BAISIS & BSA conference: Supporting international students

---

• Date: March 05, 2025
• Time: 09:30 – 16:30
• Cost: BAISIS/BSA member – £235, Member additional attendee – £110, Affiliate Member – £335, Additional Affiliate Member Fee – £145, Non-member – £470
• Audience: SMT/SLT, EAL, Marketing/admissions, Agents, Guardians
• Platform: Zoom (online)

---

Sponsored by:

---

Course Outline:

Join us for our annual conference focusing on the specific headlines around providing outstanding support for your international students. Our sessions will hear from experts on a range of subjects, all supporting delegates staying at the cutting edge of international student care.

The conference will engage with all aspects of the international student journey with their school of choice, from pre-recruitment through to promoting personal and academic development to end their studies successfully.

All sessions will welcome questions from delegates.

Training topics will include:

• International trends and international student recruitment in 2025
• Best practice in language policies in schools to support students
• Global health and wellbeing differences and how to support
• International provision and inspection
• Promoting cultural inclusion. 

BOOK NOW

VIEW THE PROGRAMME

---

Programme:

09:30 – 10:15

Welcome and conference open – International enrolment and perception snapshot, February 2025

Chair: Aileen Kane, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer, BSA Group

Speaker:

• Beth Hudson, Executive Director Specialist Services and Director, BAISIS, BSA Group
• David Walker, Executive Director Boarding and Director BSA/TIOB, BSA Group

10:30 – 11:30

International trends and international student recruitment in 2025: an agent view

This session will hear from a selection of BSA certified agents who will update delegates on current international trends around recruitment and interest in the UK market from their network and market. Our panel will speak to global competition, and the appeal and challenges for the UK market for international families.

Chair: David Walker, Executive Director Boarding and Director BSA/TIOB, BSA Group

Speaker:

• Georgina Hanford, Consultancy & Operations Manager, The Independent Education Consultants 
• Fiona McKenzie, Head of Education, Carfax Education UAE
• Nick Stevenson, VP, EMEAA, ICEF

11:45 – 12:30

Navigating global health and wellbeing

Health and wellbeing beliefs and trends can vary significantly depending on cultural background. This session will hear from experienced practitioners working first-hand with international students on the key differences they see when supporting international students in UK schools, from different medicines, health thresholds, to coping with stress and mental health concerns. This session will support practitioners across the school to increase their understanding of ‘normal’ cultural differences in health and wellbeing standards, to more productively but sympathetically support our international students and their families whilst maintaining school standards, process and policy.

Chair: Beth Hudson, Executive Director Specialist Services and Director, BAISIS, BSA Group

Speaker:

• Emily Elliott, Counsellor, DLD College London
• Gail Devereux, Lead Nurse, ACS Schools Group

12:30 – 13:30

Lunch

13:30 – 14:15

Cultural integration and celebration

This session will consider effective strategies to promote cultural integration across your setting, in classrooms, extra-curricular activities, day houses and boarding houses. Striving for successful integration, panellists will also share opportunities to effectively celebrate the cultural diversity an international community offers.

Chair: Beth Hudson, Executive Director Specialist Services and Director, BAISIS, BSA Group

Speaker:

• Eilidh Dickens (Cultural integration group), Fettes College
• Helen Rose, Assistant Principal Welfare and Boarding, The Worthgate School

14:30 – 15:30

Languages in school: policies, perceptions and practices for supporting students

Delegates will hear from Associate Professor Karen Forbes on her current research area and interests and how school language policies and approaches to school-wide multilingualism can impact learning outcomes.

Chair: David Walker, Executive Director Boarding and Director BSA/TIOB, BSA Group

Speakers:

• Karen Forbes, Associate Professor (Second Language Education), University of Cambridge

15:45 – 16:30

Showcasing your international provision through inspection

Panellists on this session will share and reflect on their recent inspection experience, offering delegates the opportunity to learn from these experiences and prepare for their own future inspection. The session will focus on how to demonstrate successes and efforts in catering for international students during the rigorous inspection process.

