Search results

Sharon is a Speech and Language Therapist with almost 20 years of clinical experience working with children and young people presenting with speech, language and communication needs.  Her employment within the NHS has provided her with opportunities to work across a variety of clinical contexts including community clinics, mainstream primary schools and special school settings.  Working with children and young people with speech sound disorders is an area she holds a particularly keen interest in.  

Ruth is a qualified and HCPC registered SLT with extensive experience working with children across a range of ages and communication needs. Her specialised training in early childhood language development, speech sound disorders and social communication, has enabled her to help to support children, families and education settings who experience a wide range of communication challenges.  Ruth is passionate about helping children to communicate with confidence and reach their full communication potential. 

Zelda is an experienced Speech and Language Therapist who has been supporting children with Speech, Language and communication needs for 23 years. For the last 17 years she has had the privilege of working within a trans disciplinary team, supporting children in Mainstream Primary schools.  Zelda is passionate and committed to developing every child to their full communicative potential and fervently believes that by working alongside families and educators we can achieve this. 

Clare is a Speech and Language Therapist with over 16 years of experience working in paediatric settings. She currently works within mainstream primary schools, taking a transdisciplinary approach to supporting children with speech, language and communication needs. She is passionate about supporting children in their own environment with a focus on fostering inclusive learning environments. 

Ruth is Head of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Northern Ireland (RCSLT NI), a role she has held since July 2021. She enjoys the opportunities this post brings in representing NI members and advocating for people with speech, language, communication and swallowing needs across Northern Ireland. Ruth is also a Director of the Special Educational Needs Advice Centre (SENAC).  Before joining RCSLT NI, Ruth worked within the Belfast Trust, where she led the Clinical Lead Mental Health pilot post established in 2019, which secured permanent funding in 2021.  

Sue is the Policy Advisor for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Northern Ireland (RCSLT NI), where she works closely with members and stakeholders to advocate for people with speech, language, communication and swallowing needs across Northern Ireland. Sue completed a Master of Science (MSc) in Autism and Neurodevelopmental Conditions, with her thesis focusing on Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and how prepared post-primary teachers are to support young people with DLD. In recognition of her dedication to raising awareness of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from RCSLT in September 2023. 

Dr Gillian Beck is a senior lecturer of Special and Additional Needs and Inclusion studies at Stranmillis University College. Previously she was a teacher and SENCO, supporting the upskilling of teachers and classrooms assistants and the academic and holistic development of pupils with a wide range of SEN from Nursery to P7. She pioneered the first sensory room and 1:1 sensory support programme for children with ASD in an NI mainstream school, extending this to whole school sensory provision. Now her recent PhD research has demonstrated the value of a teacher-led, whole class approach to sensory provision.  

Matthew has worked within the Education IT sector for 18 years at all levels, striving to provide staff and students with a safe, secure, and engaging digital landscape to leverage the opportunities and potential the digital world offers for learning and development. He has a keen focus on support delivery, security, connectivity, devices, and automation. Matt regularly blogs at mattian.co.uk and hosts a podcast, "Edtech People," which explores all angles of how people are impacted and are being impacted by technology within education. 

Dr Marie Murphy is an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Nutrition in the Department of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on improving nutrition and reducing dietary inequalities among children and young people, with a particular emphasis on inclusive public health interventions. She currently leads the FEAST project, which explores food provision and eating environments in special and alternative provision schools to support safe and healthy eating behaviours.

Leanne is a cofounder and partner at HealthyMinds@Work.  She is also an executive coach, trainer and consultant, specialising in leadership, employee and organisational development, with twenty five years’ experience working in management consultancy and organisational development, for Andersen, Tesco Limited and SAGE Publications, and as a freelancer for a range of companies.  Leanne runs many supervision, reflective practice and coaching sessions plus workshops in Education.  She has been a governor for 8 years leading the Pay, Personnel and Resources Committee.

She has a deep knowledge of how to motivate, engage and develop people so they can perform to their best and contribute significantly to the organisations they work for.  

