We’re thrilled to reveal the full line-up of speakers and workshop programme for our National Conference 2026, taking place on Thursday 12th November at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey.
Building on the success of previous years, we’ve themed this year’s conference ‘Engage, Connect, Enrich‘, and we can’t wait to welcome up to 300 school leaders, teachers, education professionals and LOtC providers from across the UK for a day of keynote talks, hands-on workshops, discussions and networking.
We’re delighted to be holding this year’s conference at RHS Hilltop, a state-of-the-art centre dedicated to plant science, sustainability and education. We’ll be running our main sessions in the light-filled Garden Room, while the adjoining Hub will host our exhibition zone, giving you the chance to connect with exhibitors throughout the day.
Meet Our Speakers
We’re bringing together a diverse range of voices from across education, policy and research, including:
- Helen Everitt, Deputy Headteacher, and Ryan Sallows, Business Manager, of Oriel High School, who will open the conference and inspire delegates by sharing their school’s ethos of fully embedding learning outside the classroom, recognising its importance and benefits for students, and fostering a supportive “can do” staff culture that embraces new ideas and makes learning outside the classroom (LOtC) opportunities a priority across the whole school. They will also discuss how achieving the LOtC Mark has helped their school feel well prepared for the government’s new Enrichment Benchmarks.
- Annegret Dahlmann-Noor, Professor of Paediatric Ophthalmology at UCL, presenting “The Bigger Picture: Lifelong Impact of Time Outside on Children’s Eye Health.”
- Department for Education policy panel featuring Eve Colyer, Jenny Oster Warriner and Juanita Shepherd, who’ll give us an update on national enrichment and nature strategy.
Find out more about the speakers under the ‘Speakers’ tab on our dedicated conference web page.
Workshop Highlights
- Exploring boys’ development through story and metaphor with Walsall Academy
- Designing SEND-inclusive outdoor education spaces, drawn from Woburn Safari Park’s new accessible facility
- Queer ecology for teens, exploring inclusive approaches to environmental education
- Using railways to widen access to LOtC, with Southeast Communities Rail Partnership
- Global citizenship through international travel, led by Projects Abroad
- Gardening for wildlife, a hands-on RHS-led session complete with a take-home planter
- Breaking barriers with underrepresented communities, from Equalinks & Muslim Youth Alliance
- Theatre and the arts in education, with Disney Theatrical Productions
- Resilience and life skills through sport, delivered by Manchester United Foundation
- Using cathedral visits to bring learning to life, with Cathedrals Plus and Guildford Cathedral
We’ve also got further sessions covering inclusive educational visits, specialist school provision, and community engagement through farms and archives-based learning – we’ve made sure there’s something on offer for every sector of the LOtC community.
See the full workshop listings and their descriptions under the ‘Workshops’ tab on our dedicated conference web page.
Thank you to our sponsors
None of this would be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, and we want to say a huge thank you to each of them. Experience Education, Go Ape, PGL Beyond, the Active Learning Group and the Canal & River Trust have all backed this year’s conference, helping us keep costs down and even allowing some teachers and school staff to attend for free. We’re also incredibly grateful to Allenby Coach Hire for kindly supporting our free coach transfer between Woking railway station and RHS Wisley. Their support underpins everything we do, and we couldn’t deliver a conference of this scale without them.
100 Free Tickets for Surrey and South East Schools
As the conference is being hosted in Surrey, CLOtC is pleased to offer 100 free places for teachers from Surrey and the wider South East region. Thanks to support from our sponsors, these funded tickets are designed to remove financial barriers and enable more local schools to benefit from professional development opportunities on their doorstep.
View and share this flyer with colleagues.
To claim a free ticket (one per school), contact Emily Carlill, Project and Event Officer at the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, at emily.carlill@lotc.org.uk, stating your school name and address.
Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Don't Miss Out - Book Before 31st July
Advanced discounted tickets are currently on sale, but prices rise after 31st July, so we’d encourage you to book early.
- OEAP & Advisor Hub Member Ticket: £160
- Advanced – CLOtC Members: £195
- Advanced – Non Members: £248
- Advanced – 2x Teacher CLOtC Members: £323
