Amanda Hipkiss

Amanda Hipkiss was the SENCO at Mullion School on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall for 25 years, a time when the SENCO role grew and developed with changing legislation.  In 1988, she was a full time English teacher who ‘did a bit of SEN on the side’.  By 2013, she was a member of Senior Management with a reduced timetable, continued responsibility for those with SEN and the Team Leader for 14 Teaching Assistants.

The school has built a reputation for enabling a wide range of pupils with SEN to access mainstream education, including those with complex conditions, earning ‘Outstanding’ from Ofsted.  Amanda developed a training programme for TAs and other paraprofessionals in her own school.  This led to the delivery of further training at local and county level, and nationally. 

Recently, Amanda has delivered workshops about selecting, training and working TAs at the Optimus SEND Conference in 2012, and locally for NQTs, new SENCOs and staff in both primary and secondary schools.  She led a workshop on inclusive classroom practice at the recent NASEN Learning Events debating the Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice: for 0 to 25 years.