How did you come to have this role?
After college, I became a secondary teaching assistant for eight years while successfully completing a BA Hons in Special Educational Needs & Inclusion in Society, with English and Education Studies.
I then did the Graduate Trainee Programme and gained qualified teacher status (QTS). Throughout this period, I also become a Senco assistant, and was inspired by great teachers and impactful leaders.
Have you introduced any strategies or initiatives to support children with SEND in your school?
Recently, I have been working closely with our primary Sendcos at the Summit Learning Trust to develop enhanced learning provisions (ELP) and pathways for our younger learners who have a range of complex SEND in mainstream early years settings and key stage 1.
These are small group sessions for our youngest pupils who have been identified as having complex needs and challenges with speech and communication. We give targeted support for eventual re-integration into mainstream classes, or supports specialist pathways.
Our designated ELP rooms allow for practical and sensory based activities and, where appropriate, we ensure pupils remain connected with their mainstream class and teachers.
Whilst we are still in our piloting phase, collaborating with one another, external agencies, parents and carers is proving highly valuable in enabling us to identify emerging and escalating needs early on.
We do this through a graduated response, thereby providing more conducive and holistic educational experiences and provisions for our children.
What have you done in your role that makes you feel proud of your own work, or that of your team?
Around 10 years ago I was privileged to work with Birmingham’s Pupil & School Support Services in conjunction with Helen Sanderson Associates (HSA)to pilot person centred tools and annual reviews.
These tools are scaffolded visual templates and images to support and guide olistic conversations and meetings with a child, their family and key professionals. They help us to focus on an individual’s strengths, support requirements and future aspirations.
HSA has previously been successful in using these approaches in the health and social care sector and, more recently, these have been adapted and cascaded down to schools through the local authority.
Adopting these approaches not only transformed the ways in which colleagues and I worked with the children, young people and the significant people in their lives, but it facilitated a forum in which we could gain a genuine understanding of what was important to, and for, our learners, both now and in the future.
Our learners began to refer to their EHCP review as ‘a party’, as successes, achievements and clear next steps were celebrated and enjoyed with a cuppa and cake!
How do you relax when you’re not working?
Furthering my enjoyment of visiting the theatre, I have recently joined a musical theatre choir. Not only has this been a great way to connect with people in my local community but also to release endorphins which have boosted both my mood and wellbeing through laughing as much as singing.
If you hadn’t gone into teaching, what might you have done instead?
I think I would have combined my love of the theatre and interior design, maybe into a career in wardrobe or stage design.
If you had 10 minutes with the education secretary, what advice would you give her, or what problem would you ask her to address?
The previous Government set out a plan for SEND in March 2023, and while this plan didn’t address everything, the proposals were welcomed.
Given the SEN Code of Practice of 2015 is still the main legislative framework for schools to follow I would ask her how soon, and in what guise, can we anticipate a bold and much-needed reform of SEND to support our most vulnerable children and young people?
*One of Summit Learning Trust’s schools – Ninestiles, An Academy – won the Inclusive School of the Year title at the 2025 Tes Schools Awards earlier this year.
