic School, Rhyl.
- The key foundations to provide a platform for growth
- The key levers to secure buy-in from staff
- CPD design to focus on embedding, not just launching |
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| 3.30pm |
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Beyond survival: helping vulnerable children thrive
Ken Cowen, Founder and CEO, School of Hard Knocks
"In my years in education, I've learned that sometimes what a child really needs isn’t complicated - a wet paper towel, a bit of humour and a moment of dignity can make all the difference."
In this keynote, Ken Cowen explores how simple, practical, evidence-based strategies can help vulnerable children not just survive - but thrive. Not costly or complex; effective, lasting support is about being thoughtful, creative, and grounded in genuine understanding. |
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| 4.00pm |
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One Small Change: Transforming Resilience and Wellbeing in Schools
Kat Thorne, Director, The Morning Game Changer
When stress, workload, and low morale felt impossible to shift, four schools in Wales partnered with ASCL and Kat Thorne, Founder of The Morning GameChanger to try something different.
Instead of complex initiatives, they focused on one small positive habit change - a simple action that took only a few minutes each day. The results were powerful: greater resilience, improved energy and mood, better workload management, and even increased job enjoyment. In this interactive session, Kat shares the story of how schools achieved meaningful change and how you can replicate the same impact. |
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| 4.30pm |
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Refreshments and exhibition |
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| 4.40pm |
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Panel session: Exams and workload
Chair: Hywel Parry, ASCL Vice President 2025-26 and Headteacher, Ysgol John Bright
Philip Blaker, Chief Executive, Qualifications Wales
Ian Morgan, Chief Executive, WJEC
Emyr George, CEO, Adnodd
Chris Wilkinson, Headteacher, St Joseph's Catholic and Anglican School
Representative from Welsh Government |
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| 5.30pm |
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Close of Day 1 |
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| 7.30pm |
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Wine reception and conference dinner |
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Day 2, Friday 12 December |
| 8.30am |
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Registration, refreshments and exhibition |
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| 8.30am |
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Meeting for ASCL Cymru local representatives |
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| 9.00am |
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Welcome and introductions
Claire Armitstead, ASCL Cymru Director |
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| 9.10am |
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Keynote
Mike Nicholson, Director, Progressive Masculinity Ltd
Many boys and young men are growing up in a world where they rarely hear the word masculinity without 'toxic' attached. This talk explores the impact of a paradigm shift away from a deficit-based approach to masculinity towards an aspirational perspective, helping boys realise they have the agency to design the man, friend, partner father they wish to be. With four billion men in the world there can four billion different ways of being a man. This talk explores three main questions:
1. What are the prevalent views of masculinity amongst many of our young people?
2. What socio-cultural factors are shaping these views?
3. What evidence-based strategies can we employ to help boys and young men critically engage with their masculine identities and promote an aspirational understanding of what it can mean to 'be a man' in today's world. |
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| 10.10am |
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Thriving Together: Embracing Coaching for Professional Growth and School Improvement
Catherine Hulme, Director, Leadership Edge
In today’s demanding educational landscape, thriving is not a solo pursuit but a shared journey. This keynote explores how coaching, grounded in compassion and challenge, creates a dynamic space for both personal growth and collective school improvement.
School leaders will gain clarity on what coaching is (and isn’t!) while discovering how it empowers colleagues to step into discomfort, embrace new possibilities, and lead with confidence. Together, we’ll uncover how the “magic” of coaching can strengthen resilience, nurture leadership, and build thriving school communities. |
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| 10.40am |
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Keynote
Alex Gingell, Coaching Development Lead and former Primary Headteacher |
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| 11.10am |
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Refreshments and exhibition |
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| 11.30am |
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Wages, Workload and Wellbeing in Wales – Autumn 2025 update
Chris Ingate, ASCL Conditions of Employment Specialist: Pay
This presentation will focus on live issues relating to pay and conditions for teachers, school leaders and support staff. The big issues affecting schools in Wales spiral around a lack of public sector funding, wages still lagging behind and poor workload / wellbeing. There will be an update on pay and working conditions, the recommendations of the IWPRB and specific reference to some of wider legislative changes
Dr. Chris Ingate is one of ASCL’s Pay Specialists and has been working alongside ASCL Cymru for the last two years giving support and advice for its 1000 members. Chris was formally a Principal of a large 11-18 school in England. |
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| 12.00pm |
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The Next Chapter: Building Thriving Schools Through One Small Change
Kat Thorne, Director, The Morning Game Changer
You’ve heard the inspiring results from four pioneering schools in Wales - now the question is: what will you do tomorrow? This interactive session is a call to action for us all to reimagine how schools can thrive. By embedding simple, evidence-based habits, we can create systems that build resilience, energy, and joy into daily life - not just for staff, but for parents and students too. This is just the beginning of our journey. Join us as we scale this movement, empowering schools everywhere to make change possible, one small positive habit at a time. |
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| 12.30pm |
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Close of conference, lunch and exhibition |