Overview

Academi Wales is delighted to announce that Winter School 2026 will return to the stunning surroundings of Nant Gwrtheyrn – a place of inspiration, reflection and connection.  

This year’s flagship programme, Landscapes of Leadership is designed to strengthen, inspire, and connect senior leaders across Wales’ public services. The programme explores what it means to lead collaboratively, ethically, and imaginatively in a time of complexity, constraint, and change. It supports senior executives to strengthen their leadership resilience, broaden their perspective, and re-energise their commitment to public value.

Landscapes of Leadership fosters leadership that is values-driven, population focused, and responsive to both local and global challenges from climate resilience and social justice to digital transformation and wellbeing.

Through immersive learning experiences, reflective practice, and collaborative intelligence, participants explore what it means to lead with authenticity, compassion, and vision in the Welsh public service context. 

Executive coaching

For the second year running, Winter School will include 2 x 1-hour of one-to-one executive coaching, delivered before and after the programme. This tailored support enables participants to apply their learning in context, reflect on their leadership impact, and embed new thinking into everyday practice.

Benefits to you

Landscapes of Leadership offers a unique opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, to pause and reflect on your leadership journey, reconnect with purpose and peers, and reimagine the future of public service in Wales.

• Reflect: Create space for personal insight and collective reflection on your leadership contribution, impact, and legacy in the context of Welsh public service. 
• Reconnect: Strengthen relationships, build trust across sectors, and commit to the shared purpose and collective ambition of Leading for Wales. 
• Reimagine: Challenge established thinking, creating new possibilities within systems, services, and leadership approaches that meet the needs of future generations. 

Thoughts from delegates of Winter School 2025 were:

Speakers include

Leadership behaviours

This learning programme will help you to develop your leadership behaviours in the following areas:

Target audience

Winter School has been specifically developed for the senior / top-tier leaders and executives, such as Chief Executives and Directors from across the public service, third and voluntary sector in Wales.

Cost

Limited places for Winter School are available and the fee of £600 + VAT includes all learning and development provision, single occupancy on-site accommodation and full board. Successful candidates will receive full joining instructions once they have accepted their place.

Your travel costs will not be met by the programme.

Please note that should you be awarded and accept a place at Winter School and then withdraw from the programme, your organisation may be required to pay an administration charge.

Bursaries

We are offering a limited number of bursaries of up to 100% towards the delegate cost of Winter School 2026. We encourage applications from underrepresented, minoritised, and disadvantaged groups and/or where employing charitable organisations have limited funds. Your travel costs will not be met by the programme.

To apply for a bursary

Please provide evidence that you meet the eligibility (50 to 100 words). Your response needs to align to the criteria below:

• You are part of an underrepresented, minoritised, or disadvantaged group within your organisation, and/or your charitable organisation has limited funds.
• The size of your organisation.
• The value of the bursary you are applying for.

How to apply

Academi Wales equips public service leaders with the skills, knowledge, and networks to solve today’s most complex problems. Alongside the skills and knowledge this course will give you, we are keen to emphasise the power of building connections with your peers in the room.  

There are limited places available for this event which will be offered through a competitive selection process with delegates selected from across the public sector to enable a wide range of viewpoints in the room and to support you in strengthening your professional networks. Places will be awarded to those applicants who provide strong objectives for participating in the Winter School and can evidence their return on investment.

Demonstrating return on investment has never been more important than in today’s climate. Return on investment is not simply about financial gain. It's the sustainable impact of the learning for both you and your organisation and how this links to services provided for the people of Wales. It is particularly relevant for those who are working through challenging times and seeking to make significant improvements to their organisational outcomes at a systemic level.

To apply for a place you will need to complete this online application form stating your objectives for attending the event by 5 December 2025.

Please hold the dates 3 to 6 February in your calendar until we confirm the outcome of your application.

More information