PiXL PRIMARY NATIONAL CONFERENCE HUB
AUTUMN TERM 2026/27
Stronger beginnings need clear leadership
Nine speakers, about ten minutes each, ready to watch with your leadership team. Start with the keynote, pick the session that matches your priority, then act on it straight away.
Expedition leadership, closing the disadvantage gap, belonging, enrichment, curriculum, writing, Ofsted and learning that students find irresistible. Short enough to fit in a leadership meeting. Practical enough to change what happens in your school.
Oli France - 24 mins
Expedition leaders set clear direction when the stakes are high. School leaders can too.
Mark Thornley - 11 mins
Know the skills every child must leave with, then track them forensically.
Rachel Johnson - 13 mins
Stronger schools start with stronger leadership.
Hannah Costanzo - 11 mins
Belonging works best when it's planned as precisely as any other strategy.
Oli France
24 mins
For more than 15 years Oli has guided teams through some of the world's most hostile places, including Iraq, Syria, the Congo and Yemen. He is the first person this century to travel from Death Valley to Denali entirely by human power, a qualified Winter Mountain Leader, and has spoken for organisations including Google and Rolls-Royce as well as schools across the UK.
Leading with clarity: Creating the foundations for success
Expedition leaders set clear direction when the stakes are high. School leaders can too.
Oli opened the conference with stories from the field and the leadership lessons they taught him. He showed how expedition leaders set a clear direction for their teams when the stakes are high, and how the same principles apply to leading a school. Delegates came away with practical insights they could take straight back to their own schools.
- 15+ years leading expeditions
- Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
- Death Valley to Denali by human power
Build the clarity Oli talks about in your own leadership team and explore the Stronger Leaders programme for your school:
Mark Thornley
11 mins
Mark started as a teaching assistant at Peel Hall Primary School in 2006, trained as a teacher there through the graduate teacher programme and returned as deputy headteacher in 2014. His interests include school leadership, pedagogy and curriculum design.
Closing the disadvantage gap
Know the skills every child must leave with, then track them forensically.
Mark focused on strong beginnings for the most vulnerable students. He set out the non-negotiable skills his school wants every child to secure before they move to secondary, and how staff work as a team to track those skills forensically and target any remaining barriers with precision. His message was about clarity of vision and a relentless drive to close gaps.
- Headteacher since 2019
- Teaching assistant to Head
- Vice chair of governors, Peel Hall
See how schools are closing the gap for their most vulnerable students:
Rachel Johnson
13 mins
Rachel is an author, podcaster, leadership thinker and coach. She understands what really gets in the way of effective leadership, from how we think and make decisions to the barriers that affect performance, relationships and progress. Her podcasts have built a global audience and rank among the UK's top three for educational leaders.
Stronger leaders. Stronger schools.
Stronger schools start with stronger leadership
Rachel made the case for putting leadership at the heart of building stronger schools. She looked at why it matters so much and where to start when developing leadership, both in ourselves and in others.
- Chief Executive Officer of PiXL
- Three-time published author, Hachette Learning
- PiXL Pearls and Leadership Bookclub podcasts
Further develop leadership in yourself and your team:
