nasen LIVE 2024 - Speakers and Panellists

Amelie is Assistant Director of Education - SEND and Specialist Provision at Greenshaw Learning Trust. Amelie has also worked as a SENCO and Deputy Headteacher with a focus on SEND/Inclusion. Prior to moving into Senior Leadership positions, Amelie worked as an Advanced Skills Teacher based in classrooms. Her practice has always been focused on the impact of Quality First Teaching in the classroom to support access to a broad, balanced, and meaningful curriculum for all learners. She is passionate about CPD with a particular focus on building opportunities to develop reflective practice. She was a Lead Author on Teacher Handbook: SEND.

André Skepple is a distinguished EdTech and HealthTech innovator, deeply committed to enhancing educational opportunities for neurodivergent learners through advanced technology. With a rich background in bioscience research and a transformative career shift into technology entrepreneurship, André has spearheaded the development of ground-breaking educational solutions that integrate AI, machine learning, and Web3 technologies.

As the Founder & CEO of FullSpektrum®, André was instrumental in developing FS:One, the first Agentic AI support intelligence platform designed to adapt and personalise educational, health, and social care plans. This platform has immense potential to become pivotal in holistically addressing significant challenges faced by educational institutions and healthcare providers, particularly towards streamlining operations and improving outcomes for individuals with conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia.

Under André's leadership, FullSpektrum® has not only secured high-value innovation grants from renowned bodies such as Innovate UK but has also cultivated strong partnerships with local government authorities and the NHS. These collaborations aim to revolutionise support frameworks for SEND & inclusion across Europe.

André's insights into AI, applied science and neuroinclusive education are informed by his extensive research background and his passion for technology-driven support solutions. His work emphasises the importance of inclusivity and accessibility, ensuring that all learners have the tools to succeed in their educational journeys.

André's presentation, "How to Make the Curriculum Neuroinclusive," will showcase innovative strategies and practical demonstrations of how technology can be harnessed to support diverse learning needs, promising to be an invaluable session for educators, administrators, and SEND advocates alike.

Up to April 2024. André held the position of DfE SEN and Disability Professional Adviser for 14 years. This involved providing advice to ministers and DfE policy leads across the department on all matters relating to identification, support, and improving outcomes for children and young people with SEN and disability. He worked closely with local authorities, parent carer groups, voluntary sector, health, and schools and colleges to achieve policy goals. In 2022, he was awarded an OBE for services to children and young people.

Prior to this position, André held a range of SEND leadership and professional posts in the National Strategies and local government, and has been an educational psychologist and a primary and secondary school teacher.

Anna joined the Whole School SEND team in 2021 and has worked supporting young people with additional needs for the last 13 years. Anna has worked in both primary and secondary settings, led specialist provisions within mainstream schools and as a SENDCo. Anna was a contributor to the Teacher Handbook: SEND, Embedding Inclusive Practice and has been the lead for the North in running the Professional Development groups. Anna is dedicated to improving the support and inclusion of all young people and their families within the education sector. She is currently SENDCo at Fulford School in York.

Toni is the Digital Teaching and Learning lead at The Stour Academy Trust. As a teacher, Toni spent most of her teaching career driving the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. She is passionate about inclusion, accessibility and equitable learning opportunities for all children in the classroom and throughout education. Looking at ways technology can enhance this, to achieve best outcomes for educators and students. Toni is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, Microsoft Master training and ambassador for many technology communities, including Book Creator and happy to share ideas and ideas for Teaching and Learning on her X @ToniHammy

Bella Dhariwal is a Senior Occupational Therapist and Dialectical Behavioural Therapist at The Mercian Trust, within the Multi-Disciplinary Clinical Team. Bella has previously worked as an Occupational Therapist for CAMHS (Childrens Adolescent Mental Health Services) as a Senior Mental Health Practitioner and practitioner with the Youth Justice Service.

Bella also carries a clinical caseload of students who experience mental health related issues. Within the wider team, Bella leads on service development, particularly in developing the use of technology to support practitioners and students.

