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Dr Nic Crossley is Director of Inclusion at Astrea Academy Trust. 

A research graduate from the University of Exeter, Nicola is Executive Director for Inclusion at Astrea. Her role involves working with schools to enhance the learning experience for all vulnerable learners; but particularly those who are disadvantaged and/or have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Her specialist interest areas are Autism and Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) and she is passionate about improving provision in these areas, in particular.

Her previous experience is varied having worked across Primary, Secondary, Mainstream and Specialist provision. She has worked as a Consultant Principal to two Special schools and as a School Inspector and has also written and led leadership development training for middle and senior leaders in Primary, Secondary and Special Education in England, Wales and Jersey. Her areas of professional expertise include: school improvement through action planning and impact analysis, evaluating the effectiveness of targeted interventions, and leadership development through coaching and mentoring.

With a Masters in Educational Leadership and Management, a Masters in Practice-Based Educational Research and a Doctorate in Education, Nicola has supported schools to develop their own research-based practice. Her research interests include: the impact of government reform on conceptualisations of professionalism through the lens of critical discourse analysis and factors which contribute to academic underachievement in children of compulsory school age in England.

Nicola is co-author of [Inclusion: A Principled Guide for School Leaders] and is an Honorary Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick

A qualified Social Worker and organisational therapist, Dave has worked in residential child care since the early 1990s. He became head of Mulberry Bush training in 2006, leading them to three National Training Awards, in 2007, 2012 and 2021.

He was integral in developing the, award winning,  ‘Foundation Degree in Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People’, with the University of the West of England, for which he is programme leader. He has also acted as a Specialist Leader in Education (SLE).

He has developed a range of training programmes that he has delivered across the UK and Europe and currently developing a supervision in schools programme, a topic he has written and presented on many times. His PhD studies, though IoE/UCL, used a case study approach to follow the lives and stories of four children and their families through the children's placements at the Mulberry Bush School.

Andrea Richards is an independent speech and language therapist whose specialism is working with mainstream primary schools, bridging the gap between education and health.

She prioritises recommendations from high profile reviews, such as the Bercow Report and ICAN’s ‘Speaking up for the Covid Generation’, in which early identification of need, early intervention, and joint working between services are highlighted as essential.

Andrea is the author of The Chatterbugs Manual – a 12 week programme designed to develop the foundation communication skills in children in the Early Years’ Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception).  The targeted skills are attention and listening, turn-taking, and building vocabulary and sentence structure, thereby developing children’s readiness for learning in school.

Andrea has extensive clinical experience working with a wide range of clients, from pre-schoolers to young adults. Having also worked as a Teaching Fellow at University College London, contributing to the undergraduate and postgraduate Speech Therapy courses, her clinical practice is informed by sound evidence-based approaches.

Her website can be found at www.chatschool.org

Shaaron is a Paediatric Occupational Therapist with extensive clinical experience working with children and young people with a range of difficulties and disabilities. Her experience includes both medical and community settings; mainstream schools, resource bases and pupil referral units. She has a broad scope of additional training including sensory integration, Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance, Sequential Oral Sensory feeding, and Coaching to name a few.

Rachel Cosgrove studied Zoology before training to teach and has over 25 years of experience across primary, special and secondary schools. As a highly effective secondary SENCo and Assistant Head Teacher, she created innovative provision for vulnerable groups including a successful foundation science pathway.  

Rachel is a trained and experienced SEND reviewer and is a nasen associate.  As an education consultant she works with primary and secondary schools to develop inclusive practise. Rachel works with Oxfordshire Virtual School for Children We Care For and champions attachment and trauma informed practice. As a well-respected conference speaker and workshop facilitator, she enjoys sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge with teachers, student teachers and support staff.  

Rachel is author of the book ‘Inclusive Teaching in a Nutshell’, which was published in July 2021 and is a jam-packed guide to all things inclusive for mainstream teachers in any setting.

David has worked as an Educational Psychologist in several northeastern authorities over the last 15 years.  He initially worked as a secondary maths teacher before retraining in counselling (working in schools and mental health settings) and then psychology.  David has been involved with the Association of Educational Psychologists for over 10 years; 2 years ago he was elected President; this is a voluntary role, David continues to work full time as an EP in the north east.  Outside of work David likes to run in the North Yorkshire Moors and the Lake District and also seems to spend lots of time helping his son with A level maths. 

Tania Tirraoro is the founder and co-director of the influential, award-winning SEND website, Special Needs Jungle. Tania is the parent of two adult autistic children and was diagnosed as autistic herself as an adult. She is a member of the Whole School SEND Impact Steering Group as well as several other national SEND and medical advisory groups. Tania is also an Ehlers Danlos syndrome/chronic pain advocate, an author, and a former television journalist, as well as a recent grandmother!

Rebecca Tranter is the Lead for the Specialist Autism Support Service at Fosse Way School, where she leads a service to support autistic children and young people to reach their potential and thrive within their educational placements, alongside developing Autism-awareness and understanding within the wider community. Becca is an experienced lead trainer for the Autism Education Trust and Strategic Partner for the South West Schools Programme, alongside an experienced SEN Teacher, Specialist Leader of Education and member of many local advisory and strategic groups. Becca shares the vision of an autism-friendly and understanding world where diversity is celebrated and differences accepted.  

Stephen Parsons has worked as a Speech and Language Therapist for over 30 years, including over 20 years in Hackney and the City of London where he was Speech and Language Therapy Service Manager. He originally trained in Australia.  He has a long term interest in vocabulary and has published research in the area. He is Chair of NAPLIC, the UK organisation for professionals working with developmental language disorder, and UK representative of RADLD, the international campaign to raise awareness of developmental language disorder.

