Our Team

Annamarie Hassall MBE is the Chief Executive (CEO) of nasen with responsibility for strategic direction and operational delivery across the full breadth of nasen’s activity. nasen CEO is the main point of contact for the board of trustees and has a close working relationship with the Department for Education (DfE). Annamarie also has overall responsibility for external relations and business development.

Lorna Beard is Director of Education at nasen. Accomplished in SEND, school and Trust leadership as well as a strong background in school improvement Lorna has a history of strong strategic as well as operational school leadership.

Amanda has worked in education for over 20 years, with the latter half of her career dedicated to SEND. Having developed practice both as a SENCO and senior leader in mainstream primary settings and at local authority level she is committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND. 

Harriet is responsible for the contract management and project delivery for our current DfE funded programme ‘Universal SEND Services

Maria is responsible for the day-to-day liaison with the regional teams as well as building the Whole School SEND Member Community and managing the WSS social media accounts.

Caroline has worked in education since 2009 and has a passion for supporting learners with SEND. She took on the role of SENDCo and developed this working across multiple schools. Prior to taking on the role of National Delivery Coordinator for Whole School SEND, she worked as a Regional SENDCo (leading and coaching other SENDCos) for a large MAT.

Alison has been a teacher for 26 years. She has previously been a class teacher, nurture teacher, SENDCO, Head of Chestnut Nursery School, and Head of Inclusion for Exeter Children’s Federation. She has been on the board of trustees at nurtureuk since 2016 and has a passion for improving the education and life chances of children from a background of deprivation. 

Erica is a National Coordinator for Whole School SEND.  She has extensive experience leading on SEND in mainstream schools and multi academy trusts. She began her career as an English teacher before becoming a SENCO.  As well as her work for Whole School SEND, she supports several multi academy trusts. She is an experienced SEND and MAT reviewer and acts as an associate consultant for nasen.

Malcolm has worked in the field of SEND for 30 years and in that time has worked in adult provision, mainstream schools, and special schools. He has worked in with children throughout the age range and with learning difficulties ranging from moderate to profound. Malcolm has been a Headteacher of three schools and one federation. He is a National Leader of Education, a Member of the National SEND Forum, and Patron of the Centre Algarve holiday centre for people with special needs.

Dr Tim Coulson CBE is a primary teacher who became Headteacher of William Tyndale School in Islington. He was a local authority officer in five areas, including as Director of Education for the 550 schools in Essex. He led an education action zone in Lambeth and the National Numeracy Strategy after a spell at the Qualification and Curriculum Authority. He was the first Regional Schools Commissioner for the east of England and now is CEO of Unity Schools Partnership, an academy trust of 32 primary, special and secondary schools. He chairs the Norwich Partnership and is a member of a joint education and health SEND ministerial group.

Maria manages a number of projects here at nasen.

Pernille oversees and manages the delivery of projects across the DfE awarded Universal SEND Services programme, as well as supports contracts and programmes management at nasen. 

Luca supports project delivery across the Whole School SEND Universal Services programme.

Sophie provides administrative and logistical support for the Whole School SEND Universal programme.

Hadeel provides support to the Consortium and project delivery across the WSS programme.