This year’s ArborFest explores the theme “The future of work in schools.” From a new government to the rise of AI, schools and trusts have been faced with new challenges and opportunities over the past year. At the same time, the sector continues to brave budget cuts, staff shortages and a workload crisis. In this landscape of change and challenge, it’s important that school leaders have the space to explore what the future of work in schools will look like for them.

ArborFest will bring 800 Arbor customers together at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 21st May 2025 to do just that. Our exciting programme will look at the ways schools can innovate and evolve using Arbor and beyond.

See the full programme and get your free tickets here.

–

–

Join us for a day of thought-provoking sessions and practical talks from experienced school and trust leaders. You can expect to:

• Learn from fellow school and trust leaders on how they’re using Arbor to improve attendance, get Ofsted-ready and master AI 
• Hear innovative talks from experts within the education sector on leadership, collaboration, and flexible working
• Network with other Arbor users and share ideas at our Customer Roundtables 
• Be the first to see the reveal of our 2025 Product Roadmap
• Hear from Mary Bousted, Chair of the Teaching Commission, in an inspiring keynote on the future of education recruitment, workplace culture and workload reduction
• Test out upcoming Arbor features with our team at Arbor Labs, live!
• Ask your burning questions at Meet an Arbor Expert 

Above all else, ArborFest is a chance to celebrate the great work our schools do and have fun. You’ll leave with clear, actionable insights you can bring back to your organisation and implement right away, all focused on building a school, MAT or LA of the future.

And the best part is, it’s all completely free!

We can’t wait to see you there.

P.S. Can’t make it in-person? We’re live streaming the day too – so sign up for a digital ticket instead.

What will I get with my ArborFest ticket?

• Free entry to ArborFest
• Access to all our talks and workshops
• Breakfast and lunch are included
• An Arbor bag full of Arbor goodies
• Join us at an end-of-day drinks party

Not yet convinced?

Check out our video from ArborFest 2024 to find out what the event is all about.

ArborFest

The post You’re invited to ArborFest 2025 appeared first on Arbor.

–

Catch-up on Part 1 of Jim’s talk at ArborFest here.

–

Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are the holy trinity of the core business of schools and MATs. Though, of course, you are the experts, I thought it would be worth tapping into each of these briefly to see the direction of travel. 

Curriculum: A question I asked in Part 1, is whether the curriculum is in the service of knowledge or is it in the service of children? I think that’s a core question, and I think the answer is another question: is your curriculum inclusive by design? That doesn’t mean just being really good at SEND, it means making curriculum and qualification choices that make everyone feel included, that make them all feel like they belong. 

Pedagogy: Are we making the most of PedTech? Are we really thinking about the opportunity of technology to allow us to do things that were previously inconceivable? It’s possible to conceive of project based learning, but it’s really hard to do, and it’s really hard to then do project based learning and link it back to the curriculum requirements that are set out in the national curriculum that in the end you have to test people on. But AI could really help you do that.

Assessment: Of course, assessment’s going to change. The opportunity to be able to assess very differently, to be able to move away from the anachronism of large sports halls in the summer with small desks and paper and pen, to something that relates much more to the real world and allows us to start to assess collaborations, allows us to assess critical thinking, metacognition, some of the generic core skills that we’re going to need for humans to compete effectively against machines and collaborate effectively with each other in the future.

–

–
–

So then, what could we do now?

Belonging: Actions are louder than words. I think we should be now thinking how our schools and MATs are inclusive by design; and making this a priority, not an afterthought. This is not an easy process. How can we include every child in our school in the way that we go about things? There’s lots of good practice, there’s lots of tactics, there’s lots of good use of data and use of tech that can enable us to make a difference on attendance. But in the end, what matters most is whether your school gives you as a member of staff, as a pupil, as a parent, a sense of belonging. And there’s much more we need to think about in terms of how we nurture that.

Digital inclusivity: I’m not going to get into a debate about mobile phones, but I do think we need to ensure that all of our children are included in that digital world. Pearson are waiting for regulatory approval for the option of on screen GCSE English tests. Now, if OFQUAL gives the go ahead for that, that means children will be able to type their GCSE English exam rather than write it. That will advantage some children – but only if they have learned to type as well as to write.

