Sevenoaks School Teaching and Learning Conference 2025

Welcome to the Sevenoaks School Teaching & Learning Conference 2025!

Join us at Sevenoaks School for a day filled with insightful keynotes, workshops, and networking opportunities. The focus for the 2025 conference is Educating for Meaning and Purpose. This event is perfect for teachers, school leaders, education professionals and practitioners. Hear from experts in education, exchange ideas, and gain valuable knowledge to take back to your school. Don't miss out on this fantastic CPD opportunity to help students lead more fullifilling educational lives. Tickets are available free of charge to state schools.

Topics include:

Purposeful teaching: How can we integrate purpose-driven learning into standardised curricula?

Teaching for creativity: How can cognitive science inform our approach?

Independent and reflective learning: How do we develop independent, motivated and resilient learners?

Artificial Intelligence in education: How can AI be used beneficially in the classroom?

Inclusive learning: How can teaching and learning practices attend to the needs of neurodiverse students?

Guest speakers include:

Bradley Busch - is the Director of InnerDrive - Bradley is one of the world’s leading experts at how schools can translate cognitive psychology research to improve learning. Bradley will be speaking on Developing Independent Learners, Maximising Feedback to Accelerate Learning and AI and Education: Opportunities to Explore and Traps to Avoid.

Martin Robinson - Martin is the author of Curriculum Revolutions: A practical guide to enhancing what you teach. Martin will be speaking on Curriculum Design.

Claire Badger - Claire is the Head of Teacher Professional Development at InnerDrive. Claire will be speaking on Teaching for creativity, Developing Curiosity and Learning Engagement and How to use AI better in education.

Victoria Cook - Dr Victoria Cook is Lead Researcher at the Chartered College of Teaching. Victoria will speak on Learning through play.

Joanna Hughes – Joanna Hughes is the Group Director of EdTech at Berkhamsted Schools Group. Jo will be speaking on AI-Enhanced Teaching: Evidence-Based Strategies for the Classroom

Plus more!

The conference will include refreshments and a delicious lunch.

Please see the Sevenoaks School Website for full speaker bios.

https://www.sevenoaksschool.org/academic/institute-of-teaching-and-learning/itl-conference-2025/

Info: What to teach, when to teach it and for what purpose? A curriculum is created around what we want our students to think about and act upon. Curriculum, at its best, acts as a collective cultural and cognitive architecture of the mind, at its worst it creates chaos. This keynote will look at how we best go about designing the curriculum in a way that fosters understanding and meaning. Martin is the author of Martin is the author of Curriculum Revolutions: A practical guide to enhancing what you teach. (2022), Curriculum: Athena vs the Machine. (2019), Trivium 21c: Preparing young people for the future with lessons from the past. (2013) and Trivium in Practice. 2016

Info: Following on from the keynote, this session will be an interactive look at how to put the ideas into action, adapting for your schools' situations and subject areas. This will focus on the use of a curriculum design tool that can guide the process of audit, review, keep or renew, add, scrap or redo.

Info: Feedback done well is one of our best bets to accelerate learning. In fact, evidence suggest it is the most powerful driver for change. And yet, we often get it wrong. And it has unintended consequences on student motivation and learning. In this session, Bradley will cover the latest and greatest research on feedback and explore what it may look like in action.

Info: One of the main goals of education is to develop independent, motivated and resilient learners. Fortunately, we now know more than ever before about how to do so. This session will look at what we can do to improve culture, self-control and group norms to help facilitate this.

Info: In this thought provoking session, Bradley Busch will cover the key opportunities and main traps to avoid for educators using AI. This includes, but is not limited to, what it means for homework, lesson plans and student learning independently. With so much hype around AI, it is crucial now that we separate the signal from the noise and are clear on what might change and what get worse. Bradley Busch is a Chartered Psychologist and Director at InnerDrive. He is one of the world’s leading expert at how schools can translate cognitive psychology research to improve learning. He is the co-author of the international best-selling books ‘The Science of Learning: 99 Studies Every Teacher Needs to Know’ and ‘Teaching and Learning Illuminated: Big Ideas, Beautifully Illustrated’. He has worked with hundreds of schools, both with staff and students.

Info: In this interactive and evidence-informed session, Dr Claire Badger will tackle head on one of the biggest myths in education; that schools K*ll creativity. She will clarify exactly what creativity is and isn’t before looking at ‘routine vs adaptive expertise’ and highlight how knowledge is necessary but not sufficient for developing creative students. As a result of this session, you will never think about creativity the same way again. Dr Claire Badger is Head of Teacher Professional Development at InnerDrive. She specialises in helping schools and colleges develop their evidence-informed practice. Her main area of focus is on cognitive science, teacher development and maximising CPD within schools. She was an assistant head in charge of teaching and learning and holds a Masters in Teaching and Learning from the Institute of Education. She is the co-author of the book ‘Creativity for Teachers: A Cognitive Science Approach’.

Info: This workshop will explore definitions of creativity from research literature and consider what these mean for classroom practice. We will look at two specific approaches to educating for and through creativity: high performance learning (Eyre, 2016) and creative habits of mind (Lucas, 2022). There will opportunity to discuss the 'key ingredients' of a creative approach to teaching and learning and to plan for implementing these ideas back in class.