Clare is Head of Southampton Inclusion Partnership and Outreach Service, based at Springwell Special School in Southampton. She holds an MSc in Specific Learning Difficulties from the University of Southampton and an MA Ed in Special Needs and Inclusion from the University of Winchester. Clare is also Director of SEND for the HISP Learning Partnership and provides coaching, training and strategic support for SEND improvement across a range of schools within and beyond Southampton.

Conrad currently works within the within the school improvement team at The Mercian Trust as its Director for Special Educational Needs. Previously, Conrad served as a senior leader, for ten years, within secondary schools where he was also a SENCo and pupil premium lead.  Conrad has previously been a facilitator on both the NPQML and NPQSL programmes, undertaken training to become a school and MAT SEND reviewer and is a Pupil Premium systems reviewer and an SLE (SEND). Within his professional practice Conrad is also a specialist teacher and Assessor (SpLD Dyslexia). Conrad is the Deputy Regional Lead for Whole School SEND, in the West Midlands. Conrad was recently awarded the Recipient of Excellence, for SEND, at the National SEND Best Practice Conference 2024.

Daniel Sobel MA Ed (Psychology) FCMI FCIC FRSA is the CEO of Inclusion Expert, Chair of the International Forums of Inclusion Practitioners (IFIP) which has representation in 130 countries, Founder of the Global Inclusive Teaching Initiative (GITI), consultant and advisor to over ten thousand schools, governments, UNESCO, UN and the EU. Daniel led the Global Inclusive Schools’ Forum at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, March 2024.

He has authored 3 best-selling books the latest is The Inclusive Classroom trending on Amazon as the number one education book for a year. Daniel has also authored over 90 articles and a successful Master’s programme at the University of Buckingham in Inclusive Educational Leadership. Daniel is a major influencer in education with a massive following on LinkedIn.

Dawn is a qualified teacher of over 25 years. She has taught across the full early years and primary age ranges, with a number of leadership roles. Dawn has extensive experience of special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), including in specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND. In her current roles, Dawn supports SEND strategically across the North West and West Midlands as a Regional Lead for Whole School SEND. She also works part time at a local authority level as an Inclusion lead and Area SEND Ofsted Inspector. 

Emily is the Regional SEND Leader for Whole School SEND in the East Midlands South Yorkshire and Humber.  She has taught in a mixture of mainstream primary and special secondary schools in various locations and roles, from class teacher through to senior leader.  She strongly believes that all children deserve the best possible chance to succeed in life and is passionate about supporting teachers and leaders in making this happen.

For the latter part of Emily’s career, she has focused on working with learners with Special Educational Needs.  Initially as an Assistant Headteacher within a special secondary school and then for the last 3 years as the Director of a Teaching School specialising in SEND. Through this work she has supported many schools and Local Authorities to develop their SEND provision and improve outcomes for all learners.

Emma graduated from Cambridge University in 1998 and has been a teacher in mainstream primary schools, in Alternative Provision with both Primary and Secondary. After setting up the first Key Stage 3 Nurture Class in Cornwall she became Lead SENDCo across the Multi Academy Trust, ensuring that children and young people have opportunities to engage and make the best progress possible in their learning and emotional/social development. During her career she has developed her passion to develop the creative/outdoors opportunities alongside the academic curriculum, instilling a love of learning, curiosity, and positivity.

Emma is now Headteacher of Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery, part of Kernow Learning Trust, a newly opened school with a nurture inspired, sustainability, climate wise connection with learning beyond the classroom curriculum. The school is currently based at the Eden Project, and the new school building will be in the heart of West Carclaze Garden Village, an eco development, and is a carbon net zero school.

Kerry Kernan is the Head of Children, Young People and Families at Guide Dogs UK. She has been a part of the charity for nearly four years, having come from an education background and is responsible for our central UK wide offer of  Children & Young People’s Services.  This comprises the Family Support, Education, Family Events, Buddy Dogs and Technology Teams. It also includes our CustomEyes Books service.

