On Wednesday 11 November 2026, The Education People Show returns to the Kent Event Centre in Detling — a genuinely free conference-and-exhibition day for school leaders, with keynotes this year from Hywel Roberts and Mary Myatt. Free entry, free lunch, free parking. Here's the preview — and why I'll be there.
The show at a glance
Run by The Education People (Kent's education services company) with Revolution Events, this is the South East's leading event for school leadership and management. It brings together headteachers, finance directors, bursars, school business managers, governors, IT managers and local authority leaders from state, academy and independent schools — a high-level conference plus a full exhibition of school suppliers under one roof.
The bit that still surprises people: it's completely free for delegates, including lunch, refreshments and parking. Registration is at theeducationpeopleshow.co.uk.
The keynotes: Hywel Roberts and Mary Myatt
The two headline names for 2026 need little introduction to anyone in school leadership:
- Hywel Roberts — "the travelling teacher", author of Oops! and Botheredness. Twenty-plus years of making the case that curriculum lands when children are genuinely bothered about it. Expect to laugh and to take notes at the same time.
- Mary Myatt — one of the most influential voices on curriculum thinking in the UK, author of The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence and High Challenge, Low Threat. If your school is anywhere in a curriculum review cycle, her session alone justifies the day.
Details of both keynotes are on the Education People show page.
What the wider day looks like
If last year's programme is a guide, expect a dense day: guest sessions from national organisations like the NAHT, panels featuring the likes of Teacher Tapp and The Education People's own specialists, behaviour sessions from providers such as CPI International, and edtech leadership talks — the 2025 show closed with Laura Knight's keynote on what school leaders need to know about AI, and AI is likely to feature even more prominently this year. The exhibition floor is the practical bit: suppliers across facilities, finance, HR, edtech, SEND provision and more, in one room, all happy to talk.
My honest take
Worth it? For any school within an hour of Maidstone, this is the easiest yes of the autumn. It's free, it's one day, it's aimed squarely at the people who actually make decisions — heads, SBMs and governors — and the keynote pairing of Roberts and Myatt is as strong as this circuit gets. My prediction: AI will be the most-discussed topic in the exhibition hall and the least-resourced item in most schools' development plans. Closing that gap — turning "we should look at AI" into staff who actually save hours every week — is exactly what AskColin does.
Practical details
- When: Wednesday 11 November 2026
- Where: Kent Event Centre, Kent Showground, Detling, Maidstone ME14 3JF
- Cost: Free — including lunch, refreshments and parking
- Register: theeducationpeopleshow.co.uk
There's also a sister show in Yorkshire on 25 November 2026 at Gulliver's Valley, Sheffield, if the North is closer to home.
I'll be at the Kent show — will you?
I'm Neil, founder of AskColin. I'll be at the Education People Show on 11 November talking to heads, SBMs and governors about practical AI training that reduces staff workload — safely, on the systems you already have. If you're going, let me know and let's grab one of those free coffees together.
Tell me you'll be there →This is one of three shows I'm attending this autumn — see my previews of the National Education Show in Cardiff (2 October) and the Schools & Academies Show at the NEC Birmingham (18–19 November).