Action Research and Lesson Study for SEND
Funded by the Department for Education and part of the nasen Universal SEND programme, the University of Derby has worked with 90 English schools to support them in developing their own school-based research projects. Focussed on inclusion and removing barriers for children with SEND, Geraldene will share the findings from a selection of the teachers’ inspiring projects.
Geraldene Codina
Geraldene Codina is a Professor of Inclusion and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (ISEND) at the University of Derby. She has 25 years’ experience working in the field of inclusion and SEND, first as a teacher and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) and then in Higher Education (HE). As part of Geraldene’s HE role, she leads the University of Derby’s ISEND Research Cluster. In collaboration with an excellent team, including those with lived experience of disability, Geraldene has led/leads a number of government-funded projects, including the: nasen Action Research and Lesson Study for ISEND project, Opportunity Area Derby SEND Peer Challenge Project, and the Change Programme East Midlands Young People’s Assembly. Geraldene’s publications, in the main, focus on including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in employment and education. In 2025 Geraldene was appointed as a commissioner for the cross-bench think tank Policy Connect, the focus of her work being on those not in employment, education or training (NEET) and closing the disability employment gap.
Follow The Empathy Road
This session will look at practical ways to provide an empathy based approach for children, staff and parents within your setting. Having staff acting as ‘mirrors’ for children and parents is such a powerful way to support children in our care. It will look at the PACE approach as a practical way to support an empathy based approach. Ginny will do this through her own lived experiences as a SENDCO drawing you in to reflect on your own experiences.
Ginny Bootman
Ginny has been teaching longer than she hasn't. She has been a Headteacher, Senior Manager and Class teacher, teaching all ages in the Primary age range. Working to support SENDCOs and teachers across special, primary and secondary schools, Ginny is able to bring experience, wisdom and common sense to an area that can sometimes get bogged down in jargon and paperwork.
A Lived Experience: Practical Advice for Educators Supporting Autistic Children and Young People
This seminar will provide practical advice aimed at educators to help them develop how they engage, support, and communicate with autistic children and young people. It will include strategies on supporting autistic pupils with managing burnout and developing accessible communication methods to help make the learning environment more inclusive.
Joe Fautley
Joe Fautley is an Autistic and neurodivergent advocate with over 10 years of experience in a variety of personal lived experience advocacy and professional training work for Autism, neurodiversity and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). He currently works full time at the National Children’s Bureau.
Whole-School Provision for Multilingual Learners Who Use Eal and Have SEND
The Bell Foundation will present a framework for building whole-school provision for EAL learners who have SEND. The presentation will focus on how language challenges for EAL learners need to be understood and not conflated or confused with SEND, and how schools can put systems in place to ensure cooperation and collaboration between staff.
Katherine Solomon
Katherine Solomon originally joined The Bell Foundation in 2014 as an Associate, and became the Foundation’s Training Manager in 2017. Prior to joining Bell, Katherine spent two years working as a primary school teacher and then seven years in academic management. She has worked as a teacher trainer in the UK and overseas. She holds PGCE Primary, CELTA and DELTA qualifications and has recently completed an MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT.
What Good Co-production Looks and Feels Like
The session will explore examples of how young people with SEND have created an inclusive model to have their voices heard across education and health sectors, including schools and local authorities. The session will capture real life examples on the impact of this work and the vision for it’s future.
Kierran Pearce
Kierran Pearce is the lead for the Multi-Schools Council (MSC). Kierran has 17 years’ experience of working within SEND education, teaching in two special needs schools, becoming a SEND governor at his former Secondary school and creating the MSC model which is now a full-time role funded by the local authority. Kierran’s passion for SEND education is driven by his work in special education and young people expressing their desire for better awareness within society.
Developing Effective Internal Specialist Provision / Additional Resourced Provision within Mainstream Schools
This session is for school and trust leaders developing internal specialist provision / additional resourced provision to support the increasing complexity of need within mainstream schools.
The session will also be suitable for leaders who have recently established provision and are interested in reflecting on its quality.
Natalie Jackson
Natalie is an Independent Education Consultant, specialising in SEND and school improvement.
She develops and delivers a wide range of training and support to all staff in schools and multi-academy trusts.
She is an associate for national organisations nasen, Whole Education, Forum Strategy and Leadership Matters.
Natalie is the author of The Perfect SENCO and The Teacher’s Guide to SEN and co-author of Beyond Boundaries: Leading Great SEND Provision across a Trust.
‘Closer, Not Further Away’: Engagement, Inclusion and Virtual Education
The workshop looks at examples of how, post-pandemic, we can use virtual and blended programmes to support engagement and longer-term inclusion for pupils with complex barriers to learning. It also considers how Universal Design for Learning v3.0 could profoundly impact our thinking and practice around engagement.
Paul Keenleyside
Paul spent over 20 years as a special educational needs teacher, school leader and advisor in both mainstream and special education settings.
As an educator his focus has always been on two key groups of young people; those with social and emotional difficulties, and those who are neuro-diverse – and on the significant overlap between the two.