Future Fwd - Warwick, UK
Day 2
Workshop Leads
Sarah Selesnyov
Strategic Lead for Learning and Development
Sarah Seleznyov works for Big Education, a organisation that wants to see a more expansive approach to education for pupils. In this role, she leads the Big Education Leadership Programme, and the Next Big 10 project for innovating schools.
Sarah has worked in London schools for over 25 years. She has been a Deputy Head, a School Improvement Consultant and a Teaching School Director. Before moving to Big Education, she worked at The London Centre for Leadership in Learning, UCL Institute of Education, where she designed and led a range of research-informed programmes for school leaders and teacher enquiry projects. She also acted as a facilitator on the National Professional Qualification for Executive Leaders.
Jonathan Harper FRSA
CEO of Future Foundations
Jonathan is an award-winning social entrepreneur, who has partnered with global companies to develop transformational employee development programmes supporting young people's life-skills and wellbeing.
He has created youth leadership programmes for the British government, partnered with the LEGO Foundation to develop a programme to foster playful learning and advocacy among young people and worked with Global Action Plan and Persil to pilot and scale a UK schools programme focused on developing compassionate values.
In 2013, Jonathan co-founded Global Social Leaders, which has equipped over 10,000 young people to deliver 3,500 social action projects in 100 countries responding to the Global Goals.
He is passionate about fostering a community of schools and cross-sector partners, committed to building a global movement of socially conscious young people who are equipped to be leaders in their lives and society.
He was recognised as global alumnus by Enactus, for the impact he has had on society, and supporting young people to reach their potential.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) and has received a Catalyst Award for Global Social Leaders from the RSA.
In 2023, Jonathan was recognised as a Gamechanger in the Big Education Challenge by Big Change, for CanTeam, a new initiative designed to transform schools into community hubs by opening up their canteens to serve food after-school to young people, families and local communities. In 2024, Jonathan was announced as Co-Winner.
Jess Talbot FRSA
Programmes Director of Future Foundations
Jess has been the Programmes Director at Future Foundations since 2021 where she leads all programme delivery including of Global Social Leaders. Jess has 17 years experience of working in the charity and education sectors in the UK and East Africa including setting up new schools, managing schools and running leadership development programmes for educators and district government education officials.
Jess is passionate about the potential of young people to make the world a better place, and about the impact that learning to be a leader within their own lives and within wider society can have on helping young people grow and succeed in life. This is something she experienced first-hand when she set up a youth council in her town as a teenager which led to many opportunities including being elected as a trustee of the British Youth Council and being appointed as an Executive Board member of the National Youth Agency.
Jess is currently a trustee of the EA Foundation and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).
Jenny
​Parkinson‑Mills
Director of Digitally Enabled Learning
Jenny is the Director of Digitally Enabled Learning at Warwick Schools Foundation, developing the use of digital technologies across the five schools within the Foundation in order to improve the learning outcomes for students of all ages from 3-18.
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Jenny leads both technology and pedagogy teams that have supported the successful integration and adoption of Microsoft 365 tools across the Foundation and the development of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programmes at two of the schools. One of the key strategic aims that the Foundation is currently pursuing is how best to safely and effectively harness the opportunities that AI can bring to education.
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As a teacher, Jenny understands the rewards of using IT in teaching and learning alongside more traditional pedagogical approaches, but she also understands the challenges it can bring. A significant element to her role is therefore supporting and encouraging schools and staff to make the most of the digital opportunities – to have the confidence to be innovative in their work and to share their experiences, whatever their starting point may be.
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There are many opportunities that AI can bring to education, and it will be difficult to balance both a measured and innovative approach when the tools are developing at such a rate and the final destination is unknown. But if we can show the courage and curiosity to harness AI, we work together to build the future that we want to see in education and this conference is a superb opportunity to continue that collaboration.
Jeremy Dibb
Warwick - a Singing town
I am Leamington born and bred and live five doors away from my mum in Lillington. I started playing cornet in Leamington Spa Silver Band when I was 12 and that was it really. I loved being part of a music group and that joy of sharing music-making has stayed with me ever since.
I obtained my music degree at Manchester University and then went into a teaching career that included 23 years with the local music service – the last five years as Director.
I retired with impeccable timing in April 2020 and, whilst I am kept perfectly busy with my four children and four grandchildren I am absolutely delighted to be able to continue my passion for music and singing in my role with Warwick – A Singing Town.
DR. Joanne Ladds
Associate Education Consultant, Noble + Eaton
Joanne is a dynamic educational leader with a PhD in Chemistry, MA in Education and an NPQH.
She has a creative, practical, innovative approach, a commitment to evolution of practice, embracing new technologies and developments whilst remaining focused on the underpinning educational research.
She has been a leader in schools for 20 years embedding new learning techniques and designing new curricula, professional development programmes, and bespoke frameworks for tracking progress in attainment, attitudes to learning and character traits.
As a consultant, Joanne supports the alignment of people, pedagogy and place with the ethos, mission and values of a community of learners. Through action research, data analysis, interpretation and strategic planning I guide those in education on how to gather and use data for a positive impact through purposeful environmental design.
We are in the Information Age; knowledge is only power if we do something with it!
Dr Steven Berryman
President of the Chartered College of Teaching
Dr Steven Berryman is an arts and cultural educator who contributes widely to music education. He is the current President of the Chartered College of Teaching (2022 – 2024) and holds a variety of non-executive director roles, including school governance. Steven is one of the first Chartered Teachers and a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching.
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Steven was formerly Director of Music at the City of London School for Girls (2015-2020); for the 2019-2020 academic year was seconded to the Education Strategy Unit at the City of London Corporation, leading cultural and creative learning projects across the family of schools in the City. Previously, Steven taught at the Junior Departments of the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity Laban and taught music at the North London Collegiate School. His recent roles include leading music across families of schools in multi-academy trusts and teaching at King’s College London, the Royal College of Music and the University of Buckingham.
Steven has contributed widely to educational press, expert roundtables, examining and as an arts education practitioner, including work as a composer; recent work includes projects with the Royal Opera House, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NMC Recordings and Ofqual. 2021 – 2022
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Steven was a member of the DFE/DCMS expert panel to refresh the National Plan for Music Education – the refreshed plan was published on 25 June 2022. Since February 2024, Steven has been part of the team working on the secondary music curriculum at Oak National Academy.
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Steven was granted Freedom of the City of London in 2017 and is a Liveryman of both the Worshipful Company of Educators and Musicians