One week on, a huge thank you to everyone who attended the ADCS Annual Conference last week and made it such an engaging and successful event. I am so grateful to everyone who gave a presentation or who participated on a panel – your contribution is vitally important. But then, what are speakers without listeners? How do we get the maximum benefit from the wisdom of presenters without smart questions to draw it out. So – it’s the packed tables, the chatter in the bar and corridors, the buzz of discussion from early morning to well past midnight that makes the ADCS Annual Conference the place to be in early July. I’m giving serious side-eye to Ofsted inspection announcements for robbing us of not one, but two speakers on our first panel in the DCS closed session on leadership and robbing those panellists of the chance to participate!

I was glad we were able to have space as DCSs together for conversations about leadership, children’s social care reforms, local government reorganisation, our work with health partners and the now traditional ‘what’s on your mind?’ session, which always reassures me that I’m not alone in the challenges I’m grappling with. However, I love the moment when conference opens up and our children’s leadership colleagues and the wider ADCS membership join us for the second half. That always enriches our time together. We worked hard again this year to make the conference feel welcoming and inclusive to everyone, and those of us who have been coming for several years can probably see and feel the changes; but if you are newer to the experience, or attended for the first time this year, I’d love to hear about what more we can do to make you feel at home.

I was very pleased to be able to welcome the Children’s Minister - Janet Daby MP - in person on Thursday, after some years when we’ve only been able to share a recorded message. And I was also pleased that she stayed for questions. The Ofsted session on Friday morning is another essential part of the conference and both the Minister and Ofsted colleagues had the opportunity to hear the strength of feeling in the room on some key issues. We also had some really powerful inputs on subjects I know we are all focused on: violence against women and girls; tackling discrimination, bias and inequality; poverty and early childhood development; and responding to serious youth violence.

We have received positive feedback about our decision to opt for two sub-plenary sessions (on the key topics of placement sufficiency and creating a culture of belonging in our classrooms), rather than a multitude of workshops to choose from, so that has been a good learning point to take away.

With all that good stuff going on, what on earth made me cry!? Well, I found myself misting up on three occasions. One was a side conversation with Annie Crombie of BookTrust before the early years and child poverty session, in which she asked me about my favourite book from childhood. A wave of nostalgia made me so emotional re-telling the story of ‘Pig Who Was a Nothing’ that I couldn’t carry on. Another was in a session with a journalist, who asked me how it’s possible to build love into our policies? I think the answer I gave was particularly incoherent as I struggled to express the difference it makes to bring our whole heart to our work. And of course – and how could I not? – I nearly burst with pride and pleasure at the input from four young people from Surrey, talking about the ways in which they, and the other children featured in their video clips, have become involved in the work of the council and are really shaping services for other young people as their voices are heard. Year after year the young people from the President’s home local authority steal the show with their contribution and this year was no exception. I didn’t realise how much my stomach was in knots for them until I found myself relax completely after their slot! Thanks to your warm reaction, they went home with a huge confidence boost and a real sense of achievement.

So, a final thank you to every single person involved in any capacity in last week’s conference. Together we make it what it is, and it really did feel like people brought their whole heart into the room. If that doesn’t make you tear up a little bit, what would!?