Workshop Presenters
Linda Burrows and Peter Mayland – Headteachers at Albany Learning Trust
Linda Burrows is an experienced headteacher who has held senior leadership roles for the past 18 years. She is the Executive Headteacher of Albany Learning Trust, a small Trust with schools in Lancashire and Bolton, both of which have been accredited as World Class Schools by High Performance Learning. Alongside her role as Headteacher of Chorley New Road Primary Academy, Linda is an EFA mentor for SSAT and takes a leading role in the Trust’s EFA franchise for primary schools. She is also an accreditor for High Performance Learning. In recognition of her significant contribution and commitment to the teaching profession, Linda has recently been honoured as a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and a Fellow of High Performance Learning.
Peter Mayland has been a senior school leader for nearly 20 years, including serving as Headteacher in two secondary schools for over a decade. He is deeply committed to inclusive, evidence-based education and has worked in five schools (including two academies) across four different authorities in England. He has provided extensive support as a Specialist Leader in Education while working within a National Teaching School. Since joining ALBANY LEARNING TRUST, he has offered in-depth support to other schools as a Local Leader of Education and has accredited multiple schools within the High Performance Learning network. Peter is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and a Fellow of High Performance Learning.
Workshop Title: Precision Feedback: Turning Evidence into Classroom Practice
HPL schools aim for precision across the seven pillars, yet many educators ask similar questions:
- How do we develop feedback as meaningful dialogue between students and teachers? How do we ensure assessment informs next steps for learning?
- How can assessment consistently inform next steps in learning?
How do we secure consistency across our school?
In this session, Linda and Peter share their journey, drawing on Dylan Wiliam’s formative assessment work and explore the principles underpinning effective feedback.
John Goodwin – Primary Teacher at Haileybury Almaty
Workshop Title: Making the Abstract Concrete: Bringing HPL to Life Through Film
This session explores how High Performance Learning can be brought to life through a dedicated short-film series. Moving beyond abstract definitions, these films provide relatable, real-world examples of individual VAAs and ACPs that students can clearly see, understand, and connect with.
Participants will discover how films such as The Bridge and The New Experience act as powerful hooks, helping students to recognise, interpret, and apply HPL characteristics in their own lives. The session will also explore how carefully designed language toolkits deepen students’ concrete understanding, and how a Haileybury Almaty Oscars event drives authentic engagement - transforming complex learning behaviours into meaningful, memorable cinematic experiences.
Meghan Honeysett and Grissell Medina - Teachers, International School of Nice
Meghan is a passionate and empathetic educator with a decade of experience in the UK and international settings and a background in Psychology and Special Educational Needs. In her role of HPL lead and STEAM coordinator, she is committed to fostering inclusive environments where every child can thrive, promoting well-being and the development of High Performance Learning across the school community.
Grissell is a reflective educator with international experience across diverse academic contexts. Passionate about linguistics and bilingual education, she actively promotes translanguaging as a means of fostering inclusion. As a primary school teacher, she thoughtfully integrates the HPL framework with the IB PYP to cultivate curiosity and inquiry in young learners.
Workshop Title: Parents as Partners: Unlocking the Power of the Parent Community
This workshop will explore how schools can unlock the power of their parent community by moving beyond communication towards partnership. Meghan and Grissell will examine the evolving role of parents in supporting wellbeing, academic growth, school culture and consider what meaningful participation looks like in practice. Through shared examples and collaborative dialogue, participants will identify strategies that strengthen relationships, encourage active involvement and amplify family voice. Attendees will reflect on their own contexts and leave with practical approaches to deepen engagement and cultivate a connected, inclusive and thriving school community.
Karrelle Dixon –Director of Sport at St Edmund's College and Prep School
Workshop Title: Everyone Can Perform: Translating Elite Sporting Mindsets into Everyday Learning
What if elite performance wasn’t reserved for professional athletes, but something every student could access?
In this workshop, Karrelle explores how deliberate practice, metacognition, and the HPL Agile and Meta- Thinking pillars help learners perform under pressure, adapt to challenge, and improve with purpose.
No gimmicks. No talent myths. Just practical strategies that make performance visible and achievable for all.
The question is simple: if we know how elite performers are made, why wouldn’t we teach everyone that way?
Dawn Waugh - Founder of the Junior Duke Award
Workshop Title: High Performance Beyond the Classroom: Junior Duke Meets HPL
This highly interactive session challenges delegates to experience first-hand how the Junior Duke Award aligns seamlessly with the High Performance Learning Values, Attitudes, and Attributes (VAAs). Working in mixed teams, participants will take part in a fast-paced practical challenge while simultaneously exploring how Junior Duke activities intentionally develop independence, resilience, collaboration, and problem- solving. Through competition, reflection, and collaboration, this session brings the HPL VAAs to life and demonstrates how high performance behaviours can be nurtured authentically beyond the classroom.
Alison Bissell, Director of Dukes Plus Consultancy
Workshop Title: Lessons from 5,000 University Applicants: How to stand out when everyone is outstanding
In an era where A* grades and high ambitions are increasingly common, this workshop explores what truly distinguishes successful applicants at the very top of the university admissions process. Drawing on insights from more than 5,000 students across both UK and US pathways, Alison Bissell reveals the patterns, pitfalls, and strategies that meaningfully shift outcomes. Participants will learn why academic excellence “compresses” at the highest levels, where traditional markers of achievement become baseline rather than differentiating. The session then uncovers the harder‑to‑fake signals admissions teams rely on. Finally, the workshop outlines a practical framework for building a winning application strategy early and deliberately. Attendees will leave with actionable guidance on how to help exceptional students genuinely stand out.
Deborah McKenzie, International Schools Director (APAC & Europe) at CENTURY
Workshop Title: Working Smarter, Not Harder: Personalised Learning Through HPL and CENTURY
This session explores how combining the High Performance Learning (HPL) framework with CENTURY's personalised learning approach empowers students to work smarter, not harder. By aligning HPL’s Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics, and Values, Attitudes & Attributes with CENTURY’s AI- driven pathways, learners gain a clearer understanding of how they learn best. The approach promotes metacognition, purposeful practice, and timely feedback, enabling students to focus on high-impact strategies rather than repetition. Together, HPL and CENTURY create confident, self-regulating learners who can adapt their thinking, maximise effort, and achieve more efficient, sustainable progress.
Dr Matt Silver – Founder and Chief Executive Officer at the Glass House Leadership Lab
Workshop Title: From School Improvement to Systemic Transformation
Single interventions are no longer sufficient to prepare education for an increasingly uncertain future. The next frontier is system redesign. This workshop invites leaders to step back and re-examine the fundamental purpose of education in a rapidly changing world, and the implications for how we lead, govern, and design learning. True transformation requires an aligned purpose, a shared language, and the capability to work with complexity rather than simplify it away. Participants will explore how to move from managing institutions to stewarding living systems, and how to become architects of conditions in which learning, leadership, and innovation can continuously evolve in a global, digital network.
Zoe Richardson - Associate Assistant for Sixth Form at King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls’ Academy
Workshop Title: How can the HPL Certification act as a professional learning tool in your school setting?
In this workshop, Zoe will share how the Teacher Certification process became a powerful tool for her own professional development. She will explore the specific standards and criteria she chose to focus on throughout the award, offering colleagues valuable insight into how she approached areas identified for improvement. The session will examine how the certification supported a deeper engagement with key HPL practices and discuss the practical impact it has had on her teaching, on colleagues across the team, and, most importantly, on student outcomes. Zoe will also reflect on whether she would recommend the certification to other staff, particularly regarding how it can strengthen the consistency and quality of HPL practice across a school. Finally, she will outline how she intends to continue engaging with Teacher Certification moving forward and how it can form part of an ongoing professional growth journey.