
National Association of Virtual School Heads (NAVSH) Annual 2021 Online Conference and Exhibition
Event Dates and Prices
Tuesday 2nd & Wednesday 3rd February 2021
“Virtual Schools – promoting recovery with care and education”
Mondale Events are delighted this year to be working in partnership with the National Association of Virtual School Headteachers (NAVSH) and to be assisting the Association with the organisation of their Annual Conference.
This year’s event will be held in a virtual environment over two days, Tuesday February 2nd and Wednesday February 3rd, and with the event being online, it is hoped that as many people as possible will join from Virtual School teams nationwide.
The Programme will feature a keynote speech from Kriss Akabusi who grew up in the care system before gaining fame in athletics. Kriss will be talking about his life with the theme “Building the bridge between Education and Social Care.
Other speakers include :
Edd Shackleton – NCER and national data developments
Ofsted – Leaders from Education and Social Care
Vicky Ford – Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Education with responsibility for children and families
Carolyn Roberts – Headteacher of Thomas Tallis School, Greenwich – Ethical Leadership
There will be opportunities for questions to a panel plus networking with colleagues from across the country and the full Programme will be available here once published.
The cost per delegate is £100 exc. VAT for the first four delegates from the same team. Subsequent delegates will be charged £50 exc. VAT. All delegates should register below and will be invoiced by Mondale Events.
Companies and organisations wishing to participate in this event should kindly contact us as soon as possible to secure their place on the virtual platform.
Event Speakers

-Kriss Akabusi
Born in London in 1958 to Nigerian parents, Kriss has experienced a start in life similar to many of our looked after children. He grew up with a string of foster parents and a time in a children’s home. Kriss rose to fame on the athletics track, where his greatest individual triumph was winning the gold medal in the 1990 European Championships. He will probably always be remembered for helping Britain clinch the gold from the mighty Americans at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. Having amassed three Olympic medals, as well as World, European and Commonwealth titles, Kriss was bestowed with an even greater honour in 1992: an MBE awarded by her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his services to the country through athletics. Kriss has a large family of his own as a father of four to Ashanti, Shakira, Alannam and Sakhile. He currently lives in Bedfordshire where he can be found teeing off at Woburn Golf Club or avidly supporting his favourite football team, West Ham United.
Alan Clifton
Alan spent 9 years as the Virtual School Head for North Yorkshire, leaving this role in August 2017. Prior to becoming VSH in 2008 his background included six years as the Principal Reintegration and Education Otherwise than At School Manager (REOTAS) and as a Behaviour Support Manager, both in North Yorkshire. Alan was the first Chair of the National Association of Virtual School Heads (NAVSH) in 2016-17. He remained a Board Member until March 2018. Alongside colleagues, he oversaw the transition of the National VSH Steering Group to NAVSH, as a registered charity. Alan represented NAVSH on the DFE /ADCS/ NCER working group focusing on how education and social care performance data could be developed to accurately measure the progress of children in care. He was invited to give the NAVSH perspective, at the All Party Parliamentary Group for LAC, on the Children and Social Work Bill in January 2017. His most recent work has been developing a peer challenge framework for Virtual Schools and piloting this work. He has participated in 10 peer reviews, two as Lead Peer, reviewing SEND for LGA. He is currently involved with IFF Research reviewing outcomes for children in care in Wales.
Carolyn Roberts
Carolyn is the Headteacher of Thomas Tallis school in Greenwich, a school of nearly 2000 students aged 11-19. Carolyn has worked in education since 1983 after reading Theology at King’s College London followed by a PGCE at Birmingham and MA at Durham. She began teaching in Birmingham, became Head of RE at Pimlico School in London and then Houghton Kepier School in Sunderland. Carolyn went on to become Headteacher at St Hild’s C of E School in Hartlepool and Durham Johnston School in Durham, which under her headship became one of the region’s most successful secondary schools. More recently she has held the post of Honorary Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) which is where she became instrumental in setting up and chairing the Ethical Leadership Commission.
Michael Bettencourt
Michael has over 15 years experience working as Virtual School Head in two local authorities. He is currently Education Consultant at CELCIS at the University of Strathclyde. He is leading on the support and development of Virtual Schools in Scotland. Michael was previously Research Lead and a Trustee of NAVSH.