Welcome from UK Chair, Jonny Atkinson
It is a huge pleasure to welcome you to conference 2023 & to the city that made a working class wannabe chef into a first in family graduate, sociologist, and eventually HELOA superfan. That’s just one of the little stories that you will hear over the next few days as we learn, listen and share experiences with each other.
This year has an incredible line up of speakers and sessions for you. My advice is get involved with as much of it as possible. Take your time to relax and reflect on the days as they come (they will fly by). The best of conference usually happens when you don’t expect it; the chats over dinner, the stories during coffee breaks and the incredible
moves witnessed during the disco.
I’ll not shy away from the fact that this year has been a challenge as we have faced physical delivery returning, huge numbers of schools and colleges requesting support to help inform students, revisions to APPs, not to mention a
chaotic political landscape.
Facing all of these though have been your fellow HELOA members, and we are at our largest numbers ever, 1700+ making up our incredible support network. Alongside your group meetings, conference is a great place to engage with members from across the UK. Over the next few days I hope you find inspiration, meet new friends, and get plenty of ideas to fuel you through 2023. It’s here and now that the smallest of ideas can grow into amazing projects.
Yours in collaboration,
Jonny Atkinson
UK Chair
Key links
Conference overview
Download the guide
