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Conferences and Festivals 2025/26

Leadership Conference 2026

The Sheffield Leadership Conference will take place on Friday 10 July 2026 at Niagara Conference and Leisure. The keynote speaker will be Laura Bates, and the event will focus on the numerous challenges facing children and young people today, and how educational settings can support them. Further details will be shared in due course.

Workshop Content
Speaker Bio
Removing Barriers, Restoring Belonging: Insights from Poverty Proofing® the School Day

Working together to build a school day where every child can participate, every family feels included, and every member of staff shapes the change.

This keynote explores what it truly means to create a fair, dignified, and fully inclusive school day—where compassionate practice, practical solutions, and strong partnerships with families and communities come together to transform everyday experiences.

Drawing on over ten years of delivering and leading Poverty Proofing® The School Day, Ancha will share insights, stories, and strategies that help schools remove barriers, strengthen belonging, and ensure all children can thrive.

Ancha Stoodley
Team Manager, Poverty Proofing® The School Day, Children North East

Ancha Stoodley leads the nationally recognised Poverty Proofing® The School Day approach at Children North East, a pioneering initiative that has worked for over a decade to embed poverty-sensitive practices in educational settings across the UK. With over 25yrs experience working in communities impacted by poverty and with a deep commitment to social justice, Ancha champions the importance of working at place within educational settings to elevate the voices of children and families experiencing poverty and to co-create sustainable, stigma-free solutions.

They Care, Do You? Identifying and supporting young people with caring responsibilities

Having caring responsibilities can significantly impact attendance, attainment, behaviour and wellbeing, yet many young carers still remain unidentified and unsupported.

In this session, we will use real case studies and local/national data to explore:

  • The impact that caring responsibilities can have on education
  • The particular vulnerabilities for ‘hidden’ young carers
  • Young carers in the school census
  • The new Ofsted requirements relating to young carers
  • Mobile phone bans – impacts on young carers
  • Support and resources available to schools

Miriam Jones is the Participation and Development Manager at Sheffield Young Carers (SYC). She is a former primary school teacher and has worked for a number of charities supporting vulnerable children and young people. In her current role, Miriam manages SYC’s education programme, as well as leading their voice and influence group to ensure young carers’ lived experience directly influences the services and policies that impact their lives.

Sheffield Young Carers is a local charity that provides specialist support to over 200 young carers each year. SYC also works to ensure good quality support is available to young carers and young people affected by substance misuse in their family, at both a strategic and operational level. SYC is nationally and internationally recognised for their campaign, policy and research work to ensure young carers rights and needs are understood and met.

Making Educational Spaces LGBT+ Inclusive

In this session we will explore:

  • Becoming conscious of the additional barriers LGBT+ young people may face in schools.
  • Becoming conscious of the historical and current statutory guidance and legislation in relation to LGBT+ inclusion.
  • Building confidence through a common inclusive language in relation to LGBT+ identities.
  • Developing competence in reimagining our educational spaces, and making them more diverse, equitable, and inclusive of LGBT+ lives.
Dr Adam Brett is an associate trainer and researcher for the Belonging Effect. He is a former secondary school teacher and leader and now a lecturer and researcher at the University of Derby. He is also the co-founder of Pride & Progress and the LGBTQ+ Research Network. He has co-authored and co-edited multiple publications on DEIB in education: https://www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/our-books/
Intersectional Neuroinclusion

In this interactive session we will:

  • Explore how the nervous system shapes learning, behaviour, and belonging, and what this means for creating truly inclusive educational spaces in the context of racial bias.
  • Reflect on Larissa’s neuroscience research on brief mindfulness and arousal reduction and her framework: Regulate to Reconnect.
  • Unpack how systemic inequities and social stressors affect the body's capacity for safety, visibility, and engagement in the classroom.
  • Consider how educators can support restoration, visibility for Black students, and authentic connection through trauma-informed, polyvagal-inspired approaches.
  • Leave with practical strategies to create classrooms that are both psychologically and physiologically safe, rooted in visibility, belonging, and care.
Larissa Hope is an independent producer, filmmaker, and researcher, best known for her lead role in the BAFTA-winning series Skins. She holds a Master’s in Neuroscience and a First-Class degree in Psychology and Creative Writing. As the founder of The Restoration Collective, Larissa combines education, neuroscience, and social impact to reimagine restorative approaches to learning and community. Her research on mindfulness and the autonomic nervous system has been presented at the 35th Annual Boston International Trauma Conference , Black in Neuro Week in Washington DC, and will attend the Polyvagal Institute Conference.
Race, Culture and Belonging in Sheffield Schools

In this session we will look at:

  • The findings of Sheffield’s Race Equality Commission (REC) and its recommendations for Education.
  • Sheffield’s Ethnicity Data.
  • How to develop anti racist practice within your school setting.
  • How to build an inclusive culture in terms of race, ethnicity and identity.
Homaira Ibrahim is a School Advisor for Sheffield City Council, who is currently based at Learn Sheffield as the Race Equality Partnership Manager. She is also the EDI rep on Sheffield’s Youth Justice Management Board, As a former senior leader across Sheffield schools, she is currently working on advancing outcomes for marginalised groups across Sheffield’s educational settings.
Date/Time Venue Content  
10 July 2026
9.00am-4.00pm
Niagara Conference and Leisure Summer Leadership Conference Book Soon

 

Cost - Settings who have bought the Core Subscription Offer have two tickets to the conference included.

Settings who have not purchased the Core Subscription offer can purchase a ticket for £95 (early bird cost until Friday 22 May). Full price tickets will cost £150.