Seamus Mannion is Founder of Dynamic Education Solutions and is a qualified SENCO, Specialist Assessor for examination access arrangements, British Cycling Registered Mountain Bike Leader. He has completed a wide variety of training programmes in addition to his professional qualifications, with an emphasis on effective leadership, most notably SSAT’s Aspiring Senior Leaders. Seamus has over 20 years experience of working with young people both in a paid and voluntary capacity. His prime driving force is to see children and young people smile because once that happens they open up their minds to opportunities to improve their education, emotional well-being and potential to become successful in life. Seamus is currently working hard to improve outcomes for young people on the autism spectrum as Founder of SENDCode.

Seamus’ experience in more detail.

SENCO Consultant providing strategic advice to outside agencies on the development and  delivery of support packages for SEND students, parents/ carers, schools and local authorities. In addition to this he has delivered numerous training days for outside health professionals wishing to gain an insight into how they might provide a more coherent service for schools to be able to demonstrate effective use of funding. 

Interim SEND Lead at a large secondary school in Oldham assisting the Senior Leadership Team in building a new team to deliver high quality support to students and also implementing effective CPD for teachers and robust systems to ensure the monitoring of students with additional needs.

Head of Learning Support and SENCO at a secondary school in Stockport with strategic responsibility for all students on the SEND register, leadership and management of the SEND department, including a Learning Support Teacher, Inclusion Manager and Learning and Behaviour Support Assistants. Strategic overview for SEND Learning and Teaching and developing initiatives to improve outcomes for young people such as SEND learning walks and wraparound support for challenging SEMH students. Whilst in post he also gained the Level 7 qualified Specialist Assessor for Access Arrangements qualification and has been a member of Stockport SEND panel. During his time in Stockport his leadership of the SEND department was recognised as highly effective by Ofsted with a particular emphasis on the allocation of the SEND budget.

Foundation Learning Coordinator and Head of Geography  in a Tameside secondary school  leading a nurture group, developing alternative curriculum pathways for students with SEMH, which incorporated outdoor activities, skills for life, preparation for adulthood and the development of a Go-Ride cycling club to allow disadvantaged students the chance to experience mountain biking. In addition to this he was also a member of the Tameside steering group developing a level 2 accredited qualification for the NOCN alternative curriculum.

Clare Vaughan is an experienced Speech and Language therapist, Dyslexia assessor and Specialist Assessor for exam arrangements. She has worked in a variety of settings including Mainstream Primary and Secondary schools, Post 16 settings and an SEBD school in the North West. Her aim is to see children and young people being given the opportunity to communicate effectively and be the best version of themselves.

Clare’s experience in more detail:

As a Speech and Language consultant, Clare has provided training in schools focusing on developing Communication friendly environments and improving teacher knowledge and expertise in Speech, Language and Communication. Clare has worked closely with school SENCO’s to help identify areas of needs, and has focused on improving the chances for the Young people in school. In addition to this Clare has delivered a number of training packages which have included ELKLAN 11-16’s, Post 16 and Vulnerable young people courses. She is also one of 3 licenced ICAN Charity Talk about Talk Secondary school trainers in the UK. This programme is an evidenced, targeted intervention which helps students aged 14 to 18 with poor communication skills to be ready for the workplace.

Specialist Speech and Language therapist in Mainstream Primary and Secondary schools in Manchester, Stockport and Wigan. This role included setting up a Speech therapy service in an inner city Secondary school aimed to support both students in school, and teaching staff to support students with Speech, Language and Communication needs. In the Primary schools, Clare was responsible in implementing training, assessments, intervention and individual therapy plans for children aged 5-11 years old.

Speech and Language therapist in a day and residential school for students aged 5-19 with complex social communication difficulties, and associated learning needs. This role included working with students who had a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Learning difficulties and social communication difficulties. The role was varied and Clare was involved in assessment, intervention and training in the school.

Jenny Nute is an education and business professional with over 15 years’ experience predominantly working with hard to reach and SEND learners.  An excellent classroom practitioner with strategic leadership experience and a coaching and mentoring background. Hardworking and solution focused with proven leadership skills she is seeking to have a further reaching impact on learners and professionals working with those young people.

Jenny’s experience in more detail:

Post 16 SENCO for a national training provider where she has be responsible for a cultural change within the SEND team and the introduction of SEND policy, procedure and awareness across multiple sites providing for 8,000 learners. She has worked closely with outside agencies and, in particular Local Authorities and other specialist support providers  with a focus on securing Learner Support Funding.and ensuring compliance with awarding body criteria. She strives to gather and respond to feedback from learners, staff and external bodies about the quality of learning support delivered across all programs and use to inform continuous improvement.

Learning Support Teacher and Assistant SENCO at a secondary school in Stockport where responsible for the leadership of an inclusion department where she designed and implemented new SEND processes recognised by Ofsted as being responsible for significant improvements across school, achieved through effective leadership and management of support staff along with close liaison with parents and external support agencies.

Head of Business and Computing  in a Manchester secondary school where, as an experienced middle leader she worked alongside SLT, as a (qualified) coach and school lead in the delivery of CPD, mentoring NQTs, RQTs and Teach First trainees. She was also a mentor to department heads and led  training for new heads of department. Her teaching was consistently graded good or outstanding, with a strong classroom management background. Jenny survived in excess of 21 Ofsted inspections over 5 years which is worthy of note in itself (!), and in doing so she was consistently able to achieve the highest residual results in the school, with many of the most challenging groups of young people.