Empower professionalism: As I’ve said, if we’re going to resolve the recruitment or retention crisis, we have to empower professionalism and reconnect with the culture of vocation. It’s the intrinsic motivation that makes you want to be a teacher that is way more powerful than the extrinsic one. Yes, we need to pay you properly, but intrinsic motivation really needs to work.

Nature: And a note to finish on, I work in the Houses of Parliament – there are no windows there or nature. But what we know is nature is really good, not only for your wellbeing, but for your brain development, as well as helping us connect with the sustainable future that we all want. So I would say make sure you also find time and opportunity for yourselves, your loved ones and the children that we serve to connect with nature too.

–

Watch Jim’s talk in full at ArborFest here. 

See what else you missed from the day here.

The post Lord Jim Knight: Creating a new vision and purpose for schools Pt.2 appeared first on Arbor.

We are living in a year that the world is holding more elections than ever before. Four billion people across the globe will go to the polls this year. My prediction is that here in the UK, our election will see a change of government. If this should happen, let’s begin by considering what might be in the in-tray should Bridget Phillipson end up being Secretary of State for Education in Sanctuary Buildings, where I spent three glorious years as Schools Minister. 

As we all have, Bridget has been talking about school attendance. We have an unprecedented crisis in children’s mental health and wellbeing, the same with school staff. That feeds into the retention and recruitment issues in the workforce. I imagine this will be first and foremost on her mind. 

We’ve got schools literally crumbling. We have issues at both early years, particularly around workforce, and then the 16 to 19 pathways where T levels feel overburdensome, where apprenticeship take-up is really challenging. And some universities may well go out of business before we even get to a general election. The adult skills and productivity crisis that the nation faces is something Bridget will have to worry about before she has a chance to think about anything long-term. 

–

What could change look like?

–

So there are some questions around whether you stick with what we’re doing or whether you change. How do we avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater? I’m really cognisant of the conversations that I regularly have with teachers, and the answer is both. There’s a desperate need for change, but also the sense that some can’t cope with any more change at all. 

So, instead, a lot of what I ask myself is what could we stop doing? 

Something that has to change is the toxicity around Ofsted. I chaired an inquiry into the future of school inspections and this is what we heard back from the teaching workforce. The single word judgement, the terrible events around the death of Ruth Perry. If we’re serious about teacher retention, then having a system that inculcates a culture of fear in our system is something that we have to change, and change urgently. I would advocate that we need to put much more emphasis on governance, particularly MAT governance, as being the first line of defence around teacher quality, and one that can be part of generating a more positive, supportive culture, rather than one of fear. 

I was talking to Andreas Sleicher, Director of Education for the OECD, and he used the phrase “the cost of mistrust.” I think we can liberate huge amounts of time and money if we don’t manmark teachers all the time. Instead, we should lean into their professionalism and continue to support through professional development in a rapidly changing environment. 

Related to this is data transparency. We should lean into the potential of data and AI to give us new insights, accountability and regulation. We should move from inspecting inputs to challenging outcomes.

–

–

What about long-term?

That might be the short-term, and whilst that’s a lot to think about, what about some of the bigger things that are going on in education? It comes down to the question, what is school for? And what will it look like?

Multiple and longer careers: The 100-Year Life by Andrew Scott and Lynda Gratton worked on the idea that children born today are much more likely to live into the next century and have a 60-year working life, therefore cycling through multiple careers. That’s the world we’re preparing our children for now. 

Societal change: And then we’ve got the opportunity of technology, perhaps meaning that we can be more productive. It might mean that we could afford a universal, basic income. It might mean that we could afford a four day week.

Green jobs: Thirdly, the other big change that has to happen is we have to move to a more sustainable economy. We have to nurture green skills around the notion that every job will have to be a green job if we’re going to stop exploiting the world’s resources. And yet, at the moment, in our curriculum, there’s some room for it in Science and Geography. But I’m not persuaded that we are equipping and empowering our young people with the tools and the mindset to make the change personally, to lead the change in and beyond their communities. 

Tech evolution: I’m really excited about the potential of artificial intelligence to augment us, but I’m terrified if all of the data is held by just a few people. The fact that Elon Musk owns so much of the world’s sentiment data through X, and so much of the world’s transportation data through Tesla, and so much of the world’s communication data through his satellite company that owns more than half the satellites orbiting the planet, that’s pretty terrifying in terms of that monopolistic position that he has in terms of the data and ability to then train the tech the way that he wants it. 

