Gloucestershire Association of Primary Headteachers Annual 2022 Conference and Exhibition

3. Darren Edwards

Darren Edwards is a former mountaineer and Army Reservist who sustained a life-changing injury in the summer of 2016. The near-fatal climbing accident would leave Darren permanently paralysed from the chest down. With determination, grit and positivity, Darren has overcome adversity to become a Disabled Adventurer, World First Expedition Leader and Motivational Speaker. Darren’s personal story of overcoming adversity and building a resilient mindset is guaranteed to motivate, encourage change and inspire. Instilled with humour, down-to-earth honesty and a genuine sense for adventure and pushing the limits of his disability, Darren cares deeply about connecting with his audience and getting them to think – and act – differently. Darren’s talks are an infectiously positive call to action that nothing is achieved without a resilient mindset.

Derek Redmond

Derek is a European and World Championship gold medalist and encouraging presenter. He takes his audiences through a gripping roller coaster ride of emotions, cataloguing the highs and lows of his career and providing a unique insight into the mind of a world class athlete who defied the odds to once again represent England. He is a British athletic legend. During the 1980’s and 1990’s he managed it to break the British 400 meter record twice. He won gold with the 4 x 400 meter relay squad in 1991 at the World Championships, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games in 1986. In 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics, his performance became one of the Olympic moments in history. At the 400m semi-final race Derek, tipped for the gold medal in the final, tragically snapped his hamstring. After falling and despite the loss he motivated himself to make it across the finish-line with the help of his devoted father. Derek is an inspiring example of how motivation, self-belief and endurance can lead to success. After retiring from athletics Derek Redmond has professionally played basketball and rugby. Additionally, he is working as an acknowledged coach and advisor for international athletes.

Diana Osagie

CEO Courageous Leadership, Founder of The Academy of Women’s Leadership With 20 years' experience leading secondary education, including six years as a successful head teacher in a London secondary school, Diana works at the cutting edge of leadership development. She is known as a resilient school leader, skilled in urban leadership under challenging circumstances. Diana has substantial success in developing school wide models that strategically enhance the quality of teaching and learning across the curriculum and can couple sound strategic vision whilst giving clear operational direction. She lectures on a MEd in Educational Leadership for a UK university. Diana is also a school inspector with developed expertise scrutinizing school wide systems. Diana founded The Academy of Women's Leadership, specializing in supporting women to grow the leadership cultures of their organisations and to flourish as leaders, established in confidence.

Prof Dr Ger Graus OBE

Dr Ger Graus OBE is a renowned figure in the field of education, where, since March 2017, he holds the position of the first Global Director of Education at KidZania. KidZania, where children aged 4 to14 can experience the world of work through role-play, is designed to inspire and empower: “from inspiration to aspiration”. Since its inception in 1999 in Mexico City, KidZania now has a presence in 24 cities on 5 continents with plans for further developments in some 20 locations including the USA, Canada and South Africa. KidZania London is the UK’s first such educational entertainment centre. Ger Graus has been at the heart of innovation and project development such as 'KidZania World Online', 'KidZtalk', 'KidZania Careers Week', ‘KidZania LitFests’; education ‘Think-Tanks’, 'Ambassador Schools' and independent evaluations by, amongst others the University of Cambridge, Cass Business School, Havas Helia and Ernst & Young. Based on these evaluations’ findings, Ger is now spearheading a ‘Futures Awareness’ campaign to introduce careers education into the primary phase. After all, as he frequently reminds us: “Children can only aspire to what they know exists.” Ger started at KidZania London in 2014, where he has been responsible for developing the UK-wide education strategy, including partnerships with schools, Higher Education, commercial and third sector learning partners.