It’s been a long time coming, but last week marked our first in-person expo since 2020, for the Convenzis Education National MAT Conference.
We’ve been working with academy trusts – on their digital presence, brand identities and marketing – for the last 15 years, so it was an ideal opportunity to hear the latest insights from five multi-academy trust leaders.
It was a strong launch event for Convenzis, with powerful presentations from Steve Howell, CFO at Red Kite Learning Trust, Lois Whitehouse, CEO of Inspire Learning Trust, Sufian Sadiq,Director of Teaching School at Chiltern Learning Trust, Will Smith, CEO of Greenshaw Learning Trust, and Paul Sorby, Executive Director of Curriculum from Outwood Grange Academies Trust.
Steve Howell, CFO at Red Kite Learning Trust spoke passionately about how to successfully grow your academy trust, with plenty of useful tips for the audience about how to survive and thrive. The presentation focussed, in-part, on the need for a clear strategy; well communicated both internally and externally, and keeping this in sharp focus. Steve also spoke about the need to create a well-executed brand proposition and identity – an area Clearsilver has spent years researching and implementing for clients.
Lois Whitehouse, CEO of Inspire Learning Trust followed with her inspiring talk about wellbeing and resilience for staff and pupils. The ability to show our own vulnerabilities to help those who may be struggling was a key opportunity for learning how to demonstrate that we all struggle – and potentially fail – from time to time.
With key presentations featuring discussions about the best way to approach a future-ready digital strategy across multi-academy trusts, managing employee’s mental health in schools and safeguarding for pupils, there was a broad range of key topics covered. The frequent Q&A sessions prompted plenty of animated discussion, indicating that the conference was highly relevant.
We met with some fantastic contacts who we’re looking forward to catching up with to talk in more detail about our experience in the education sector.