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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.

My name is Dr Tracy Laverick and I work as a Senior lecturer in Special Educational Needs at Leeds Trinity University. I also work as a Senior Educational Psychologist for a local authority.  
 
A former teacher and SENCo I moved into Educational Psychology roles and have worked in a number of local authorities over the past 20 years, working directly with young people and in strategic roles supporting SEND systems within the LA. I am passionate about raising the profile and researching LA SEN Assessment and Review teams, as vital contributors to SEND system reform.

Alex, Education Information Manager, has been part of Thomas Pocklington Trust’s Education team for 4 years, supporting many blind and partially sighted students along the way. He is registered blind and is passionate about empowering students to reach their full potential and has a keen interest in how technology can enable students to thrive.

Aaron, Student Support Service Adviser, is an experienced member of the Student Support Service at Thomas Pocklington Trust. Alongside colleagues, he delivers high quality information, advice, and guidance, to blind and partially sighted students, parents, and the professionals who contact our service. Visually impaired himself, Aaron wants to see a future where all blind and partially sighted students have the means to succeed and live the life they want to lead.
 

When teaching in a college more than 35 years ago Richard met a blind student who needed to access textbooks and software used on his course. Thus began a thrilling and varied career in what we now refer to as accessibility. After holding senior positions in national and international non-profits, Richard is now Chief Executive of the DAISY Consortium, the global organization whose mission is to develop standards and solutions for accessible publishing and reading.

Now Chief Marketing Officer at Dolphin Computer Access, Simon has enjoyed over 17 years in the assistive technology industry. During this time, Simon has helped to ensure that Dolphin products empower people with vision impairments and dyslexia to read and succeed. 

Annamarie Hassall MBE is the Chief Executive (CEO) of nasen with responsibility for strategic direction and operational delivery across the full breadth of nasen’s activity. nasen CEO is the main point of contact for the board of trustees and has a close working relationship with the Department for Education (DfE). Annamarie also has overall responsibility for external relations and business development.

Vicky Cull is the Chief Examiner for Art and Design at UAL Awarding Body. She has over 25 years of teaching experience in both Further Education and Higher Educations, specialising in Textiles and Drawing. She fundamentally believes that the creative arts are for everyone and that they transform lives for the better, enabling confidence building, a sense of community and above all fun! 

Marc is both an academic and practitioner in the creative arts sector and brings substantial practical expertise and academic insight to his role as Chief Examiner for Performing and Production Arts at UAL Awarding Body. Marc has extensive experience in curriculum design and qualification development and is an advocate of the transformative power of the arts. Marc’s research interests extend to creative environments/spaces and his directing practice has a focus on cross-arts collaborative storytelling. 

Ginny has been teaching longer than she hasn't. She has been a Headteacher, Senior
Manager and Class teacher, teaching all ages in the Primary age range.

Working to support SENDCOs and teachers across special, primary and secondary
schools, Ginny is able to bring experience, wisdom and common sense to an area
that can sometimes get bogged down in jargon and paperwork.

Through her highly-regarded book and also her published articles, podcast
appearances and speaking engagements for schools, MATS and national events
such as The National SEN Conference, The Education Show Wales and NASEN
Live, Ginny shares straightforward tips and ideas that save time and energy for all
those working with our most vulnerable children.

Helen Battelley, an internationally respected Early Years Physical Development consultant, trainer, author and brings energy and a motivational approach to raising the profile of PA in the early years. As the chair of the National Early Years Active Start Partnership (NEYASP), she leads a diverse group of stakeholders from across the UK to address the systemic challenges in the early years sector to ensure that every child benefits from the positive outcomes of play and PA. NEYASP are taking positive action to inform and support policy makers and inspection bodies to ensure the sector is taking an evidence-informed approach and valuing the place of physical development in a child’s life, right from the moment they enter the world! 

Webcasts

This session was delivered by Emma Shackleton

Sarah holds an MSc in Social Cognition and a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. At the University of Oxford, she worked on research into the effectiveness of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) using LanguageScreen and also supported the rollout of NELI to thousands of schools across England. In her role at OxEd, Sarah supports schools to deliver the NELI programme in the UK and internationally. 

Heba is the Assistant Headteacher and inclusion leader at London's Mayflower Primary School. She has taught in inner London primary schools since 2007, and holds a Masters in Special and Inclusive Education from University College London Institute of Education (IOE) .

As a specialist leader, Heba provides support to schools locally and more widely through her secondment role as a deputy regional lead at Whole School SEND (NASEN). Heba is passionate about research and implementing innovative practice.  She has secured funding for a variety of school projects including the use of sensory integration to provide whole class support for children aged 3-7 years and helping children with  special educational needs improve their recall strategies. 

She was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2019 to look at inclusive practices in mainstream schools in New York for Autistic pupils.  This year, she has received another grant from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to pilot a project at her school in collaboration with the Centre of Research in Autism Education (CRAE), UCL.  Heba is also a PHD student at CRAE (Centre for Research in Autism Education) UCL , exploring the collaboration of caregivers of autistic children from minority ethnic backgrounds with school professionals.

Damian Matthews is Headteacher at The Marvell College, Hull.  Having previously worked in private industry, he has been a teacher for nearly 18 years, 12 of them in senior leadership roles.  Whilst working in an outstanding school, he was first seconded to The Marvell College as Deputy Headteacher playing a key role in helping the school improve from special measures to good.  Damian has a wide range of experience in managing system and culture change and has led a wholesale review of practice and attitudes in relation to SEND and inclusion in the school over the last 4 years.