The Cornwall Association of Primary Heads (CAPH) and the Diocese of Truro joined forces in a powerful partnership and invited education sector leaders from across the county to discuss, explore and share ways of working with the aim to transform inclusion.

Lee Moscato said: “The conference… enabled us to show what called, connected, collaborative and creative leadership could look like.”

Lee Moscato, Truro Diocese’s Director of Education, chaired a panel of experts alongside Emma Kerr from CAPG at the Transforming Inclusion conference at The Royal Cornwall Showground in Wadebridge.

The event also included a number of Keynote speakers from across the UK:

  • Mohamed Abdallah, regional director (South West) at The Reach Foundation, Founder of Drawbridge Collective and trustee for Kernow Learning.
  • Rita Yoe, youth and children’s engagement manager at Lambeth Palace leading on the Difference programme.
  • Nia Richards FRSA, director of creativity, culture and education at Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE).
  • Sarah Childs, assistant headteacher at Penryn College and lead for Penryn Creativity Collaboratives.

During the day, keynote speeches and discussions centred around topics such as making sure ‘every child is seen’, ‘creating a thriving school culture’, exploring inclusive practices and helping youngsters to grow in compassion and confidence.

A number of workshops were also provided for teachers to gain skills to help boost wellbeing, resilience, and classroom culture, creative leadership and more.

Lee Moscato said: “For me, this was more than simply bringing leaders together at a conference.  This was us coming together as system leaders and truly modelling what Powerful Partnerships (one of the DBE strategic commitments) can and should look like in order to improve the educational, societal and personal outcomes for young people.  The conference, through those who led workshops and keynotes, enabled us to show what called, connected, collaborative and creative leadership could look like.

“A real highlight was being able to share, with all schools across the Duchy and not just church schools, the Difference programme.  I am committed to sharing this and know that by developing the core habits that frame the free programme for schools, we can help young people navigate and hold difference well.

“The conference again modelled this to everyone.  Leaders were present.  Leaders were curious.  Leaders were coming together to reimagine what inclusion across our region can look like.”

Emma Kerr, Strategic Lead at CAPH, said: “It has been incredibly encouraging to hear our partners at the Diocese of Truro highlight how this conference exemplified Powerful Partnerships in action. It reflects a shared recognition of the important role CAPH is playing in bringing leaders together across Cornwall to strengthen practice, system-wide collaboration and creative leadership.

“The conference created a powerful space for reflection and connection, with the strongest impact being a shared shift towards culture-led inclusion, particularly through the concepts of belonging and mattering. Leaders left with renewed purpose and a clear desire to continue collaborating and developing practical, locally rooted approaches to inclusion.

“This event has set the bar for continued partnership working, with the next joint Cornwall Education Partnership Conference, Navigating Change, taking place on Wednesday 14th October.”