Humans first, school leaders second, needing to be able to demonstrate remarkable resilience in continuing to live through and witness an extraordinary period of history. Resilience is the ability to resist being affected, or to recover readily from setback and adversity, and the past two years have been a period of enormous turbulence and upheaval. Nobody has been left untouched by the impact of the global pandemic, and great change has been forced upon us all.

As a profession, it seems as though educators have reached a stage of almost complete overwhelm. There is something so breathless about the pace of life in schools – a pace, to a certain extent driven by the need to continuously improve within a context in which it is clear that, as school leaders, it is a case of needing to do more with less.

However, as with any period of great change, there is a window of opportunity that follows, where new school leaders have the chance to enact and bring about change for the better. The pandemic has also allowed many the space to rethink ther relationship with the wider world. This is a crisis both global and local, both shared and individual.

That time to rethink and reimagine is now, needing to build back, but do so in a way that is better, stronger and fairer. Forged by adversity, there is the opportunity to follow divergent paths towards a future which everyone can help to create.

The theme for the day is ‘Leading into the Future- Finding The Balance’ and is about setting and navigating a different course, to create new pathways through the disruption. School leaders on this journey are defined by their determination, their hope and their unshakable belief that whatever happens, whatever the cost, whatever the scale of the challenge, they will continue to do everything possible to safeguard the learning of all children and young people and prepare them for life beyond school.

This one day conference will support delegates to lead effectively and bring about sustained, transformational change by considering how to overcome the barriers to leading a successful school and how to develop leadership at every level.