Overview

The premier event, The Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit returns to Sydney on 14 March 2024 at the ICC.

This exclusive gathering will bring together Australia’s foremost educators, thought leaders, and policy-makers for insightful conversations. Join the opportunity to delve into the lessons learned, the common challenges confronting teachers and students today, and the evidence-based strategies that can be put into action at both policy and grassroots levels to enhance student outcomes.

Register your interest to be amongst the first to receive early bird discounts, the first speakers announced and the agenda released!

Speakers


The Hon Prue Car MP
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning


Murat Dizdar PSM
Secretary,
NSW Department of Education


Carey Wright
Interim State Superintendent of Education, Maryland, USA


The Hon Jason Clare MP
Minister for Education


Paul Martin
CEO,
NESA


Dallas McInerney
Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Schools NSW


Margery Evans
Chief Executive, Association of Independent Schools of NSW


Eddie Woo
Leader, Mathematics Growth, NSW Department of Education


Kerrie McDiarmid
Principal, St Mary’s Cathedral College


Phillip Heath AM
Head, Barker College


Scott Dinham
Principal, Grafton High School


Jeanie Brown
Principal, Riverbank Public School


Paul Sheather
Principal,
Balgowlah Boys


Iris Nastasi
Principal,
Rosebank College


Belinda Bristol
Principal, Windsor South Public School


Henry Rajendra
Acting President,
NSW Teachers Federation


Dr Sarah Golsby-Smith
Head of Learning & Teaching,
PLC Sydney


Matthew Esterman
Director Innovation and Partnerships, Our Lady of Mercy College Parramatta; Teaching Fellow, 2023 Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards


Ross Fox
Director of Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn


Dr Tim McDonnald
CEO, the Y WA; Subject Matter Expert, The Engaged Classroom Initiative, AERO


Mike Hennessy
Chief Research & Insights Officer, PeopleBench


Joanne Jarvis
Director, School Leadership Institute, NSW Department of Education


Danielle Cronin
Director, Education Policy,
Catholic Schools NSW


Darryl Buchanan
Associate Chief Executive, Leadership and Learning Oversights, Association of Independent Schools of NSW


Lucy Carroll
Education Editor,
The Sydney Morning Herald


Prof Matt Bower
Interim Dean,
Macquarie School of Education


Dr Paul Wood PSM
Executive Director,
NSW Department of Education

Agenda

Thursday 14 March 2024

7:50

Registration and Morning Coffee

8:20

OPENING | Opening remarks from the Chair

THE FUTURE OF SCHOOLING IN NEW SOUTH WALES

8:30

State Government Address and Fireside chat |

The Hon Prue Car MP, Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, NSW

9:00

Departmental address |

Murat Dizdar PSM, Secretary, NSW Department of Education

9:20

International Keynote Address| Mississippi’s incredible school turnaround program

  • How Mississippi became one of the fastest improving states in both literacy and numeracy whilst also closing the racial achievement gap
  • Changing the culture and raising expectations
  • Creating the strategic plan to take Mississippi from the worst performing state in the USA
  • Settling on 6 achievement goals
    • Proficiency growth
    • Graduating students from high school
    • Early-childhood education
    • Capacity building for teachers and leaders
    • World-class data systems
    • Making every school and district meet a basic bar
  • Effective communication of the goals and supporting districts to achieve them
  • Using data for continual improvement
  • Focussing on the social and emotional well-being of teachers, leaders and students

Carey Wright, Interim State Superintendent of Education, Maryland, USA

9:50

Panel Discussion | Principals’ Panel – Addressing the key challenges in running a school today.             

  • Addressing teacher supply issues
  • Adapting to the new curriculum and a changing world
  • Engagement, Wellbeing, and behavioural management issues
  • Appeasing the parents

Kerrie McDiarmid, Principal, St Mary’s Cathedral College
Phillip Heath AM, Head, Barker College
Scott Dinham, Principal, Grafton High School
Jeanie Brown, Principal, Riverbank Public School

10:20

Morning tea

SCHOOL FUNDING

10:50

Federal Government Address and Fireside chat |

The Hon Jason Clare MP, Minister for Education

11:20

Panel Discussion | Sector response to the NSRA and other major reviews

  • Ensuring the transparency and accountability of school funding
  • Improving outcomes for equity groups
  • Attracting and retaining teachers
  • The use of data to enhance student outcomes.