In addition, Leanne is a registered and accredited psychotherapist with 20 years’ experience and has a private practice in central London. This has enabled her to gain a deeper understanding of people’s emotional world and how this influences their behaviour, performance and development. She uses this to inform her work and often includes therapeutic tools to help build self-awareness, manage emotional responses like stress, and increase emotional intelligence and resilience, enabling people to thrive.

Emma Shackleton is a primary teacher turned SEMH and behaviour specialist, with almost 30 years’ experience in education.   

She is co-founder of Beacon School Support an impactful and dynamic company with inclusion and support at its core - helping schools nationwide to tackle behaviour challenges head-on through whole-school audits, coaching and training in person and via their hugely popular online CPD platform: Behaviour 360.  

As both a national and international conference speaker and co-host of the hit School Behaviour Secrets podcast, Emma shares practical strategies that inspire educators to create classrooms where every pupil can thrive.  

Alison is a joint CEO at Nurture International with over thirty years experience working with learners who exhibit social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties. Alison’s roles include creating and managing a team of clinical psychologists to focus on supporting learners who had experienced early developmental trauma. Alison has been a distance education tutor at Birmingham University, and is the author of Family SEAL.

Yvonne is a joint CEO at Nurture International with over thirty years experience in working with learners who exhibit social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties. Yvonne’s roles include Head of Consultancy and Training for Nurtureuk,  Head of a Primary Special school and co-ordinator for Behaviour at Wigan Authority where one of her roles was to be on the CAMHs partnership board. 

Dr Claire Lee is an education researcher in the Centre for Psychological Research at Oxford Brookes University. With a background in teaching, she completed her PhD in 2020 at the School of Education, University of Bristol, examining the learning lives of children from UK Armed Forces families. She conducts qualitative, dialogic research with children, parents and teachers, including using arts-based methods to explore children's learning lives and parents'/carers' experiences of supporting their children's education. Claire led the recent ‘Supporting All to Thrive (SATT) research project that investigated the educational opportunities, experiences and outcomes of children with additional learning or support needs and/or disabilities from UK Armed Forces families.  

‘Rebecca is Head of Policy and Deputy CEO of the Naval Families Federation (NFF), promoting understanding of the needs of Naval families to ensure policy decisions are shaped and changed with consideration of their daily lives. As a former senior teacher, experienced across both secondary and junior phases, Rebecca provides advocacy and educational subject matter expertise to support with complex enquiry work; she also contributes to research relating to the Armed Forces Community. As a Naval spouse, with two school aged children, Rebecca’s personal experience and understanding underpins her work at the NFF.’ 

Karen Ross works for the Army Families Federation as their Health and Additional Needs Specialist and has been in the role for over fourteen years. Her role involves advocating and empowering Army families on any health or additional needs related issues. She regularly meets with stakeholders and policy makers in MOD and single Service chain of command and with outside organisations and agencies such as NHS England & the Department of Health and Social Care and with the equivalent agencies in the Devolved Administrations. Karen’s role covers the UK and overseas commands, so anywhere that Army families are based. 

Alexandra Stokes is the Policy Advisor for Education and Childcare at the RAF Families Federation (RAFFF), with responsibilities covering a broad range of issues affecting families, including SEND. Drawing on a background in primary education, Alexandra engages directly with families to provide information and guidance; collects evidence on the lived experience; and advocates for the RAF community to policy makers and stakeholders as the RAFFF work to shape change and improve the quality of life for the RAF family around the world. 

Anna Hutchinson is an experienced education professional with a background in teaching, school leadership, and policy development. She began her career teaching across the primary key stages, developing expertise in classroom practice, assessment, and senior leadership. Anna later moved into an advisory role within a local authority, supporting schools to improve outcomes for children from minority backgrounds. For the past six years, Anna has worked for the Army Families Federation (AFF), advocating for improved education and childcare provision for military children. Her work is evidence-based and focused on shaping policy and informing decision-makers to reduce barriers and improve access.  

Julie Lowe is the Policy Officer for Families, Homes and Communities at the Royal British Legion (RBL). Part of RBL’s Campaigns, Policy and Research team, Julie works to improve public policy and services that support children and families in the Armed Forces community, including special or additional education needs or disabilities. Qualified in adult and children’s nursing, Julie has experience across the Armed Forces charity sector, the Ministry of Defence and British Army.