Chair: Dale Wilkins, Executive Director Accredited/Compliance, BSA Group

Speakers:

• Sarah Bellotti, Head, Mill Hill International
• James Kidd, Principal, DLD College London

Conference close

---

Speakers:

Karen Forbes, Associate Professor in Second Language Education, University of Cambridge

Karen Forbes is an Associate Professor in Second Language Education at the University of Cambridge. She previously taught French and Spanish in secondary schools in England and has also taught English as a foreign language in a school in Spain and at a university in China. Karen’s current research is in the field of multilingualism in education and she has been involved in projects on language learning strategies, supporting EAL learners in the classroom and multilingual identity.

---

Sarah Bellotti, Head, Mill Hill International  

Sarah was elected BAISIS Chair in January 2022, having served as Deputy Chair since November 2020. Sarah started her career in education at an international school in Rome, Italy and then returned to the UK to take up a post at King’s Ely where she later became Director of King’s Ely International. Since 2014, Sarah has worked at Mill Hill International as the founding Headteacher.

 

---

James Kidd, Principal, DLD College London

James is currently the Principal at DLD College London, promoted in September 2024, having joined in September 2020, with his role as Senior Vice Principal seeing him tasked with managing the daily operations of the school and as DSL, looking after the welfare of students – with over 50 nationalities on the student body. Prior to joining DLD College, James spent 14 years at St John’s School, Leatherhead, where he was Assistant Head (Boarding and Co-Curricular), having been both a Head of Department and Housemaster of the largest boys’ boarding house in the school before this. Outside of this, he is Chair of Governors at a special school in the state sector, and a team manager for the Surrey Schools’ Athletics Team. James is currently studying for an EdD, focusing on coaching and school culture.

---

Beth Hudson, Executive Director Specialist Services and Director, BAISIS, BSA Group

Bethan Waddington joined the BSA team as Training Manager in September 2017. Bethan has worked in two independent boarding schools in the UK and Switzerland, the latter as Housemistress to 36 pupils. Following her time in Switzerland, she was a Pastoral Manager for an inner-city state academy before working in the charity sector for Debrett’s running the ‘Debrett’s Foundation’ training programme. In her role, Bethan plans and manages all Day Seminars, Conferences, INSET and Consultancy, as well as being Director of BAISIS. She believes boarding can be a positive force for young people and in order to fully support their needs staff can never learn too much. As such she is passionate about the CPD BSA delivers to our pastoral communities in the UK and worldwide.

---

Aileen Kane, Deputy CEO & COO, BSA

Aileen is Deputy CEO & COO of BSA Group. She leads operations at BSA Group and works closely with members to provide guidance and training. Aileen also works with government departments, local authorities and other agencies to support members and heads up the group’s work to find places for refugee children escaping from conflict countries.

---

Dale Wilkins, Executive Director, Scotland/Wales and Accredited/Compliance, BSA Group

Dale joined the BSA in 2017 with responsibility for safeguarding and standards, having previously been a course tutor since 1998. In 2019 he also assumed responsibility for the BSA’s training programme, including both day seminars and accredited training courses. Dale leads on all safeguarding and inspection matters for the BSA, including managing the Commitment to Care Charter, and has developed a process of BSA Accreditation for our international members. He also liaises with ISI, Ofsted and DfE on matters relating to compliance and inspection standards, and compiles the BSA Self-Assessment toolkit, which he first produced in 2002, since which time he has been closely involved in inspection in state and independent boarding.

For 31 years Dale was a boarding practitioner. After boarding positions at Norwich School and Tettenhall College, Dale became a Housemaster at Old Swinford Hospital in 1992, and was promoted to Deputy Head in 2007, and subsequently also DSL. He has also been a multi-agency trainer for the Dudley Safeguarding Children’s Board.

---

David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding and Director BSA/TIOB

David is the Executive Director, Boarding and Director BSA/TIOB  and joined the BSA group in August 2023. He has over 20 years’ experience in boarding schools and has worked in a range of schools in the UK and Africa, alongside being a prep school governor and a trustee of a MAT. Before taking up his post at the BSA, David was Deputy Head Pastoral at a large co-ed independent school in the South-East.

 

---

Emily Elliott, Counsellor, DLD College London

Emily is an integrative therapeutic counsellor working in private practice and at DLD college.  She is also a counselling supervisor and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing ) Practitioner. Emily works with adolescents from many international backgrounds and has done so for the last 8 years. In her spare time, Emily enjoys gardening, art, film, literature and ice skating.

