How long have you worked with children who have SEND?
I worked in mainstream with children with significant additional needs for 13 years before joining Adelaide School in Crewe, part of the Manor Hall Academy Trust, 14 years ago.
How did you come to have your current role?
I fell into the role – it wasn’t a career choice
My journey with SEND began while working in a mainstream school, where I was asked to set up a ‘nurture’ group to teach English and maths to a group of pupils who needed a level of support that a class of 30 pupils could never provide.
I gave them a soft start to the day working with me, doing some English and maths, before they joined the rest of their year group to move to other subjects such as art. They would be with me from registration until breaktime.
Later, when I returned from my maternity leave, I was given a full English timetable and during this time achieved Advanced Skills Teacher status. The school Senco at the time, Val, who was an absolute inspiration to me, moved on to work for the local authority, and I was asked to take her role.
Together with the assistant Senco we achieved Nurture Network accreditation for our work with the additional needs pupils. These were very early days for the concept of nurture in a mainstream secondary school.
After that, I moved to Adelaide School as an English teacher but became the Senco at the point that Statements of Education were transferring to EHCPs. Overnight, I saw a side to special education I had never openly acknowledged before and developed a thirst for knowledge.
SEND is such a broad field that I wanted to learn as much as I could, and I returned to university several times to acquire postgraduate qualifications in autism, mental health and dyslexia, as well as a Masters in educational psychology.
What’s it like working across several settings?
When you work across multiple settings, you need to ensure that you keep your mind open and spend time getting to know the pupils in your charge.
No two schools are identical, and you cannot be effective in any role in SEND without really knowing the pupils you are working with and seeing first hand the challenges they face in lessons. That is when you can really provide appropriate and personalised advice and guidance.
Relationships with parents are also critical to effective SEND coordination, and not being based on one site can make building these relationships difficult too.
Working across multiple sites give you opportunities to share great practice. I see so many innovative approaches, and it’s really good to share and give credit where credit is due.
What strategies or initiatives have you introduced to support children with SEND in your school?
I have introduced lots of initiatives over the years, but what I love to see most is when staff on-site take one of my ideas and mould it to make it their own.
I don’t ever want to come across as a ‘know-it-all’, and the most rewarding aspect of my role today is seeing newer or younger staff really understand the concepts and theory behind an initiative and deploy strategies to make real changes to the provision for pupils.
Effective SEND provision requires a family approach and investment from everyone to make it work.
What in your role has made you feel proud of your own work, or that of your team?
I feel proudest when colleagues tell me how they have used strategies or followed a procedure I have instigated.
I am the geek behind the scenes, and that is where I belong.
In Adelaide School, a pupil from my form group is now a teaching assistant, and a teaching assistant from when I taught English is now the deputy head teacher.
I am under no illusion that this is down to me, but I get a sense of satisfaction that they will both go on to drive SEND forward with the passion I have.
How do you relax when you’re not working?
I like to take my mind off work by paddleboarding or painting.
I find both excellent opportunities to reflect and process, as well as generate new ideas or solutions.
Secretly, I also study. I read the education journals, and I complete courses relating to work and really enjoy expanding my own understanding. As I said, I’m a geek, and I need to know ‘why’!
If you hadn’t gone into teaching, what might you have done instead?
The 16-year-old me wanted to be a graphic designer until the careers advisor told me it was a competitive field!
Doing this article has made me reflect on my career and whilst there was a time I would be embarrassed about being a teacher and the teasing I would get about long school holidays, this is what I was always supposed to do.
The young people I have worked with, and all of my excellent colleagues, have made me who I am and taught me the importance of empathy.
If you had 10 minutes with the education secretary, what advice would you give her?
Here’s hoping she’s reading this with her morning coffee!
It’s time for truly inclusive education. It’s time to level the playing fields between maintained and independent settings and to reinvest in an education system that reduces class sizes, so that our excellent teaching community has a greater opportunity to increase inclusive practices, without the compromise of day-to-day pressures of too many pupils and not enough time.
The recent white paper and SEND reforms acknowledge this need but don’t dig deep enough into the steps required to effect real change.
…and now I am stepping down from my soap box.
*A version of this article appeared in the Summer issue of SENDsational Futures magazine.
