The Age Schools Summit
Disruption, resilience and new possibilities
11 June 2025 | The Rendezvous Hotel, Melbourne
The Age Schools Summit 2025 – The premier event returns to Melbourne this 11 June.
Shaping the Future of Education in Victoria
Join leading educators, policymakers, and thought leaders at The Age Schools Summit 2025, where we tackle the most pressing challenges and opportunities in Victoria’s education landscape.
Through insightful keynotes, expert panels, and dynamic discussions, this summit provides a platform to unite Australia’s top educators and explore innovative solutions, policy updates, and evidence-backed approaches to enhance student outcomes.
Why Attend?
✔ Gain exclusive insights from top education leaders
✔ Engage in forward-thinking discussions on curriculum, technology, and student wellbeing
✔ Network with key decision-makers and peers shaping Victoria’s education sector
Register your interest to be amongst the first to receive early bird discounts, speaker announcements and the official agenda release!
2025 Exhibitors
Speakers
The Hon Ben Carroll MP
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education
David Howes
Deputy Secretary, Department of Education Victoria
Kendra Parker
Director, Leadership Excellence Division, Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership
Dr Edward Simons
Executive Director, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools
Andrew Houghton
Principal,
Ilim College
Sarah Asome
Principal, Bentleigh West Primary School
Michelle Gillett
Principal, St Francis of Assisi Tarneit
Sally Lasslett
Executive Principal,
The Hester Hornbrook Academy
Chloe Painter
Deputy Principal, St Roberts Primary School
Shane Elevato
Principal, Surf Coast Secondary College
Sam Butterfield
Director of Teaching and Learning,
Hume Anglican Grammar School
Sonia Loudon
Assistant Principal for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Elevation Secondary School
Dr Tim McDonald
CEO, the Y WA; Subject Matter Expert, The Engaged Classroom Initiative, AERO
Bronwyn Ryrie Jones
Teacher Educator & Instructional Leader
A/Prof Lisa McKay Brown
Associate Dean Diversity and Inclusion, Faculty of Education, The University of Melbourne
Dr Ben Jensen
CEO, Learning First
Dr Jordana Hunter
Education Program Director, Grattan Institute
Tim Bullard
CEO,
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership
Justin Roberts
ReLate National Program Director, The Mackillop Institute
Katie Roberts-Hull
CEO, Think Forward Educators
Charlotte Peverett
Head of Teaching and Learning and Inclusion Outreach Coach, Lake Colac School
Penny Wade
Junior School English Coordinator, MLC
Karina Stocker
Learning Specialist and Instructional Coach, Docklands Primary School
Tina King
President, Australian Principals Federation
Melodie Potts Rosevear OAM
Founder, Teach for Australia
Alain Van Gurp
Student Wellbeing Leader,
St Kevin’s College
Noel Towell
Education Editor, The Age
Agenda
7:50
Registration and Morning Coffee
8:20
OPENING | Opening remarks from the Chair
Noel Towell, Education Editor, The Age
Key Challenges for Victoria Schools in 2025
8:30
Keynote Address and Fireside chat |
The Hon Ben Carroll MP, Deputy Premier and Minister for Education
9:00
Keynote Address | The implementation challenge
- Taking evidence-led change to scale
- Addressing teacher workload in a world of increasing change and rapid technological advancement
- Learning and wellbeing: the symbiotic connection
David Howes, Deputy Secretary, Department of Education, Victoria
9:30
Panel Discussion| Where are our future Principals coming from?
- Assessing the evolving role, challenges, and competences of middle leaders in today’s schools
- How sustainable is the leadership pipeline?
- Managing Principal workloads
- Achieving diversity in educational leadership
- Successfully identifying and supporting aspiring middle leaders
Kendra Parker, Director, Leadership Excellence Division, Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership
Melodie Potts Rosevear OAM, Founder, Teach for Australia
Tina King, President, Australian Principals Federation
Tim Bullard, CEO, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership
Moderated by Caroline Schelle, Education Reporter, The Age
10:00
Networking & refreshment break
Behaviour Management, Wellbeing and Inclusion
10:30
Keynote Address | Interventions to promote school attendance and build systemic change
- Risk factors for attendance difficulties
- The multi-tiered systems of support
A/Prof Lisa McKay Brown, Associate Dean Diversity and Inclusion, Faculty of Education, The University of Melbourne
11:00
Keynote Address| An evidence-based approach to classroom management
- The engaged classroom initiative
- De-escalating misbehaviour and conflict
- Maximising students’ learning time
Dr Tim McDonald, CEO, the Y WA; Subject Matter Expert, The Engaged Classroom Initiative, AERO
11:30
Reclaiming the classroom – an integrated system-wide blueprint
- Empowering teachers to teach and students to learn
- Digital devices and the distracted generation
Dr Edward Simons, Executive Director, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools
12:00
Panel Discussion | How successful classroom management can enhance wellbeing
- How to create a whole-of-school approach to wellbeing?
- What are high-impact wellbeing strategies and what are their benefits?
- How positive behaviour programs can enhance wellbeing and help to nurture respect, inclusiveness and belonging
- How successful classroom management can alleviate bullying and harassment
Sarah Asome, Principal, Bentleigh West Primary School
Justin Roberts, ReLate National Program Director, The Mackillop Institute
Alain Van Gurp, Student Wellbeing Leader, St Kevin’s College
Moderated by Bridie Smith, Education Reporter, The Age
12:30
Panel Discussion | Disability and Inclusion
- Determining the needs of individual students. What works best for them and their classmates?
