About Schools & Academies Show Birmingham
The Schools & Academies Show is a free event for leaders in UK schools and academy trusts, run by Partnership Media Group. Its Birmingham edition takes place at the NEC, and a separate London edition runs at a different point in the year.
Visitors are the people who make or influence spending decisions in education: headteachers, multi-academy trust executives, business and finance teams, SEND leaders, IT specialists and estates managers, along with staff from local authorities and the wider public sector. Registration is free for eligible education professionals.
Exhibitors supply products and services across the running of schools. That includes edtech and IT, data and management systems, finance and procurement, estates and facilities, energy and sustainability, safeguarding, wellbeing and SEND support, furniture, catering and recruitment.
Content is organised around six challenge areas: leadership and governance, business and finance, inclusion and wellbeing, estates and sustainability, edtech and digital transformation, and teaching and learning. Sessions are CPD-accredited, and the show works with sector bodies including ASCL, NAHT, Ofsted and the Department for Education. That gives school leaders a professional reason to spend a full day at the event, and they typically visit stands between sessions. For suppliers to schools and trusts, it is an efficient way to meet senior budget holders from many organisations in one place.
Next edition
Schools & Academies Show Birmingham 2026: what to expect
The Birmingham edition runs on 18 and 19 November 2026 in Hall 1 at the NEC. The organiser expects more than 4,000 school and trust leaders, with over 300 speakers, more than 250 solution providers and over 50 hours of CPD-accredited content.
Themes include school improvement, governance, operations, inclusion, digital transformation, edtech and AI, budget management, procurement and sustainable learning environments.
Visitors attend in the school term, often for a single day, so many will be planning their route around sessions. Stands that offer a quick, practical answer to a specific school problem, such as cutting energy costs or simplifying procurement, tend to fit that pattern better than broad product showcases.