HR Update and People Strategy - Speakers

Emma Hughes, Partner, Head of HR Services, Browne Jacobson LLP (Chair)

Emma has over 15 years’ experience in generalist HR in both the private sector and the public sector. Emma has worked as HR director and regional HR business partner for two large, national school trusts. Emma is able to bring insights and great practice from organisations across the sector to help inspire new approaches to HR and organisational development and design. Emma has led on several business transformation projects, including a national restructure that involved HR/finance/estates functions across the whole organisation. More recently Emma has supported several clients manage contentious trade union disputes including coaching and advising a Headteacher in order to help stave off strike action.

Rachael Boaler, Managing Director, Holden Knight Education

With more than 20 years’ experience in education recruitment, Rachael is passionate about finding flexible solutions that help education leaders to raise education and attainment levels within their schools. Having worked with schools and academies across the UK, Rachael has created a support network that enables schools to support the wellbeing of their pupils and staff, create upskilling opportunities that aid the retention of skilled teachers within the profession and ensures future planning within schools through managed service provision. Rachael is passionate about inspiring others in recruitment to deliver the best staffing solutions to schools, academies and trusts that go beyond recruitment and help create a positive culture that allows schools, pupils and educators to thrive.

Freddie De Luca, Director of Development, Calm Mediation

Freddie advocates the creative potential of the mediation process. After starting with Calm Mediation in 2015, her remit now includes the workplace and training services. With specialist skills in team facilitation, Freddie’s experience ranges from conflict coaching with one person to mediation involving 400 participants. Diverse situations include breakdown of trust, long-running disputes and matters arising from societal change. Freddie is ‘Elder Mediation’ accredited (first in GB). A growing number of workplace situations involve ‘issues related to ageing’. Working with mainstream and specialist schools, colleges and academies, Freddie supports staff and board members to evolve disputes into positive, lasting outcomes.

Dai Durbridge, Partner, Browne Jacobson LLP

Dai is an expert education lawyer at Browne Jacobson and heads up the North West team.  He advises schools, academies and MATs on frontline education matters, including admissions and exclusions, parental complaints, GDPR and all safeguarding issues. Dai supports schools with employment related safeguarding issues, including the single central record, overseas checks, positive DBS disclosures and complex investigations following allegations against staff.  Dai works closely with the expert HR advisors and specialist employment lawyers at Browne Jacobson on a range of issues for schools where safeguarding and/or GDPR is a complicating factor.  Dai also carries our MAT safeguarding audits to support trusts with improving safeguarding practices at each academy and developing consistent approaches and structures that support best practice trust-wide safeguarding. He is also a recognised expert in GDPR and data protection for schools, supporting schools with all aspects of data protection and has devised and delivered DPO training to over 400 school DPOs to support them in their role.

Michelle Gabriel, Head of HR, Capita People Solutions

Michelle has 15 years’ of HR experience in the schools sector, working in both outsourced HR services for schools and trusts and in-house experience as director of people for a Midlands based multi academy trust. She is also an accredited workplace mediator, coach, safer recruitment trainer and non-practicing employment lawyer. Michelle is passionate about making schools great places to work and currently provides strategic HR support and training alongside her team at Capita People Solutions to a portfolio of schools and trusts nationally. She is also a pupil advocate (local governor) for a multi academy trust.

Laura McInerney, Education Journalist and Founder, Teacher Tapp

Laura McInerney is an education journalist for Schools Week and the Guardian. Laura is now a columnist for Schools Week but was formerly the editor for three years. She also co-founded Teacher Tapp, a daily survey of teachers’ lives, and was once taken to court by Michael Gove for asking difficult questions.

Matt McIver, Chief Operating Officer, Cidari Multi Academy Trust

Matt entered the education sector in 2007 as a school business leader at a secondary school In Blackpool where he remained until the creation of Cidari in 2014. Passionate about the role that school business professionals can play in delivering strong leadership in our schools, Matt promotes and models the positive, transformative impact that well-informed, collaborative, evidence-based, strategic, and operational decision making can have in delivering excellence in education. In seeking the very best practice and ideas from across multiple sectors, both public and private, Matt works openly with system leaders and industry partners across the sector. He is committed to developing a philosophy and culture within education that is innovative, motivating, sustainable, compliant, and which puts pupils, colleagues, families and communities at the heart of all they do.

