[ Create an inclusive environment in your school

Building Belonging and Inclusion

A collaboration between Huntington Research School and Red Kite Connect exploring the evidence base, implementation and school approaches to developing positive relationships and a sense of community. This conference will bring together experts across our sector to cover why belonging matters, what schools can do to enhance their provision and how other schools have embarked on their own journeys.
Huntington Research School
Building Belonging and Inclusion
Key details
Suitable for
All phasesAll roles
When
4th March 2026
1:30pm - 4:45pm
Can’t make this date? Contact us to be notified of the next course date
Where
Online
Price
£90
  • Overview
  • Programme
  • Speakers

This online conference for leaders and teachers will focus on:

  • Why belonging is important to schools
  • What schools should evaluate when considering belonging in their school
  • Exemplification of how other practitioners and schools have implemented strategies for their contexts

Full access to all recordings will be provided after the event.

1:30pm Keynote: Why belonging matters in school
  • From Isolation to Inclusion: The Power of Belonging with Marc Rowland, Unity Schools Partnership and Julie Kettlewell, Huntington Research School 

2:15pm Workshops: What is the priority for your context

Participants are free to select their workshop to support exploring priorities:

  • Engagement and belonging: Insights and learning from the national pupil engagement research cohort 2024-25 with Steph Hamilton from Impact Ed: In 2024-25 ImpactEd Group led a national commission examining engagement as a lead indicator of outcomes, facilitated by The Engagement Platform (TEP). We conducted 3 national census windows across the year and supported over 100,000 young people to take part. In this session, we’ll dive into the national insights and understand how engagement measures (including understanding belonging) has been used by leaders to shape decision making and strategy, sharing practice from benchmark beating schools.
  • Poverty Proofing the School Day with Jane Elsworth from Huntington Research School and Ancha Stoodley from Poverty Proofing: A case study of Huntington Research School's experience of Poverty Proofing with Children North East and how they have built belonging for their most disadvantaged learners. The session will explore how Huntington implemented this approach for their context and their learning from the experience. 
3:10pm Workshops: How to implement approaches to supporting belonging

Participants are free to select their workshop to support exploring priorities:

  • Three Relationships for Belonging with Mark Miller and Shahnaz Bi from Bradford Research School: In this session we will explore three relationships that can help us to build belonging: relationship with self, with others and with the curriculum. We will hear a case study from Dixons Music Primary of the role of ‘family dining’ in enhancing these relationships and building belonging. 
  • Evidence-informed approaches to fostering belonging and engagement with Steve Farndon from Ambition Institute: Influencing how children feel about school can feel dependent on factors that are difficult to influence such as personalities and relationships. 40 years of rigorous research shows that there are systematic approaches that schools can take to improve engagement and belonging – which we’ll begin to explore in this session. 
3:55pm Final Session: Carr Manor Case Study

All participants to return to the main room for Carr Manor sharing their journey of belonging in a through-school in Leeds.

  • Putting inclusive values into practice: where everyone is connected to a trusted adult with Vicky Walker from Carr Manor: Developing belonging begins with a commitment to inclusive values. Vicky explains how these are operationalised at Carr Manor Community School through small group pastoral structures. Drawing on research in relational, restorative and trauma informed practice she highlights the outcomes that have been delivered and the opportunities for schools to use their current resource in a different way to deliver more outcomes for children. 
4:45pm End
Marc Rowland
[ Keynote: Why belonging matters in schools
Marc Rowland
Marc is a leading advocate for equity and inclusion in education, working nationally and internationally to help schools create environments where every learner can thrive. As adviser for improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils at the Unity Schools Partnership, he partners with schools, trusts and governments to close opportunity gaps and strengthen belonging in classrooms. He has supported over 1,000 schools, advised the Department for Education, and led impactful programmes across England and beyond. Marc is the author of several influential books on educational disadvantage and inclusive practice.
Julie Kettlewell
[ Keynote: Why belonging matters in schools
Julie Kettlewell
Julie is one of the EEF Alumni Content Specialists as well as being Content Lead for Learning Behaviours (incorporating social and emotional learning, metacognition, improving behaviour, parental engagement and SEND). Julie is a teacher of Psychology and Assistant Headteacher overseeing Personal Development.

She is the point of contact for queries about metacognition, self-regulated learning and memory.
Jane Elsworth
[ Workshops: What is the priority for your context
Jane Elsworth
Jane is a Deputy Headteacher and has had a number of secondary phase senior and middle leader roles in her career. She is a geography specialist and has over 25 years of teaching and leadership experience. Jane has led Huntington Research School since 2018 and has been a member of a number of EEF and DfE working groups, for example, The Pupil Premium Strategy and effective implementation practices. She is the point of contact for queries about supporting the Pupil Premium Strategy, effective implementation, whole school CPD and strategic partnership opportunities with Huntington Research School.
Ancha Stoodley
[ Workshops: What is the priority for your context
Ancha Stoodley
Ancha Stoodley leads the nationally recognised Poverty Proofing© The School Day approach at Children North East, a pioneering initiative that has worked for over a decade to embed poverty-sensitive practices in educational settings across the UK. With over 25yrs experience working in communities impacted by poverty and with a deep commitment to social justice, Ancha champions the importance of working at place within educational settings to elevate the voices of children and families experiencing poverty and to co-create sustainable, stigma-free solutions.
Steph Hamilton
[ Workshops: What is the priority for your context
Steph Hamilton
Steph Hamilton is the Director of The Engagement Platform (part of the ImpactEd Group), overseeing robust school engagement monitoring to support school improvement. Previously, she served as the Director of School Partnerships at The Brilliant Club, a charity that mobilises the PhD community to help less advantaged students access and succeed at the UK’s most competitive universities, and before then started her career as a Science teacher in Hartlepool.
Mark Miller
[ Workshop: How to implement approaches to supporting belonging
Mark Miller
Mark Miller is Director of Bradford Research School and brings 23 years of experience working as an English teacher and senior leader in areas of high deprivation across Leeds and Bradford. Based at the Dixons Academies Centre for Growth, Mark is focused on mobilising evidence to make an impact where it matters most. He is the Research School Network Content Lead for Implementation and Professional Development.
Shahnaz Bi
[ Workshop: How to implement approaches to supporting belonging
Shahnaz Bi
Shahnaz Bi is Trust Assistant Principal for Primary at Dixons Academies Trust. Shahnaz has supported multiple primary schools in areas of high deprivation across Leeds and Bradford focusing on Curriculum Development, Pedagogy, and Professional Development. Most recently, Shahnaz is the Primary Lead Mentor for the Dixons Initial Teacher Training programme, where she plays a key role in shaping the next generation of teachers.
Steve Farndon
[ Workshop: How to implement approaches to supporting belonging
Steve Farndon
Steve is a former history teacher who is now involved in the delivery of a range of programmes at Ambition Institute – he leads their Instructional Coaching and Pupil Engagement programmes and teaches across their NPQs. He is particularly interested in how educational research can help teachers and school leaders better support the communities that they serve. As part of this he designs and delivers the professional development for Ambition Institute’s internal faculty – where he shares research with the team and they work together to apply it to teacher education.
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