Download the programme here, and see session details below

Download the programme

Arrival

Doors open at 9:15

Make sure to arrive with plenty of time before the first talk, as you’ll need to register and enjoy the ArborFest breakfast!

Innovation Stage

In person and live streamed

Welcome to ArborFest

10:00am - 10:10am

Welcoming school and trust leaders to an exciting day of talks and workshops, exploring the theme “the future of work in schools.”

  • James Weatherill, CEO of Arbor Education

Get ready for the future of work in schools

10:10am - 10:40am

Setting the tone for the day, you’ll hear about what’s new in Arbor and our vision for the future.

  • Bex Steele, Chief Product Officer at Arbor Education

  • Phillippa De’Ath, Chief Commercial Officer at Arbor Education

From Process to Progress: How we're using Arbor Workflows to transform operations in our school

11:10am - 11:50pm

See first-hand how Arbor Workflows will change the way you work for the better, with use cases and practical advice.

  • Izzi Dorrian, Director of Ecosystem Partnerships

  • David Marlow, Head of School, Esteem North Academy

  • Vicki Broad, Director of Finance and Operations at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School

School reporting, reimagined: Introducing Smart Reports

13:40pm -14:20pm

What does the future of school reporting look and feel like?

  • Stephen Higgins, Head of AI and Data at Arbor

Embracing change without fear, with Floella Benjamin

14:50pm -15:30pm

Finishing the day with an inspiring keynote from Baroness Floella Benjamin.

Customer Awards

15:30pm - 15:50pm

James will end the day with Customer Awards, as well as a mystery prize to be given out to one attendee of the event.

AI: What's here, what's next, and the secret to thinking even bigger

12:00pm - 12:40pm

Exactly what it says on the tin. Join us to learn what should be front of mind for you in your school or trust when it comes to AI, and how you can embed it into your ways of working.

  • James Weatherill, CEO at Arbor

  • Joe Blair, Director of Innovation at The Key Group

Insight and Impact Stage

In person only

"I didn't know Arbor could do that!": The gems in Arbor which will transform your everyday

11:10am -11:50am

Our Product Team give you a whistle-stop tour of all the hidden gems already at your fingertips.

  • Lucy Crawford, Lead Product Manager at Arbor

  • Gemma Fuge, Senior Customer Success Team Lead

A new era of Assessment is coming

12:00pm - 12:40pm

It’s what you’ve all been waiting for. Arbor’s Aiden G will give you a demo of what the future of Assessments looks like in Arbor.

  • Aiden Gaughan, Senior Product Manager (Assessments & Exams) at Arbor

Beyond the register: How to get smart with attendance in Arbor

13:40pm - 14:20pm

How to get strategic with the attendance capabilities in Arbor.

  • John Pattison, Customer Education Specialist Team Lead at Arbor

  • Louise Connor, Attendance Lead at James Brindley Academy

  • Faith Hinks, Associate Assistant Principal- Data & Assessment, Think Differently Education Trust

Everything you need to know about data and reporting potential in Arbor

14:50pm - 15:30pm

Get stuck into Arbor’s data and reporting capabilities.

  • Karrie Alexander, Senior Product Manager, Arbor

  • Erica Tang, Senior Product Manager, Arbor

  • Tim Moore, Data Manager at Hyndburn Academy

  • George Stevens, Thinking Schools Academy Trust, Data manager

  • Dr Barry Mangham, Trust Data Manager, Esteem MAT

MAT Stage

In person only

The art of the possible with Arbor Workflows at trust-level

11:10am - 11:50am

Hear use cases, practical advice and learn more about templates in this trust-specific Arbor Workflows session.

  • Ed Butcher, Product Director, Ecosystem at Arbor

  • Alison Day, Executive Director of Growth & Development at LEO Academy Trust

  • Danny Garton, MIS & Reporting Manager at Consortium Academy Trust

SAMpeople: Why your people strategy should be underpinned by a great system

14:50pm - 15:30pm

What operational excellence means to us at our trust, and how we're using MAT MIS to get us there

12:00pm - 12:40pm

It’s time to rethink how you’re using MAT MIS. So many trust leaders aren’t getting the most out of the system, and so we’ve designed this session to give you insights from our team and real users on how to strategically make the most of the features already available to you.