These teams provide specialist advice and support to young people, families and professionals that helps them to live the lives they choose.
Kerry believes that for children with sight loss and their parents and families, early intervention from Guide Dogs is life changing.  Offering advice from the point of diagnosis, we can help children with sight loss and their families understand what support is available to them. We can facilitate this from offering advice on how to get the best from education, experiencing the joy of a Buddy Dog companion through to encouraging participation at our range of Family Events.

Kim is an occupational therapist with over 20 years’ experience supporting children, young people, their families, and teachers.  She is passionate about ensuring children and young people can participate successfully in the activities that are important to them.  Her interest areas are self-regulation, play, sensory processing and autism.  Kim’s website GriffinOT.com provides online training and programmes for those who want to learn more about sensory processing, motor skills and handwriting.  She also offers online sensory assessments for children and adults.  Kim is the author of Success with Sensory Supports (JKP) and 100 ideas for Sensory Processing (Bloomsbury).

Malcolm has worked in the field of SEND for 30 years and in that time has worked in adult provision, mainstream schools, and special schools. He has worked in with children throughout the age range and with learning difficulties ranging from moderate to profound. Malcolm has been a Headteacher of three schools and one federation. He is a National Leader of Education, a Member of the National SEND Forum, and Patron of the Centre Algarve holiday centre for people with special needs.

Martin McLean works for National Deaf Children’s Society where he leads a policy and influencing team. A qualified teacher, he has spent years working on SEN and disability policy, developing resources for professionals and has his own lived experience of navigating the education system as a deaf person. The National Deaf Children’s Society is the UK’s leading charity for deaf children and their families, fighting to secure access to the specialist support they need from their earliest years through to adulthood.

Matt McArthur is Assistant Headteacher at Frank Wise School in Banbury, a special school for children and young adults aged between 2 and 19. Matt currently teaches in both primary and secondary classes, and is the subject-leader for Numeracy. He was Director of Teaching School at the school for five years, and continues to support the Oxfordshire Teaching School Hub with SEND-specific strands of Continuing Professional Development, School-to-School support and Initial Teacher Training. Matt is seconded to Whole School SEND as the Deputy Regional SEND Lead for the South Central and North West London region, supporting in the delivery of the Department for Education’s Universal SEND Services contract. Matt enjoys cooking, keeping fit and reading, and is a committed life-long learner. He has a Masters degree in Educational Leadership, and has recently finished his NPQH.

Chief Technology Officer at Concero Education

Matt has worked within the Education IT sector for 18 years at all levels, striving to provide staff and students with a safe, secure, and engaging digital landscape to leverage the opportunities and potential the digital world offers for learning and development. He has a keen focus on support delivery, security, connectivity, devices, and automation. Matt regularly blogs at mattian.co.uk and hosts a podcast, "Edtech People," which explores all angles of how people are impacted and are being impacted by technology within education.

Natalie is an Independent Education Consultant, specialising in SEND and school improvement.  She develops and delivers a wide range of training and support, including SEND reviews, to schools and multi-academy trusts. She works closely with several trusts to support their strategic development of SEND and is a trustee of Learn-AT in Leicestershire. She is an associate for national organisations nasen, Whole Education, Forum Strategy and Leadership Matters. Natalie regularly writes online articles for Optimus and The Key for School Leaders and is the author of The Perfect SENCO, and The Teacher’s Guide to SEN. 

Nicole Dempsey is Trust Director for Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities and Safeguarding at Dixons Academies Trust, a multi-academy trust with schools in Bradford, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.  She is also a Deputy Regional SEND Lead, in the Lancashire and West Yorkshire region, for Whole School SEND, a consortium of organisations committed to enhancing the quality of education for learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities throughout England.  She writes about SEND and inclusion on her blog, inco14.wordpress.com, and tweets under the username @NDempseyDTA.

Chief Executive Officer, Dolphin Computer Access

Awarded the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) Lifetime Achievement Award in April 2022 for 30 years’ work empowering visually impaired people to succeed in a digital world, Noel Duffy has been the driving force behind many UK and international initiatives that bring low-cost access tech and reading systems to blind and partially sighted people facing digital exclusion.

Noel took on the role of CEO in 2007, a role which supports the company’s mission to develop specialist assistive technology for people with visual impairments.

