Pastoral Champions Conference 2025: now open
Preview talks and resources. Find your frees and plan when you'll be tuning in.
Just one highlight to bring you from the We Are In Beta Community this week.
But it’s a biggie.
Pastoral Champions Week 2025 kicks off tomorrow - Monday 24th March. 🎉
Talks go live at 8.30am. 🕣
The conference space is now open if you register before 24/03 📣
Preview 30+ short, sharp talks and 100+ pastoral leadership resources.
Available to all this week only. Don’t miss out.
Come on in to learn how brilliant pastoral colleagues from our member schools are transforming their students’ lives.
Check out the full agenda and…
We - schools - Are In Beta - always learning (when we tune in to hear how others do things at conferences)
🗓️ Preview all talks and resources going live at Pastoral Champions Conference 2025
The space is open if you register before 24/03 - talks don’t go live until tomorrow morning
So now is the time preview sessions, objectives and resources to make sure you don’t miss out.
Take a look at what’s on offer, block off your free periods, get your note pad ready and invite your pastoral team to watch along with you.
🗓 Attendance
Developing a culture of belonging to increase attendance - Diana Steele, E-ACT West Walsall Academy
How mentoring pupils can positively impact our pupils and staff - Andy Pilbury, Tytherington School
How to achieve high attendance in the sixth form - Pravina Vora, Ruislip High
Create ways to improve attendance - Nicola Forster, North Primary School
Closing the Attendance Gap: Systematic Strategies to Support Under-Resourced Families and Improve Attendance - Ben Wright & Adam Hayward , Penrice Academy
🥇 Behaviour
Praise and Rewards: How to get it right in secondary schools - Adam Robbins, The Regis School
Values led behaviour management - Rob Riley, Oakmoor School
Uniform - a fight worth having? - James Morris, Iceni Academy
The Power of Positivity -Reward-Focused Behaviour Strategies – Shifting from Sanctions to Reward-Focused Behaviour Policies - Warren Byrne, Meden School
Strategic approach to sustained, ongoing improvement in student behaviour - Craig Jones, Churchdown School Academy
🌎 Belonging
How did we consciously introduce belonging? - Jamie Maxted, Harris Academy Chafford Hundred
Beyond Transitions: Cultivating Connections and Belonging in Year 7 - Leila Short, Brighton Aldridge Community Academy
Belonging in AP - Keziah Featherstone, The Mercian Trust
Best Bets for securing a Sense of Belonging in our Schools. - Phil Banks, Westcountry Schools Trust
🏫 Internal Alternative Provision
Building Bridges: Creating a Successful Alternative Provision in Your School - Owen McGrattan, Oasis Academy MediaCityUk
Internal Alternative provision. Our learning as a Trust. - Matt Bindon, Ted Wragg Trust
How to set up an Internal AP - Shazad Ali, Link AP Academy
Internal alternative provisions - Daniel Bradford, David Ross Education Trust
Vision for Internal Alternative Provision - Emma Merchant, The Two Counties Trust
🎯 Pastoral systems and year leadership
Setting up and implementing a Habits for success curriculum - Toby Neave & Lily Pace , Sewell Park Academy
Building a collaborative pastoral system from scratch - Laura Kehoe, Thornden School
Get Into the Green: Turning Standards into Success! Johnoi Josephs, Deptford Green School
Understand how to WIN at Pastoral Leadership - Adam Brett, The Wilnecote School
Refining human systems in pastoral leadership - Louis Ronald Kisitu Ssekabira, St Paul's Academy - Abbey Wood
Proactive Pastoral Support - Laura Donaldson, Magnus Academy
🧩 SEND
SEND Parent's evenings: A proactive approach to address increased complaints on communication. - Julian van Gelder, Oasis Academy Coulsdon
How to be a truly adaptive teacher - Amjad Ali, Chiltern Learning Trust
The Umbrella - SEMH, SEND and behaviour interventions and programmes at Q3 Langley - Michelle Longhurst, Q3 Langley
🤝 Relational Practice and relationships
Be Nice: Everyone Welcome, Everyone Respected - Laura Besenzi, John Taylor Free School
Relational Inclusion - A primary pilot - Anthony Benedict, Ambition Community Trust
🏡Parents
Improve partnership with parents and inspire engagement - Denardo Jackson, Harris Academy Beckenham
E.T (Easy to) Phone Home - Alex Pett, Logic Studio School
On a personal note…
This time in March always brings two anniversaries, which are hugely significant.
This year they have never been more so.
Five years ago this week was the last time schools welcomed all students and staff before the first lockdown.
Through isolations, bubbles, distancing, remote learning, TAG, CAGs and more - schools showed resilience, flexibility, patience, humanity, connection and collaboration.
It’s important to remember how they rose the challenge what the experience taught us.
It’s also been five years since we opened the We Are In Beta Community as you know it today.
Long time members will know that We Are In Beta started as a podcast in 2019, which grew into a email list of about 1,000 school leaders.
We could talk to them. They could talk to us. But they couldn’t talk to each other.
In early 2020, we wanted to find a way to help them learn from each other without getting in their cars or a train.
Little did we know there was a global pandemic coming down the tracks, which would make that question a hugely important one.
The online community was our solution.
Looking back at pandemic stirs up conflicting feelings for me.
It was awful time. But in some ways We Are In Beta would not have grown into what it is today without it.
However, I feel, it’s important to remember why we founded it:
to help schools share how they get the best outcomes for their students.
The very same reason we are running Pastoral Champions Week 2025 next week.
Join us to watch and learn from our incredibly generous speakers.
I do hope you’ll reply to their questions in the comments under each session - they are all keen to hear you thoughts and feedback.
Thanks for reading.
@Niall Alcock and the We Are In Beta team
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