Henry Rajendra, Acting President, NSW Teachers Federation
Margery Evans, Chief Executive, Association of Independent Schools of NSW
Dallas McInerney, Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Schools NSW

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT AND SCHOOL TURNAROUND

11:50

Keynote Address| An evidence-based approach to classroom management

  • The engaged classroom initiative
  • De-escalating misbehaviour and conflict
  • Maximising students’ learning time

Dr Tim McDonald, CEO, the Y WA; Subject Matter Expert, The Engaged Classroom Initiative, AERO

12:10

Panel Discussion| School improvement and turnaround

  • What were we trying to address and how did we go about it?
  • Generating teacher, student, and parent buy-in
  • What we learnt along the way
  • Plans to maintain this success and for further elevation.

Ross Fox, Director of Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn
Paul Sheather, Principal, Balgowlah Boys
Belinda Bristol, Principal, Windsor South Public School
Iris Nastasi, Principal, Rosebank College
Moderated by Glenn Fahey, Director, Education Program, The Centre for Independent Studies

12:40

Lunch

THE FUTURE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

13:40

Keynote Address| The future of school success

  • How best do we measure and report on success within the legislative framework?
  • What does transparency mean and what is its purpose?

Paul Martin, CEO, NESA

14:10

Panel Discussion| The Future of Teaching

  • Exploring the evolving role of the teacher
  • Equipping teachers will the skills and resources to prepare future generations
  • The future of Initial Teacher Education
  • Solving the supply issue
  • What can we do to improve retention rates?

Matthew Esterman, Director Innovation and Partnerships, Our Lady of Mercy College Parramatta;
Teaching Fellow, 2023 Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards
Danielle Cronin, Director, Education Policy, Catholic Schools NSW
Eddie Woo, Leader, Mathematics Growth, NSW Department of Education

14:40

Afternoon tea

AI IN EDUCATION

15:10

Panel Discussion| Generative AI and its role in the future of learning and teaching

  • Creating a framework for the responsible use of generative AI in the classroom
  • How can AI help reduce the admin burden for teachers?
  • How are students currently using generative AI?
  • Implementing practical policies to enhance the learning experience

Dr Paul Wood PSM, Executive Director, NSW Department of Education
Dr Sarah Golsby-Smith, Head of Learning & Teaching, PLC Sydney
Prof Matt Bower, Interim Dean, Macquarie School of Education

MIDDLE LEADERSHIP

15:40

Panel Discussion| Where are our future Principals coming from?

  • Assessing the evolving role, challenges, and competences of middle leaders in today’s schools
  • How sustainable is the leadership pipeline?
  • Achieving diversity in educational leadership
  • Successfully identifying and supporting aspiring middle leaders
  • How the Queensland middle leadership trial is progressing

Mike Hennessy, Chief Research & Insights Officer, PeopleBench
Joanne Jarvis, Director, School Leadership Institute, NSW Department of Education
Darryl Buchanan, Associate Chief Executive, Leadership and Learning Oversights, Association of Independent Schools of NSW

16:10

Closing remarks from the chair and networking drinks

Pricing

Face to Face
$1795 + GST

General pricing

BOOK NOW

Early bird – Until 19 December 2023

Virtual Pass
$995 + GST

General pricing

BOOK NOW

Early bird – Until 19 December 2023

Face to Face
$795 + GST

Schools/Govt/NFP

BOOK NOW

Early bird – Until 19 December 2023

Virtual Pass
$695 + GST

Schools/Govt/NFP

BOOK NOW

Early bird – Until 19 December 2023

Face to Face
$1995 + GST

General pricing

BOOK NOW

Standard – From 20 December 2023

Virtual Pass
$1195 + GST

General pricing

BOOK NOW

Standard – From 20 December 2023

Face to Face
$895 + GST

Schools/Govt/NFP

BOOK NOW

Standard – From 20 December 2023

Virtual Pass
$795 + GST

Schools/Govt/NFP

BOOK NOW

Standard – From 20 December 2023

Packages Early Bird (Until 19 Dec 2023) Full Rate
FACE TO FACE – Schools/Govt/NFP Rate $795 + GST $895 + GST
VIRTUAL Pass – Schools/Govt/NFP Rate $695 + GST $795 + GST
FACE TO FACE – Supplier Rate $1,795 + GST $1,995 + GST
VIRTUAL Pass – Supplier Rate $995 + GST $1,195 + GST

