
Gloucestershire Association of Primary Headteachers Early Years Conference and Exhibition
Event Dates and Prices
Friday 31st January 2025
“Firm foundations in Early Years: Strong starts, lifelong learners”
We are delighted to be partnering the Gloucestershire Association of Primary Headteachers (GAPH) and to be organising their Early Years Conference and Exhibition at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Delegates will have the opportunity to listen to top keynote speakers Dr Julian Grenier, Ruth Swailes and Liz Pemberton to select from a range of workshops and to network with colleagues in Gloucestershire.
Exhibitors wishing to take a stand are urged to secure their place as soon as possible as stands at this very popular event can only be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Headteachers, Schools Leaders and Early Years Leads from GAPH member schools and settings are all invited to attend and should please register below.
This event is now full and registration is closed with no facility to register on the day.
Cheltenham Racecourse, Evesham Road, Cheltenham GL50 4SH
Event Speakers

Cathy Shilling
Cathy qualified over 30 years ago with a specialist interest in supporting children with neuro diversity affirming supports. She has worked across NHS and British Armed Forces, Germany services for the first 15 years of her career before starting in independent practice in 2006. Cathy runs a small practice The Speech Den with a small team of SLTs and SLTAs working in Gloucestershire. Her team support a high number of schools and pre school/early years settings across Gloucestershire. Cathy and her team run courses regularly for schools in Gloucestershire and have trained over 500 teaching staff across Gloucestershire over the past 4 years. 3 years ago a light bulb moment happened as she listened to a podcast about Gestalt Language Processors. In June 2023 Cathy hosted two GLP conferences presented by Alexandria Zachos in the UK for over 450 participants. This year Cathy is hosting and presenting at the International Online GLP conference 2024 with over 500 participants attending (both UK and internationally). She regularly presents to professionals and parents about Marge Blanc’s work and her own experiences of supporting GLPs in UK. Cathy receives support and supervision from both Marge Blanc and Alexandria Zachos
Dr Julian Grenier
Dr Julian Grenier works for an educational charity, supporting practitioners and leaders in the early years to access research evidence and put it into action. He is a member of the Expert Advisory Group for Mobilise, an innovative project from PEDAL at the University of Cambridge, and a trustee of the charity Thrive at Five. Previously, he was the headteacher of Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre in Newham, East London. During that time, he was a National Leader of Education and was also the Director of East London Research School. Julian is a best-selling author and writes regularly for TES and Nursery World. He was awarded a CBE for services to Early Years Education in 2022.
Helen Tate
Helen has worked in education for the past 32 years, the majority of which in Early Years. She has held roles of class teacher, senior leader and Deputy Headteacher, and as Early Years Lead across an Academy Trust. She has also worked for a Local Authority and Early Excellence as a Curriculum Consultant. She now works as an independent Early Years Consultant, supporting schools and Academy Trusts both nationally and internationally. Every day, she feels privileged to work with educators who make a difference to children and their families.
Liz Pemberton
Liz (she/her) is the Director of The Black Nursery Manager Ltd - a training & consultancy company which focuses on anti-racist practice within Early Years. With 20 years in the education sector, Liz’s roles have included Secondary School Teacher (QTS), public speaker and up until 2020, Nursery Manager, allowing her to teach, manage, support and educate Early Years students, practitioners and professionals in a variety of forums. Liz’s mission is to continue to promote inclusive practice in the Early Years sector, with a particular focus on how race, culture and ethnicity should be considered in this practice. Liz has developed a fantastic network of likeminded practitioners and professionals by sharing her expertise about why anti-racist pedagogy must be a thread that runs throughout early years practice. With bespoke CPD that she has developed and delivered to a range of clients locally, nationally and internationally. Liz wants to help the adults who care for and educate children under 5 to deepen their knowledge about anti-racism as a series of ongoing, conscious and intentional actions. Liz’s accolades include being recognised in 2024 by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage as 1 of 100 Black Women Who Have Made a Mark, nominated as a finalist for trainer of the year for the 2022 Nursery World Awards, recognised by the Black Cultural Archives as one of their 2022 40x40 Future Leaders, winner of the 2022 Guardian Angel award at the Glomama Awards and in 2021 securing her place as the winner of the Community Unsung She-ro award at the Multicultural Business & Community Champion Awards (MBCC).
Ruth Swailes
Ruth is an award- winning Early Years specialist with more than 30 years’ experience working in Education. She has taught children from aged 2 – 11. A former Primary Headteacher, Ofsted inspector and experienced LA Moderator, Ruth currently works as an LA school improvement advisor, Early Years advisor and Independent Consultant in the UK and internationally. Ruth is the Lead developer and author of the Oxford International Early Years Curriculum and leads the OUP EY training for schools in more than 40 different countries. She has recently written a second book with Dr Aaron Bradbury, “A child centred EYFS”, following the success of their best- selling book, “Early Childhood Theories Today”. She has also co- edited “A Manifesto For Early Years” with Aaron and Philippa Thompson.
Samantha Asher
Neurodiversity Early Years and Key Stage 1 Service Lead at the ADHD Foundation. Samantha is proud to lead a small, and passionate team, that are dedicated to supporting our youngest learners, with emerging characteristics of Neurodevelopmental Conditions. She thrives on opportunities to work with Early Years professionals, to develop knowledge and skills, enabling them to implement best practice strategies to support our little learners, across a range of educational settings, to flourish!