Costa is a passionate and driven educator with over 17 years’ experience teaching in London and international schools. With extensive classroom and leadership experience, Costa understands the needs and priorities of today’s schools, not least the necessity for every educationist to take responsibility for their own learning. This is a central theme of the workshops he leads on improving teaching, learning and school leadership, and the implementation and effective management of change. Costa’s strategies to boost student progression and increase student attainment have been formally recognised by Ofsted. He is responsible for developing Veema’s unique four-step CPD model that enables schools to better evaluate the impact of their professional development training. Costa is particularly adept at using collaboration to create the conditions for effective leadership and to encourage the attainment of ambitious educational goals.

Lisa believes many schools don’t produce ‘a fully rounded end product’ because they fail to co-ordinate learning across all departments. She has therefore made it her mission to transform how teachers can acquire a more whole school approach to education. Lisa has developed teams of advanced practitioners in Ghana and is now using her strategies to create a culture of continual self-improvement in Nepal. She is passionate about such projects and about using her expertise to develop coaching programmes for schools. In her latest book ‘Manglish’, she considers how English and Maths can be creatively brought together and offers practical ideas and strategies for improving literacy and numeracy throughout the whole school. Her other published books include: ‘There is another way - the second big book of independent thinking’, and ‘Don’t change the light bulbs — a compendium of expertise from the UK’s most switched-on educators’.

Soola Georgiou is a safeguarding consultant and trainer. She has over 23 years’ experience working with children, families and professionals in education. She provides general service development and consultancy at both at strategic and at case level. A qualified barrister, she has the legal experience needed to investigate serious case and multi-agency reviews. Her strategic work includes the development of safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures, as well as providing advice to head teachers, governors and designated safeguarding leads. Soola has over ten years’ experience as an accredited Safer Recruitment trainer making safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children an integral and essential part of creating safe environments. Soola offers safeguarding audits to schools and other education settings on all aspects of safeguarding and child protection, including statutory guidance and best practice, Inspection requirements and the review of safer recruitment procedures. Her work on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children has seen her collaborating with various schools as a school governor, the Chartered College of Teaching, Islington Council and Cambridge Education.

Few in education have the breathtaking grasp of Nina ‘Ninja’ Jackson about what makes classrooms, and those in them, tick. Winner of the IPDA International Prize for Education, the TES has described her as an ‘inspirational, evangelical preacher of education’. Nina’s particular gift is in working with SEN, the Gifted and Talented and engaging disaffected learners. As an international education consultant she has worked with the Ministry of Education, UNESCO and UNICEF in Chile, Ghana, India, China, the Middle East and Europe. In her first book she shared her research on how music improves classroom learning and motivation. Her latest, the bestselling ‘Of Teaching, Learning and Sherbet Lemons: A Compendium of Careful Advice for Teachers’, has helped thousands of teachers put the ‘fizz’ back into their classrooms.

With 20 years’ experience in education, working initially as a teacher of maths before progressing to senior leadership roles, Karen has worked in the UK and abroad on developmental projects where inclusion and assessment were key, and possesses a deep personal knowledge and expertise in both areas. She has led on inclusion at senior leadership level in two schools, achieving SLE status for her specialism. Having helped take schools out of special measures and been a key leader in another rated outstanding in all areas, including post 16, she can confidently prepare any school for a successful Ofsted inspection. She has also written and had accredited a full suite of safeguarding workshops.

An author and consultant, David’s unique blend of educational pedagogy and the latest neuroscience research enables teachers, students and school leaders to identify and capitalise on their natural strengths. His practical strategies for improving behaviour, confidence, resilience, as well as classroom and exam performance, help teachers and students alike to make faster, better progress. Using interactive sessions, David shares the secrets of great learning and rethinks how learning, memory and revision can be woven into the classroom experience. He covers topics such as the three key things all great learners do, and considers how best to apply the latest brain research and psychology of learning, retention, motivation and metacognition. David’s published books include The Buzz, The Brainbox, Personality in the Classroom and The Little Book of Inspirational Teaching Activities.

Hywel is a teacher with over 25 years’ experience in Special, Primary and Secondary settings. He specialises in the ‘liberation of the art of teaching’ and works with schools in the UK and internationally. A keynote conference speaker, he adds to the education conversation at events such as The Sunday Telegraph Festival of Education. A TES columnist and well-respected author, his award-winning book ‘Oops! Getting Children to Learn Accidentally’ is on the reading list of many university teacher training courses. Hywel’s latest title, ‘Uncharted Territories’, was published in 2018. He also contributes to the Masters programme in Drama and Creative Writing at Leeds Beckett University and heads up the PGCE programme in Drama at Huddersfield University. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, he was recently described as ‘… a world leader in enthusiasm’.

Crista has taught in a range of secondary schools during a career of 20 years, 19 of which have been spent in leadership roles. A pedagogy and pastoral champion, Crista has worked in the UK, China and Ghana developing teaching, learning, relationships and behaviour programmes with students, teachers and school leaders. An MFL specialist, Crista is well-known for seeking out innovative teaching and learning strategies. The engaging, relevant and memorable deep learning experiences she creates helps turn her students into confident, inquisitive, happy and successful lifelong learners equipped to successfully navigate their way through challenges of school and beyond. She also has also some different and interesting perspectives to share on ‘assessment’. Her work has been published widely in educational books, publications and newspapers. Crista is also an active blogger and National Council Member for The Association for Language Learning

John is a specialist in developing leadership cultures through values- driven change and improvement. During 30 years’ as a teacher, he’s led schools at all levels through his headship and as the director of a multi-academy trust. John believes teachers are the most important professionals in any school, which requires us to invest in their development through high- quality learning. As a qualified coach himself, John uses coaching to achieve sustainable improvement, focusing on performance improvement and collaborative learning. He has created and presented many professional development courses for teachers and leaders – his online course on raising expectations and challenge in the classroom is a must for many UK teachers. Committed to driving global best practice, John’s been involved in international research projects in Europe and America. His work on character education saw him advising MPs in 2018.

With significant experience and expertise in leadership and education, Laura offers high level skills in consultancy, facilitation and coaching to empower the educators and leaders she works with. Her detailed and insightful understanding of the education and arts and culture sectors mean she offers creative, energetic and impassioned knowledge to support educators in navigating through and leading our changing climate. Laura is an experienced senior leader in schools, Local Authority, regional and national strategic education partnerships, school governing bodies, educational research, apprenticeships and commercial learning and development. She utilises her knowledge and experience in change leadership, creativity, people leadership, emotional intelligence and evidence-based teaching and learning to empower individuals and organisations. With an MA in Leading Innovation and Change in education, Senior Coaching Practitioner accreditation (EMCC), and accreditation in delivering the National Professional Qualifications for Leadership in the UK, she is also an international trainer working with the education, healthcare and commercial sectors globally.