Engaging and Supporting the Progress of Boys - Speakers

Gary Wilson

Education Consultant and Author - Raising Boys' Achievement

Gary Wilson is one of the country’s leading experts on raising boys’ achievement. He is a freelance education consultant, speaker, trainer, author and former teacher of twenty-seven years. Gary has advised and delivered training in over a thousand schools and over thirty LAs across the UK.

Sam Baars

Director of Research, LKMco

Sam is a researcher with particular interests in youth research, area-based inequalities and social science impact. He believes that robust, innovative social research is the key to tackling the barriers that prevent some young people from making fulfilling transitions to adulthood, and he channels this belief into a range of research projects at LKMco.

Ellie Mulcahy

Researcher, LKMCo

Ellie is a Research Associate at LKMco. She has experience in Psychology and Education research has particular interests in children and young people’s mental health and educational inequality research. Ellie holds a PGCE with a specialism in the Early Years and believes that the Foundation Stage plays a crucially important role in shaping children’s attitudes to education. Since joining LKMco she has carried out research into the national speech, language and communication landscape, inequalities in Higher Education and the impact of literacy intervention in prisons. Ellie recently co-authored a report with Sam Baars on the underrepresentation of white working class boys in higher education, commissioned by King's College London.

Dan Freedman

Journalist

Dan Freedman grew up wanting to be a professional footballer. That didn’t happen. Instead, he went on to become a top football journalist, personally interviewing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Dan was Editor in Chief for the FA and founding editor of  www.thefa.com. During his career he has gone to two World Cups as part of the official England Team group. Dan puts his passion and knowledge of football to good use, writing the hugely popular series of Jamie Johnson football novels which have now been adapted for TV by the BBC. The second series will run in 2017. When he is not writing, Dan delivers inspirational talks for schools and clubs around the country. He has visited over 2000 schools and talked to 500,000 kids about Jamie Johnson. He is a literacy consultant for The Premier League as well as taking on the role of Ambassador for The Youth Sports Trust. Dan still plays football whenever he can.

Bob Cox

Director, Searching for Excellence Ltd

Bob gives key-note speeches at teaching and learning conferences and has supported creative, practical approaches to able learner inclusion in over 400 schools and at national, regional and international events. His 'Opening Doors' books are used across the UK and have been developed into a series. See www.searchingforexcellence.co.uk

Ruth Powley

Deputy Headteacher, Wilmslow High School

Ruth believes strongly that the best way to improve educational outcomes is by inspiring teachers to ‘reclaim the pedagogy’ and use this intelligently, efficiently and proactively in their classrooms. She also has a website and blog, www.lovelearningideas.com that provides evidence-based resources and ideas.

Nicola Wileman

Headteacher, Totley Primary School

Totley Primary School is a small, one-form entry primary school, on the edge of the Peak district in the South West of Sheffield. In 2007 the school was in put into Special Measures by Ofsted, with inconsistencies in the quality of teaching, ineffective monitoring and evaluation and a lack of challenge for the more able being cited as the main issues at the time. Nicola joined the school in 2008, initially as a class teacher, and, under new leadership, the school quickly moved to a Good judgement within 3 terms. Since then, she has taken on a variety of leadership roles within school, including subject leader, SENCO and Assistant Head. In 2013, the school converted to an academy, creating a MAT with a local secondary school. At this point, Nicola took on the role of Head of School and, in September 2015, became the Head Teacher. In July 2015, (in the last week of term!) they had their OFSTED inspection and gained our Outstanding judgment. The journey that Totley has been on for the past 8 years has now ensured that all children are challenged throughout their time in school and that progress is very carefully monitored. Provision mapping for individual children is tightly managed to best meet their changing learning needs and high expectations for all has been their mantra!

Bradley Busch

Director, InnerDrive

Bradley Busch is the director of InnerDrive. InnerDrive run workshops that helps students develop a successful mindset and perform under pressure. This is based on their work with elite athletes, that include Premiership footballers and GB athletes – some of whom won medals at London 2012. Last year, InnerDrive worked with over 120 schools across the country, helping over 25,000 students, teachers and parents.

Pete Wilkes

Headteacher, Cotgrave Candleby Lane

Pete Wilkes is the headteacher of large, outstanding primary school serving an ex-mining area in Nottinghamshire.  During the last few years the school has been on a journey to reignite learning and raise the aspirations of the community.  Through the use of innovative approaches and a relentless focus on enabling children to reach their full potential the school is true to their ethos; look back with pride and forward with confidence.

Jason Vit  

Literacy Hubs Manager, National Literacy Trust

Jason Vit managers the National Literacy Trust Hubs around the UK. Since 2012 the Hubs have been developing innovative approaches to raising literacy levels in some of the most deprived communities in the country where low levels of literacy are entrenched, intergenerational and having a major impacting on people’s lives. He also delivers National Literacy Trust consultancy support to help organisations develop their own multiagency responses to the literacy challenge.

Before taking over the management of the Hubs, Jason managed a number of national programmes focussed on raising literacy levels among the most disadvantaged in society. He has a background in other education charities and in public speaking and debate training – working with young people in the UK and internationally.

Katy Parkinson  

Founder Director, Sound Training

Katy Parkinson is the inspiration and creator behind Sound Training. Prior to developing the Sound Training programme and setting up Sound Training Ltd, she was a senior Learning and Language adviser in a large urban unitary authority. It was here, and whilst teaching and observing mainstream pupils who were experiencing difficulties with reading, that Katy used her interest and expertise in phonology (and its effect on reading) to develop Sound Training.
Katy has 27 years’ teaching experience, specialising in supporting pupils with dyslexia. She holds a Post Graduate Certificate (PGC) in Special Education, a PGC in Dyslexia and was an Associate Member of the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA).
Her commitment to enabling every child to fulfil their potential is underpinned by the belief that pupils have been, and will continue to be, her best teachers!