News Blog

Last week we held our annual SEND Conference, which was attended by around 50 colleagues. Despite facing some last-minute challenges caused by the weather and the closure of the QEII Bridge, the conference was a success.

Our keynote speaker, Gary Aubin, author of The Lone SENDCO, was delayed by the bridge closure but managed to present remotely from home. During the conference, Gary shared some practical ideas to maximize the impact of SENDCos. He shared some interesting insights on how to increase capacity, allowing SENDCos to focus on teaching and supporting teachers to improve their classroom practices.

Gianni Bianchi, Director of Inclusion for TKAT, also spoke during the conference, addressing attendance and the data for pupils with additional needs. We were also fortunate to have Martha Currie, Helen Spiers and Peter Price from Mable Therapy with us talking about how they can support our TKAT pupils.

Matt Darsley, Senior Partner Manager for Arbor Education, joined us post-lunch to discuss the benefits of Arbor for SEND and how staff can get the most out of the MIS (Management Information System) package. Additionally, we launched The TKAT Approach to the Identification of SEND and heard from Headteachers Ross Farndon (Hilltop) and Emma Eardley (Seymour) about The Bike Shed Project.

Attendees also had an opportunity to discuss their ideas for provision in their own settings and how they could collaborate with others.  Director of SEND and EAL Sara Walton said, "We are really excited to see how these ideas develop and how they can be implemented in various settings to support pupils with SEND. It was a great conference with fantastic speakers and attendees."