SPONSORS

Lanyard Sponsor

2024 Exhibitors

Testimonials

  • “This was a very relevant and informative day that was of huge assistant to me as a school administrator.”

    homepage 4
  • “Excellent venue, smooth registration, dense but wonderful programme – so much excellent information condensed on the one day – great for busy leaders. I see it as my one-stop shop to start the year.”

    homepage 3
  • “Most insightful event for any educationist!”

    homepage 2
  • “The event was excellent at broadening my knowledge of how the education industry is developing in response to PISA, ICT developments as well as industry and community stakeholder demands throughout NSW.”

    homepage 1

Media

Event Images

2023 EVENT IMAGES

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Blog

The structure of Australian schooling needs to change – Prof. Adrian Piccoli

Former NSW Education Minister and Director of the Gonski Institute for Education, Professor Adrian Piccoli, is challenging the status quo of Australia’s school system, in a bid to achieve greater equity for students.

Piccoli believes the existing structure, funding model, and underlying regulatory framework is doing a disservice to low socio-economic status (SES) students… Read more >>

Major curriculum overhaul looking likely

Professor Geoff Masters, the person behind a proposed curriculum overhaul for New South Wales has so far racked up “considerable support” from teachers for his suggested redesign, which is due for finalisation this year. Since the release of his interim report in October last year, Masters has received more than 700 submissions providing feedback on his recommended reforms…. Read more >>

Teachers need more training to help students with special educational needs

Special education’ is a broad term and requires an equally broad set of skills, providers and strategies – not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach – says academic expert, Dr. Kathleen Tait. “Included within a typical education classroom one could find students with a range of intellectual, social and emotional difficulties; children who are gifted and talented; and/or children with learning difficulties… Read more >>

Normalising mental health protocols and intervention in Australian schools

When it comes to physical health, we’re not short of nationally-endorsed protocols that support our wellbeing. From hand-railings on public stairways, to mandatory vaccinations, to the highly-publicised “slip slop slap” sunscreen campaign. The same also applies in school settings. When a child is injured, they’ll receive first aid from an appointed, trained first aider. There will be rules in place to help avoid… Read more >>

Student Engagement & Technology in the Classroom: Igniting the Fire in Young Learners with Eddie Woo

Technology is rapidly transforming the way students learn and teachers teach, a study found that Australia is one of the highest users of technology in schools in the OECD – so how can technology benefit Australian students and what are the costs? What can it do and what can’t it do? Wootube is a prime… Read more >>

Student well-being at Wenona School

Adolescence is a difficult time for most people, but for a growing subset of young Australians, it is more than just an “uncomfortable phase”. Statistics show that one in five 13-18 years-olds will experience a severe mental health disorder; and more than half of people with a lifetime mental health diagnosis will encounter their first… Read more >>

Small group tutoring in NSW – why the need and how will it work?

Next year, students in New South Wales (NSW) will have access to free tutoring for the first time, thanks to a $337 million program as part of the state’s 2020-21 Budget. Under the scheme, an additional 5,500 staff will be employed to deliver small group teaching sessions to all eligible students… Read more >>

ConnectMe

ConnectMe • Networking enhanced

All of our events utilise a bespoke dynamic smartphone app, ConnectMe – which guarantees attendees a premium event experience. Logins are sent prior to the conference commencement allowing you to check who’s attending, schedule in meetings and catch ups, participate in live Q+A and interactive polls, and much more. ConnectMe ensures you never miss a beat prior, during and post event.

Sustainability

Our Commitment to Sustainability

In Australia, we are committed to running our events in an environmentally and socially responsible way. Across Informa Connect we are focusing on the short and long-term sustainability impacts we have on customers and colleagues alongside the communities we work in.

We recognise that it’s not just about the way we produce our events and products but recognising that we have a role to play in providing a space to work in partnership together with our markets to inspire the sustainable development of the industries we serve.

To read more on our latest sustainability reports and Faster Forward initiatives – click here.

Venue

ICC Sydney
14 Darling Dr,
Sydney NSW 2000

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