ASCL Cymru Annual Conference 2025

Voco St David's Cardiff

*Limited places remain for full conference attendance*

Education opens doors and broadens horizons; it shapes lives and brings confidence. In essence, education brings opportunity, and this is the theme for this year’s ASCL Cymru Annual Conference.

As leaders in education, you prepare pupils for the vast range of possibilities that lie ahead, and give opportunities to pupils, often where there have been none. From developing lifelong skills, harnessing a love of literature, and shaping social skills, all in education, especially school and college leaders, understand the need to deliver opportunity to the next generation, for one day soon, these pupils will be the agents of opportunity for others.

Keynote speakers will include: 
  • Lynne Neagle MS, Cabinet Secretary for Education 
  • Representatives from ESTYN, Qualifications Wales and WJEC
  • Pepe Dilasio, ASCL General Secretary 
  • Jo Rowley, ASCL President 2025-26
  • Neil Foley, ASCL Cymru President 2025-26
  • Claire Armitstead, Director of ASCL Cymru
  • Innovating Minds, trauma-informed interventions for schools
  • Smart Curriculum, building efficient, effective and ethical curriculums
  • The School for Hard Knocks, providing alternative provision.
  • Step Lab, creating meaningful and effective personalised CPD
  • Mark Burns, author of The Learning Imperative
  • Kat Thorne, The Morning Gamechanger, building positive habits through one small change 
  • Mike Nicholson, Director of Progressive Masculinity
  • Catherine Hulme, Director, Leadership Edge building sustainable coaching cultures
  • Chris Ingate, ASCL Conditions of Employment Specialist: Pay

Additional CPD
Colleagues in Wales may also be interested in joining our webinar Delivering a mission-centred curriculum amid increasing financial pressures on 14 January 2026, and delivered by Chris Jones, Founder and CEO of SMARTcurriulum. 

Speaker
speaker thumbnail
Lynne Neagle MS

Cabinet Secretary for Education

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Pepe Di'Iasio

ASCL General Secretary

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Jo Rowley

ASCL President 2025-26 and Deputy Headteacher, Walton High School

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Neil Foley

ASCL Cymru President 2025-26 and Headteacher, Prestatyn High School

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Claire Armitstead

ASCL Cymru Director

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Chris Ingate

Conditions of Employment Specialist: Pay

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Chris Jones

Founder and CEO of SMARTcurriculum

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Philip Blaker

Chief Executive, Qualifications Wales

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Dr Asha Patel

CEO and Clinical Psychologist, Innovating Minds

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Owen Evans

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Emyr George

Chief Executive, Adnodd

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Lucy Feliciello

Deputy Headteacher, Christ The Word Catholic School

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Ian Morgan

Chief Executive, WJEC

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Mark Burns

Author

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Kat Thorne

Director, The Morning Game Changer

Read More
speaker thumbnail
Catherine Hulme

Director, Leadership Edge

Read More

Full conference attendance
Both days of conference with dinner and Thursday night accommodation
Member: £360.00 | Non-member: £415.00

Day delegate attendance – both days
Member: £325 | Non-member: £395

Day delegate attendance – one day
Member: £180 | Non-member: £215

Offers
10% discount for multiple delegates (two or more)
25% discount for ASCL Cymru Council Member/ASCL Local Representative

ASCL Cymru reserves the right to amend the programme should circumstances dictate. 
 

      Day 1, Thursday 11 December
9.00am     Registration, refreshments and exhibition
       
10.00am     Welcome and introductions
Claire Armitstead, ASCL Cymru Director
       
10.10am     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.
       
10.45am     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.
       
11.15am     Keynote
Lynne Neagle MS, Cabinet Secretary for Education (invited)
       
11.55am     Refreshments and exhibition
       
12.30pm     ASCL Cymru Director's Address
Claire Armitstead, ASCL Cymru Director
       
12.45pm     ASCL General Secretary's Address
Pepe Di'Iasio, ASCL General Secretary
       
1.05pm     ASCL President's Address
Jo Rowley, ASCL President 2025-26 and Deputy Headteacher, Walton High School
       
1.25pm     Keynote
Owen Evans, HMCI Education and Training
       
1.55pm     Headline sponsor: Steplab
       
2.00pm     Lunch and exhibition
       
2.40pm     ASCL Cymru President's Address
Neil Foley, ASCL Cymru President 2025-26 and Headteacher, Prestatyn High School
       
3.00pm     '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 
       
3.30pm     Keynote
Ken Cowan, Founder and CEO, School of Hard Knocks (tbc)
       
4.00pm     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.
       
4.30pm     Refreshments and exhibition
       
4.40pm     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 
       
5.30pm     Close of Day 1
       
7.30pm     Wine reception and conference dinner
       
      Day 2, Friday 12 December
8.30am     Registration, refreshments and exhibition
       
8.30am     Meeting for ASCL Cymru local representatives
       
9.00am     Welcome and introductions
Claire Armitstead, ASCL Cymru Director
       
9.10am     Keynote
Mike Nicholson, Director, Progressive Masculinity Ltd (to be confirmed)
       
10.10am     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.
       
10.40am     Keynote
Alex Gingell, Coaching Development Lead and former Primary Headteacher
       
11.10am     Refreshments and exhibition
       
11.30am     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. 
       
12.00pm     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.
       
12.30pm     Close of conference, lunch and exhibition