Engaging SEND Provision - Digital - Speakers

Amjad Ali, Senior Leader and Trainer, Try This Teaching

Amjad Ali (@ASTSupportAali) is a teacher, trainer, TEDx speaker and Senior Leader. He currently works four days a week in a start up secondary school and offers CPD/INSET on his other day. Amjad has spent his teaching career working in challenging, diverse schools. He is a qualified, practising SENCO and is also trained as an Advanced Skills Teacher in Teaching and Learning. Amjad has delivered CPD to all sectors in education from trainee teachers to Executive/Head Teachers/CEOs and has worked with over 200 schools and 1000s of students. Amjad is ambitious and committed to making a difference to the education system. He is a current teacher, who shares 'what works' in an engaging and easy to understand format. Amjad also writes a reflective blog entitled NewToThePost where he discusses many elements of his leadership and experience.

Hermann Farrington, Headteacher, The Village School

Hermann is headteacher at The Village school in Brent, North London, a large all through special school catering for pupils with complex needs. Hermann has worked in the educational sector for over twenty years in Special, Mainstream and AP with both primary and secondary age pupils.  Hermann is also a PBS coach and  has a keen interest in the areas of mental health and behaviour.

Jo Billington, Doctoral Researcher, Centre for Autism, University of Reading

Jo is an autism researcher, lecturer, and advocate.  Her research is focused on documenting the lived experiences of autistic children in mainstream primary schools with the aim of developing autism-friendly educational policy and practice. In addition to her academic work, Jo is a specialist autism practitioner for Berkshire-based charity Parenting Special Children, and a mental health trainer for The Charlie Waller Trust.

Watch Jo introduce her session 'School Support: What autistic children and young people say works best for them'

Colin Foley, National Director of Training, The ADHD Foundation

Colin Foley is the training director of the ADHD Foundation, the largest ADHD charity in Europe. After twenty-five years as a secondary teacher and senior leader, Colin’s work for the ADHD Foundation is grounded in empowering teachers to deliver outstanding outcomes for children and young people with ADHD through increased awareness of the condition and through practical classroom strategies that every teacher can use at all key stages.

Watch Colin introduce his session on supporting learners with ADHD

Jack Gibbs, Head of School, Romans Field School

Jack is the Head of a SEMH primary special school and is passionate about creating the right education to support every child. He has worked in mainstream, special, independent, and resourced provision, helping schools to gain and maintain outstanding grades from Ofsted. His expertise includes developing a multidisciplinary approach to education including school-based therapy models, galvanising inclusive school cultures, and of course practical knowledge for supporting children with SEN, SEMH and autism. He is a qualified teacher and SENCO with a masters in education, and is currently qualifying to become a dyslexia specialist teacher/assessor and completing the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers. Follow him on twitter on @tamethemind.

Nina Jackson, SEND, Mental Health and Wellbeing Consultant

Nina Jackson is a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Consultant with over 30 years' experience as a teacher, senior leader and therapist. She now works as an International Advisor and trainer working with children, teachers, leaders and parents. Her most recent award winning book ‘Of Teaching, Learning and Sherbet Lemons’ has a wide range of SEND related chapters to help you find your ‘fizz’ when it comes to supporting everyone and anyone in the field of SEND. You can find her at www.teachlearncreate.com and as an Associate Director with Independent Thinking Ltd as well as on twitter as @musicmind.

Watch Nina introduce her session on the impact of the pandemic and interventions to support recovery

Simon Knight, Joint Headteacher, Frank Wise School

Simon is Joint Headteacher at Frank Wise school, a school for children aged between 2 and 19 with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities. He is also a National SEND Leader for Whole School SEND - a consortium committed to enhancing the quality of education for learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Natalie Packer, Education Consultant

Natalie is an independent Education Consultant specialising in SEND and school improvement.  She develops and delivers a wide range of training and support to schools and multi-academy trusts. She is also a trustee of Learn-AT multi-academy trust in the East Midlands and a member of nasen’s 0-11 Advisory Group. Natalie is the author of The Perfect SENCO and The Teacher’s Guide to SEN.

Professor Deborah Robinson,  University of Derby

Deborah is a Professor of SEND and inclusion working at the University of Derby within the School of Education. Her career began working as a primary teacher in the Inner London Education Authority and she has also worked in Nottingham and Nottingham City as a SEND co-ordinator and Deputy Head. Her current research focusses on mainstream school improvement for SEND and Inclusion and policy for the early years. She also has specialist interest in teacher education for SEND and inclusion, broader policy and practice, inclusive assessment and transition to adulthood.

Nick Sheffield, Head of Curriculum and Assessment, part of the Expert Rochford Review Group

Nick Sheffield is Head of Curriculum and Assessment at Linden Lodge School, a Sensory Impairment Specialist SEN School in South London, and was previously an Assistant Head at Woodfield Teaching School and a PMLD and SLD class teacher at The Village. Nick was part of the Expert Rochford Review Group which produced the Jan 2020 Engagement Model Guidance and is a guest lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire and Middlesex University. Nick's main specialism is Profound and Severe Learning Disabilities (PMLD, SLD) and has worked on many international conferences on The Rochford Review, Engagement, SEN Mental Health and Curriculum.  "I was hugely impressed by Mr Sheffield's passion, commitment and work ethic, I became similiarly impressed by his deep insight into the education of children with PMLD/CLDD. The quality of his insight was always of the highest order," Richard Airde O.B.E.

Dr Matt Silver, CEO of Pathways Education

Dr Matt Silver is the CEO of Pathways Education, building digital and physical training, hosting and funding social enterprise that carves pathways to autonomous opportunities for our young adults with additional needs to apply their unique strengths into equitable and sustainable roles of personal and social value.

Listen to Dr Matt Silver introduce his first session on understanding the motivation behind engagement and how to align it. Watch Matt introduce his upcoming session on 'Meaningful Mastery Project Based Learning to build sustainable post-19 digital enterprise'