Lirette Mill, Head of HR Advisory, HR Connect

Lirette has more than ten years of HR expertise in the educational sector. She holds a post-graduate degree in Legal Practice in addition to her undergraduate law degree and CIPD certification. Lirette has a track record of successfully resolving disputes and is very competent at handling employee grievances. The Safer Recruitment Consortium has certified Lirette as a safer recruitment trainer. She presently serves as a governor at an infant school that is controlled by the Church of England. She serves as the policy committee chair and co-chair of the Quality of Education Committee as part of her governor duties.

Heather Mitchell, Employment Partner, Browne Jacobson LLP

Heather specialises in advising schools and academies. With 16 years of experience, she has a deep understanding of the sector and provides strategic support on complex employment issues. She is known for empowering clients to take a more commercial approach to staffing issues and has built longstanding relationships with clients on their journey from single schools to large MATs. Heather's areas of expertise include high profile exits, sexual harassment claims, industrial action, and TUPE outsourcings. As a sought-after public speaker, Heather is known for her relatable and solution-focused style.

Katharine Robinson, Associate, Stone King LLP

Katharine advises on a wide range of employment law issues, including termination and settlements, safeguarding issues, industrial action, and defending employment tribunal claims. Katharine advises on both contentious and non-contentious matters. She has an in-depth understanding of the education sector and is able to provide clients with sector-specific, tailored advice. Katharine regularly supports clients in defending employment tribunal claims, including constructive/unfair dismissal, discrimination, and harassment and victimisation claims. She advises clients on day-to-day issues including grievance and disciplinary matters, contractual queries, and settlements.

Kat Thorne, Director, The Morning GameChanger

Kat is a qualified teacher with more than 15 years of teaching and consulting experience working across EdTech, both in the public and private sector. She has led, coached and mentored teams as UK director, to entire international teams in her role as global commercial manager. Despite appearing 'successful' on the outside, she paid a heavy ‘life’ price. She suffered a severe breakdown and lost everything. She rebuilt herself by changing her habits, starting with one, small habit change. Kat is now an international keynote speaker and teacher of positive habits, working with teams and organisations around the world.

Dave Walker MBE, Director of Mediation, Calm Mediation

Dave began mediating in 1985 with Southwark Mediation Centre. He was instrumental in joining the organisation with Calm Mediation in 2020. Dave’s workplace mediation experience involves board disputes and staff/student/parent situations. His educational clients include schools, colleges and universities. He pioneers mediation approaches for high conflict and specialist challenges. Facilitations also include teams or interacting departments, (e.g. impact of restructuring). Dave is an accomplished mediation trainer, with decades of developing youth mediators in schools. He has featured in TV programmes and regularly presents on the topic nationally and internationally. Dave was awarded an MBE (2007) for outstanding contribution to mediation.

Tom Wallace, Senior HR Consultant, Browne Jacobson LLP

Tom has over 12 years’ experience working with schools and trusts, including working for six years with one of the largest academy trusts. Tom is experienced in all levels of HR management including complex union negotiations, high-level safeguarding cases and large-scale restructures. Tom specialises in pay and reward initiatives and has supported numerous trusts with executive pay and structure reviews, including creating trust-wide pay scales/job families and R&R incentives. Tom is extremely passionate about improving education through proactive HR strategies and has supported many trusts in developing HR initiatives and five-year ‘People’ plans to achieve this.

Peter Woodhouse, Partner, Stone King LLP 

Peter has been assisting clients in employment matters since he qualified in 1991. He advises on a full range of employment matters and aims to provide support to clients managing change in their business. He was a partner at a large Bristol firm before becoming a partner at Stone King LLP in March 2006. He is qualified as a solicitor and barrister and for 10 years was believed to be the only solicitor on the panel of Treasury Counsel. Peter has acted for numerous clients over the years including owner-managers as well as multi-nationals. Peter considers that businesses prefer to act responsibly both as a matter of policy and economics. He works with clients to ensure their outcomes in terms of responsible business are delivered.