nasen Awards 2021 Winners
Thank you to all of those who sent in their nominations to the 5th annual Awards. We received an incredible number of nominations for inspiring organisations and individuals this year, for our 13 categories. It truly was very difficult to narrow down our shortlist and to select the winners.
Congratulations to our chosen winners! Find out more about them below.
Be sure to keep an eye out for when our next Awards nominations are open to put forward your choices!
The nasen Award for 16-25 Provision
Sponsored by Brain in Hand
Derwen College was recognised for going above and beyond to support residential and day students with a wide range of complex needs, disabilities, and autism during the pandemic – ensuring that each and every student was motivated, engaged and learning, whether at home or in college. Embracing online tools, staff ensured everyone stayed connected with Sports Day, Prom, Graduation, weekly sports challenges, national skills competitions, Makaton sessions, and even a Pet Show, all going ahead virtually.
Winner – Derwen College
The nasen Award for Co-Production With Children and Young People and Their Families
Sponsored by Seashell trust
The Grove Pastoral Team has been recognised for supporting young people with autism by developing and fostering productive partnerships in working with parents and carers – and ultimately achieving 100% engagement with families. By setting up a family support service which focused on communication and establishing positive relationships, staff could ensure better access to services for children, and offer bespoke training and services tailored to each family's need.
The Grove Pastoral Team
The David Ryan Publication Award 2021
Sponsored by maths for Life
Scooping the top accolade for the David Ryan Publication Award, an award developed in honour of late nasen trustee David Ryan to recognise an innovative publication that has had a positive impact on children and young people with SEND, Dr Mourton was recognised for striving to ensure that the voices of pupils with SEND are heard and acted upon.
Dr Niamh Mourton
The nasen Award for Early Years Provision
Sponsored by Nursery World
Throughout the pandemic to accommodate, and also fully include, children with complex medical needs requiring continuing care, Anglia Sunshine has adapted routines, employed extra adults qualified in the relevant areas of health care, and made significant changes to the setting’s environment.
Anglia Sunshine Nurseries
The International Provision of the Year Award
Sponsored by ICEP Europe
Steps With Theera was recognised for its work to meet a desperate need for the inclusion of every Thai person in accessing fulfilling employment. Founded in 2016, Steps With Theera offers vocational training centres to anyone in Thailand with a learning difference who wishes to learn, access training, socialise, advance their education, and ultimately find a stepping stone to employment.
Steps with Theera
Learning Support Staff Member of the Year
Sponsored by Axcis
Carla was recognised for the ideas, insights and empathy she has shown at Bournemouth’s Tregonwell Academy – a specialist provision for children and young people who have social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) and/or Autism. In addition to her substantive positions, Carla has voluntarily taken on the role of Wellbeing Champion, and has had a huge impact in this role for pupils, their families and staff.
*Accepting award on Carla’s behalf – Amrit Singh, Chief Operating Officer of nasen
Carla Baker
The nasen Award for Primary Provision
Sponsored by GL Assessment
Whitefield School has been recognised for its focus on high-quality inclusive practice in classes, with the aim of integrating all children in learning as much as possible. The school is located in an area of social and economic disadvantage (in the bottom 1% of deprived areas nationally), and its percentage of pupils with SEN support is well above the national average, at 25.3% of children in school on the SEND register.
Whitefield Primary School
The nasen Award for Secondary Provision
Sponsored by Seeds of Change
Henley Bank High was recognised for the supportive relationships it has formed between staff, SEND students and their families, and for striving to involve 100% of parent/carers in the education journey. Henley Bank High is an inclusive mainstream academy, with 28.7% pupils on the SEND register, and in three years has become locally renowned for providing excellent provision for young people with SEND.
Henley Bank High School
Specialist Provision of the Year Award
Sponsored by IDL
Over the past two years, staff at Bramfield have strived to develop a completely new, holistic curriculum, leading to the best GCSE results in the school’s history, with outcomes higher than those in mainstream settings. Supporting exceptional learning and outcomes for young people with social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) – part of its remit as a specialist SEMH school supporting boys from disadvantaged backgrounds from a wide area in Suffolk and Norfolk.
Bramfield House School
nasen Teacher of the Year Award
Sponsored by Equazen
Birmingham’s Abed Ahmed – Head of Maths at King Edwards VI Handsworth Wood Girls' Academy – runs Mr ST’s Stammer Support Group – an initiative of online Zoom sessions for 5 to 16-year-olds who have a stammer or speech impairment – which he leads alongside his school’s own stammer support group which he voluntarily runs.
Abed Ahmed
Send Leader of the Year Award
Sponsored by NEU
Torquay Deputy Head, Colin May, has worked at Mayfield Special School over two decades, supporting pupils with a wide range of needs, and moving from a class of extremely complex secondary pupils to the school’s primary department. His own beliefs in terms of supporting pupils who are distressed have formed the basis of what lies at the heart of the Mayfield ethos and are celebrated as the reason why the school is so well respected and valued by the local community.
Colin May
The Innovation Award for Technology
Sponsored by Scanning Pens
Increasing reading, spelling and mathematical ability in pupils with dyslexia, dyscalculia, and SEND, IDLS has supported thousands of children and young people by providing innovative multi-sensory technology to schools in the UK and overseas – especially over the last 12 months, when the company has overcome obstacles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure customers could continue to benefit from the programme.
IDL
Young Person/Youth (up to 25 Years) Achievement Award
Sponsored by NeuroDiversity Networks CIC
Hope was recognised for re-discovering her love of learning, after struggles in education meant she was no longer able to attend school from March 2020. Despite ongoing difficulties with learning at school, Hope masked her struggles, with those around her thinking she was fine despite continual conversations that suggested otherwise.
*Accepting award on Hope’s behalf – J Grange, judge and rapper
