National #TrustLeaders Symposium 2023

#TrustLeaders as change agents

Shaping solutions together as we lead through challenging times

Our second annual National #TrustLeaders Symposium took place on 15th June 2023 and was attended by colleagues from across the country; once again bringing together individual members of Forum Strategy’s national CEO, COO and Education Executive networks.

Following 2022’s hugely successful and extremely well-attended event with Sir Michael Barber, our 2023 event was led by leading social policy thinker, James Plunkett, author of the book ‘End State: 9 ways society is broken and how we fix it’. The day was once again supported by Sir Steve Lancashire, Chair of Forum’s National #TrustLeaders CEO Network; and expertly facilitated by Maggie Farrar

During these defining times for trusts, schools, communities and pupils, our symposium offered critical time to think strategically about the implications for trust leadership and to consider how deep collaboration with others will help to drive system led change and improvement from within. During the course of the day, we acknowledged the huge and ingrained challenges across the educational landscape. But, more importantly, we provided the time and space for trust leaders to share and generate strategic ideas and solutions to help move their organisations (and critically, the education system as a whole) even further forward with positivity and purpose.

The day had a sharp focus on recognising that none of us can change the context all by ourselves, but by harnessing the significant leadership freedoms, scale, and cross-community influence available to trust leaders, we can make some ‘big moves’ that have real impact on communities and pupils’ lives, leading to system led change and transformation. This event was about discovering leaders’ agency and power, and as with 2022’s Symposium, we saw some radical and innovative ideas generated in the room (and realised beyond it), made possible through the deep connections that exist across the networks.

We would like to thank everyone who was able to join us in Nottingham. It was fantastic to see so many of you there and great to see so many rich professional discussions and connections taking place around system led change and improvement. A range of resources following the day are shared below; and are accessible to individual members of our respective networks.

Reflections & Resources

National #TrustLeaders Symposium 2023 Gallery

James Plunkett

James Plunkett

James Plunkett has worked for over a decade at the heart of public policy, exploring how to solve society’s trickiest problems. In the late 2000s, he was working at 10 Downing Street as an adviser to Gordon Brown and he has since spent ten years grappling with the social ramifications of economic change including in his current role as Executive Director for Citizens Advice.

As author of ‘End State: 9 Ways Society Is Broken & How We Fix It’ James shows an optimism and curiosity about the future, and explores how, even in difficult times, we can make society richer, fairer, and happier. James is extremely well placed to help us to think strategically about the implications for trust leadership and how we collaborate with others to find solutions to some of the trickiest challenges facing society and our education system.

Sir Steve Lancashire

Sir Steve Lancashire

Steve is Chair of our national #TrustLeaders CEO network & a Forum Strategy Associate. Until last year, he was the founder and CEO of REAch2, one of the largest primary academy Trusts in England and has been involved in primary education for over thirty years – as a Headteacher for twenty of those, then as Executive Headteacher of Hillyfield Primary Academy before becoming the CEO of REAch2. Hillyfield is a double outstanding school and REAch2 was founded on its success. Steve has been a National Leader of Education and a lead adviser for the department for Education, taking the lead in supporting schools to move from ‘Good’ to ‘Outstanding’.

Steve was Knighted for services to education in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in 2016 and has been a driving force at the centre of many important groups and discussions around system leadership and improvement.

Maggie Farrar

Maggie Farrar

Maggie has worked as a teacher and in senior leadership roles in education for over 40 years. She was latterly Director for Leadership Development and Research at the National College for School Leadership and Interim Chief Executive. She is currently working with schools, partnerships and education systems on collaborative school improvement. She is a coach to a number of school leaders and Chief Executives of MATs. 

Maggie trained as a mindfulness teacher at the Oxford University Mindfulness Centre in 2018 and has integrated this into her current work, supporting leaders to thrive and flourish in the complex and demanding role of school leadership.