–

Big technology changes come along periodically, cause social pain and then they deliver prosperity. I would anticipate that we’re going to go through a slightly painful period before we move into a more prosperous period. But I am hopeful that we will realise the opportunity and work out how to build the safeguards.

This all ties back into the fundamental question of what school is really for. Is it really for a knowledge rich-curriculum or is it preparing children for a future in a rapidly changing world?

–

Read Part 2 of Jim’s talk here.

The post Lord Jim Knight: Creating a new vision and purpose for schools Pt.1 appeared first on Arbor.

Couldn’t make the event and want to know what ArborFest is all about? We’ve put together a small roundup of the day, stage by stage below. If you were able to join us, remember to keep sharing your experiences of the event using #ArborFest. 

–

–

The Main Stage

James and Sonia opened the day on The Main Stage, which was followed by a fascinating talk on AI by Professor Rose Luckin, a showcase of all Arbor’s new features, and a panel of Arbor users sharing how they’ve improved attendance and parental engagement at their schools. 

Plus, our keynote speaker Lord Jim Knight, former Minister of Schools, gave an insightful keynote on the challenges facing schools, and what change a new government could bring to the sector. In his own words, speaking on the numbers leaving teaching: “We have to empower the professionalism of school staff and reconnect with a culture of vocation if we want to be serious about retention.”

We finished up the day with our annual Customer Awards – from the customer we can’t wait to hear from, through to the Yoda of Arbor.  

–

–

The Data Stage

Over on The Data Stage, Arbor customers shared their practical takeaways on how to change the culture within schools and trusts to one of foresight, rather than hindsight. This was followed by Rob Wall, Data and MIS Lead at Danes Educational Trust and Stephen Schwartz, Trust EdTeach Lead at Inspire Partnership Academy Trust shared their top tips on how to make the most out of data in Arbor. 

Phil Le-Brun, a director of Enterprise Strategy at AWS (ArborFest’s lead sponsor) and former Corporate VP at McDonald’s Corporation, then gave a talk on patterns that can help schools to innovate around data, whilst bringing your staff along on the journey too. 

–

–

The MAT Stage

Back by popular demand, our MAT Stage brought trust leaders together to discuss strategy, growth and collaboration.

Amanda Hodder, Chief Finance and Operations Officer at Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy, opened the stage with her insights on how, why and when her trust centralised. 

This was followed by an inspiring panel from three trust leaders on navigating retention and wellbeing as a trust leader. One piece of advice that stuck with many delegates, from Nicola Noble, Co-Headteacher at Surrey Square Primary School and Big Education Trust was “Everyone is following their own map of the world. Don’t impose yours on your team.”

Our last panel of the day, with Louise Cooper, COO at Education for the 21st Century, and Stephen Barrat-Kinsley, COO at Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust, followed a discussion on how they advanced their trusts’ aims using Arbor’s MAT MIS. 

If you’d like to hear more from MAT leaders, but couldn’t make the event, download our recent report. Made in collaboration with Confederation of School Trusts, five MAT leaders share their insights on alignment at their trusts. Download for free here. 

–

–

The Demo Stage

The Demo Stage was the go-to place to see Arbor in action. Aiden, Arbor’s Product Manager for Assessments, was joined by Kate Harris (Customer Education Specialist at Arbor) and Dewan Chowdhury (Head of Data at Co-op Academies Trust) to give two live demos plus Q&A of how to get the best out of Assessments in Arbor. If you missed the demo, but want to know more, download our free Customer Education Guide here. 

Next up on The Demo Stage was an in-depth demo of Arbor Finance, the top-rated finance system for LA maintained primary schools, powered by the team behind Arbor MIS. Find out more here. 

–

–

School and MAT leader Roundtables

At Arbor, we love to see customers coming together to share best practice. 

Throughout #ArborFest, we ran Roundtables for school and trust leaders in our community. These peer-to-peer conversations encouraged schools to network with others in their roles and share best practice. 

Not yet in our online community? Join Arbor HQ to hear from schools like yours on how they’re making the most out of Arbor and sharing advice. 