Noel also sits on a number of boards including ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association).  He is a member APPGAT (All Party Parliamentary Group for Assistive Technology). Additionally, Noel has also sat on several boards of trustees of schools supporting children with special educational needs, including New College Worcester, a UK residential school and college for young people who are blind or vision impaired.

Rachel is the Regional SEND Leader for Whole School SEND in the North. She has extensive experience in SEND at senior and executive leadership level and across the education sector.  Rachel has been a mainstream secondary headteacher within a cross phase Multi-Academy Trust. She is currently Director of Academy Improvement across a 4-school special Multi-Academy Trust in the North East and Headteacher of an 11-19 special school for children and young people with Autism and complex needs.  Rachel has delivered SEND Reviewer training to many colleagues in the North over the past year and has also supported a number of Local Authorities to review their SEND strategies. 

Director of Inclusion/Deputy Regional SEND Lead, East of England and North East London (WSS/ NASEN).

Rebecca is the Director of Inclusion for Every Child, Every Day Multi Academy Trust (MAT). Her role includes supporting and working in collaboration with Headteachers, Senior Leaders and SENCOs in developing a person-centred approach to inclusion. Rebecca also works as a Deputy Regional SEND Leader (DRSL) for East of England and North East London. She is a NASENCO tutor and a Module Leader with Middlesex University working in collaboration with Real Training. In addition, she is a Trustee of Calibre Audio, a charity focused on audio reading resources for those with a visual impairment and dyslexia needs. Rebecca’s philosophy is centred on the understanding that every teacher is a teacher of SEND and every leader is a leader of SEND. She has more than 15 years’ experience working as a Senior School Leader, Deputy Headteacher, Assistant Headteacher and a SENCO in several inner-city schools. As part of these multi-faceted roles, she has developed and delivers a five-part course on levels of SEND leadership, supporting SENCOs to progress through a structured hierarchy of competencies in executive leadership skills. At its core, is the empowerment of SENCOs to practice distributive leadership whilst influencing others to prioritise SEND.

She sits on several Local Authority panels, including Workstream 5 and a High Needs’ Funding Group. Recently Rebecca was commissioned to work with the Department for Education as one of their Trust and School Improvement (TSI) officers. This includes supporting schools and Trusts, to drive forward school improvement priorities.

Rochelle joined RNIB in 2019. Before joining RNIB she was working with educational institutions specialising in SEN support in the Middle East, as well as creating and leading Early Intervention Programs for rehabilitation hospitals for children with complex special needs. As Team Leader, Rochelle looks after the daily needs of her Bookshare team, she works with publishers to contribute to Bookshare’s growing collection of educational materials and educational institutions to increase student access to accessible textbooks. Rochelle is dedicated to the individual needs of students and educators alike, and she is passionate that everybody has the same learning experience through accessible textbooks and technology in today’s ever-changing world. 

Roisin McEvoy is the Head of Schools Training and National Programmes at Anna Freud. She leads the team of education and clinical experts who deliver professional learning and national programmes around whole-school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. She is a former teacher and school leader in London secondary schools.

Ruth is a qualified primary school teacher with 20 years+ teaching experience across both mainstream and special school settings – encompassing Early Years to Key Stage 4. During this time Ruth became a Nurture Group Practitioner, Forest School Leader and managed a primary provision for children with Social Emotional and Mental Health difficulties. Through additional studies at the University of Manchester, Ruth became a Qualified Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People and is a member of the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People (BATOD). Further studies at Mary Hare and Hertfordshire University enabled Ruth to become a Qualified Educational Audiologist and is a member of the British Association of Educational Audiologists (BAEA). Currently Ruth is the Head of the STARS Sensory Support Service, based in Middlesbrough in the Northeast of England. The service supports children with hearing and/or sight loss in four local authorities. Ruth is currently working with four local authorities to help them understand the impact inadequate room acoustics and lighting have on all children, especially those with sensory impairment and other special educational needs. 

Sarah is passionate about equality and the importance of valuing diversity; throughout her career she has focused on improving inclusion and accessibility for marginalised groups by advocating for their voices to be heard, respected, and acted upon.

