Head Teacher Round Table Conference

On Thursday 2^nd February 2017 I had the pleasure of attending the 2^nd Headteachers’ Roundtable (HTRT) Summit in the old Greater London Council building , across the river from the Houses of Parliament.  

This was a day of collaboration and continuation of the work that HTRT has started.  With some 200 delegates present the knowledge and understanding of the situation was in abundance - an accumulation of 1000's of years experience of school leadership.  The purpose was developing a greater collective voice to address the challenges the profession currently faces.

The event, entitled “Enabling schools to thrive and flourish”, followed on from the evidence gathering at the first summit in 2016 and the subsequent publication towards the end of 2016 of The Alternative Green Paper: Schools that Enable All to Thrive and Flourish.  The document can be downloaded from the HTRT website using the following link:

This was an opportunity to catch up with ex-colleagues, Headteachers/Principals from around the UK, as well as some of my current project colleagues; to engage with them as they shared their concerns and developed solutions, meet and hear from national figures from the world of education and in doing so remain at the cutting edge of momentum within the profession.  

The issues of the day were the future of:

ï School leadership

ï Governance

ï Primary assessment

ï MATs, selection and sponsors

ï Inclusion

ï Inspection

ï The Curriculum

ï Recruitment and retention

ï Teacher Professionalism

ï School Funding

A morning keynote session with Lucy Crehan, (author of Clever Lands), started the day very positively, followed by workshop sessions focused on five of the issues.  These were very informative and the various presenters/speakers were knowledgeable and passionate about the topics.

Afternoon workshops were followed by a second keynote, with policy experts ex-MP David Laws and journalist Helen Francis being interviewed on stage in front of the assembled audience.  Hearing about the intricacies of the working life of a government minister with a portfolio in education was both fascinating and surprising - Mr Laws advice was to never underestimate the value of talking to your MP about education policy, he admitted that he was rarely asked about education policy even though he was an education minister.

A very positive day for all present and I look forward to attending the next HTRT event later in the year, most likely to take place in Sheffield.  Supporting the work of HTRT in driving attempts to promote the changes that have come from within, and ensure teachers and leaders have a much greater ownership of the future and development of education within the country, are laudable aims to which we can all fully subscribe.  The core group of The Headteachers’ Roundtable deserves the thanks and full support of the whole education community for the work they undertake on behalf of us all.

Hoping to influence decisions made across the river from the conference venue!