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South Central England and North West London
The Regional SEND Leaders for South Central England and Northwest London are Katherine Walsh, Matt McArthur and Becky Jones. Katherine is the Director of Inclusion with River Learning Trust, Matt is Assistant Headteacher at Frank Wise School and Becky is Trust SEND Lead for GLF Schools.
As a regional team, we work with school-based professionals, Local Authorities, Teaching School Hubs and Multi-Academy Trusts to support the prioritisation of SEND within professional development and school improvement plans. There is already a great deal of expertise in schools across the region; our goal is to unlock this expertise and share it for the benefit of children and young people, families and professionals. Through our monthly newsletters, we share best practice, including signposting members to CPD, sharing newly developed resources and highlighting regional SEND initiatives.
Local authorities in this region
Barnet, Bedford, Bracknell Forest, Brent, Buckinghamshire, Camden, Central Bedfordshire, City of London, Ealing, Enfield, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hertfordshire, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Luton, Milton Keynes, North Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Westminster, West Northamptonshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham
Meet your Regional SEND Leads
Regional Lead
Katherine is the Director of Inclusion for River Learning Trust and Project Director for the Education Endowment Fund’s Whole School SEND Review Trial. She was a Lead Author on Teacher Handbook: SEND.
Katherine is an experienced teacher and school leader, with fifteen years experience teaching in both primary and secondary schools as a class teacher, Qualified Teacher of the Deaf and Autism Resource Base Teacher. She is also an experienced SENCO; she has led SEND provision in primary and secondary schools in England and America. Over the past ten years, Katherine has developed particular expertise in working with leadership teams to develop school-wide systems, establishing shared and inclusive visions for the education of children and young people with SEND.
Katherine Walsh
Deputy Regional Lead
Matt McArthur is the Assistant Headteacher at Frank Wise School in Banbury, a special school for children and young adults aged between 2 and 19. Matt currently teaches in both primary and secondary classes, and is the subject-leader for Numeracy. He was Director of Teaching School at the school for five years, and continues to support the Oxfordshire Teaching School Hub with SEND-specific strands of Continuing Professional Development, School-to-School support and Initial Teacher Training. Matt enjoys cooking, keeping fit and reading, and is a committed life-long learner. He has just finished a Masters degree in Educational Leadership, and is currently doing his NPQH.
Matt McArthur
Deputy Regional Lead
Becky is the Trust SEND Lead for GLF Schools a large MAT of primary and secondary schools. Becky is an SLE and was previously Headteacher of a special school for children with autism in North London. She has experience as both a primary and secondary SENCO. Becky leads the SENCO networks across her Trust and works closely with the strategic leads for Maths, English and Early Years, facilitating exchanges of good practice between schools across 7 local authorities. Becky has experience of designing and implementing SEND-specialist CPD programmes. and developed a Teaching and Learning Policy based around current research on Cognitive Load Therapy. Becky has a sound knowledge of SEND practice, policies and research and is dedicated to improving education for children and young people with SEND.