 

---

Gail Devereux, Lead Nurse, ACS Schools Group

Gail is group lead nurse at ACS International Schools. She is based at ACS Cobham, the largest of the three schools which also accommodates boarding students, and oversees the medical care at ACS Egham and ACS Hillingdon, both day schools where the nurses are lone workers.

After qualifying from Northwick Park and Park Royal Hospital, Gail spent time working in A&E and a cardiology ward before carrying out further training to work in adult intensive care, before transferring to Great Ormond Street Hospital to work in the paediatric intensive care unit. These years embedded the value of open communication and led to a strong interest in human factors in health care.

Gail’s interest in school nursing developed after becoming a parent and recognising the value of nurses working within the school setting. She has twenty years’ experience working as a school nurse with international students, five of which have been as ACS group lead nurse.

---

Georgina Hanford, Consultancy & Operations Manager, The Independent Education Consultants

George leads on client services for TIEC, with a strong focus on international partnerships within the UK independent school sector, particularly boarding schools.

George has extensive experience working within the UK independent day and boarding schools’ sector, within the realms of British and international student recruitment, admissions, and partnerships.  Having previously led on admissions processes and strategy for all-girls, all-boys, co-educational, and international school models, George has comprehensive knowledge of UK independent school admissions processes and requirements and working with partners from across the globe.

Having supported hundreds of families through the admissions process, from initial enquiry to school enrolment, George strives to provide a comprehensive service to clients through a child-centred approach which places the individual needs and requirements of the child at its heart.  Whether it be coordinating school visits, facilitating tutoring arrangements, liaising with schools’ admissions on individual student interests and needs, or arranging school assessments, she is committed to ensuring every family and child receives a personal, professional, and proactive service.

During her career in the UK independent education sector, George has engaged and collaborated with a wide range of partners in the UK and internationally, fostering great working relationships across the schools’ network.  George aims to strengthen relationships with existing TIEC partners and increase our global partner network so that an increasing number of families, in the UK and across the world, can benefit from TIEC’s expertise in education consultancy and secure places at leading UK schools and universities.

---

Fiona McKenzie, Head of Education, Carfax Education UAE

Fiona was educated at Rugby School and St. Andrew’s University, and her comprehensive understanding of the education sector has been built up over 30 years of working in schools and education consultancy, in locations as varied as South Africa, Australia, the U.K., and the U.A.E. Fiona has worked with hundreds of families guiding them to make the best educational choices for their children at both school or university level.

As Head of Global Consultancy at Carfax Education, Fiona’s team advise families from across the globe, including the Middle East, Russia and China. They offer bespoke solutions for each family’s education needs with schools’ guidance, private tutoring, residential placements, homeschooling, university preparation and career mentoring. Fiona regularly contributes to education journals, radio shows and panel discussions in the UK, and the UAE.

---

Nick Stevenson, VP, EMEAA, ICEF

Nick has worked within international education since graduation in 2008, beginning his career in an advertising sales role at Study Travel Magazine and later Inline Marketing. He studied Joint Honours Spanish & Management Studies at the University of Leeds, including an Erasmus Year at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, later completing an MBA at the University of Salford. Since joining ICEF in 2014, he has progressed from Business Development Manager to VP EMEAA, and is responsible for furthering ICEF’s growth and influence across this key region.

---

Helen Rose, Assistant Principal Boarding and Welfare, The Worthgate School

Helen is a dedicated leader with more than two decades of experience in the field of education. She has taken on leadership roles in independent, state, and specialised educational institutions, covering both academic and pastoral leadership responsibilities.

Helen’s commitment lies in ensuring that students have experiences that enable them to reach their full potential, and she extends this dedication to her approach in guiding and empowering her teams of staff. Her expertise spans change management in various sectors, including facilitating rapid improvements, overseeing school mergers, and adapting to changes brought about by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through these experiences, she has accumulated a wealth of knowledge, skills, and a proven track record in leading teams through challenging times.

Helen’s primary focus has evolved to guide individual staff members and teams in discovering and living their purposes within the organisational culture. This commitment has become a cornerstone of her leadership philosophy.

The purpose of this webinar is to provide insights into the transformative potential of empowering and engaging individuals and teams in the workplace.

---

Eilidh Dickens (Cultural integration group), Fettes College