Cornwall Education Partnership Conference – Navigating Change from Me to We

Wednesday 14 October | Eden Project

Bookings have now closed but if you would like to join us please email lucy@caph.org.uk

As part of the Cornwall Education Partnership (CEP), this conference builds on the usual autumn term CAPH conference and brings together a wider group of Headteachers and school leaders - primary, secondary and post-16 – to explore a shared challenge: how we move from individual action to collective responsibility in navigating change across our system.

Under the theme Navigating Change from Me to We, the conference will explore how leaders are responding to change in curriculum, leadership and education systems.

Framed through three interconnected lenses - changing leadership, changing curriculum and changing systems - the session invites colleagues to reflect on what change looks like in practice across Cornwall, and how greater alignment between these elements can enable meaningful and sustained improvement.

Set within the wider national context, including the Mission Coastal work outlined by the Department for Education, this session connects local insight with system-wide direction, recognising both the opportunities and responsibilities we share.

The conference will provide:

Community Listening: creating space to hear and value voices from across the system

Shared Challenge: identifying the common issues shaping our work

Journey: considering how we move forward together with clarity and purpose

This is a space not only to reflect, but to connect and act; strengthening our shared understanding of how leadership, curriculum and systems must evolve together as we move from me to we in navigating change across Cornwall.

The day will feature a keynote from Laura McInerney — former teacher, education journalist and co-founder of Teacher Tapp — known for her insightful analysis of the education system and her ability to spark thoughtful discussion about the future of schools.

Alongside the keynote, the day will include an engaging programme of interactive panels, workshops and professional dialogue designed to connect leaders and share ideas from across the county.

Colleagues are asked to arrive ready to engage with these two key questions, bringing their own experiences, perspectives and challenges to support a rich, collective dialogue:

1. How do we move from individual good intentions to aligned practice across Cornwall’s education system?

2. How must leadership, curriculum and system design change to improve outcomes together rather than in isolation?

• FREE for delegates from schools that are members of CAPH, CASH or the Diocese.
• £75 per delegate for schools that are not members of these organisations.

Bookings have now closed but if you would like to join us please email lucy@caph.org.uk

Conference Programme and Session Overview

8.50am – 9.00am Welcome and Setting the Scene: A Shared Ambition for Cornwall's Children

Speaker: Councillor Hilary Frank, Portfolio Holder for Children & Families, Cornwall Council

 The conference will open with Councillor Hilary Frank, Portfolio Holder for Children & Families at Cornwall Council, providing the strategic context for a period of significant change across education and Cornwall’s wider children’s services landscape.

Reflecting on Cornwall’s unique opportunities and challenges, including the ambitions of the Cornwall Education Partnership and the wider direction of education reform, this session will explore why collaboration, trust and collective leadership matter more than ever.

Delegates will consider the role education plays within Cornwall’s wider ambitions for children, families and communities, and how working beyond organisational boundaries can help create meaningful, long-term improvement.

Setting an optimistic tone for the day, the session will invite delegates to see the conference as an opportunity to strengthen shared responsibility and collective action across Cornwall’s education system.

9am – 9.30am | Session 1: Building Our Shared System: Cornwall Education Partnership in Action

Speakers: Dr Jen Blunden OBE, Dan Morrow, Emma Kerr

How can we move beyond individual responses to create a stronger, more connected education system across Cornwall?

This session will explore the work of the Cornwall Education Partnership Operations Board and its three strategic priorities:

·         Attendance & Belonging

·         Inclusive Education Communities

·         Centres of Excellence

Discover how working collectively can help us tackle shared challenges, remove barriers, build capacity and create greater consistency and coherence for children, young people and families.

Delegates will gain an insight into how expertise, evidence and effective partnerships can be mobilised across Cornwall — and, importantly, how every school and organisation has a part to play.

This session sets the scene for the workshops that follow and invites us to consider the key question:

How do we build the partnerships, structures and shared approaches that enable Cornwall’s education system to thrive?

9.30am – 10.30am | Session 2:  Leading Through Change in a Changing Education Landscape

Keynote Speaker: Laura McInerney

Education is changing rapidly, bringing increasing complexity and new challenges for school leaders.

This keynote will look beyond individual reforms to explore what creates the conditions for sustainable improvement, effective leadership and collective success.

Delegates will be challenged to consider how we respond to constant change with confidence and purpose, how collaboration across schools, phases and organisations can strengthen improvement, and how we can turn change into an opportunity rather than simply something to manage.

Inspiring and thought-provoking, the keynote will set the tone for the conference and invite us to consider what gives us optimism for the future — and what we can achieve when we work together.

 10.30am – 11am – BREAK and MARKETPLACE

 11am – 12.30am | Session 3: What Can We Achieve Together?

Panel & Table Discussions Chaired by: Nia Richards, Creativity, Culture and Education

Panel: Laura McInerney, Daniel Copley, Toby Parkins, Tanya Ovenden-Hope, Jitinder Takhar and Allister Young

 Navigating change requires collective responsibility, with education, business, community and research working together to create better opportunities for children, young people and communities.

Chaired by Nia Richards, this thought-provoking panel will explore three connected themes:

Changing Leadership | Changing Curriculum | Changing Systems

The discussion will consider how we can develop leaders who look beyond organisational boundaries, prepare young people for an ever-changing future, and build stronger partnerships across Cornwall.

Delegates will be invited to listen, question and reflect on their own role in creating a more connected and collaborative education system, exploring the opportunities that arise when we move beyond individual action towards collective impact. The tables will be facilitated to deepen discussion.

