On Friday 20 June the Diocesan Education Team hosted their annual headteachers’ and senior leaders’ conference. This year, the conference was entitled: ‘Towards a Sustainable Future’ and was themed to inform our leaders and support them in their journey towards net zero carbon.
There were 105 delegates in total, including senior leaders, headteachers, Multi-Academy Trust central teams and CEOs, wider diocesan net zero and buildings colleagues, and members of the DBE.
The day started with thought-provoking worship at the cathedral led by the Dean of Worcester, Stephen Edwards and then moved to the Guildhall, where the keynote speakers were:
Dr Margaret James – National Director of SIAMS, who discussed why challenging injustice in our wider world was an important part of our responsibility as church schools.
Sally Mills – Let’s Go Zero Climate Action Adviser, helping schools formulate climate action plans as required by the Department for Education and providing useful practical resources to support.
And last, but by no means least,
Adam Henson – Farmer, presenter, owner of Cotswold Wildlife Park and ambassador for sustainable farming, who inspired those present to contemplate how lessons learned from the farming industry could have an impact upon our future leaders, the pupils school staff empower in their schools today.
Despite coping with a heatwave, the day was a great success and well received by delegates.
One headteacher wrote: “I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for such an inspiring and informative conference on Friday. I found the lectures inspiring and have taken so much away. Friday was a really empowering day, and I am acutely aware that there must have ben huge effort to put the programme and administration for the event together.”
The Education Team would like to thank all that helped make the day memorable for our school leaders and we look forward to working on next year’s programme.