The nights are drawing in, leaves are blowing through the streets and political squabbles are dominating the front pages. It must be political party conference season.

The Liberal Democrats go first, meeting in Brighton this week; Labour takes its turn in Liverpool next week, while the Conservatives will pitch up in Birmingham after that.

Here is what you need to know about party conferences and schools.

What are the party conferences?

At their most basic, they are the big annual gatherings for political parties, providing a forum where everyone from MPs and peers to councillors and local activists gather.

But it is not just party members: lobbyists, charities, pressure groups and journalists all descend on the gatherings, hoping to influence or find out what is happening within the party.

Although much of the media coverage will be about the backroom intrigues and plotting - which certainly will be taking place around the bars and hotels - the events provide places for networking, training and discussion, much of it in the hundreds of fringe meetings.

For some parties, such as Labour and most notably the Lib Dems, it is a place where formal policy is debated and agreed by delegates. For the Conservatives, it is a more of a showcase to present policies and personalities.

What have recent conferences meant for schools?

Last year’s Tory autumn conference in Manchester is best remembered for Theresa May’s nightmare on the conference stage, but in her speech, the prime minister said little about schools apart from praising free schools.

Then education secretary Justine Greening addressed a half-empty conference hall on the Sunday afternoon, and squeezed a large number of pledges into her 20 minutes on stage, from English hubs to bursaries to help address teacher shortages in specific subjects and locations.

Labour’s gathering, in Brighton, saw Angela Rayner outline 10 principles for her party’s proposed National Education Service, which would see parents and communities “empowered, via appropriate democratic means, to influence change where it is needed and ensure that the education system meets their needs”.

And at their Spring conference this year, the Lib Dems approved a major new document setting out the party’s education policies, including abolishing Ofsted.

What should we expect from the Conservatives?

This will be Damian Hinds’ first chance to set out his vision for education to his own party from the conference platform.

What he says will be influenced by who his intended audience is.

Unlike many of his current and recent cabinet colleagues, the education secretary has kept a relatively low profile in the media.

But Michael Gove has talked of him as a potential Tory party leader, and if this is his ambition he may choose to talk about issues such as grammar schools and traditional academic rigour that will appeal to Tory activists and the right-wing press.

If he has an education audience in mind, he may talk about teacher recruitment and retention, and related issues to do with workload and accountability, where he has already made some major announcements.

School funding, where he has not so far managed to leverage more money out of the Treasury, may not feature so prominently.

Mr Hinds has long had an interest in social mobility and gave his first major speech on the subject over the summer, so expect this to figure as well.

His officials and advisors are also bound to have held back some policy or funding initiatives for him to announce at the conference to ensure he has something fresh to say.

And Labour?

With the Conservative government rapidly approaching the end game of the tortuous Brexit negotiations, there will be increased speculation about whether it can survive.

With any talk of an election and change of government, Labour’s education policies should come under increased scrutiny.

Since unveiling its principles for a National Education Service, the party has been consulting on the more detailed plans.

Many will be looking to Angela Rayner to put flesh on the bones of last year’s announcement, and give specifics about the “appropriate democratic authority” that will “set, monitor and allocate resources” of schools, academies and other education institutions, among other issues.

But there are signs that rather than hard details about the proposals, we may get more details about the principles.

And what about the Lib Dems?

The party voted in its new education policy - which followed a major piece of work by a party committee - in Spring, and it is not expected by the overhauled again this week.

Layla Moran, the party’s education spokesperson, was due to address the conference on Saturday.

With Sir Vince Cable’s retirement from the party’s leadership now on the horizon, she is being talked up as a contender for the top job, so her speech will have been closely watched for more than what she says about schools.