–

–

Ask an Arbor Expert and Meet your Account Manager

Events like ArborFest are the perfect place for the schools in our community to meet the Arbor team and ask any questions they might have. Our Ask an Arbor Expert and Meet your Account Manager rooms provided a space for exactly that. We loved meeting so many of you in-person!

–

–

Plus much more!

As well as our bustling Partner Marketplace, there was plenty of time for networking, chatting and meeting more of the team at breakfast, lunch and post-ArborFest drinks. 

We’re already looking forward to next year!

–

The post What you missed at ArborFest 2024 appeared first on Arbor.

This year’s ArborFest explores the theme “Transforming the way schools workBig ideas for the future.” Now, more than ever, we’re seeing rapid changes in technology having a big impact in education. But, at the same time, schools and trusts face continued budget cuts, staff shortages and ever changing policies. In this landscape of change and challenges, it’s important to explore the different ways schools can innovate to support students, staff, and their wider communities. 

ArborFest will bring 800 Arbor customers together at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 13th March 2024 to do just that. Our exciting programme will look at the ways schools can drive positive change by using Arbor and in their broader day-to-day. 

Plus, it’s all completely free! Sign up for your free spot here. 

–

What’s on at ArborFest? 

The day will be packed with inspiring talks from both experts within the education sector and school staff using Arbor. Explore everything we have on stage by stage.

–

Main Stage

• Professor Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner Centred Design at UCL Knowledge Labs on how to strategically integrate AI into your school
• Three Arbor users share how they’re using Arbor to transform parental involvement and engagement at their schools

• New Features Showcase from James Weatherill, CEO at Arbor

Plus, Jim Knight, former Minister for Schools under Gordon Brown member of the House of Lords, and Chair of E-Act Multi Academy Trust, will end ArborFest with a specially commissioned talk to wrap up the day.

–

Data Stage

• Data leaders from Birmingham Diocesan Multi-Academy Trust, Academies Enterprise Trust and Aces Schools join us for a panel session on how they capture, interpret and share data in their schools and trusts
• Phil Le-Brun, Director of Enterprise Strategy and Evangelism at Amazon Web Services (AWS), talks on how to create an impactful data strategy
• Two trust leaders discuss the power of data collaboration between trusts

–

MAT stage:

By popular demand, we’ve combined our best-selling MAT Conference series with ArborFest with a dedicated MAT stage full of thought leadership talks from experienced MAT leaders from across the country. 

• Amanda Hodder, COO at Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy Company on how, when and why to centralise different systems across your trust
• Three trust leaders share how they are navigating staff wellbeing and retention
• Two trust leaders explain how they’ve used MAT MIS to achieve their goals and drive measurable improvement across their MAT

You’ll leave with clear, actionable insights you can bring back to your trust and implement, all focused on growth, sustainability, and creating a cohesive MAT.

–

Customer roundtables

We’re excited to announce that our customer roundtables are back by popular demand! Join 10 fellow Arbor users to discuss your experience using different modules in Arbor, the impact on your students and staff, and your top tips for other staff using Arbor. 

In each slot, we’ll run four different roundtables – all you need to do is choose the topic you’re most interested in. We’ll be covering:

• Parental engagement 
• Behaviour management
• Assessment
• Arbor for Business Managers

You’ll leave with new ideas to take back to your school, based on other Arbor schools’ tips and advice. Perfect for schools looking to share best practice, or who want to learn from others.

–

Assessment workshops

Join us for an interactive assessment sessions, one for primary schools and one for secondaries, designed for those interested in our Assessments module. Hosted by the Customer Education Team, join other Arbor users to learn how to get started with school assessments.

The workshop will include:

• An overview of the Assessments Module and how it works 
• Top assessment tips from fellow schools
• Ideas for further assessment training and professional development to get started with Assessments at your primary or secondary school

–

How do I get involved?

Arbor customers will receive their ticket in their email inbox! Or you can book here.

What will I get with my ticket?

• Free entry to ArborFest
• Access to all our talks and roundtables
• Breakfast and lunch are included
• An Arbor bag full of Arbor goodies
• Join us at an end-of-day drinks party

Can’t make it in-person? We’re live streaming the day too –  keep your eyes peeled for the first release of our virtual tickets. 

