Helen has had 15 years of classroom experience, the majority of which placed her in daily contact with children with special and additional needs, she has also worked within local authorities and spent the second part of her career as an educator in a social care environment.

Helen has managed significant budgets and has experience of assessing gaps in provision and commissioning resources, working with partners and providers to ensure the best fit, sometimes within the perennial requirement of local authority cost saving requirements.


Helen has served on local and national management and reference groups and has worked delivering training to a wide range of audiences. She has experience of planning and delivering conferences and other events and is adept at planning and facilitating consultation exercises with a wide range of stakeholders.


Whether her brief was as a consultant and or from within a local authority Helen admits she is still a teacher at heart and is always seeking changes which might provide children with an increased chance of better engagement in school and improved academic outcomes.

Beverley is a Training Co-ordinator in complex learning needs for Chadsgrove Teaching School, Bromsgrove, and has worked in the field of special educational needs for 14 years.

In addition to school-to-school support, Beverley supports care homes for adults with learning disabilities, using the Engagement for Living Framework tools and structured teaching approaches. Previously, she worked for SSAT (The Schools Network) Ltd as Training Co-ordinator for complex learning needs and as a Researcher on the Department for Education funded Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (CLDD) Research Project.

Beverley has been an Assistant Teacher and Structured Teaching Advisor/Trainer within a residential school offering 38/42-week education and 52-week care to children aged 6–19 years with severe and complex learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder. She also lectures and delivers training for children with CLDD in schools across the UK and internationally, most recently in Australia and New Zealand.

Beverley is involved in school-based research, including a European Teaching Resource Project. She is co-author of Engaging Learners with Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (Routledge, 2016), has published various articles, and contributed to the Teaching Agency’s ‘Engaging in Learning’ module for their ‘Training Materials for Teachers of Learners with Severe, Profound and Complex Learning Difficulties’.

David has over 40 years’ experience gained in front line and strategic work and in inspection, regulatory and consultancy roles. Originally with a background in teaching deaf children, David has been a teacher, specialist teacher trainer, Head of a large residential special school, External Examiner, Registered Ofsted Inspector (SEN), Contractor and Accredited Trainer, Independent Care Standards Visitor and latterly a Director of Education and Chief Executive of two national educational charities.

With a national reputation in the education of disabled children, particularly in the field of deaf education, David is regularly approached to be part of Government Working Parties.

He has considerable knowledge and experience of the special school sector, the voluntary sector, school inspections and serving on the Care Standards Tribunal and the SEN and Disability Tribunal. He has a strong track record in the strategic development of specialist and partnership provision involving Local Authorities, schools and the voluntary sector to promote effective education, inclusion, high quality multi-disciplinary working and raising of standards of achievement of disabled pupils, particularly those with severe and complex needs.

David has served and still serves on a wide range of national and public bodies including regulatory bodies and tribunals. He was also a member in 2010-12 of the DfE Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities Research Project and the DfE project to develop Training Resources for Special Education for the 21st Century.

More recently he has been working with the Health and Social Care Commissioners in Staffordshire County Council on the implementation of the SEND Reforms which are a part of the 2014 Children and Families Act.

Dr Jody is an Educational and Child Psychologist and a registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council. She is also a Consultant Psychologist, providing consultations for foster carers and supervising social workers with the Compass Community as part of their REACH approach. 

Dr Jody has extensive direct therapeutic experience with children and young people, and has a range of experience working with children, adults, families, and professionals in both clinical and educational contexts and with local authorities and specialist services, including looked after children, young offenders, and children/young people with complex needs. 

As an experienced presenter, Dr Jody has delivered to groups including the Centre for Child Mental Health and Nurture UK, and facilitates training on topics including, techniques to support the emotional development of children and young people; staff resilience and well-being; self-harm; anxiety; attachment in the classroom; bereavement; critical incidents; trauma informed approaches. Dr Jody has also co written several books with Dr Tina Rae.