She began this life-long mission when starting her first job working in social care, supporting adults with learning disabilities. Since then, all her roles have involved health, social care, and education and always with a focus on working with people with learning disabilities, autistic people, and family carers.

A visionary leader, with a desire to see a world where all autistic children and young people experience a positive education that supports their wellbeing, this has been strengthened by personal experience of trying to support her own neurodiverse child through education.
Sarah holds a doctorate in applied psychology of learning disabilities and autism, a post-graduate certificate in teaching in higher education, and is a qualified coach.

During her thirteen years in mainstream secondary education, Sarah has worked as Literacy Lead, Specialist Provision Lead (cognition and learning) and SENDCO. Sarah has Specialist Leader in Education status, an MA in Education and is a Specialist Assessor. Sarah has a particular interest in supporting children and young people with cognition and learning needs access an ambitious curriculum. Sarah also has experience with low incidence needs, leading two resourced provisions for children and young people with sensory impairments. Sarah is passionate about improving inclusion and access in mainstream settings and joined the Whole School SEND team in 2021. She is currently the Assistant Principal, SEND, at The King’s Academy in Middlesbrough.

Stella is a School Improvement Partner for The Stour Academy Trust. She leads on SEND and Inclusion and has a doctorate in this area.  
Stella actively promotes inclusive practice based on providing equitable opportunities for all through developing learning spaces in which all children feel a sense of belonging, improved accessibility and personalised learning approaches. Her experience in education includes working in pre-school settings and primary schools. Her current schools have specialist resource provisions for pupils with a primary need of Autism.

Stella is happy to share insights into SEND education and inclusive practice and welcomes visitors to The Stour Academy Trust Microsoft Show Case schools.

Stuart is an experienced (Re)habilitionist, teacher, registered clinical physiologist, and leader who is passionate about ensuring that children have the best start with listening, language, and learning.

As part of the University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service he works in partnership with the NHS to provide cochlear implants, middle ear implants, bone conduction devices and supports their effective use.
 
Stuart contributes to MSc Audiology courses and is actively involved with research in the field of assistive listening devices. He is a member of the Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) special interest group of the British Society of Audiology (BSA) and a Fellow of the BSA.

Tina Harvey has been the Headteacher at Perseid School in Merton for more than 25 years and is the joint lead of the Merton Special Training Association, a provider of specialist training and outreach. Tina has been a teacher for more than 30 years and, for three years until Summer 2018, was also the Executive Head of a local primary school. Tina holds a M.Ed in Childhood Autism from Birmingham University and has a particular interest in leadership at all levels, coaching teachers throughout their leadership journey and the teaching of PSHE.

Tony Murphy is a Chartered Engineer with Institute of  Engineering Technology. Tony has been working as an Engineer for 35 years. Tony has worked for Phonak UK since 2003. Tony is mainly concerned with our range of wireless technology products, including our Roger portfolio, training and customer support for our wireless products range and Bluetooth products. Tony also works with various internal environmental, regulatory and quality improvement groups.  Prior to this, Tony has worked in the off shore oil gas industry, the automotive sector, white goods and initially in photographic equipment manufacturing. 

Vincenza De Falco (Vinny) is a distinguished autism and learning disabilities specialist, fuelled by a passion for systemic change. As an influential leader and dedicated changemaker, she has amassed a wealth of experience across the third sector and various educational settings. Her areas of expertise include learning disabilities, autism, behavioural needs, supported employment, internships, and fostering employer engagement.

Currently, Vinny is a key member of the senior leadership team at ThinkForward UK, an organisation dedicated to providing comprehensive, long-term, holistic coaching to prepare young people for the workforce. She leads their supported employment initiatives, including the innovative 'Making Strides' programme.

Consultant at Concero Education - Powered by TA Education

For over five years, Will has been working with schools and Multi-Academy Trusts to deepen technology adoption in the classroom. He has also worked in education as a teacher of English as a foreign language in primary and secondary schools and as a local authority consultant. Will is interested in how technology affects established pedagogy and is researching the role of collaborative composition in developing children's confidence.