SEND isn’t something I understand only from textbooks.
I understand SEND as a senior education professional, as a specialist assessor and, most importantly, as a parent who has lived it too.
I have spent more than 20 years working in education, including extensive SENCO and senior leadership experience. I hold a Master of Education in SEND and Inclusion and specialist teaching and assessment qualifications. I contribute to wider professional SEND development, and I have led whole-school inclusion work.
My first degree was in music (a BMus from Royal Holloway, University of London). My postgraduate study has focused on SEND and inclusion, with particular interest in autism in girls, masking and complex presentation.
But I am also a parent who has lived complex SEND personally.
I understand what it feels like when your own child is struggling to access school, experiencing severe anxiety or panic, living with significant sleep difficulties, or trying to navigate GCSEs and post-16 education while their needs remain complex.
I have also sat where many parents sit: trying to coordinate school, health and other professionals, trying to explain functional impact, and trying to work out what support will actually make a difference.
And I understand the school side of the table too.
That combination shapes the way I work.
Qualifications and experience matter. But so does knowing what it feels like when it is your own child who cannot get through the school gates, is overwhelmed by anxiety, cannot sleep, or reaches an important exam period and the usual educational system simply does not fit.
I understand both sides of the table.
Professionally, I have spent more than 20 years working in education and SEND. Personally, I have navigated neurodivergence, significant difficulties accessing school, severe anxiety and panic, significant sleep difficulties, GCSEs and post-16 education as a parent.
I know the language of SEND professionally. I also know what it feels like when that language is being used to describe your own child.
Lived experience means I understand:
- the worry when attendance begins to fall
- the difference between unwillingness and genuine difficulty accessing school
- how severe anxiety and panic can affect education
- that a highly able child can still be unable to access education consistently
- how significant sleep difficulties affect attendance and functioning
- the pressure surrounding GCSEs, and worries about the future
- how SEND support changes at post-16
- what it is like to coordinate several professionals, and how overwhelming the paperwork becomes
- how hard it is to gather evidence and explain functional impact, including for DLA and PIP
- how families can feel stuck between education, health and other services
I don’t start from “the school is wrong”.
I have been the SENCO in the room. I understand the pressures schools work under, the systems they use and why things that look simple from the outside can be hard to deliver. That doesn’t mean accepting provision that isn’t working. It means being precise about what needs to change, and why.
The purpose of The SEND Practice is to bring clarity back to the child, their needs and the support that could genuinely make a difference.
Instead of taking sides, I help identify:
- What is the actual barrier?
- What need may be driving it?
- What evidence matters?
- What would appropriate provision look like?
- Does current provision genuinely match the need?
- Which reasonable adjustments could help?
- Which questions still need answering?
- What should happen next?
Academic, professional, practical and personal
Academically
- MEd SEND and Inclusion
- Specialist literacy teaching qualification
- Autism specialism
- Specialist psychometric assessment training
- Postgraduate research
Professionally
- 20+ years in education
- Extensive SENCO experience
- Senior leadership
- Current SEND leadership
- NPQSEN delivery
- SEND conference presenting
- REAL Group SEND Professional Partner
Practically
- Implementing EHCPs
- Designing provision
- Interventions
- Access arrangements
- Multi-agency work
- Whole-school inclusion leadership
- IQM Centre of Excellence work
Personally
- Neurodivergence
- Severe anxiety and panic
- Significant sleep difficulties
- Barriers to attendance
- GCSEs
- Post-16 transition
- DLA/PIP
- Coordinating health and education
Whole-school inclusion and wider SEND work
My SEND work extends beyond individual cases. I have led whole-school inclusion development, including coordinating the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) process. I led my school through that process to achieve Centre of Excellence status: coordinating whole-school evaluation, identifying strengths and development priorities, and helping to embed inclusive practice.
That means I understand inclusion at the level of an individual child and at the level of a whole school, and how the two connect.
I also work across the wider SEND profession:
- REAL Group SEND Professional Partner
- Delivering the National Professional Qualification for SENCOs (NPQSEN)
- Presenting at SEND conferences and professional events
- Supporting and working alongside SENCOs, teachers, senior leaders, parents and external professionals
Centre of Excellence is an IQM status awarded to a school, not a personal qualification.
The evidence behind the advice
Listed here so you can see exactly what I am qualified to do, and what I am not.
- Master of Education (MEd) in SEND and InclusionIncluding a postgraduate autism specialism
- NASENCONational Award for SEN Co-ordination, Canterbury Christ Church University
- PGCert Specialist Teaching for Literacy-Related Difficulties (DL)Specialist SpLD teaching
- CPT3ACertificate in Psychometric Testing, Assessment and Access Arrangements
- BPS RQTU: Test User: EducationalBritish Psychological Society Register of Qualifications in Test Use
- Level 7 psychometric assessment trainingSpecialist educational assessment
- Postgraduate enquiry and researchAutism in girls, masking, complex presentation and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)
- Working towards the Assessment Practising Certificate (APC)Currently completing Professional Report Writing. APC is not yet held.
- BMusRoyal Holloway, University of London
My professional scope. I am an independent SEND consultant and specialist assessor. I am not an educational psychologist, clinician, therapist or solicitor. I do not diagnose autism or ADHD, provide therapy or give legal advice. Full diagnostic dyslexia assessment will be available once I have been awarded the Assessment Practising Certificate.
A deliberately small practice
Focused
The SEND Practice is intentionally small. I limit the number of families I work with at any one time so that each case receives proper attention.
Planned
I also work in senior education leadership, so appointments are released in selected evenings, weekends and school holidays, and booked in advance.
Clear boundaries
There is no emergency or 24/7 service, no unlimited email contact and no open-ended case management. What’s included is agreed at the start.
You don’t need to know exactly what service you need.
If you’re unsure where to start, The SEND Surgery is designed for exactly that. Bring the problem. We’ll identify what matters, what needs clarifying and what your next steps could be.
£95 | 60 minutes | Online
The SEND Practice is intentionally small, and appointments are released in selected evenings, weekends and school holidays.