SNE Event

Understand the change, shape what comes next

Join us for the Schools North East Inclusion Conference 2027, where we’ll bring together school and trust leaders, SEND and inclusion practitioners, experts and policymakers to explore one of the most pressing challenges facing education today: how we create inclusive schools and trusts in which every child can truly thrive.

Across the North East, schools are responding to rising SEND needs, pressure on specialist provision and a changing national policy and accountability landscape. Mainstream schools are increasingly at the forefront of delivering inclusive education, often while navigating significant pressures on capacity, resources and access to external support.

These challenges also sit at the heart of what Schools North East has identified as the ‘structural divide’ – the inequalities that mean our region’s children and young people do not have access to the same opportunities as their peers elsewhere in the country. Creating a more inclusive education system that recognises and responds to the particular needs and context of the North East is fundamental to closing that divide.

Join colleagues from across the North East to make sense of the changing inclusion landscape, explore what national policy means for our schools, and share practical ideas and approaches that can make a genuine difference in your own setting.

What you’ll gain when you attend

• Practical strategies: Explore approaches that can strengthen inclusive practice, address barriers and better support children with a diverse range of needs and circumstances.
• Expert insight: Hear from leading practitioners, specialists and policymakers about the changing inclusion landscape and what it means for our schools.
• Policy context: Understand emerging national developments and how Schools North East is representing the experiences and priorities of North East schools within the wider conversation.
• Regional connection: Learn from colleagues across the North East, compare experiences and share solutions to challenges being faced across the region.
• Ideas you can take back to your setting: Leave with practical learning that can inform leadership, classroom practice and whole-school approaches to inclusion.

SEND and inclusion topics we’ll explore together

Through keynote sessions, practical workshops and discussion, the conference will explore areas including:

• designing inclusive curricula and learning environments;
• responding to changing SEND needs;
• challenging systemic barriers and inequalities;
• developing positive, inclusive whole-school cultures;
• working effectively with families, external agencies and communities; and
• translating national policy and emerging practice into meaningful change within schools.

For Trusts in particular, the conference provides an opportunity to consider inclusion across multiple schools – sharing effective practice, developing greater consistency and exploring how trust-wide approaches can support individual settings while responding to the different needs of their communities. Bringing colleagues from across your trust can maximise that impact, building shared understanding and alignment and making it easier to turn learning from the day into consistent action across your schools.

Who should attend?

• Head Teachers and school leaders
• Trust CEOs and executive leaders
• Deputy and Assistant Heads
• SENDCOs and Inclusion Leads
• Trust SEND and Inclusion Teams
• Pastoral and Wellbeing Leaders
• Governors and Trustees

Whether you are shaping inclusion across a trust, leading it within an individual school or delivering it directly with children, now is the time to come together, understand what is changing and consider what comes next.

As Schools North East celebrates its 20th anniversary, the Inclusion Conference 2027 is part of a landmark year of bringing our network together around the challenges and opportunities that will define the next 20 years of North East education.

Join us to learn what works, connect with colleagues and help build a more inclusive future for North East education.