Irish boarding conference

---

• Date: November 21, 2023
• Time: 09:00 – 16:15
• Cost: Full Member – £99, Affiliate Member – £150, Non-Member – £198,
• Audience: Head, Deputy Head, Bursar, Registrar, Head of Boarding, Marketing, Admissions, Medical, Head of EAL, DoS, Pastoral staff.
• Venue: Royal School Dungannon

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE SLIDE DECK

---

Conference outline

Our annual conference brings together schools from across the island of Ireland and aims to share updates on current boarding issues from key members of the BSA team and external expert speakers, as well as giving networking opportunities with other colleagues working in boarding. The conference is suitable for anyone in a boarding role, and traditionally has a good mix of both school leaders and other boarding practitioners.

This year, the conference is being hosted by the Royal School Dungannon.

 

 

 

Programme:

09:00 – 09:20

Registration and welcome refreshments 

09:20 – 09:30

Welcome

• Speakers:
  • Caroline Nixon, International and Membership Director, BSA Group
  • Sarah Winslow, Head of Boarding, Royal School Dungannon 

09:30 – 10:00

Research: results of the BSA boarding sector survey across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

This session will share results from the recent boarding sector survey of member and non-member schools across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

• Speaker:
  • David Walker, Director, BSA 

10:00 – 11:00

A – Supporting international students

This session will look at how best to support your international students.  It will cover strategies for academic and pastoral staff as well as how they can work together with your marketing and admissions team to create a holistic approach.

• Speaker:
  • Caroline Nixon, International and Membership Director, BSA Group

B – Financial warning signs for your school, using scenarios to support strategic and operational planning

This session will cover guidance on monitoring your financial performance indicators and external macro-economic trends.

• Speakers:
  • David Woodgate, CEO, ISBA
  • John Murphie, COO, ISBA

11:00 – 11:30             

Break 

11:30 – 12:30

Leadership: promoting strategic and financial thinking

This session will cover how the SLT and the Board can work together effectively to determine the future direction of the school, its reputation, and business and educational resilience.

• Speakers:
  • David Woodgate, CEO, ISBA
  • John Murphie, COO, ISBA

12:30 – 13:30

Lunch and tour of the school

13:30 – 14:30

A – Staffing and pastoral provision

Ensuring boarding staff are appropriately looked after to deliver the best pastoral provision is an important subject. This session will consider the changing face of staffing at boarding schools and look at a variety of different models that will ensure schools are prepared for the future. It will also consider the impact on staff accommodation.

• Speaker:
  • Dave Walker, Director, BSA 

B – Boarding bursars’ forum

Questions sent in advance           

• Speakers:
  • David Woodgate, CEO, ISBA
  • John Murphie, COO, ISBA

14:30 – 15:00

Break

15:00 – 16:00

Child protection and safeguarding: headlines for 2023-24 practice

This session will consider the current trends in safeguarding and child protection, including opportunities for colleagues to share their own thoughts about best practice. There will also be essential guidance updates as appropriate.

• Speaker:
  • Dale Wilkins, Senior Director, BSA Group

16:00 – 16:15

Closing remarks and conference close

BOOK NOW

---

Caroline Nixon, International and Membership Director, BSA Group

Caroline has worked in international education for over 30 years. She is International & Membership Director at Boarding Schools’ Association and Director of Caroline Nixon Education Ltd., as well as a member of the advisory group to the British Government’s All Party Parliamentary Group for international students.

Caroline set up and runs the BSA educational agent certification scheme and is involved with the BSA’s accreditation of international schools. Her background is in international education marketing and she also set up and ran a leading international school in the UK. She has helped several UK schools to establish new overseas branches, advised an international school opening in the UK, set up a guardianship agency for an educational group, and advises schools on international marketing and academic and pastoral provision for their international students.

---

 

Richard Clingan, Acting Head, The Royal School, Dungannon

 

 

---

 

Sarah Winslow, Head of Boarding, Royal School Dungannon 

 

 

---

David Woodgate, Chief Executive, Independent Schools Bursars’ Association (ISBA)

David Woodgate was appointed Chief Executive of the Independent Schools Bursars’ Association in May 2016.  Prior to this he was Chief Executive of the Institute of Financial Accountants from 2007 to 2015 after which he spent a year as the Strategy Consultant to the Institute of Public Accountants in Australia.

David qualified as a Barrister in 1982 following a first degree in Languages (French and Russian), Law and Linguistics.  He moved from the law into the City, holding several senior management and executive positions in the National Westminster Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland – in Strategic Planning, Corporate Finance and latterly as Director of e-Commerce for the corporate bank. He ran an outsourcing business and a specialist internal consultancy providing market intelligence and competitor analysis.

He completed an MBA at Warwick University Business School in 1992.  A former Chief Executive of the Institute of Administrative Management, he also holds a postgraduate diploma in Charity Management from the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Chartered Banker, a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights. David is also Chairman of Governors of an HMC Independent school.

---

John Murphie, COO, Independent Schools’ Bursars Association

John has been with ISBA since February 2017.  He is responsible for the head office internal organisation and functions and he is the main point of contact for advice and guidance to schools. John spent 31 years in the Royal Navy, retiring in 2007.  Since then, he has worked as the Chapter Clerk in Portsmouth Cathedral, managed a Barristers’ Chambers in London and been Bursar in two schools before joining ISBA.

 

---

Dale Wilkins, Senior Director, BSA and BSA Group

Dale joined the BSA during Summer 2017 with responsibility for safeguarding and standards, having previously been a course tutor since 1998. In July 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 also 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, BSA Director

David is the BSA Director 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.