The Telegraph Festival of Education 2017: Brexit and grammar schools are the talk of the festival

• Thousands of academics, teachers and parents attend this year's festival at Wellington College

• The Festival of Education takes place between 23-24 June 

• Key speakers include: comedian Hugh Dennis, Sir David Carter, Amanda Spielman, Terry Waite and Sir Roger Scruton 

• Main debates include: Brexit, grammar schools, school discipline and the future of technology in the classroom

• Follow the conversation on Twitter: #EducationFest

Good morning and welcome to The Telegraph Festival of Education 2017.

This year's event promises to be another roaring success, with some of the UK's most prominent education leaders set to join a host of talks and debates on major issues including Brexit, new grammars and how schools should approach discipline in the classroom. 

Festival-goers will hear from nearly 300 speakers during the course of the two-day festival, which begins at 9am with a keynote speech from comedian Hugh Dennis. 

Highlights from the festival will include speeches from Sir Roger Scruton, who will discuss the purpose of British universities and the impact of the new Higher Education and Research Bill; Terry Waite, the former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury who was captured and held hostage in Lebanon for four years; Amanda Spielman, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, and the School's Commissioner, Sir David Carter. 

A number of star-studded panels will also be held throughout the course of the Festival, with Harry Yorke, The Telegraph's online education editor, chairing the first debate of the event on new grammar schools.

Harry will be joined on the panel by Graham Brady MP, chair of the Conservative Party's 1922 Committee; Mary Curnock Cook, the former head of UCAS, Lord Lucas, editor of The Good Schools Guide; and Laura McInerney, editor of the education magazine Schools Week. 

Following the grammar schools debate, the main marquee will make way for a Brexit talk hosted by Roland Rudd, chairman of Open Britain, and Henry Mance, a political correspondent for the Financial Times. 

After lunch, Terry Waite, the former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, will discuss his time held in detention after being taken prisoner whilst in Lebanon. The Festival will then welcome the philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, who will discuss the character and makeup of universities. 

Ending the main events of the day will be Laura McInerney, who will be discussing how schools can best approach the issue of behaviour and discipline. Joining Laura on the panel will be Tom Bennett, chair of the Department for Education's Behaviour Group, Maria Arpa, a mediator and counsellor from the Centre for Peaceful Solutions, and Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress of the Michaela Community School. 

Workshops and professional development sessions will also be run for teachers, while students are invited to take part in various activities. 

Readers can stay informed here or by following our social media team, @tele_education. 

4:37PM

Terry Waite: "Our politicians will not change the situation in the Middle East"

The former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Terry Waite, claims that British politicians are incapable of solving the geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, as he discussed his four years imprisonment in Lebanon after being taken captive in 1987. 

In one of the most anticipated speeches of the Festival, Mr Waite said that, increasingly, he believed that a solution to conflict in the Middle East would result from the work of religious leaders, rather than decisions of nation states. 

He added that history teachers in schools had a huge role to play in shaping public understanding of the current conflicts raging in Iraq and Syria, and that too many children today have no  knowledge of  "major conflicts" which have occurred even in the relatively recent past. 

3:55PM

Grammars unlikely following election - panel

The loss of it's majority means the Government has no real prospect of repealing the grammar schools ban, a panel of education leaders concluded earlier today. 

Speaking in the Sir John Cass Marquee before lunch, Graham Brady MP, who is also chair of the Conservative Party's 1922 Committee, said it would "very difficult" to pass "more academic selection" through Parliament. 

While Mr Brady ruled out the chance of new grammars over the course of the next two years, he said he would encourage the Government to continue making the case for them. 

Asked why public opinion over selective schools had become so polarised, Mary Curnock Cook, the former head of UCAS, said that the "brand had become toxic". She also suggested that schools in areas where parents demanded more selection should consider "grammar streaming", which would enable schools to put sort children into classes of equal ability. 

Meanwhile, Lord Lucas, editor of The Good Schools Guide, said that the Government needed to prove that grammars schools would benefit "the whole system" and not just those to which it was providing a "gift". 

And Laura McInerney, editor of Schools Week, said that if the Government was serious about improving social mobility it would not be attempting to "suck out...the most capable out" of the comprehensive system by placing them into selective schools. 

2:25PM

Head of McLaren talks STEM subjects and graduate recruitment

Ron Dennis, chairman of McLaren, is currently talking about the need for more students with science, engineering and mechanical degrees to enter into STEM industries. 

In discussion with Julian Thomas, he said that "50 percent of our scientists" are snapped up by the banking sector the moment they leave university. He added that the challenge for employers like McLaren is to emphasise the opportunities open to students should they pursue a career in STEM, as opposed to one in finance. 

11:38AM

Head of McLaren talks STEM education and graduate recruitment

Ron Dennis, the chairman of McLaren, is currently discussing the need for more students to apply their STEM qualifications in the world of work. 

Speaking with Julian Thomas, Dennis adds that "50 percent of our scientists" are being snapped up by the financial sector the moment they leave university, and that not enough students trained in science and mathematics see the benefit of pursuing a STEM career. 

On the issue of increasing the number of women pursuing STEM careers, Dennis says that whilst 20 percent of his employees are women, "more can be done". 

"Some of our finest engineers are women, actually," he told the audience. "But the thing is, if you want to pursue this as a career you really have to give it your all. So it's not exactly sociable hours." 

10:49AM

Headmistresses Jenny Brown and Jane Lunnon host talk on leadership in schools

If you're situated in the Waterloo Hall today and wondering why the two speakers look so similar, it's because they're identical twins. 

Jenny Brown and Jane Lunnon are both leading headteachers at independent girl schools; the former is the head of St Albans High School for Girls, the latter is head of Wimbledon High School. 

This morning, both discussed the impact that President Trump and Theresa May had on how leadership is perceived among schoolchildren. 

"Now more than ever, giving children the feeling of something bigger than themselves, certainly bigger than their social media echo chambers, is really important. 

"That job is the responsibility of a school, and the headteacher. You can read manual after manual about leadership.. but in the end it comes down to three simple things. 

"You have to care about it. If your heart is in the job, then it will work. If you recruit well, you have a staff that aligns with your values. And you have to be able to take a joke."

10:24AM

Hugh Dennis opens the festival

Known for his witty appearances on Mock the Week and the BBC series Outnumbered, Hugh Dennis opened the festival with a number of gags about the current state of British politics. 

 Joking that he would try to stick with education, Dennis went on to discuss school exams and how he's tired of hearing parents moaning about tests becoming easier.

"Exams are no easier now than they were back then," he told the audience gathered in the Sir John Cass Marquee. "There's also this perception that boys don't do as good as girls. I think the honest truth of it is that girls are more intelligent than boys. Boys from seven through to 80, then they catch up.

"Exams are terribly important, of couse. But it's rather difficult when you see kids who are burdened down by finding out their not very good at things are measurable, but actually very good at things that aren't measurable.

"We just need to make space for kids to think, because the right answer isn't necessarily the best answer.

"Throughout education you want happy, fulfilled, all-rounded children."