12.30pm – 1.20pm – LUNCH

1.30pm – 2.10pm | session 4 followed by 2.20pm – 3.00pm | Session 5

You are required to choose one workshop option for session 4 and one for session 5

 Option 1:        Changing Curriculum: Preparing Young People for an Uncertain Future

                         Speaker: Laura McInerney

Curriculum is more than what we teach; it reflects what we value, the knowledge and experiences we believe matter, and how we prepare young people for the future.

In this engaging workshop, Laura McInerney will challenge leaders to consider how curriculum thinking needs to evolve in response to a rapidly changing world.

Drawing on her expertise in education policy, research and practice, delegates will explore the balance between essential knowledge, transferable skills and wider experiences, alongside the role of curriculum in promoting equity, opportunity and belonging.

The session will encourage leaders to look beyond individual curriculum decisions towards greater alignment and shared ambition, considering how we can create coherent learning journeys across Cornwall and prepare young people not only for the world as it is, but for the world it will become.

Option 2:        CEP: Centres of Excellence | Ordinary Available Inclusive Practice (OAIP) |                            Experts at Hand

                       Changing Systems: Connecting Expertise, Communities and Opportunity

                       Speakers: Amy Daniels (CELT) and Tanya Banks (Kernow Learning)                                       Contributors: Janine Bisson, Jen Blunden and Dan Morrow

Strong education systems thrive when expertise is shared, partnerships are purposeful and every school can access the support it needs to succeed.

This practical session will explore how the Cornwall Education Partnership’s Centres of Excellence, through initiatives including OAIP and Experts at Hand, are creating new ways to connect schools, practitioners and partners and strengthen collective capacity.

Delegates will consider how we can identify and harness expertise across Cornwall, expand access to support and professional learning, and move from isolated examples of excellence towards shared system improvement.

The session will invite leaders to reflect on their own role in building a more connected education ecosystem — one where knowledge and expertise flow across schools and communities for the benefit of all children.

Option 3:        CEP: Inclusive Education Communities | Attendance and Belonging 

                        Speakers: Kate Littledyke, Kristen Carrington, Nicky Hepworth, David                                  Teasdale and Emma Kerr

Building Inclusive Education Communities requires us to understand the challenges we face, learn from evidence and work collectively to improve outcomes for children and young people.

This session will explore how disciplined inquiry, parental engagement and collaborative system working can strengthen inclusion and create the conditions for children to engage, participate and thrive. Drawing on practical local examples, delegates will consider how evidence-informed approaches to parental engagement can improve attendance, how Inclusive Education Communities can support improvements in attendance, behaviour and engagement while reducing exclusions, and how wider participation work can demonstrate the impact of collaborative approaches across the system.

The session will encourage leaders to look beyond individual interventions and consider how schools, families, services and communities can work together to identify barriers, share learning and create more inclusive experiences and opportunities for every learner.

Option 4:        Leading Through the AI Revolution

                        Speakers: Alex Moore and Jonathan Bishop OBE – South West AI Hub

Artificial intelligence is transforming education, bringing both significant opportunities and important questions for school leaders.

This session, led by the South West AI Hub, will explore how leaders can create the vision, culture and confidence needed to navigate AI-driven change in a purposeful and responsible way.

Delegates will consider how to build shared understanding, support staff through change and use AI to enhance leadership, decision-making and organisational effectiveness, while balancing opportunity with ethics and professional judgement.

The session will challenge leaders to move beyond uncertainty and see themselves not simply as recipients of technological change, but as architects of how their schools and communities respond, adapt and thrive.

Option 5a:      Changing Systems: Building Networks That Enable Improvement

                        Speakers: The PTI (Daniel Copley & Clare Lightbown - Emmaus Catholic                              Trust)

Learning Together, Improving Together: Improvement does not happen in isolation. Strong education systems are built through relationships, shared expertise and professional communities that enable people to learn from and with each other.

In this practical workshop, Daniel Copley and Clare Lightbown will explore how purposeful collaboration, professional networks and subject expertise can create the conditions for sustained improvement across schools and communities. Drawing on their experience of working across rural and urban settings and with The PTI, delegates will consider how we can move beyond simply sharing good practice towards creating genuine communities of learning where expertise is developed, shared and strengthened.

The session will explore how schools can build cultures of professional learning, support innovation while retaining their individual identity, and develop the collective capacity needed to make improvement everyone’s responsibility.

Option 5b:      Changing Leadership: Growing, Supporting and Sustaining the Leaders                                Cornwall Needs

                        Speakers: Tanya Ovenden-Hope | OneCornwall & Swift (Greg Pankhurst,                              Jen Knowles) | Careers Hub (Carrie Childs)

Growing the Leaders of Tomorrow

The future strength of Cornwall’s education system depends on our ability to attract, develop and retain talented leaders at every stage of their journey.

As the leadership landscape continues to change, this session will explore how education, employers and wider partners can work together to create stronger pathways into leadership and nurture the talent Cornwall needs for the future.

Delegates will consider how professional learning, coaching, networks and meaningful leadership opportunities can help more people see leadership as an achievable and rewarding pathway, while strengthening workforce resilience across our communities.

The session will challenge leaders to think differently about succession — moving beyond filling vacancies towards creating the conditions in which great leaders can emerge, thrive and remain in Cornwall.

3.15pm – 3.45pm | Session 6 – We are Navigating Change Together | From Conversation to Collective Action

The conference will close by bringing colleagues together to reflect on the ideas, challenges and opportunities explored throughout the day — and, most importantly, consider what happens next.

Through facilitated discussion and reflection, delegates will explore what has challenged or shifted their thinking, where greater alignment is needed across Cornwall’s education system, and what we can achieve together that would be difficult to achieve alone.

This final session is an opportunity to turn shared ambition into meaningful action, strengthening the relationships, trust and collective responsibility needed to navigate change, support one another and build a stronger future for Cornwall’s children, young people and communities.

3.45pm – Conference Ends