Trust Day 2026: Equity, Opportunity, Community
Lorraine Heath, CEO
Welcome
Welcome to our Trust Conference. We are delighted to be able to get everyone together once again for a day of reflection and networking. This year the theme is Equity; Opportunity; Community which is our Trust's new mission statement. We are all aware of the challenges that our children and young people face growing up in the 2020s and these were brought into relief by the recent publication of the Milburn Review whose interim findings highlighted 1 in 8 young people (about 1 million) aged between 16 and 24 are not in education employment or training. Inequality, education, geography, health issues and a difficult job market all contribute to the risk of a generation of wasted talent.
If only 50% of adults born in the 1980s can expect a better standard of living than their parents, then there is even less room for optimism for our children born into this millennium.
Today is about exploring some of these risk factors but also looking for solutions. Schools are not the only answer but we have to hold faith in our ability to give children the tools they need to forge their own futures in a world where many of the old certainties no longer exist and also be willing to challenge some of our own assumptions about traditional pathways to success.
That is why I am excited about introducing today's keynote speaker to you. Joe Seddon is a young entrepreneur whose company Zero Gravity is dedicated to supporting pupils from low opportunity backgrounds into the best universities and the best jobs. Joe has some uncomfortable truths for us about social mobility, the role of universities and the pre-eminence of London and the south east in the jobs market; he also has a great story to tell.
Richard Healey, Director of Primary Education (left)
Chris Ellison, Director of Secondary Education (right)
Acheiving More Together
This session outlines how we will respond together to recent changes in the Schools White Paper and Curriculum and Assessment Review. You will hear about our plans to harness the expertise of our teachers and support staff to build a more equitable curriculum offer across our schools.
Jen Norris, Director of Student Support
Alan Blackburn, Director of School Performance
Changing Landscapes
This session is about helping us make sense of what’s changing in education, and, more importantly, what that means for you in your role.
This isn’t about policy in isolation or new requirements on paper. It’s about your day-to-day work, the decisions you make, the systems you use, and the small actions you take every day, and how these connect directly to whether children succeed.
Joe Seddon, CEO, Zero Gravity
Joe Seddon - Zero Gravity
Joe Seddon is the Founder & CEO of Zero Gravity, a tech startup that unlocks potential by powering students from low-opportunity areas into university, work, and life.
He grew up in a single-parent family in a small town in West Yorkshire and made the journey from state schools to Oxford University, and saw first-hand just how high the barriers are for students to break into elite institutions.
This introduced Joe to a new world of possibilities, realising that whilst talent is everywhere, opportunity is not, so after graduation her tuned down corporate job offers and set out to level the playing field, launching Zero Gravity from his bedroom with the last £200 of his student loan.
The Zero Gravity platform identifies talented students from low-opportunity areas and powers them into top universities and careers - to date Zero Gravity has supported 15,000+ students into top universities, and members’ stories have been featured in BBC News, Channel 4, Sky News, and The Times, amongst others.
Zero Gravity has deployed £2.3m of scholarships to low-income students to make university affordable to all and now manages one of the UK’s largest scholarship funds for low-income students. They have also partnered with leading employers such as HSBC, Morgan Stanley, KPMG, Snapchat, and Rolls Royce to power thousands of students into elite careers.
The Zero Gravity mantra is “We're all working hard to create a world where talent matches opportunity” and who can argue with that!
