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Scotty’s Little Soldiers is a charity dedicated to supporting children and young people, 0 to 25 years, who have experienced the death of a parent who served in the British Armed Forces.
Inspired by the experience of Army widow Nikki Scott, following the death of her husband, Corporal Lee Scott, in Afghanistan in 2009, the charity, which was set up in 2010, provides support and guidance to hundreds of bereaved military children and young people throughout their childhood.
When a young person joins Scotty’s, they become a member and are supported until their 25th birthday. Whether it be one-to-one bereavement support, a respite break with the family, an opportunity to meet others in a similar situation, or access to extracurricular activities, Scotty’s is always there for its members to ensure they don’t feel alone.
So far this year, Scotty’s has supported over 700 children and young people and services are delivered through three Family Programmes.
Dr Juhayna Taha is a Lecturer in Language and Literacy at UCL's Institute of Education and an expert in child language development and disorders. She conducts research, spanning multiple countries and languages, to identify the language, reading and cognitive profiles of children with typical language development, including bilinguals, and those with language learning disorders. She has developed evidence-based screening measures for developmental language disorder and dyslexia. As a qualified speech and language therapist, Juhayna has extensive clinical experience supporting students with Speech, Language, and Communication Needs (SLCN). Juhayna is also a science communicator, having written several blogs, delivered public seminars, and trained teachers and practitioners.
Dr Josselyn Hellriegel is Clinical Psychologist with a specialist interest and experience in paediatric neuropsychology and neurodevelopmental disorders. She has enjoyed working with children, young people and their families helping them focus on a child’s/young person’s unique strengths and address potential difficulties. She has worked in a range of clinical settings, primarily within the NHS, over the past 15 years. Currently, she is working in a social and neuropaediatric setting abroad.
Beth has worked as an Occupational Therapist for the last nineteen years, supporting children, young people, and families across health, education, and social care. She has managed integrated OT services in these sectors and worked internationally, bringing a wealth of expertise to her practice. As an advanced sensory integration practitioner and a passionate advocate for sensory processing and integration, Beth leads the Sensory Inclusive Schools project for Sensory Integration Education. Through this role, she delivers training, raises awareness about sensory processing, and empowers schools to create environments where every student can thrive.
Tina Coope, a former teacher and parent with extensive experience in special and mainstream education, initially became volunteer Education Lead at PANS PANDAS UK in 2021. She developed the UK's first teacher training on PANS and PANDAS and has created multiple professional resources.
Emma Simpson has worked in education for 27 years, as a teacher, leader, consultant and researcher. Her work has mostly been in inner London schools and has prompted an increasing interest in and commitment to issues of social equality. She joined The Difference (education charity which promotes inclusive practices) in 2023 as the Senior Research Manager. Over the last year she has been conducting research into Internal Alternative Provision in order to establish the range of approaches being taken by schools and what strong practice looks like.
I have been the strategic lead for SEND and Inclusion across the James Montgomery Academy Trust for the past 2 years which has 20 mainstream primary schools, 2 with LA resource provisions and 2 MAT funded resource provisions. I taught in a mainstream primary school for 7 and half years before moving to a secondary special school where I became assistant head and Head of Fusion SEND Hub for 15 years. During this time, I was seconded by Sheffield Local Authority one day a week to be a Citywide SENDCo for SEND across Sheffield to support mainstream, specialist and Integrated Resources.
I am the DfE local lead for the Engagement Model and work with 2 teaching school hubs to develop the ECF SEND materials for ECTs, NPQSEN and NPQLT materials and facilitate on each of these. I am a member of the National Network of Specialist Provision, a trustee of the Equals charity and a member of the advisory board for Evidence for Learning. I work with each of these groups to develop and create materials for children with SEND and support the development of networks between both specialist and mainstream colleagues.
Danny Sweatman is Lead Practitioner for Inclusion and Safeguarding, SENCo and Head of Nurture at Aylsham High School – a genuinely inclusive mainstream secondary school in Norfolk. Following three years of teaching in a primary school in Kent, Danny moved to Aylsham to take on the role of re-engaging KS3 students who had a range of complexities that prevented them from fully accessing education. Now into his 19th year of teaching, Danny and his colleagues at Aylsham have developed an award-winning Nurture provision that provides an inclusive and aspiring pathway for vulnerable students, removing barriers to learning and ensuring that their academic, social and emotional needs are met. Danny was awarded with ‘Teacher of the Year 2023’ in the Norfolk Education Awards and is a real advocate for promoting inclusion, making mainstream schools a place where all students can flourish.
Margaret Mulholland is a specialist in inclusivity and Special Educational Needs. She is advisor on SEND policy for the Association of School and College Leaders and Whole School SEND Project Director leading an evaluation for the Education Endowment Foundation.
A leading advocate for the role SEND settings play in improving understanding of inclusive teaching and learning, Margaret brings over 20 years experience in ITT innovation and practice. She spent seven years as Director of Development & Research at a leading Special School and thirteen years at the Institute of Education, where she was responsible for innovative employment based routes to QTS, PGCE secondary partnerships and a Challenge Partners school leadership programme. Margaret sits on the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers, is an advisor to the UK Government on ITT curriculum development and works with local authorities as an external advisor for NQTs, ITT and leadership development. She is also writes a column on research and inclusivity for the Times Educational Supplement.