Ruth is a Lecturer in Education Studies at The University of Glasgow. Since qualifying as a teacher in 2004, she has held teaching, leadership, and advisory roles in primary education in the UK and internationally. Ruth’s current projects include sole authorship of a book Socio-materialism and the Study of Classroom Practices for the Bloomsbury series Social Theory and Methodology in Education Research and co-editing the BERA Guide to Place-Responsive Pedagogy in Outdoor Learning.

Info: Evidence suggests that learning through play can support a wide range of intended educational outcomes beyond the preschool years, but most students beyond early childhood age do not currently have the opportunity to learn playfully in school. Focusing on the link between play and creativity in older students, this session will explore what we mean by learning through play. It will consider the different ways in which learning through play may occur and the conditions where playful learning thrives, introducing the frequently neglected idea of ‘playful talk’ and its role in improving the quality of thinking and learning in classrooms. Dr Victoria Cook is Lead Researcher at the Chartered College of Teaching. In collaboration with colleagues at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, Prior to joining the College, Victoria worked as a Research Associate at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, for 5 years on two international dialogue-based research projects.

Info: AI is a powerful tool, but how do we ensure it aligns with established teaching and learning principles? This session focuses on using cognitive science and evidence-based strategies to guide AI adoption in the classroom. We’ll explore effective lesson designs and discuss how to promote critical thinking in the AI world. Joanna Hughes is the Group Director of EdTech at Berkhamsted Schools Group. Previously she was the Assistant Head in charge of Teaching and Learning, leading on digital innovation. She has a keen interest in sharing evidence informed practice and has led on several Teach Meets, as well as writing for her blog: https://mrshughesblogs.com/. Jo has recently spoken at BETT on smartphone policy changes for UK schools; exploring how we can better support students by transitioning away from smartphones in childhood and fostering healthier digital habits, and for Edpuzzle on how PedTech can be used to support reading comprehension.

Info: The Thrive Curriculum was designed in-house with input from staff and pupils to support pupils in Years 7 and 8 with making the transition to Year 7 and to develop their thinking skills to help them navigate their way through secondary school. Flexible in nature, the curriculum introduces pupils to life skills as well as ideas about well-being, the construction of knowledge and truth and has a focus on resilience and future readiness. In the session we will discuss the evidence-based approach we took in designing the curriculum and the impact it is having on our pupils. Stephen Bailey is Deputy Head Academic at Queen’s College, London. Prior to teaching he had extensive pastoral experience in education which informs his thinking around Character Education and human flourishing. Dr Paul Davies is Deputy Head Pedagogy and Learning. Paul has taught Biology for over 20 years years. He spent six years as a Senior Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education, where holds an honorary position.

Info: Dr Sirja van Zyl will consider recent advances in our understanding of diverse brain styles, with a focus on Autism and ADHD. She will draw on practical strategies to help neurodivergent young people thrive and consider how we can build an inclusive culture that embraces and celebrates neurodiversity. Dr Sirja van Zyl is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years experience of working with children and young people. She has a special interest in the assessment of autism and ADHD. Sirja has worked in NHS mental health services as well as private hospitals.

Info: In this session Dr Sirja van Zyl will focus on effective strategies for supporting autistic children and those with ADHD in the classroom. It considers the importance of working collaboratively with parents and caregivers to create a holistic, neuroaffirmative whole school approach. Attendees will learn practical techniques for fostering an inclusive environment that supports neurodivergent students' unique needs and strengths, while promoting positive outcomes for all learners. This sessions builds on the morning session with Dr van Zyl, but is also suitable for those who already have some understanding of Autism and ADHD and have not attended the morning session. Dr Sirja van Zyl is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years experience of working with children and young people. She has a special interest in the assessment of autism and ADHD.

Info: Dr Jon Beale is a researcher and educator whose work focuses on promoting human flourishing in education and the workplace. This session will explore improving focus in the classroom. Research has found that our attention span has reduced in recent decades. This is particularly problematic in schools. Research suggests that inattention and shortening attention spans are negatively impacting students' mental and physical health. Studies show that the faster students switch attention, the higher their stress. Increasing evidence shows associations between inattention, lower mental health and academic attainment. This presentation describes research-backed strategies for improving students' focus and attention management in a distracted world. In particular, it describes how to most effectively design teaching and learning activities that increase the likelihood of students reaching the optimal state of focused attention, 'flow'.

Info: Karen is a passionate Geographer and pastoral educator with over 30 years experience in education. She works as a consultant for Discover the World Education delivering high quality accredited CPD both nationally and internationally. Elen Steadman is Head of Geography and a Research Fellow within the Institute of Teaching & Learning at Sevenoaks School. Previous research has covered approaches to feedback, retrieval practice and lesson observations, amongst others. As a geographer, Elen is a keen advocate of the benefits of outdoor learning, which prompted her interest in her most recent research focus. Elen & Karen will discuss the research behind the benefits of learning outside the classroom, from both a teacher and student perspective, drawing on their own extensive experience of educational opportunities beyond the classroom environment.

Info: Although schools are unlikely to implement a student-designed curriculum, it is interesting to find out what they think. Every year I run a Year 10 workshop on designing a curriculum from first principles and ask students to come up with their own 6th form / Year 12 & 13 programme. In this session we will look at what students commonly design and interrogate what and how much we can learn from this process.

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