WHO AM I?

I started my career in education in 2006, working as a lesson supervisor at Cheney School in Oxford before qualifying as a mathematics teacher in 2008. Since then, my career has gravitated towards the field of special education needs and disabilities (SEND), driven by a desire to help ensure that children and young adults feel included, supported and are able to make excellent progress, both in and outside of the classroom or workplace.

I have worked as a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) for ten years and have been assessing students for access arrangements since 2015. As part of my professional development, in 2019 I qualified as a diagnostic specialist assessor of specific learning difficulties (SpLD). My Assessment Practise Certificate to diagnose SpLDs (dyslexia) was recently renewed by the British Dyslexia Association in April 2022.

I have made every effort to holistically improve my knowledge of SEND, how to assess and support students with SpLDs, including those with co-occurring difficulties. I have taken part many courses, including those authorised by the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee, on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autistic spectrum condition (ASC) and dyscalculia. The courses I have found most influential relate to those that have helped me have a better understanding of co-occurring difficulties and assessing students with tricky profiles. Often it is the rule, rather than the exception that neurodiverse conditions co-exist.

As someone who has worked as both a SENDCo and specialist diagnostic assessor, I have an excellent overview of the whole assessment process, knowledge on how to support students in schools with SEND (including young people with education health care plans) and have extensive experience in working with parents, carers, schools, outside agencies and, most importantly, the young person needing the support. I believe it is important that the young person at the centre has a voice and has an active role in how they are helped.

My skills set to help support schools also includes writing, implementing and reviewing individual student support plans, creating school policies related to SEND, leading, and delivering training programmes and identifying students as potentially having a learning difficulty through screening tests and other cognitive tests, such as those assessing literacy, working memory and processing speed. I have also been privileged to be part of a team through many successful Ofsted, ISI and JCQ examination inspections.

I believe that students with learning needs or disabilities should be given as much assistance as possible during their life in order that they feel valued and understood. To reach their maximum potential I feel it is vital that they feel comfortable whether at school, higher education or in the workplace. It is also important that whatever learning, or physical, disability a person has, it impedes their well-being and progress as little as possible. My mantra is a celebration of neurodiversity, having a learning difficulty should not be a barrier in life.

Qualifications:

BA Hons Upper 2nd Class (Oxford Brookes University): History
PGCE (Oxford Brookes University): Mathematics (Secondary)
PG Cert. with Merit (Oxford Brookes University): Advanced Educational Practice (Special Educational Needs)
PG Cert. with Merit (Oxford Brookes University): Working with Children with Literacy Difficulties
National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASENCo)
Department of Education Qualified Teacher Status Number 07/62535
Associated Member of the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA): Membership Number - FE/HE: 18/AMF11025
Professional Member of the British Dyslexia Association: Membership Number - M10093
Assessment Practising Certificate (APC) Number 22/APC03030
PATOSS Membership Number - FLI9814
CPD log and certificates available on request
Full professional indemnity insurance
Registered Data Protection Officer and Data Controller at the Information Commissioner’s Office