Stagecoach focuses on health, wealth and happiness at its annual global conference

The children’s services franchise welcomed franchisees from around the world for its two-day conference

On June 24 and 25, Stagecoach Performing Arts hosted its annual conference at Whittlebury Hall in Northamptonshire. With the main focus being ‘health, wealth and happiness’, Stagecoach invited specialists in mental health, business coaching, and wellbeing to share insights with its network.

Sarah Kelly, CEO of Stagecoach kicked things off, while professor Tanya Byron gave a keynote on mental health. The renowned clinician, journalist, author, and broadcaster brought to life the science behind mental wellbeing.

Mental wellbeing has been an important focus for the franchise, and it recently partnered with Young Minds, the children and young people’s mental health charity.

In the last few years, franchisees have tapped into their talent, creativity, and innovation, prompting the wealth-related sessions at the conference. This covered how to build profitable businesses, where franchisees can now become managing principals and run multiple territories.

Kate Parkinson, franchisee at Stagecoach Chorley, Oldham and Preston said: “After close to 13 years with Stagecoach, I’m really proud to work with such an innovative brand. As a franchisor, Stagecoach continues to provide us with all of the tools we need for success, really giving us the edge. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me and the whole network.”

Helen Golstein, self-compassion coach and Master Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, brought the conference to a close with a session on how important personal reflection and work-life balance is to reach personal fulfilment.

In that spirit, the franchise also celebrated franchisees who had been part of the network for 10, 20, 25 and 30 years. This was then followed by the Franchisee of the Year Awards.

Heidi Rees, franchisee at Stagecoach Pontypridd and The Valleys was among the winners, named Newcomer of the Year for a successful takeover of her business, and rapid recruitment of teachers and enrolment of students. “I’m thrilled to be recognised after less than a year of running my franchise. I’m really proud to be part of the Stagecoach network. I live and breathe our mantra of Creative Courage for Life. Children need the skills they develop through their Stagecoach lessons and I’m happy to bring the opportunity to students across South Wales,” said Rees.

Following four years of consecutive growth and with 85 per cent of UK-based schools operating at capacity, these recent developments in the franchise have come at a pivotal time for Stagecoach Performing Arts.

“We’re proud to have achieved so much as a network and look forward to witnessing continued growth as our franchisees put these new processes into action. Our goal, as a franchisor, is to continue to innovate and be known as the performing arts opportunity of choice for children around the world. We’re very thankful to the franchisees who make this goal a reality, every single day,” said Sarah Kelly.

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