Belonging Matters: Creating Inclusive Environments for Learners with SEND - Speaker and Session Information
This conference brings together educators, researchers, practitioners, to explore the vital link between Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and the sense of belonging in educational settings
How do we master CPD to create truly adaptive teachers
Amjad will dig into the pitfalls and requirements of CPD to enable all of our teachers to master the theory of 'What is needed for some, benefits all.' Amjad will model, repeat and remind all attendees of low effort, high impact T&L ideas
Amjad Ali
Amjad Ali – Amjad Ali is regarded as one of the most engaging and empowering voices in the fields of inclusive leadership and professional development. Having spent over 19 years working in diverse and high-need schools — including seven years as a founding leadership team member of a new secondary school — Amjad now serves as a Trust Training and Inclusion Lead, supporting leaders, teachers, and school communities to grow cultures of equity, ambition, and sustained professional learning. He also co-founded The BAMEed Network, a national grassroots organisation committed to diversifying educational leadership and ensuring equity across the system — a mission that continues to shape his work in inclusive leadership today. Amjad’s delivery is grounded in lived experience. He began his career as a Play Worker and then a Teaching Assistant in youth offender institutions before training as a teacher and went on to become an Advanced Skills Teacher in Teaching and Learning and eventually training as a SENDCO and a senior leader. This journey has shaped a leadership philosophy rooted in equity, high expectations, and transformational CPD.
Inclusive Careers Education – what it means and what it looks like
From September 2025 the focus will be to support secondary and post 16 education settings (both specialist and mainstream) meet the expectations of the updated Statutory Guidance from the DfE in relation to Careers Education and Guidance. There is an emphasis on “inclusion and impact for every young person”, “tailoring to the needs of each young person” and “paying particular attention to any additional or different support that may be needed by vulnerable or disadvantaged young people, or those with SEND”.
This keynote session will cover what good quality inclusive Careers Education and Guidance means and what it looks like. This includes key messages like preparing for adulthood at the earliest opportunity, adapting careers programme activities to meet the needs of individuals, for example.
Ben Mitchell
Ben has worked in Careers Education and Guidance for almost 30 years, including the last 7 years as part of the Careers Hub team at Devon County Council. Ben supports specialist settings and alternative provision academies across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, helping them develop their Careers Education programmes in line with statutory guidance and best practice.
Inclusion from an autistic perspective: getting it right for autistic young people
In the session, Dean will look at seven key areas (including dispelling myths, better understanding needs, creating positive relationships with parents, creating safe spaces and more) that are crucial to making sure we create accessible spaces for autistic young people. This session is designed to be both thought-provoking and humorous, providing plenty of food for thought on what inclusion really means
Dean Beadle
Dean Beadle is an autistic speaker, inset trainer and conference presenter who has spent twenty years using his personal experiences of being autistic to bring about a world that is more inclusive for neurodivergent people. Working with schools, Dean has delivered hundreds of twilight CPD sessions for staff as well as countless half day sessions at inset days across the country, supporting staff to challenge their thinking to make their practice both inclusive and neuro-affirming. Dean has delivered keynotes, workshops and chaired panels at conferences in every corner of the UK as well as having guest lectured for several British universities. In recent years, Dean has also been doing a growing amount of work to support businesses to make workplaces more accessible to autistic employees. This has included sessions for Balfour Beatty, Scotiabank, International Rescue Committee, Ambassador Theatre Group, Sony Pictures, YouViewTV and Sopra Steria.