Preparing for Adulthood from The Earliest Years: Celebration Conference Speakers and Session Info

Alison has been a teacher for 26 years and is currently Whole School SEND National Coordinator. 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. Her interest in children affected by social, emotional and/or mental health issues encouraged her to become a Specialist Leader in Education for the Exeter Consortium and Teaching School Alliance. Through this role she helps lead the Professional Community for SEND for South West Institute for Teaching (SWIFT). This community works to support schools identifying and meeting children’s needs and so reduce permanent exclusions across schools in the Southwest. She aims to keep the well-being of children at the heart of everything she does.

Matt McArthur is 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 is seconded to Whole School SEND as the Deputy Regional SEND Lead for the South Central and North West London region, supporting in the delivery of the Department for Education’s Universal SEND Services contract. Matt enjoys cooking, keeping fit and reading, and is a committed life-long learner. He has a Masters degree in Educational Leadership, and has recently finished his NPQH.

Dr Matt Silver is the CEO and Founder of The Glass House Leadership Lab – an educational coaching and system consultancy group that believes the catalyst to system transformation is the personal development of leaders, teachers and learners. His doctoral action research whilst a Head and CEO was based in curriculum, culture and system design using frameworks of human development, motivation, and engagement theory.

The Glass House’s subsequent national and international work is based on co-designing innovative digital systems with system leaders and facilitating their teams to embody and embed consistent human growth within their organisations. His new book ‘Reinventing Education’ lays out the deeper states and stages of human, culture, and educational maturity and how to integrate all stakeholders, no matter their lens, to build momentum.

Kelly Dillon is a qualified Teacher and previous Head of Post 16 and Careers Lead across various educational establishments. Kelly's workstream at The Careers and Enterprise Company is around inclusion and ensuring all young people are supported in their next steps. Kelly works closely with our network of SEND, Alternative provision and Pupil referral Units to support their young people in their careers education and transition.  As part of their current role, Kelly also manage the offer for Further Education and our Resource Directory for The Careers and Enterprise Company which supports Career Leaders when planning an effective careers programme.

Alice has over 25 years of leadership experience in the public and voluntary sector and is an experienced trainer and facilitator. Alice's background is in play development and education having gone on to work in local authority commissioning.

Alice developed NDTIs programme Time to Talk and managed Time to Talk Next Steps managing a team of staff to provide online support to young people with additional support needs from across England. Alice also works on evaluation and research projects at NDTi  and is always keen to develop new projects which respond to voices of people with lived experience. Alice believes that play and playfulness are  vital to creating good relationships and  inclusive communities. 

Clare is Head of Southampton Inclusion Partnership and Outreach Service, based at Springwell Special School in Southampton. She holds an MSc in Specific Learning Difficulties from the University of Southampton and an MA Ed in Special Needs and Inclusion from the University of Winchester. Clare is also Director of SEND for the HISP Learning Partnership and provides coaching, training and strategic support for SEND improvement across a range of schools within and beyond Southampton.

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 Special Educational Needs and disabilities. She has supported a large number of schools to reflect on and refine their practice and provision for learners with SEND through CPD, SEND Review and by mentoring new SENCOs.

Amanda joined Whole School SEND in 2018 as deputy regional SEND lead for the West Midlands. Since then she has taken on the role of National Coordinator, Deputy Head of Whole School SEND and now Head of Whole School SEND.