MATPN North 2027 Agenda

4 - 5 March 2027, The Manchester Deansgate, Manchester

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08:00
  1. Registration Desk
    60 mins
09:05
  1. Main Room
    30 mins
    • Strategy & Leadership
    What is government looking for from trust leaders in 2027? And what should we be prioritising as leaders? This session will explore how expectations of trusts are evolving as trust-level inspections a ...
10:00
  1. Main Room
    40 mins
    Our signature ‘Dragons’ Den’ session provides each solution provider with an opportunity to deliver a short pitch explaining why they are here and how their services can help leaders tackle ongoing challenges.
10:45
  1. Networking Area
    75 mins
    15 minute meetings with suppliers who are offering solutions most relevant to your challenges. Please check the schedule on the back of your delegate pass for your meeting timings.
12:30
  1. Main Room
    30 mins
    • Outcomes & Impact
    Trusts have enormous potential to spread strong curriculum practice, subject expertise and professional learning across schools. But when does coherence become standardisation? This session will explo ...
  2. Breakout Room 1
    30 mins
    • Operations & Service Delivery
    With capital funding unable to meet the full scale of need, trusts must make difficult decisions about where investment will have the greatest impact. This session will explore how leaders can develop ...
  3. Breakout Room 2
    30 mins
    • Outcomes & Impact
    Persistent absence cannot be solved through attendance processes alone. For many children, returning to the classroom depends on feeling safe and understood at school. This session will explore why so ...
  4. Breakout Room 3
    30 mins
    • Strategy & Leadership
    When does consistency protect schools; and when does it make families feel unheard? Rising expectations, increasingly complex complaints and AI-generated correspondence are changing the relationship b ...
13:20
  1. Networking Area
    40 mins
14:20
  1. Main Room
    45 mins
    • Finance & Sustainability
    With falling pupil numbers, rising costs and pressure on reserves, trusts may need to look beyond another round of efficiencies. This interactive fishbowl will explore how leaders can connect curricul ...
16:00
  1. Networking Area
    75 mins
    15 minute meetings with suppliers who are offering solutions most relevant to your challenges. Please check the schedule on the back of your delegate pass for your meeting timings.
17:15
  1. Main Room
    40 mins
    • Strategy & Leadership
    No two trusts experience the sector's challenges in quite the same way. Trust size, maturity, geography and operating model all influence the pressures leaders face, while education leaders often view ...
19:30
  1. Networking Area
    150 mins
    Networking sessions – throughout the event we host a networking lunch as well as a dinner and drinks reception to give you ample opportunity to connect with your peers and suppliers over the learnings from the event. Dinner is served in formal-style seating to a set menu. Our delegate team will speak to you to ensure we cater for any specific dietary requirements.
09:05
  1. Main Room
    40 mins
    • Strategy & Leadership
    What does a sustainable future look like for an academy trust; and who gets to decide? This keynote debate will bring together leaders with contrasting experiences to explore the pressures shaping dec ...
10:15
  1. Networking Area
    60 mins
    15 minute meetings with suppliers who are offering solutions most relevant to your challenges. Please check the schedule on the back of your delegate pass for your meeting timings.
11:20
  1. Main Room
    50 mins
    • Strategy & Leadership
    You say your trust makes a difference, but what evidence supports that claim? In this interactive session, attendees will become the executive team and board of a fictional multi-academy trust. Each t ...
12:40
  1. Main Room
    30 mins
    • Outcomes & Impact
    Trusts are increasingly looking beyond the success of their own schools to consider their role within the places they serve. This session will explore how trusts can connect education more closely wit ...
  2. Breakout Room 1
    30 mins
    • Digital, Data & AI
    Transformation at trust scale requires more than introducing new technology. It starts with understanding the problem and being prepared to rethink how work gets done. Drawing on practical experience, ...
  3. Breakout Room 2
    30 mins
    • Workforce, Skills & Culture
    Recruitment is becoming more competitive, expectations are rising and many trusts cannot simply add capacity or increase salaries. How can trusts develop and retain great people while creating sustain ...
  4. Breakout Room 3
    30 mins
    • Digital, Data & AI
    As AI changes how we work, create and access knowledge, what should schools be preparing young people to do that technology cannot? This future-facing session will explore what an AI-shaped world mean ...
13:15
  1. Main Room
    30 mins
    • Outcomes & Impact
    What does an inclusive trust look like in practice, and how can that ambition be sustained as pupil needs become increasingly complex? This session will explore how trusts can create a shared approach ...
13:50
  1. Networking Area
    40 mins

Frequently Asked Questions

The agenda explores the priorities shaping academy trusts, including leadership and accountability, financial sustainability, curriculum and school improvement, estates, inclusion and attendance, workforce development, community relationships, and digital transformation and AI.

Across two days, the programme combines keynote panels and debates with smaller breakout sessions, peer roundtables and interactive workshops, including the Trust Evidence Room. Delegates can choose sessions relevant to their priorities, with scheduled time for networking, business meetings and sponsor presentations.

Yes. While keynote and main room sessions are open to all delegates, you can select which roundtable and breakout sessions are most relevant to your trust's current priorities. Your pre-booked one-to-one meetings are scheduled around the agenda, giving you flexibility to attend the sessions that matter most to you.

Yes. You'll also receive a conference guide with speaker profiles, case studies, and sponsor information. After the event, all delegates receive digital copies of the presentations.

We strongly recommend attending the full two-day event to get maximum value. The agenda is designed so that key themes develop across both days, and your pre-booked meetings are spread throughout. That said, if you can only attend one day, let us know during registration and we'll work with you to ensure you don't miss the sessions most relevant to your priorities.