What will I get with my online-only ticket?

• See all the talks on our Main Stage via live stream
• A digital delegate pack

We can’t wait to see you there! Look out for updates across our Twitter and LinkedIn, and share your experience using #ArborFest.

The post Join us at ArborFest 2024! appeared first on Arbor.

But what exactly is ArborFest and why do we have it?

At Arbor, we believe that your school Management Information System is much more than just a piece of software. Our philosophy is that an MIS should be built to create a culture of collaboration and transformation. That way, your school or trust can constantly be seeking to change the way you work for the better.

And who better to learn from than a community of schools, trusts and staff all looking to achieve the same thing?

That’s why we hold ArborFest, back in-person this year for the first time post-pandemic. 300 schools from the Arbor community joined us at King’s Place, and a further 300 online, for what was our biggest customer conference to date!

This year’s ArborFest explored different facets of the theme “Transforming the way schools work.” With schools and trusts facing squeezed budgets, the challenge of Covid catch-up, and rapidly evolving policies, there has never been a more important time to explore the different ways schools can innovate to support students, staff, and their wider communities.

We’ve put together this Roundup to share some of the day’s main takeaways from across the event. Plus, we’ve added in extra insights and MIS top tips so you can start to put best practices into action straight away. 

I hope you enjoy seeing these insights from our community – and are already looking forward to the next ArborFest as much as we are. 

You can keep up to date with all things ArborFest by following us on LinkedIn and Twitter/X. 

The post The ArborFest Roundup appeared first on Arbor.

ArborFest 2023 was a day packed with inspiring talks and workshops – all exploring the theme “Transforming the way schools work.” 

With schools and trusts facing squeezed budgets, the challenge of Covid catch-up, and rapidly evolving policies, there has never been a more important time to explore the different ways schools can innovate to support students, staff, and their wider communities. 

Our exciting programme took a look at the ways schools can drive positive change both using Arbor and in their broader day-to-day. 

–

What happened at ArborFest?

We kickstarted the day with a welcome address from our CEO, James, and our Chief of Customer Success, Sonia. Our Head of Engineering, Damien, and Head of Product, Hilary, also took to the Main Stage to speak on Arbor’s vision and roadmap. 

–

Also on the Main Stage, we welcomed David Jones, Head of Personal Development at Saracens Rugby Club, who shared how to build a resilient team in tough times. And our keynote speaker, Laura McInerney, CEO of TeacherTapp, presented her three key methods of influencing change across the education sector.

–

–

Over on our Data Stage, our Lead Sponsors HfL Education discussed the importance of democratising your data – we’ll be posting more about what they had to say on our blog, so keep this page bookmarked! 

–

–

Luke Mulhall and Chris Berry of GFMAT spoke on how they have used Arbor to create a data-first culture across their trust, and the Department of Education gave an in-depth talk on the importance of national benchmarking, and the data they have available to help schools. 

–

–

We had two exciting panels during ArborFest 2023. In the first, James spoke to three school leaders about how Arbor has helped to transform the way they work. In the second, Phillippa, our CRO, spoke to three MAT leaders on how they are handling the cost-of-living crisis across their trusts.

–

–

There was lots more MAT content on our dedicated MAT stage, where trust leaders gathered to watch Louisa Mason speak on how and why she centralised systems across her trust. Mark Greatrex, CEO at BPET, also gave a well-received talk on why autonomy always wins – if you missed Mark’s talk, you can download his written piece for free in the third instalment of our Cohesive Trust series. 

–

–

As ever, we wanted to use ArborFest as an opportunity to encourage the Arbor Community to network, share best practices and give suggestions for the future of our MIS. We hosted feedback forums, customer roundtable discussions and a Genius Bar where school leaders and staff could meet, mingle and chat with the Arbor Team! 

–

–

And most importantly, it was great to see Arbor users coming together and enjoying the day – we hope you had as much fun and learned as much as we did!

–

–

If you missed out on tickets to the event, don’t worry! We’ll be sharing highlights, insights and write-ups of lots of the talks over the coming term.  Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to make sure you don’t miss out.

The post The ArborFest 2023 round-up appeared first on Arbor.

As you may have heard, we’re doing ArborFest a little differently this term.