Ros Luff is a parent, former school governor for SEN and describes herself as a SEND Advocate. Her youngest child is autistic and has experience of both mainstream and specialist schooling. Ros has been involved with parent carer forums for over ten years. She has seen the SEND system from SEND pathfinder, Children's & Families Act 2014, implementation and now informing on the SEND review.

Unity Schools Partnership is a family of secondary, primary and special schools located mainly in Suffolk, and also on the Essex and Cambridgeshire borders as well as Romford in East London.

Each school shares the same values and faces similar issues, while providing a close network of support and challenge. We recognise the unique characteristics of each of the communities we work in and how they are reflected in distinctive school cultures.

Unity is committed to a partnership that respects, sustains and supports. We encourage cultural diversity, celebrate the special qualities of each of our schools and recognise that communities must develop and grow to become sustainable.

The central belief of the Partnership is that every young life is special – open to possibility, gifted with the potential to change the world for the better. Our ambition is to unlock the potential of all children, remove the barriers to aspiration and ensure that all our children succeed.

Gary joined the EEF on secondment in September 2021. In his Content Specialist role, he aims to support schools to be evidence-informed in their practice for students with SEND. Alongside this, he leads on SEND provision for a Multi Academy Trust in London and Hertfordshire. He is a secondary Drama teacher and former SENDCO and Head of Year.

Gary authors the SENDMatters.co.uk blog and has recently written The Lone SENDCO, a handbook for SENDCOs.

Dr. Kulvarn Atwal completed his PGCE at the University of East London in 1999 and has worked in 4 East London schools. He began studying for his Masters in Education in his NQT year and has been a passionate advocate of teacher engagement in research. In 2016, Kulvarn completed his Professional Doctorate in Education, and his thesis investigated the factors that impact upon teacher engagement in professional learning activities. His conceptual framework included a model designed for school leaders to implement in schools to maximise teachers' formal and informal learning opportunities.

For the past nine years he has been Head Teacher at Highlands Primary School and is currently also Head Teacher at Uphall Primary School. In 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 Highlands was recognised by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as one of the highest performing primary schools in London for pupil progress. He has just published his first book, The Thinking School – Developing a Dynamic Learning Community. He tweets at @thinkingschool2.

Katherine Walsh is the Regional SEND Leader for South Central England and Northwest London with Whole School SEND and Co-Project Director for the Educational Endowment Foundation’s SEND Review Trial.

She is an experienced teacher and school leader, bringing fifteen years teaching experience and nine years as a senior leader to the role. Katherine has experience teaching in both primary and secondary schools as a class teacher, Qualified Teacher of the Deaf and Autism Resource Base Teacher. Katherine is also an experienced SENCO; she has led SEND provision in primary and secondary schools in England and America. Over the past ten years, Katherine has developed particular expertise in working with leadership teams to develop school-wide systems, establishing shared and inclusive visions for the education of children and young people with SEND.

Amelie Thompson has worked in education for over 20 years, including 12 years as a senior leader and headteacher. She now works at Greenshaw Learning Trust as Assistant Director of Education - SEND. She is also the regional lead with Whole School SEND for South East England and South London (SESLON) region and lead author of the Teacher Handbook: SEND. Amelie has a keen interest in how we, as leaders, build systems and create environments that enable ‘every teacher to be a teacher of SEND’ – driven by leadership that builds inclusivity into all aspects of school practice. As a school leader, she challenges herself to consistently reflect on the operational implications and implementation of this strategic vision and is strongly committed to cross-phase and cross-sector collaboration to achieve this.

Dr Matt Silver is the CEO of Pathways Education, an education group that creates equitable communities that thrive from serving each other and our planet. Pathways runs re-engagement schools, hybrid college/social enterprises supporting learners with additional needs into employment. They also run a Development arm that consults and lectures internationally on a host of topics in leadership and SEND, whilst also coaching with Complete executive group. 

Dr Andrew Sutcliffe is a Chartered Educational Psychologist and an accredited Leadership Coach. Having started his career as a teaching assistant and learning disability care worker, Andrew now has more than 25 years of experience working in mainstream schools, day nurseries, 6th forms, specialist provisions, Sure Start centres, charities, social care teams, and school governing bodies.

Andrew currently works independently across North and East London, supporting mainstream schools and specialist provisions with individual inclusion, staff development and whole-school systems. Andrew’s practice is grounded in humanistic, inclusive, and person-centred principles, within the structures of consultation, coaching, supervision, and reflective practice.

Andrew’s special interests are gender diversity, neurodiversity, positive parenting, and emotionally aware leadership.

Alan Wood is Co-Founder and Director of Evidence for Learning. Evidence for Learning (EfL) has transformed how more than schools, colleges and provisions are able to evidence, assess, review and plan for meeting the unique needs of learners. It is an app which supports an inquiry-based approach to education and provision, allowing all stakeholders in a child's learning to quickly and easily gather photo and video evidence, linked to the individual’s learning goals. Observations can be annotated and tagged to reflect a school’s basket of indicators. EfL has also changed how parents/carers, external stakeholders and the learner themselves are engaged and empowered to be involved in the entire learning process and journey – a multi-agency approach. In 2018 EfL launched the LearningShared SEND community which brought together more than 80 specialist SEND leaders and practitioners across the UK. The community has since developed into a professional learning community comprising more than 2000 practitioners from that support learners with SEND.

Jessie is the Deputy Money editor at The Times and The Sunday Times. She is the author of Autism, How to Raise a Happy Autistic Child. Her eldest son is autistic and has recently moved from a mainstream primary to a special secondary school.