The Schools & Academies Show — the SAASHOW — lands at the NEC Birmingham on 18–19 November 2026. It's the biggest event of its kind in the UK school leadership calendar: two days, thousands of visitors, hundreds of speakers, and three events under one roof. Here's what to expect, who it's for, and why I'll be walking the floor.
The show at a glance
Organised by GovNet, the SAASHOW is built for the people who run schools and trusts: headteachers, MAT CEOs and COOs, school business managers, finance directors, SENDCos, estates leads, governors and local authority teams. The content streams map to that audience — school improvement, trust operations, finance and procurement, SEND and inclusion, estates, governance, technology, and teaching and learning.
What makes Birmingham different from a regional show is the co-location. Your one free badge also gets you into:
- The EdTech Summit — a dedicated event on education technology strategy, digital transformation and (inevitably, and rightly) AI in schools. Attendees consistently rate it as more practical than the giant tech shows — real talk rather than sales pitches.
- The Independent Schools Conference — leadership, compliance and operations content for the independent sector.
Registration is free for anyone working in a school, MAT, academy, college, university, or local/central government: schoolsandacademiesshow.co.uk. One thing worth knowing: eligibility is checked, so register with your school or trust role. The full 2026 speaker line-up is being published on the agenda page — in past years it has drawn senior figures from the Department for Education and sector bodies alongside serving heads and MAT leaders, and names like Arbor's James Weatherill have appeared on this circuit talking about what the school of the future looks like.
Who should go — and how to work it
With 40+ hours of CPD-certified content, you can't see everything, so go with a plan:
- Heads and MAT leaders: anchor your day around the leadership and school improvement theatres, and leave gaps for the conversations that happen between sessions — that's where this show earns its keep.
- SBMs and finance leads: this is the one UK event where procurement, finance and operations content is front and centre rather than an afterthought. Bring your supplier shortlist and meet them all in a day.
- Digital leads and IT managers: live in the EdTech Summit. If your school is writing or refreshing its AI strategy this year, you'll leave with a clearer picture of the market than a term of demos would give you.
- Governors: free entry, two days of governance and strategy content, and a rare chance to hear the national policy conversation first-hand.
My honest take
Worth it? If you only attend one national event this year, this is the one. The scale means the whole market is in one room — every serious edtech vendor, every MAT services provider, and the policy conversation all at once. The trap is treating it as a browsing day: 200+ stands will happily eat both days. My advice is the reverse — book three sessions per day maximum, pick five suppliers you genuinely need to compare, and spend the rest of the time talking to people. The most valuable thing at the NEC won't be on a stand; it'll be another school leader telling you what actually worked.
Practical details
- When: Wednesday 18 – Thursday 19 November 2026
- Where: NEC, Birmingham
- Cost: Free for schools, academies, MATs, colleges, universities and the public sector
- Register: schoolsandacademiesshow.co.uk/saashow-birmingham-register-free
I'll be at the NEC — will you?
I'm Neil, founder of AskColin. I'll be at the Schools & Academies Show on 18–19 November, talking to school and trust leaders about AI training that actually sticks — practical, safe, and built around the Microsoft or Google systems your staff already use. If you're going, let me know which day and let's meet.
Tell me you'll be there →I'm also at the National Education Show in Cardiff (2 October) and The Education People Show in Kent (11 November) this autumn — previews of both are on the blog.