MAT Inclusion Roundtable
The language gap behind the achievement gap
Join us for a senior leadership roundtable discussion on inclusion, curriculum access, and what it takes to make this work across a trust.
1st July | 3:00–5:30pm
One Moorgate Place, Moorgate Place, London, UK
Why this conversation matters
Inclusion is now being judged less on what’s written in policy, and more on what happens in classrooms.
The question trusts are being held to is straightforward: can every pupil access the curriculum?
Recent direction from Ofsted and Every Child Achieving and Thriving makes the link clear. High standards and inclusion are not separate agendas.
Across subjects, success depends on vocabulary, background knowledge, and the ability to read and write with enough precision to engage with the curriculum. When that isn’t secure, support often becomes reactive - or sits too heavily in intervention.
This roundtable focuses on a different starting point: how a trust-wide approach to language and literacy can remove barriers earlier, and more consistently.
Who's this for?
For senior leaders with trust-wide responsibility, including:
- CEOs and executive leaders
- Directors of Education
- Literacy and English leads
- Inclusion and SEND leaders
- Headteachers
Speakers and discussion
How the session works
We’ll start with a couple of short perspectives to set the direction, then move into structured discussion with other trust leaders.
This is a small-group session, so there’s time to get into the detail - what’s working, where the friction sits, and how different trusts are approaching this across their schools.
Professor Tim Mills
Lead author of the DfE Writing Framework and co-author of the new English curriculum
Bringing a national perspective on how language, writing, and curriculum design shape access and outcomes.
Session focus How language and writing underpin curriculum access, and what this means for schools working to meet current expectations.
Olivia Sumpter
Director of Education, Bedrock Learning
Bringing a trust-wide perspective on how language and literacy are implemented across schools.
Role in the session Chairing the discussion and connecting policy, classroom practice, and trust-level strategy.
Agenda
- 2:30 – Arrival, coffee, and informal networking
- 3:00 – Speaker perspectives (Professor Tim Mills)
- 3:45 – Roundtable discussion: why language sits at the heart of inclusion
- 4:30 – Insight: supporting language at scale (Next Generation of Bedrock)
- 4:45 – Roundtable discussion: moving from catch-up to keep up
- 5:30 onwards – Drinks and informal discussion
What we'll explore
This is a working discussion shaped by the room. We’ll focus on questions such as:
- Where are the real barriers to curriculum access across our schools?
- What does effective inclusion look like in practice, not just in policy?
- How do we move beyond intervention to something more consistent across a trust?
- What role should disciplinary literacy play across KS3 and KS4?
- How do we build coherence in how language is taught across subjects?
Why attend?
This is an opportunity to have practical discussions with peers working on the same issues across their trusts.
You’ll leave with:
- A clearer view of how language underpins both inclusion and attainment
- A stronger link between policy direction and classroom reality
- Practical ideas to shape trust-wide strategy
- Insight from other leaders working at scale
Supporting schools to act on what matters
We work with schools and trusts on the language that underpins curriculum access - helping identify gaps, focus teaching, and build consistency across subjects.
When that foundation is secure, more pupils can engage fully with what they’re being taught.
We see inclusion work best when it sits in everyday classroom practice, not just in intervention or policy - through consistent, high-quality language teaching across subjects.
This session will include a short introduction to the next generation of Bedrock, designed to support this work at scale across trusts.