Previous school governor events/conferences

Governors' Forum: Summer 2026

Our latest Governors’ Forum took place on Tuesday 05 May 2026.

This was a free session, provided by the School Governance and Liaison Service, open to all school and academy governors/trustees.

Iain Peel, our Director of Education talked governors through the headlines of the ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ Schools White Paper and highlighted the local authority’s next steps.

In addition, given the public attention around banning smartphones in schools, Dan Price, Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner joined us alongside Charlotte Ashton, co-founder of Generation Focus, to talk about their work on this issue and share some of the evidence in support of smartphone free schools.

See the Governors Forum 05/05/2026 Agenda (PDF, 268KB) for details.

Governors’ Forum: Spring 2026

Our spring Governors’ Forum took place on Thursday 22 January 2026.

This was a free session, provided by the School Governance and Liaison Service, open to all school and academy governors/trustees.

Following extensive uptake by Cheshire East schools and settings of the Inclusion Strategy training with Gary Aubin in autumn 2025, we were keen for all our governors and trustees to receive the same information. Therefore, governors were invited to attend this tailored session from Gary, which focused on The Graduated Approach and Ordinarily Available and Inclusion Provision (OAIP).

We were also joined by Sharon Bradshaw from Cheshire and Warrington Careers Hub who provided an overview of the latest statutory careers guidance and the governing body’s role/responsibilities.

The Governors' Forum Agenda (PDF, 665KB) is available. 

2025 Annual Governors’ Conference

Our annual governors’ conference, held on Friday 17 October 2025 at Canalside Conference Centre in Middlewich, was attended by over 60 governors and included LA updates on all three of our education priorities - Attendance, Disadvantaged and Inclusion.

In addition, delegates were provided with a specially tailored presentation from David Robinson HMI on Ofsted’s new Education Inspection Framework, highlighting some of the key changes and expectations for schools, with a particular focus on the leadership and governance section of the Schools Inspection Toolkit.

During his speech, David also referred to and recommended both school leaders and governors read Ofsted's Stronger Foundations in the first years of school.

2024 Annual Governors’ Conference

Our Governors’ Conference took place on Friday 18 October 2024, at Canalside Conference Centre in Middlewich.

The half-day event focused on how governors/trustees can support their schools in delivering the best outcomes possible for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Our Keynote speaker was Malcolm Reeve, a National Leader of Education since 2010 with expertise in special education. As part of the National Association for SEN (NASEN), he is also a National SEND Leader with Whole School SEND, delivering the DfE’s Universal SEND Services contract.

The conference also included a Local Authority update from Claire Williamson (Director of Education, Strong Start and Integration), plus details of the authority’s approach for transforming SEND in Cheshire East.

Presentations from the conference are available on the Governor Hub Resources area or by emailing the School Governance Team.