ArborFest: The New Features Edition, taking place virtually on 5th May, will focus on all of the exciting new releases we’ve recently launched and give you a sneak peek of what’s coming up over the next two terms. 

Whether you’re new to the Arbor Community, or you’ve been using our MIS for years, this is the perfect opportunity to discover more about how your school could be using Arbor MIS to transform the way you work. Our support and API partners are also invited to join any of the sessions which take their interest. 

You can view the full schedule by clicking here, but we’ve put together a few sessions you won’t want to miss below…

–

Hear from Arbor’s CEO and co-founder

As usual, we’ll be kicking the day off with a welcome talk from our CEO and co-founder, James Weatherill. Alongside our Chief of Customer Success and Head of Product, James will be revealing what’s coming up for Arbor MIS and sharing insights on the education sector!

–

Brand new features

We have a number of exciting announcements, as well as a deeper look into some of our recent releases. 

• Our marksheets have just become even more powerful. Across two sessions (one for primaries and one for secondaries), you’ll see all our recent updates to marksheets as well as insight into what our product team are working on next

• Join us at 2pm for the big reveal of Payments Plus! Perfect for everyone who would like a look at our new payments module 

–

Get top Arbor tips from customers

Who better to learn from than school staff who use Arbor every day? 

• Andy Lowe, IT & Attendance Officer at Marches Academy Trust, will be talking on how he makes the most of data in his Attendance 101 session

• Jon Brook, Deputy Head at Droitwich Spa High School, will join Lucy, our Senior Product Manager, to give you top tips and tricks on everything timetabling – click here to sign up

–

Have your say

At Arbor, we champion the feedback from our customers. If you’d like to have your say in the future of our MIS, come along to one of our interactive feedback forums.

• Feedback forum for Secondary Admins
• Feedback forum on Assessment (for secondaries)
• Feedback forum on Payments and Comms 
• Feedback forum on MAT MIS Staff Absence – Managing and Reporting

To create a safe and open space, these sessions are just for customers. We’re looking forward to hearing all your opinions and ideas. 

–

All the information you need about ArborFest, including the full schedule, can be found here. 

We can’t wait to see you there! Make sure to keep an eye out for and get involved with our ArborFest competition on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The post ArborFest: The New Features Edition – What’s on? appeared first on Arbor.

We’re excited to announce the latest ArborFest, our twice-yearly conference for the Arbor Community, taking place on Thursday 5th May 2022. 

This ArborFest, we’re focusing on all of the exciting new releases we’ve recently launched and giving you a sneak peek of what’s to come over the next two terms. 

ArborFest: The New Features Edition is designed to spark ideas about the different ways you could be using Arbor at your school. We’ll be shining a spotlight on the latest releases in our MIS, talking about where the system is headed next, and hosting forums for you to share your views. 

After the success of our last three virtual conferences, we’ll be going fully digital again for this special edition of ArborFest. Join us from your office, playground or home to get the inside scoop on everything new in Arbor MIS.

See the full programme and book your free tickets here: https://sites.google.com/arbor-education.com/arborfest-may-2022/schedule

What’s on this year?

• Exclusive reveal of our new features: Take a deep dive into some of our exciting new features, including wraparound clubs, improved marksheets, Payments Plus and more!

• Have your say: Get involved with the future of cloud-based MIS by joining one of our interactive forum sessions, covering a variety of topics, from assessment and comms through to our MAT MIS

• Top tips and tricks: Join a session on attendance, data or comms in MAT MIS to find out how to get the most out of Arbor, with our product managers and fellow Arbor customers.

Whether you’ve just joined Arbor, been using it for years or just want to get a behind the scenes look, you should leave ArborFest with plenty of inspiration and practical steps to start using the new features we’ve released this year. We can’t wait to see you there!

All you need to do to join is:

• Register for free for the sessions you’d like to join with your work email
• We’ll send you a confirmation email with your links to join on 5th May
• Add the sessions to your calendar to block out your time
• Click on your personalised link to join the sessions on 5th May

How can I keep in touch?

• Stay in the loop by following us on Twitter or LinkedIn
• If you haven’t already, join the Arbor Community – your online space to ask questions, share best practice and learn from, and support, fellow Arbor schools and MATs

The post Introducing ArborFest: The New Features Edition appeared first on Arbor.