One year on: Symbols, struggles and the call to educators

We are delighted to welcome, Narinder Gill to lead our next Education Leadership Academy Seminar.

This seminar will be chaired by Ava Sturridge-Packer CBE, former primary head in Birmingham and currently Department of Education and Birmingham Education Partnership adviser. Participants will be able to contribute and ask questions of the speakers and the chair.

About the seminar

A year has passed since riots unsettled our communities. While the visible unrest has subsided, the deeper fractures remain. Across the UK, flags continue to be raised and marches unfold weekly. For some, these represent pride and identity. For others, they trigger unease and exclusion. As an educator who has witnessed these divisions play out in our classrooms and corridors, I've seen first-hand how these tensions ripple through our young people's lives.

These moments stir complex emotions: pride, belonging, unease, and sometimes fear. They remind us that symbols are never neutral they carry history, meaning, and consequence. As educators and leaders, we cannot afford to stand on the sidelines.

Now is the time to create intentional spaces for professional dialogue where we, as leaders, can gather to ask difficult questions together:

The Questions We Must Ask

1. How do we help young people process complex emotions around identity and belonging when our own communities feel divided?
2. What practical steps can we take to address the deeper inequalities and mistrust that fuel these tensions?
3. How do we lead with both compassion and clarity when faced with symbols and narratives that divide our communities?

These are not abstract questions. They require us to examine our curriculum choices, our response to playground tensions, our parent engagement strategies, and our own unconscious biases.

This work demands three core commitments:

Courage: The willingness to have uncomfortable conversations and examine difficult truths about inequality and exclusion in our communities.

Humility: Recognising that we don't have all the answers and that our young people may teach us as much as we teach them.

Solidarity: Understanding that this cannot be individual work it requires sustained collaboration across schools, communities, and professional networks.

The Invitation

This is an opportunity to engage in a professional dialogue where educators can reflect honestly without judgment on our challenges and responsibilities. Together looking at practical approaches we can implement in our settings.

Some of us may feel unprepared for this work. Others may question whether it's truly our role. Many of us are already stretched thin. These concerns are valid and important and they're precisely why we need to support each other through structured, professional dialogue.

This is not easy work. It requires us to resist the temptation of quick fixes and instead commit to the patient, transformative work of building inclusive and resilient communities. But it also offers hope: the possibility that we can prepare our young people to navigate these realities with empathy, wisdom, and genuine understanding.

The question a year on is not simply how we respond to flags or marches. The real question is: how do we equip our young people to build the cohesive, just communities we all want to see?

That answer begins with us and with the conversations we choose to have now. 

This seminar will be chaired by Ava Sturridge-Packer CBE, former primary head in Birmingham and currently Department of Education and Birmingham Education Partnership adviser.

Participants will be able to contribute and ask questions of the speakers and the chair.

Biography

Narinder Gill, Director of Leadership and Transformation, Inspiring Generations

Narinder Gill is an experienced education leader with over 30 years of expertise in driving improvement and transformation across schools and wider public services. She has successfully led three schools as a headteacher and held executive leadership roles within Multi-Academy Trusts.

Narinder was recently appointed as a RISE Adviser for the Department for Education, where she leads the Early Years agenda across the Yorkshire and Humber region. Prior to this Narinder was the School Improvement Director at Elevate Multi-Academy Trust, where she led on strategy, capacity-building, and sustainable school improvement.

In 2013, she founded Inspiring Generations, an organisation focused on developing and empowering future leaders. As a trainer, consultant, and certified executive coach, she has supported individuals and organisations across sectors, with a strong track record of improving outcomes and driving lasting change.

She is widely recognised for her passion for leadership development, her strategic insight, and her commitment to building capacity within the education system.

Registration is essential to receive the link to Zoom.