Who we are

Jenny Marr is Action For Inclusion's Lead Facilitator.

Jenny has been a consultant in inclusion in post 16 education for the past twelve years and has led the development of the Action for Inclusion Initiative in the SE since 2005. She has considerable experience of strategic planning, building capacity for learners with learning difficulties and disabilities and special educational needs, working with government agencies, local authorities, FE and 6th form colleges and independent specialist providers.

Her expertise is drawn from nearly forty years in both the school and FE sectors, as well as voluntary positions in local government and community groups.

Debs Bagnall is an Action for Inclusion facilitator for West Sussex and works at the Aldingbourne Trust as the manager for Education and Skills where she focuses upon developing provision there for students with learning disabilities.

Debs specialises in learning difficulties and disabilities including dyslexia, funding for additional learning support, foundation provision and quality of provision. In her former post at Chichester College she had responsibility for the design and delivery of foundation provision including Basic, Key and Functional Skills across the college. She led all developmental reviews aimed at improving quality of provision across every curriculum area.

Debs also carried out a capacity audit and set up the Learn to Work Programmes through collaborative multi-agency partnerships in West Sussex and has helped colleges to carry out curriculum reviews within their own provision for students with learning disabilities bringing about improvement.

Elaine Brace is an Action for Inclusion Facilitator and independent consultant. She specialises in learning difficulties and/or disabilities, additional jearning support funding, quality and strategic planning, dyslexia, and specialist curriculum planning.

Elaine has worked with young people and adults with learning disabilities and other disabilities for over 25 years. She started within the long stay hospitals and then moved into FE as an ALS manager. She managed a faculty which included ALS, entry level provision (as was), Basic Skills in the Community, key skills (as was) and ESOL. She has extensive experience of the S139a process.

As a consultant Elaine has worked in Surrey, Bath and St Helens. As part of Action for Inclusion she planned and monitored, with Surrey colleges, the delivery of various capacity building projects funded by the LSC/YPLA. She worked with the sector colleges in Surrey and Surrey EmployAbility service to set up  a Project Search type provision across the county.

Kate Brennan is an Action for Inclusion Facilitator and independent consultant based in the Thames Valley.

Kate specialises in local capacity building in Further Education for people with profound, complex learning and physical disabilities, partnership working with local authorities using data to predict need and commissioning, high cost additional learning support, specialist curriculum design and management to include delivery quality and the continuous professional development of specialist staff.

Jennie Espiner is an Action for Inclusion Facilitator and the Inclusive Learning Manager at Queen Mary's College Basingstoke with responsibility for students with learning difficulties and disabilities, ESOL and Support for Study.

Jennie specialises in capacity building for projects that support people with Asperger's Syndrome. She has vast experience working at local, regional and national level developing and extending provision for learners with a broad range of additional learning support needs. Settings have included: prisons, probation and ex-offender hostels, schools, colleges and hospitals.

Jennie  has been a regional trainer for Access for All, a contributor to the Tomlinson review on inclusive learning and a contributing member of a five-year longitudinal research project developing effective post-16 transitions for young people with special educational needs. Jennie has worked extensively to develop and embed provision for learners with Asperger’s Syndrome and was recently invited to join the county’s Autism Board developing the response the Autism Act.

Kathrine Everett is an Action for Inclusion Facilitator and Head Of Curriculum at Orchard Hill College.

Kathrine has worked in an FE college for many years and is currently employed by an Independent Specialist provider .  She ran full time Entry level programmes for learners with LDD 16 - 19 as well as  community based provision for adult learners with LDD.  She has experience of a wide range of needs, including 139 assessment and personal planning.

Kathrine has developed curriculum via Foundation Learning and managed support for learners across the curriculum.  She has worked in partnership with local agencies and VCOs  to develop adaptable work models that will enable learners to practise work skills in a realistic setting..

Dr Heather Pike is an Action for Inclusion Facilitator and Assistant Principal at Abingdon and Witney College.

Heather’s role focuses on all aspects of inclusion and partnership with the local authority and with specialist providers. She is experienced in working with a range of agencies to find tailor-made provision for students with disabilities. She also has extensive experience of the student disciplinary process and how this process can assist in meeting student needs.

As a trained mediator, Heather has a proven track record in finding solutions to meet a range of student issues.

Lynn Reddick is an Action for Inclusion Facilitator and is head of Preparation For Life and Work at Nescot College, Surrey.
She specialises in strategies that focus on employment for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. She also works with learners with emotioanl behavioural difficulties, and is a Surrey Autism Champion.

In 2000 Lynn set up vocational entry level courses at Nescot starting with 8 learners building to the current number of approximately 140.  This focussed on learners aged 16-19 with mild to moderate learning difficulties and/or disabilities, adults with more severe disabilities and those needing life and work skills. It also provided a programme for those with emotional and behavioural difficulties and who will probably have failed in mainstream education.

In 2008 Lynn was the national winner of a Star award for her work with learners with learning difficulties and as a consequence visited New York to see what learning could be transferred from the USA to the UK in the area of people with learning diSabilities finding employed. Some of this learning has now been applied to Nescot's curriculum resulting in their successful transition into work course

Alison Russell is an Action for Inclusion Facilitator and the Head of Foundation Learning at Sussex Coast College. She is responsible for the Foundation Learning Curriculum, including 14-16 KS4, L1 and below, SLDD and Autism Accreditation, NEET prevention, engagement programmes, Skills for Life and ESOL.

Alison specialises in LLDD, Autism, Foundation Learning Curriculum, Personalised Learning, Transition, Safeguarding and Staff Training. She plays a key role on the East Sussex LLDD strategic board, the Foundation Learning strategy and implementation group, and the Transition Programme co-located between Sussex Coast College and Saxon Mount School. She also co-ordinates visits from local authorities outside her area, for example, Berkshire, Kent and Medway sharing good practice on curriculum development for 14-19 Foundation Learning including LLDD.

Pat Teague is the Independent Specialist Providers’ Action for Inclusion Facilitator and a former principal of a residential Independent Specialist College of Further Education for young people aged 16+ with physical disabilities and/or learning difficulties.

Initially, Pat trained in the Health Service and worked in community health for fifteen years before entering further education and gaining twenty years experience in GFE.

Over the last eight years Pat has been involved with a number of capacity building projects across the South East and London regions. These support local providers to offer learning opportunities in the learner’s home area in collaboration with ISP partners. These have piloted and established specialist learner assessments, seconded therapeutic services, residential flexi-programmes and mobile assistive technology solutions amongst others.

Maxine Winter is an Action for Inclusion Facilitator and Learning Support Manager at Sussex Downs College. She specialises in additional support and teaching dyslexic learners (working in these fields since 1995).

Maxine co-ordinates and delivers on the OCR Dip SPLD for Teachers of Learners with Dyslexia. Her initial involvement with Action for Inclusion invloved designing and managing a project supporting students with Speech Language and Communication Difficulties. This included the development of Inclusion On Line supporting Work Based Learners and their employers. 

In her current role Maxine works along side local authority staff in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove and in involved in the local LLDD Strategy Group.