Leeds City Council The Virtual School Leaders Conference and Exhibition 2024

-Paul Dix

Behaviour specialist, author, education reformer and advisor. Helping teachers and headteachers across the world with transformational relational behaviour practice. As a teacher, leader and teacher trainer, Paul has been working with the most difficult behaviours in the most challenging contexts for the last 27 years. Miraculously Paul studied at Homerton College Cambridge after countless attempts to sabotage his own education. He is a speaker in high demand engaging huge audiences in practical ways to transform their classrooms, relationships and schools. Paul also works with Leadership Teams to create seismic shifts in culture and behaviour. Paul fell in love with teaching while working as a Teaching Assistant after leaving school. Teaching both inspired and drew him in due to the creativity, the variety and the cohort after cohort of utterly brilliant children he encountered. Paul has delivered training and spoken on large stages all over the world, advised the English Department for Education on Teacher Standards, given evidence to the Education Select Committee and carried out extensive work with the Ministry of Justice on Behaviour and Restraint in Youth Custody. His book When The Adults Change, Everything Changes published in 2017 by Crown House has sold more than 150,000 copies. The follow-up After the Adults Change was released last year and has been a best-seller on Amazon. Paul has written a new Parenting book for Penguin Random House. ‘When the Parents Change Everything Changes’ which was published in September 2023.

Charlotte Clarke

Charlotte has spent her career connecting clinical practice to policy development and cultural reform. Her background is rooted in understanding mental health. Her expertise arises from being both a young person who experienced complex trauma and an adult that completed a PhD in Mental Health Science. Throughout her career she has supported adults and young people with a variety of behavioural, cognitive and psychological challenges. Charlotte has developed clinical programmes which have helped children affected by fatal road accidents, murders, natural disasters and suicide. Her training consistently focuses on teaching adults how to respond. She has developed practical frameworks that have been researched and utilised by both Kings College and the NHS in the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse and acute trauma. At When the Adults Change, Charlotte works with schools, MATs and local authorities to make their communities relational. She designs powerful programmes of work that maximise positive outcomes and minimise barriers to adoption. She is passionate about helping us look beyond behaviour and encourages us to think about the longer term physical and mental benefits that occur when the adults change.

Hannah Hall

Hannah is an experienced School Improvement Consultant, Coach & Trainer. She specialises in Behaviour, SEMH & SEND, and works nationally and internationally supporting Schools (early years to FE, & Special/AP settings), Local Authorities & Trusts in reviewing, implementing, and developing cultural change, policy, systems and provision. Hannah is known for her inspirational & charismatic training, combining her warmth as a person, passion for school improvement, served with a large portion of ‘realness’ and lived experience. As an Adviser and Coach Hannah is a valued and sought-after critical friend and para-professional. Her empathetic approach, delivered with honesty, underpinned with expertise & knowledge means she has supported many educational settings in whole school change as well as individual progression. Having been in Education for 20 years, Hannah has worked at Local Authority Consultancy level for the National Strategies, as an Adviser for Achievement For All, as Senior Leader in several secondary schools, and most recently as Acting Principal at an Alternative Provision in the centre of Birmingham. She has ‘walked the walk’ on all she delivers, and has certainly used the many mistakes she has made as learning points in her career! Hannah is a highly regarded Coach, and works with senior and middle leaders as well as teaching and support staff. As a qualified SENCo Hannah is able to guide and support whole school implementation & change alongside reviews and advice on nuanced and targeted therapeutic provision, monitoring and strategy. Alongside this Hannah is an Evidence Lead in Education for the EEF & Staffordshire Research School. Her effectiveness in school improvement is driven by research-informed systems and strategy. She advises on, and delivers, the Making the Difference for Disadvantaged Learners and Effective Learning Behaviours programmes Hannah is an associate of Optimus Education as an Adviser & Verifier for the SEND & Inclusion Award & Leading Parent Partnership Award. She also delivers training & consultancy for AC Education on Attachment, Trauma & therapeutic provision. Hannah’s school improvement expertise and bespoke support are further enhanced by being an Emotion Coach licensee, Thrive Practitioner, MITA/MPTA licensee, Mental Health First Aider & qualified Life Coach.

Maureen McKenna

Maureen Mckenna started her career as a mathematics teacher. In 2000, she joined Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, where she inspected a wide range of schools as well as education authorities and child protection. She held a number of posts in HMIE, including national specialist for mathematics and District Inspector for Glasgow and North Ayrshire. Maureen joined Glasgow City Council in December 2007 as Director of Education and retired in January 2022. Under her leadership in Glasgow, exclusions dropped by 93% and attainment of young people increased significantly – the proportion of young people achieving five or more level SCQF 6 awards more than trebled in the same period. Maureen received an OBE in 2015 for services to education in Glasgow and Malawi. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Heriot Watt University in October 2021 for services to education and raising attainment of those in the most deprived areas. She is currently the chair of the charity Malawi Leaders of Learning, a trustee of MCR Pathways and sits on Career Ready Scotland Advisory Board and Clyde College Board. She is currently working with London Violence Reduction Unit supporting their development of London's Inclusion Charter.