Early Years Online Conference: Leading the Way: Navigating Leadership and Inclusion in Early Years through the New Ofsted Framework
Bi-borough Early Education and Childcare Service (BBEECS) would like to invite you to the Early Years Conference for all early years settings, schools, childminders and other professionals who work within early years.
FRIDAY 27 February 2026 from 9.15am to 1.15pm.
Via Zoom
To book a place/s, please follow this link
Cost: £35 per place
BBEECS have brought together a range of Early Years experts and professionals to create an EXCITING PROGRAMME for you covering a number of key topics as reflected in the Conference agenda below:
9:15am - Welcome/Introductions
9:25am-10:10am - Keynote speaker 3: Dr Stella Louis - The Power of Play in Early Years Leadership.
10:10am - Break
10:20am-11:05am - Keynote speaker 2: Julian Grenier - Ensuring Every Child Gets a Fair Start
11:05am - Break
11:25am-12:10pm - Keynote speaker 3: Catherine Mole - The difference between SEND and Inclusion – how do we build an early years system that gives every child the best start?
12:10pm - Break
12:20pm-1:05pm - Keynote speaker 4: Dr Mona Sakr - Being a Social Leader in Early Years
Please see below short bios of our presenters:
Keynote speaker 1: Dr Stella Louis: The Power of Play in Early Years Leadership
Dr Stella Louis is a freelance early years consultant working with individual nursery settings, parents, nursery schools, local authorities, government departments and charities. She provides training and consultancy and is particularly interested in observation and its part in supporting learning, development and teaching. Currently Stella leads a small team of Froebelian traveling tutors in promoting, developing and delivering the short Froebel Trust courses in England. In 2023, Stella won the highly acclaimed Nursery World Trainer of the Year award and she also received the prestigious life time achievement award, for her work on observations and child development.
The Power of Play in Early Years Leadership
Join us for an inspiring keynote speech that explores the crucial role of play in early childhood education. Discover how leaders can empower educators to create environments that foster agency, autonomy, and independence in young learners. We'll delve into the importance of giving children access to resources, materials, and opportunities, and how adults can either support or hinder their growth. Learn how to interpret the play you're seeing and understand the power dynamics at play.
This keynote will challenge your thinking and inspire you to rethink your approach to early years leadership.
Keynote speaker 2: Julian Grenier: Ensuring Every Child Gets a Fair Start
Every child deserves the chance to thrive. The government’s new strategy, Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life, sets an ambitious vision for a more equitable future for children and families. But what does this look like on the ground?
Julian’s keynote will explore how research and strong leadership can turn that vision into reality.
Key questions that Julian will address include:
- How can educators adapt the curriculum and continue to develop inclusion?
- What are the best ways to use of evidence-informed programmes?
- Why is it important to go beyond Professional Development?
Drawing on evidence and experience, he will consider how we can create settings where every child is supported to flourish in their earliest years.
Dr Julian Grenier works for an educational charity, supporting educators and leaders to access research evidence and to break the link between educational outcomes and parental income. He is a member of the Department for Education’s Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion, the editorial board of Impact (journal of the Chartered College of Teaching), and a trustee of the charity Thrive at Five.
Before joining the EEF, he was the headteacher of Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre in Newham, East London. During that time, he was a National Leader of Education and was also the Director of East London Research School.
Julian was awarded a CBE for services to Early Years Education in 2022.
Keynote speaker 3: Catherine Mole: The difference between SEND and Inclusion – how do we build an early years system that gives every child the best start?
Catherine has been a charity leader for over 25 years, and is passionate about equity and inclusion for children and young people with disabilities. She became Chief Executive of Dingley’s Promise in 2015, and has grown the organisation from a small local charity to a national charity providing training and policy influencing alongside core local support services. She was awarded an MBE in 2011 for her work with disadvantaged children, and today is an ACEVO mentor, national speaker, and advisor to a range of governmental and non-governmental bodies. In 2025 Catherine was named Charity Chief Executive of the year at the Third Sector Awards.
The difference between SEND and Inclusion – how do we build an early years system that gives every child the best start?
In light of the government’s assertion that they want to build wider inclusion in the education system and the prioritising of inclusion in the new Ofsted inspection framework, now more than ever we need top have a clear understanding of what good inclusive practice looks like. This session will consider what good inclusive practice looks like, how we can strengthen our inclusive practice in settings, and how we can demonstrate inclusion to local authorities, Ofsted and families.
Keynote speaker 4: Dr Mona Sakr: Being a Social Leader in Early Years
Mona will talk about what it means to be a social leader and why social leadership is so important to the future of early years provision in England. She will cover the five principles of social leadership in early years, that drive positive change for young children and their families:
- Leading with a social purpose
- Driving a social pedagogy
- Building a culture of collaborative innovation
- Investing in others’ leadership
- Facilitating powerful conversations
To bring the model to life, she will show how it can be applied in the baby room of nurseries following the expansion of the early years entitlement. As the number of babies and toddlers in nurseries increases, but challenges in the workforce persist, we can hold onto the principles of social leadership as a way to steer us through the next few years.
Dr Mona Sakr is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood at Middlesex University in London. Her research focuses on leadership and pedagogy in early years education, and particularly in the context of the baby room. She leads the Nuffield funded project ‘Achieving high quality provision in the baby room of English nurseries’.
We encourage you to register soon as because space is limited. Click here to register today.
We hope that you are able to join.