- Building knowledge and increasing awareness of student needs
- Staff training and development to enable inclusive education to excel
- Building inclusive education capability through outreach coaching
Charlotte Peverett, Head of Teaching and Learning and Inclusion Outreach Coach, Lake Colac School
Michelle Gillett, Principal, St Francis of Assisi Tarneit
Karina Stocker, Learning Specialist and Instructional Coach, Docklands Primary School
Sally Lasslett, Executive Principal, The Hester Hornbrook Academy
Moderated by Nicole Precel, Education Reporter, The Age
1:00
Lunch
Curriculum Reform and School Improvement
2:00
Challenges schools are facing with the new curriculum
- Understanding what is and isn’t in Curriculum 2.0
- The most common areas of concern for schools implementing the new curriculum
- Structuring teaching and learning to overcome the challenges of a new curriculum
Dr Ben Jensen, CEO, Learning First
2:20
The Maths Guarantee: Boosting Learning in Primary Schools
- What the evidence says about effective primary maths teaching
- What schools can do to boost outcomes
- What policy reforms are needed to get better results
Dr Jordana Hunter, Education Program Director, Grattan Institute
2:40
Panel Discussion | School Improvement
- What does school improvement look like? Is continual growth possible?
- What are the major impediments to school improvement and how are they best overcome?
- Achieving staff buy-in to new programs and ideas
- Prioritising future growth opportunities
Shane Elevato, Principal, Surf Coast Secondary College
Sam Butterfield, Director of Teaching and Learning, Hume Anglican Grammar School
Andrew Houghton, Principal, Ilim College
Moderated by Craig Butt, National Data Editor, The Age
3:10
Networking & refreshment break
3:30
Implementing responsive teaching
- Why should we invest in explicit and responsive teaching?
- Everyday barriers on the ground
- Supports to sustain improvement in schools
Bronwyn Ryrie Jones Teacher Educator & Instructional Leader
4:00
Panel Discussion | Implementing explicit teaching with fidelity
- The first steps to making big instructional shifts across a school
- The professional learning teachers need to be successful
- Ensuring fidelity to the evidence on explicit teaching
- How to monitor and evaluate whether implementation is working to improve student learning
Katie Roberts-Hull, CEO, Think Forward Educators
Sonia Loudon, Assistant Principal for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Elevation Secondary School
Penny Wade, Junior School English Coordinator, MLC School
Chloe Painter, Deputy Principal, St Roberts Primary School
Moderated by Noel Towell, Education Editor, The Age
4:30
Closing remarks from the Chair and Networking Drinks
Pricing
Early bird rate expires 16 May 2025
| Packages | Early Bird Rate | Full Rate |
| FACE TO FACE – Schools/Govt/NFP Rate | $895 + GST | $995 + GST |
| FACE TO FACE – Supplier Rate | $1,995 + GST | $2,295 + GST |
| VIRTUAL PASS | $795 + GST | $887 + GST |
Past Event Photos
Sponsorship & Exhibition
The Age Schools Schools Summit brings together Australia’s education sector to network and learn. Our event attracts the decision-makers in schools, associations and government, and we place a great emphasis on providing our sponsors and exhibitors with a highly targeted, quality audience.
Event sponsorship or exhibiting will allow your organisation to:
- Generate leads from a high-level, targeted audience
- Close sales in a more personal manner than via phone
- Build relationships with potential & existing clients
- Demonstrate your product in person
- Network with the industry extensively in our pre-event marketing campaign
This year presents a unique opportunity to connect with buyers and sector leadership both face-to-face and virtually
Form meaningful connections, generate quality leads and build brand awareness at the premier meeting place for VIC’s education sector.
Testimonial
A great opportunity to discuss policy changes and the rationale for policy change in Victorian schools with other like-minded school leaders – 2024 Past delegate
It was a privilege and honor to present at the AGE School Summit. I was particularly impressed with the range of speakers and their ability to learn best practices occurring in schools. It was also interesting to hear from various speakers about how they are grappling with related topics and how each speaker is addressing the concerns of their individual situations – creating the opportunity to gain better insight from other’s perspectives.
An aspiration of mine is to improve the authentic connection between policymakers, University, current teachers and researchers to improve educational outcomes and reduce stress in schools – The AGE School summit is attempting to make this a reality.
ConnectMe
ConnectMe • Networking enhanced
All of our events utilise a bespoke dynamic smartphone app, ConnectMe – which guarantees attendees a premium event experience. Logins are sent prior to the conference commencement allowing you to check who’s attending, schedule in meetings and catch ups, participate in live Q+A and interactive polls, and much more. ConnectMe ensures you never miss a beat prior, during and post event.
Sustainability
Our Commitment to Sustainability
In Australia, we are committed to running our events in an environmentally and socially responsible way. Across Informa Connect we are focusing on the short and long-term sustainability impacts we have on customers and colleagues alongside the communities we work in.
We recognise that it’s not just about the way we produce our events and products but recognising that we have a role to play in providing a space to work in partnership together with our markets to inspire the sustainable development of the industries we serve.
To read more on our latest sustainability reports and Faster Forward initiatives – click here.
Venue
Rendezvous Hotel Melbourne
328 Flinders St
Melbourne VIC 3000
+61 (03) 9250 1888
Contact Us
Still have a question?
General Information & Registration
Customer Service
+61 2 9080 4307
[email protected]
Sponsorship & Exhibition Opportunities
Andrew Sinkovich
+61 2 9080 4008
[email protected]