Dr Matt Silver is the CEO and Founder of The Glass House Leadership Lab – an educational coaching and system consultancy group that believes the catalyst to system transformation is the personal development of leaders, teachers and learners. His doctoral action research whilst a Head and CEO was based in curriculum, culture and system design using frameworks of human development, motivation, and engagement theory.
The Glass House’s subsequent national and international work is based on co-designing innovative digital systems with system leaders and facilitating their teams to embody and embed consistent human growth within their organisations. His new book ‘Reinventing Education’ lays out the deeper states and stages of human, culture, and educational maturity and how to integrate all stakeholders, no matter their lens, to build momentum.
Chris has been a teacher since qualifying in 2011. He has worked both in the classroom and in school leadership in a local authority school in Gloucester before joining a local multi-academy trust in 2019. He leads the primary reading network for Greenshaw and has spoken at both the UKLA conference and ResearchEd. Chris has a passion for reading children’s literature and works collaboratively with the Cheltenham Literature Festival with all things reading, striving for everyone to become a reader through research-informed approaches.
Kayleigh is a highly skilled mental health professional with a wealth of experience in both clinical and educational settings. She has 17 years of experience in mental health, psychological assessment, therapeutic interventions, and programme development.
Kayleigh has been instrumental to the development of many of the projects delivered across the schools division, notably leading on and co-creating the content for Autism and Wellbeing, Intermediate Senior Mental Health Lead, Self Harm in schools and Parental Partnership programmes. She has also led on the delivery of a comprehensive international package for Nord Anglia Schools, training up Senior Mental Health Leads across the world and providing reflective supervision spaces.
Sarah Johnson has worked in education for the last nineteen years. As a qualified teacher, Sarah has enjoyed roles in mainstream schools, Pupil Referral Units, Alternative Provision and psychiatric in-patient services. Sarah is the author of the book ‘Behaving Together: A Teacher’s Guide to Nurturing Behaviour’ and two upcoming books published by Routledge on Social and Emotional Mental Health. As a member for the Department of Education’s Alternative Provision stakeholder group, she has supported development of policy such as the recent SEND and AP green paper as well as chairing a range of panels and events within the education sector.
Coming soon!
Fiona Oakley is a Secondary School Adviser for the National Literacy Trust. Fiona has huge expertise in the creation and delivery of high quality, relevant and research-led literacy CPD; the strategic planning of whole school literacy; and the implementation of literacy initiatives to raise attainment. She is passionate about developing engaging and inclusive reading cultures in schools.
Working in secondary education for over twenty five years, Fiona is an experienced local authority adviser, literacy consultant, senior leader and teacher. She provides bespoke consultancy support to school leaders and teachers, in both primary and secondary settings. She is committed to a collaborative approach that prioritises supportive challenge, professional dialogue and evidence-based classroom pedagogy. Fiona was a governor at a North London primary school for over ten years and is currently an associate trustee with small multi-academy trust in Ealing.
Karen McGuigan is an education consultant with a goal to improve the image and attainment levels in maths for everyone. She studied maths at a degree level as part of her Masters in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College and brings a wealth of real life experience to her work.
Inspired by her middle son Lance, who has Down syndrome, she has developed the Maths For Life programme. It is a differentiated approach to teaching maths that is designed for students with additional learning needs, for whom the standard maths national curriculum structure and timescale is unattainable. It is currently being used both in schools and homes across the globe with students ranging from aged 2 to 60.
A teaching assistant, history teacher and senior leader, David led special educational needs and disability provision (SEND) in London schools for over 15 years. He was a member of the Department for Education’s SEND Review steering group and an expert advisor to the Timpson Review on school exclusions. David has worked directly with over 700 school leadership teams across the UK to improve their SEND provision. David is author of the SEND Review Guide, a national framework funded by the DfE. In 2018 he edited Great Expectations, Leading an Effective SEND Strategy in School, published by John Catt Educational. He was Director of SEND at the London Leadership Strategy and an advisor to the Mayor of London’s education team. As part of his international work David has supported the development of Inclusion policies internationally, in countries including Ethiopia, Seychelles, Thailand and Malaysia. David is a member of the Education Policy Institute Advisory Board and a trustee of the KPMG Foundation, which seeks to bring about systemic change in business and society and unlock the potential of the most disadvantaged children in the UK.
Alice has over 25 years of leadership experience in the public and voluntary sector and is an experienced trainer and facilitator. Alices background is in play development and education having gone on to work in local authority commissioning.
Alice developed NDTIs programme Time to Talk and managed Time to Talk Next Steps managing a team of staff to provide online support to young people with additional support needs from across England. Alice also works on evaluation and research projects at NDTi and is always keen to develop new projects which respond to voices of people with lived experience. Alice believes that play and playfulness are vital to creating good relationships and inclusive communities.