  • Matt Darsley, Enterprise Partnership Manager at Arbor

  • Matt Hall, Executive Headteacher, The Redhill Academy Trust

Central teams of the future, powered by the Arbor Suite

13:40pm - 14:20pm

What does a central team of the future look like? And how should your systems help get you there?

  • Phillippa De’Ath, Chief Commercial Officer at Arbor Education

  • Gail Brown, CEO at Ebor Academy Trust

  • John Hayes, Head of BizApps at Greenwood Academies

  • Dewan Chowdhury, Head of Data at Coop Academies

Hear from a trust leader how their People Strategy was transformed by having the right software in place.

  • Sally Boaden, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at Raleigh Education Trust

  • Katie Craker, MD at SAMpeople

  • Jack Record, Partnership Manager at SAMpeople

My first year at Arbor Stage

In person only

Getting SEND and inclusion right from day one

11:10am - 11:50am

Insights from The Key on recent developments to SEND provision, and how Arbor features are designed to support you.

  • Dan Giardiello, Arbor MIS Specialist and GM at Robin

  • Rebecca Pitkin, Specialist Content Writer at The Key

Everything we learned from our first 12 months as an Arbor primary school

12:00pm - 12:40pm

Hear from Arbor users and see features demoed in realtime, to help you hit the ground running with Arbor.

  • Shahista Zamir, Head, Regents Park Community Primary School

  • Zoe Marshall, Head of Customer Success at Arbor

Everything we learned from our first 12 months as an Arbor secondary school

13:40pm - 14:20pm

Hear from Arbor users and see features demoed in realtime, to help you hit the ground running with Arbor.

  • Tanya Noble, Assistant Head and Behaviour Lead at Cams Hill School (Gateway MAT)

  • Zoe Marshall, Head of Customer Success at Arbor

Building an AI-ready organisation

14:50pm - 15:30pm

A special session from our lead sponsor, AWS. Learn about practical frameworks for building organisational AI readiness. Hear directly from subject matter experts and see demos of practical use cases like a digital front door for schools.

  • Himanshu Sahni, Senior AI/ML Specialist

  • Mohammed Reda, Senior Solutions Architect, AWS

Interactive Sessions

In person only

Arbor Labs, Live!

Arbor Labs is the hands-on corner of ArborFest. You'll get a first look at some of the exciting new features we're building, and the opportunity to start testing them yourself and give feedback.

  • Get your hands on the very first prototype of our new Parent App and learn about where we're going next with parental engagement. Perfect for staff managing parental engagement in primary schools.

  • Start building marksheets with our new Assessment functionality, applying them to your own school context, data, and frameworks. Perfect for Assessment Leads and Data Managers of all phases.

  • Join our interactive Teacher Experience classroom to see how we're improving lesson management by making everyday tasks quick and easy. Perfect for teachers, and school staff managing attendance and behaviour.

AI Workshops

11:10am and 12:00pm

We’re excited to be launching Smart Reports: a new era for reporting in schools. No more exporting data from multiple systems and stitching it together in word: Smart Reports instantly pull together the data you need, flag trends you might have missed and present it all beautifully. In this session, we’ll show you how to create your own. Just bring your laptop, your Arbor login and a report you usually run manually. We’ll help you make it into a Smart Report, ready to use and share straight away!

Ask an Arbor Expert

Got a burning question about Arbor? Meet with our Customer Education and Customer Support Team.

The Marketplace

Meet our sponsors and the Arbor Team, while getting the chance to take home merch, network and enter into our prize draw for the end of the day.

Arbor Workflows Workshops

13:40pm and 14:50pm

Ready to put your admin on autopilot? In this hands-on Arbor Workflows session, you'll get practical time with our team to help you build or refine automations that will save your schools hours of effort. Whether you're creating your first workflow or fine-tuning ones you already have, you'll leave feeling confident and with a new workflow ready to go. Bring your laptop, your curiosity and your Arbor login. This one's interactive – we'll help you make it happen.