Tom Sherrington is an experienced former Headteacher and educator with 30 years of classroom experience. Through his consultancy, Teacherhead Consulting, he collaborates with teachers and school leaders globally to implement contemporary educational ideas and deliver well-rounded learning for young people. An active speaker at national and local conferences, Tom is also the author of popular educational books—including Teach Now! Science and The Learning Rainforest—and the co-founder of WalkThrus.

Suitable for all teaching staff.

Focus:

Grounded in proven Teaching WalkThrus, this practical session explores how to harness classroom oracy to re-engage vulnerable learners—particularly those returning after periods of absence and how to support these learners in overcoming barriers and set every returning student up for lasting success.

Content

• Self-Regulation & Metacognition: Empowering vulnerable learners to manage their own thinking and learning behaviors.
• Building Learner Confidence: Strategies to rebuild self-belief and classroom engagement, particularly for students returning after absence.
• Developing Positive Self-Talk: Helping students evaluate their own progress, celebrate relative successes, and identify learning barriers.
• Checking for (Mis)understanding: Utilising process checks, probing questions, and metacognitive dialogue to diagnose and correct learning gaps
• The Discerning Practitioner: Selecting, adapting, and applying the relevant tools effectively for maximum impact

Session Outcomes:

• Boost Confidence in Supporting Vulnerable Learners: Gain practical strategies to build trust, empower vulnerable students, and help them recognise their own learning successes—especially during crucial return-to-school transitions after absences
• Rapid Diagnosis & Targeted Support:  Equipping educators to quickly identify learning gaps, apply immediate, actionable support techniques to get struggling students back on track fast, empower students to contribute in class, and improve overall attendance.
  Oracy in Action Tom Sherrington 11 November 2026
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Facilitated by Nathan Richardson

Suitable for Colleagues who want to refresh their classroom practice.

CCP provides teachers with in-depth coaching tailored to a self-assessment of their teaching.

The programme supports a wider range of teaching activities, including: planning lessons, starter activities, and plenary sessions, questioning techniques, engaging in learning, challenging learning, assessment and adaptive teaching strategies.

The CCP builds confidence of staff to become used to class observations and adopt a positive “can do” attitude.

Participants improve their teaching through facilitated practice and the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues.

TUESDAY 20 OCTOBER & TUESDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2026

Facilitated by Anne Dellar, MBE, CST Consultant

Anne is an experienced school and system leader with expertise in trust growth, vision-setting, and cross-sector collaboration. As founding CEO of Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust, she led it to 40+ schools, with a track record of strong outcomes and finances, and a key focus on shared vision and empowering staff. She has supported the trust's growth, school mergers, and structural change. Anne mentors CEOs and advises on values-led leadership, financial sustainability, and effective governance.

Suitable for Heads and Senior Leaders in primary, secondary, alternative provision, and UTC

Key Aims:

Establish an Implementation Roadmap: Translate high-level national policy into an actionable, phased roadmap (short, medium, and long-term).

Outcomes:

Provide senior leaders with a clear, critical synthesis of the 'Every Child Achieving and Thriving' White Paper.

Anticipate Curriculum & Assessment changes: Position the school for upcoming National Curriculum updates.

Build a contextual School Roadmap.

This training is facilitated by James Rawbone

Suitable for all school-based staff new to coaching

Note: This is a repeat of the 2025/2026 training.

Key objectives:

To provide an introduction to coaching by exploring the differences between mentoring and coaching and identifying what are the key principles of effective coaching. The training session will involve facilitated discussion on understanding what coaching is and is not, supported by opportunities for group discussion to unpick key elements of coaching.

There will be a focus on identifying the differences between mentoring and coaching, and the two key fundamentals to effective coaching of listening and responding.

The use of the GROW model to structure a coaching conversation will be explored, along with introducing some tools that can be used to self-evaluate the effectiveness of coaching.

Session Outcomes:

• An understanding of what makes coaching different to mentoring.
• Introduction to skills that can be used to ensure that a coaching conversation is effective.

Outcome-Driven Learning Plans & Provision Mapping: Combining SEN Expertise with AI

Facilitated by Ginny Bootman and Mark Anderson

Ginny Bootman is a life coach with over 30 years of experience in education. She has dedicated her career to making a positive difference in the lives of children, families, and those working within schools.

Mark Anderson was a teacher and school leader for twenty years and has been helping schools, trusts and school groups around the world make technology count. Better known to many as the ICT Evangelist.

Suitable for all SENCOs & Senior Leaders

Main Aim

To equip SENCOs and school leaders with the tools to write, delegate, and monitor outcome-driven Learning Plans and provision maps while safely harnessing AI to reduce administrative workload and enhance accuracy.

Key Objectives

• Design high-quality, outcome-focused Learning Plans
• Measure and evaluate the qualitative and quantitative impact of interventions and provisions.
• Navigate AI safely, understanding data privacy (GDPR), ethical use, and bias in educational settings.
• Use AI Tools live to draft personalised learning plan components efficiently without compromising quality or legal compliance