Celebrity Baby Shower Gift

Amanda Hipkiss

 

Amanda has been SENCO in an 11 - 16 rural comprehensive in Cornwall for over 20 years.

In that time, she has worked with pupils and parents of children with a wide range of different special needs in the mainstream setting.  She works closely with local primary schools and 16+ providers.

 

She is an AST, with a focus on Inclusion (SEN and Gifted & Talented) and has also worked for Cornwall LA briefly as an Advisory Teacher for Dyslexia on secondment.  She has an MA in Education (Equality and Diversity) and a Postgraduate Certificate in the Co-ordination of Special Educational Provision from the Open University.

 

She has been a member of SENCO forum for many years and ranks it as her most valuable resource.  She has been a member of the Advisory Group since June 2008.

 

Ann Lewis

 

Ann is Professor of Special Education and Educational Psychology at the University of Birmingham where she is Head of the (35 people) Research Group focusing on Inclusion, Special Education and Educational Psychology. She has also taught in mainstream, special and therapeutic settings with children and young people from ages 4 to 19.  Her current research focuses on ethics, methods and methodologies in hearing the views of children with disabilities or special educational needs.

 

Anne Dibben

 

Anne currently a primary school SENCO, working part time in 2 schools, also a governor and parent. She has taught all ages, 4yrs-adults, in mainstream schools and as an outreach teacher for children not in school.

 

She has an MA in Education and a Postgraduate Certificate in the Co-ordination of Special Educational Provision from the Open University.

 

She has been a member of SENCO forum for several years and became a member of the Advisory Group in June 2008.

 

Carol Smart

 

Carol egan her career as a primary teacher and worked in both KS2 and KS1. In addition to working for the maintained sector she has also worked in the independent sector, first in a secondary school for “maladjusted children” and then in both junior and senior independent schools.

 

Almost twenty years ago she gained an additional qualification in teaching pupils with dyslexia (AMBDA) and since that time has worked with children, adults and schools to address a range of barriers to learning but primarily literacy. She has been a SENCo and SEN tutor for many years in both primary and secondary schools (independent and maintained) and has produced and delivered both accredited and short courses on SEN for teachers and teaching assistants.

 

Carol has written a special needs newsletter called SNIP for the last 12 years and completed her MA in 2005.

 

For the last two years, Carol has worked fulltime for Staffordshire LA as a SEN Advisor. She is a long time member of the SENCO forum and became a member of its advisory group in June 08.

 

Christopher Robertson

 

Christopher i s a lecturer in inclusive and special education at The University of Birmingham. He has had extensive experience of teaching children and young people with physical disabilities, severe learning difficulties, and profound and multiple learning difficulties. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of education policy, international perspectives on special and inclusive education, the coordination of provision for children and young people with special educational needs, pupil/student participation, and all aspects of teacher education. He is also interested in the philosophy of education and the interface between inclusive education and disability studies.

 

He has co-authored books on special educational needs, and written extensively on the role of the SENCO. He has also published articles on teacher education, autonomy, teacher stress, the social theory of disability, curriculum development related to special educational needs and the views of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities on their education. Together with colleagues at the University of Birmingham he recently completed a research project called My school, my family, my Life: Telling it Like it is, a study detailing the experiences of disabled children, young people and their families in Great Britain in 2006 for the Disability Rights Commission. He is currently involved in an evaluation of the primary school curriculum in Ireland, with particular reference to its impact on children with special educational needs.

 

Christopher is the editor of SENCO Update.

 

Gareth D Morewood

 

Gareth has been SENCo at a large [1300 student, 11-16] secondary school in the North West of England for the past 7 years.

 

In addition to his work as SENCo, he also supports the LA with training of new SENCos and consultancy work with regard specific provision for students with complex needs in mainstream schools. Gareth also works voluntarily for IPSEA advising parents/carers in preparation for Tribunals and advising with regard to legal provision.

 

Gareth is currently working towards a professional doctorate and holds an MA in Special and Inclusive Education. He has been a member of the senco-forum advisory group since June 2008 and in undertaking research into the inclusion of students on the autistic spectrum in mainstream schools and the notions of ‘self’.

 

Jan Parker

 

Jan is the inclusion teacher at East Riding’s Digital Learning Community (DLC). She works in a virtual classroom teaching groups of children from various mainstream primary schools across the authority. Working with both SEN and G&T pupils.

 

She began teaching in secondary schools and then retrained to work in primary. She has also worked in community and adult education.

 

She completed her MA in 2002 and followed it with a 2 year post grad diploma in Inclusive Education in 2006.

 

Lynda Canning

 

Lynda currently leads a small team of teachers employed by Calderdale LA to monitor Statements Of SEN. As the team is small they focus on attending Annual Reviews at times of transition, Y1, Y5 and Y9. The role entails trying to ensure that The Statement of SEN remains an accurate document. They also try to get joint agreement on ways forward for the young person. All Y9 Transition Review in their mainstream schools use Person Centred approaches to facilitate active transition plans.

 

Philip Garner

 

Philip worked as a classroom teacher for 17 years in both mainstream and special schools before moving into teacher education. He has held academic posts at Brunel University, Nottingham Trent University and, currently, at The University of Northampton, where he is Professor of Education, with particular reference to Postgraduate Professional Development. He has published extensively on aspects of special and inclusive education and on children's emotional and behavioural difficulties and is the Editor of Support for Learning. His latest book is A Handbook of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Education (Sage Publishers, 2005). Philip Garner is Director of the Training and Development Agency's Professional Resource Network (IPRN) focussing on Behaviour for Learning, a British Academy Fellow and is extensively involved in national and international networks in teacher development and inclusion.

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