Amit Kalley Speaker | Assemblies and Celebrations Events & Well-being & Teacher CPD & Anti-Bullying & Mental Health & Conference & Happiness

Amit Kalley

Former Deputy Headteacher sharing his story of grief, loss and recovery to create empathy and to celebrate difference and vulnerability.

Amit is a former Deputy Headteacher who has worked with thousands of students, teachers and parents across his ten-year career in education. With extensive pastoral, safeguarding and behaviour experience, he now speaks in schools across the UK, helping young people understand the power of empathy, identity and digital responsibility. He is also a trained ICF Coach, using coaching principles to help people feel heard, valued and capable of thriving.

Amit shares his personal story of losing his mother to ovarian cancer as a teenager and becoming a father to a daughter born with three holes in her heart. He speaks openly about vulnerability, grief and resilience to help students understand that everyone carries experiences they may never talk about. His core message is simple: you never know someone’s story, and your behaviour can have an impact you never intended. This forms the heart of his anti-bullying work and his commitment to building school cultures rooted in compassion.

As a turban-wearing Sikh man who grew up in East London, Amit also speaks from lived experience about diversity, belonging and navigating life as part of a minority community. He encourages students to celebrate difference and to create spaces where everyone feels safe and able to be themselves.

Amit is also widely recognised for his work in the digital world. He teaches parents and young people how to navigate the challenges of social media, online gaming, group chats, pornography exposure, harmful content, and the pressures of constant connectivity. His work went viral with his “Periodic Table of Emojis”, used internationally by organisations and schools to help parents and young people recognise risky online communication. Amit helps young people understand how their online actions affect mental health, friendships and identity, and why digital empathy is just as important as empathy in person.

Amit’s sessions combine real stories, relatable examples and practical advice that leave students thinking deeply about who they are, how they treat others and the kind of digital footprint they want to create. He believes every child deserves to feel safe, included and empowered to thrive, both in school and online.

Testimonials from Teachers

"Amit's talk was incredibly powerful and engaging. His story was raw and exposed a vulnerability that is so important for students to see and hear. Our students discussed how it changed their mindset about bullying and how being nice to one another is the recipe for a happy school. A wonderful session."

– James Foley, Head of Year 10, Bancroft's School.

"Amit's story is powerful and delivered perfectly for the audience. He was able to change his pitch for when it was delivered to teachers at our INSET and to students in assembly, yet still capture the audience and share the important message of creating empathy. Highly recommended."

– Stuart McWilliams, Headteacher, The King Fahad Academy.

"Empathy is something we strive to achieve across our schools, especially to counter bullying. Amit spoke with passion and was able to really get our students and staff thinking about the kind of environment they wanted their school to be. His passionate and outstanding delivery was talked about a long time after."

– Andrew McClusky, CEO, Hasmonean MAT.

"The session was really good thank you. Amit presented a very powerful story and brought it back to Empathy, to great effect. We want outside speakers who do something that we, as teachers, often can't, and he certainly did that."

– Guy Holder, Head of PSCHE, Harrodian School