Delivering Statutory RSE 2021 - Digital - Speakers

Shabnam Anam, Educational Consultant, Dewdrop Education

Shabnam lectures in Initial Teacher Education for the primary teacher training programmes at Leeds Beckett University where her specialist areas are: race, diversity and inclusion. She is a lead coach for the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality and supports schools in achieving their Antiracist School Award. Shabnam is passionate about authenticity, equity, and empowerment and has been in primary education for over 20 years, serving diverse communities as a class teacher, SENDCo, Head Teacher, Governor and Trustee. She is also an independent education consultant and runs DewDrop Education to share her expertise and support organisations.

Laina Cores Birch, young RSE advocate, and Trustee at Sexpression:UK

Laina (she/her) is an award-winning sex education advocate, championing the voices of young people to ensure that their needs, wants, and experiences drive commissioning and provision throughout the UK. She has been involved with RSE advocacy since she was a teenager and has delivered RSE in schools with Sexpression:UK, the national student-led RSE charity, where she recently completed her term as the National Director. Laina is now a trustee of Sexpression:UK and undertaking her MFL teacher training at the University of Manchester, with a keen interest in inclusive RSE that centres pupils and young people.

Daniel Guinness, Managing Director, Beyond Equality

Dan is passionate about helping men & boys rethink masculinities and their lives, so that they are equipped with the knowledge, peer-support and community to practise doing better by women, girls and non-binary people, by each other, and by themselves. Alongside his gentleness and authenticity, it is his dedication that makes him particularly good at getting people on board with Beyond Equality’s work. Dan holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Oxford University and has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals on the results of his multi-year research projects into masculinities, changing organisational cultures, and mobility within global labour markets.

Jonny Hunt, Sex Education Consultant

Jonny is an independent sex education (RSE) consultant, working face-to-face with children and young people from the age of four years upwards, delivering workshops and writing educational packages, as well as training the professionals that work with them. He specialises in delivering inclusive RSE, with a sex-positive approach, encouraging both adults and young people to explore their attitudes and values to sex and relationships. Jonny considers himself privileged to be able to talk to young people and help to shape their views and expectations when it comes to sex and relationships.

Ben Hurst, Lead Facilitator, Beyond Equality

Ben’s warmth, humour, and energy are central in building and maintaining Beyond Equality’s volunteer community and in getting people on board with their approach and mission. Ben has a wealth of experience in working with young people, having previously worked at sex education charity ACET UK (Esteem) and gained a degree in Youth Work and Theology from Regents Theological College. Ben provides freelance facilitation via Space for PSHE and co-delivers critical whiteness and anti-racist practice training with Decology.

Rebecca Jennings, RAISE Education

Author of 'Sex & Relationship Education in Primary Schools' and Subject Matter Expert working with the Department of Education to design the 2020 RSHE staff training , Rebecca has worked in the field of Sex & Relationship Education for over 18 years. Previously working as the Relationship and Sex Education Lead alongside the NHS, Rebecca now works as a freelance RSE teacher and trainer in her company RAISE (raising awareness in sex education). Rebecca is a qualified CIPD trainer, with qualifications in counselling and a RCN certificate in sexual health. She now works across the country delivering sessions on a range of sexual health subjects such as pornography, sexting, female genital mutilation (FGM), contraception & sexual health. Rebecca has recently worked alongside the Department of Education as a subject matter expert to assist with the content of RSHE topics including being safe, sexual intimacy and friendships.

Catherine Kirk, Director, RSHE Service

Catherine has worked in the RSHE field for over 20 years, as an author, trainer, and teacher. She has recently led on the roll out of DfE funded RSHE training across the East Midlands, is a series editor and author of RSHE resources for both primary and secondary schools and has led RSHE development in two local authorities. Through her company, the RSHE Service, Catherine delivers workshops to children and young people in schools across the country, giving her an understanding of pedagogy, how pupils respond to RSHE, and the challenges that staff may face when teaching.

Claire Lightley, Director, Lightley Consulting

Claire runs Lightley Consulting, a training consultancy offering support around relationships and sex education for anyone working with people with disabilities. Claire previously worked for FPA, the sexual health charity, for 17 years providing training and consultancy for professionals. Claire also works for Image in Action, managing RSE projects in special schools and is the RSE adviser for the Me and My Body project run by Mencap.

Katherine Marhsall, Anti-bullying and Online Safety Coordinator, Nottinghamshire County Council

Katherine currently shares the role of Anti-bullying and Online Safety Coordinator for Nottinghamshire County Council with Lorna Naylor. They work within a team called Tackling Emerging Threats to Children which is a universal service offering support, advice and training to schools and settings across Nottinghamshire. Online safety and behaviour cuts through all their areas of expertise, and they are passionate about the need for schools to develop strong online safety/behaviour curriculums and strategies to support young people. Pupils need to develop the skills to be technically and socially responsible digital citizens to make the most of the opportunities available to them to thrive in the 21st century.

Angela Milliken-Tull, Co-founder, Chameleon PDE

Angela has over 25 years’ experience working in education and public health. She has experience in the secondary and university sector and is trained as a public health specialist with a focus on health and wellbeing of children and young people. She has led on several innovative projects that have shown measurable improvements for young people. As co-founder of Chameleon PDE, she is passionate about empowering teachers to confidently deliver quality PSHE to build the skill set and support the life chances of young people.

Lorna Naylor, Anti-bullying and Online Safety Coordinator, Nottinghamshire County Council

Lorna currently shares the role of Anti-bullying and Online Safety Coordinator for Nottinghamshire County Council with Katherine Marshall. They work within a team called Tackling Emerging Threats to Children which is a universal service offering support, advice and training to schools and settings across Nottinghamshire. The team looks at a range of areas including child sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation, safeguarding, mental health issues, equalities as well as health related issues. Recently they have been involved in supporting schools around the implementation of the new statutory RSHE curriculum.

Richard Palmer, Co-founder, Chameleon PDE

Richard is a qualified primary school teacher with over 25 years’ experience as a teacher and consultant for PSHE, Citizenship and pupil wellbeing. He has worked at Local Authority level supporting all settings including early years, primary, secondary, alternative provision and post-16; and held a regional Advisory PSHE position. He has also worked in the university sector and continues to act as a guest lecturer for university and school-based ITE programmes. Through establishing Chameleon PDE with Angela, Richard now offers resources and training to empower teachers to deliver high quality PSHE.

Andrew Tidswell, Director Professional Development at Discovery Education

Andrew is responsible for managing the creation, implementation and delivery of all of educator Professional Development programmes provided by Discovery Education outside of the US. He is also responsible for leading teams of content writers and PD Specialists to ensure Discovery Education create and deliver the highest quality Professional Development.

Prior to working for Discovery Education Andrew was a freelance consultant and trainer for 12 years, supporting teachers and schools around the UK and overseas, across a range of specialisms including: interactive technology, digital media, coding, STEM and Primary Maths. He built relationships with a range of schools, organisations and education companies. Between 1990 and 2004 he was a teacher and Senior Leader at three schools in Leeds UK, teaching in both the Primary and Middle school phases.