Who we are

Action for Inclusion associate Debs Bagnall is based in West Sussex. She is a qualified mediator, 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.

Action for Inclusion associate Elaine Brace is a qualified mediator, 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.

Action for Inclusion associate Kate Brennan is an 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.

Kate has a Master’s Degree in teaching adults with learning disabilities, with specific modules completed that are designed to demonstrate the support given to people with autism. Kate has a particular interest in citizenship and advocacy and is a qualified mediator.

Action for Inclusion associate Jo Campbell started her career by teaching young people with a range of learning needs in special schools. She moved into Further Education at East Kent College to manage the curriculum and support for students with learning difficulties & disabilities. The creative curriculum delivery methods were well received and led to East Kent College being selected to offer the nationally acclaimed ‘Project Search’ programme, now called ‘Bright Futures’ which demonstrates partnership working the NHS and a supported employment service.

The DFE have invited East Kent College to pilot a Supported Internship programme to further develop the Job Coach model of support in the workplace.

Jo now manages the Additional Learning Support Service at East Kent College and has created a staffing structure to provide specialist support for 650 students with specific conditions and needs, as well as providing smaller teams of support engaging with the teaching staff
During the 2012/13 academic year, Jo has introduced a bespoke support service for students with autism and supports the work of Ambitious about Autism by signing the Autism Charter.
Jo is a trained mediator who works closely with young people, their families and other professionals to ensure a smooth transition to college.

Action for Inclusion associate Jennie Espiner is 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.

Action for Inclusion associate Kathrine Everett is a qualified mediator, 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..

Action for Inclusion associate Rosemary Gregory is Head of Faculty and Skills for Life at Totton College, Southampton, currently managing 6 teams of staff including teachers, learning support staff, a seconded therapy team and the college nurse. She is a teaching manager with over 30 years of experience working in a wide range of educational contexts including mainstream, special school and off site provision, working for the last 14 years in a post-16 education organisation.

Rosemary has taught across the spectrum of Special Educational Needs from those with profound and complex learning disabilities to those with high functioning autistic condition, undertaking ‘A’ level type studies. In addition, she has been responsible for providing staff training including Centre of Vocational Excellence Courses for those working in Mental Health, care or educational settings including NVQs and the Special Educational Needs Module of the Working with Children and Young People Foundation Degree, accredited by Southampton University. She has wide range of experience of working in partnership with other organisations and thinks ‘outside the box’ to find creative solutions to difficulties.

In her current role, and where her passion lies, Rosemary has responsibility for learners with a wide range of learning support needs including physical disabilities, life limiting conditions, profound and complex learning disabilities, severe learning disabilities, moderate learning disabilities, autism, autism and learning disability, autism and mental health related illness and those with high functioning autism.

Action for Inclusion associate Barbara Hayes is based in Sussex. She has worked in schools and colleges, as a SENCO in a large comprehensive school, then a LLDD manager in FE, and finally a Deputy Principal for 15 years. As a consultant since 2005, she has worked all over the country. She worked with schools and colleges for 4 years in the development of Foundation Learning, and is currently working on aspects of SEN Green Paper Pathfinder development in London. She is also a qualified and experienced mediator. She has a wide background in LLDD, with particular strengths in curriculum development around preparing for adulthood.

Action for Inclusion associate Dr Heather Pike is 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 qualified mediator, Heather has a proven track record in finding solutions to meet a range of student issues.

Action for Inclusion associate Lynn Reddick 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

Action for Inclusion associate Karen Richardson is based in Kent and Additional Learning Support Manager at K College. She specialises in LLDD, Aspergers, mental health, personalised learning, transition, safeguarding and additional learning support funding. She is also a member of NADP (National Association of Disability Practitioners).

Initially working in a residential care and an education setting Karen has over 30 years experience working with young people and adults with learning differences. She has been in Further Education since the early 1990s.

Karen now leads a large team of support staff, including specialists in Dyslexia and Hearing Impairment. She promotes person centred support and works closely with local schools, families and other professionals to ensure learners with additional needs have a smooth transition to college.

Action for Inclusion associate Alison Russell is currently the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENco) at St Mary’s School and College, Bexhill-on-Sea. Alison is currently responsible for the co-ordination, tracking and monitoring of the delivery of outcomes as required from the child’s individual Statement of Educational Needs.

Alison is an experienced post-16 manager of Foundation Learning departments, Skills for Life, Functional Skills, ESOL and Health and Social Care. She is skilled and experienced in the planning and implementation of the Foundation Learning Curriculum (Level 1 and Entry Level), including 14-16 engagement programmes, Key Stage 4, Personalised Learning packages, NEET prevention, Transition and Safeguarding.

Alison has co-ordinated visits from local authorities outside her area, for example, Berkshire, Kent and Medway sharing good practice on curriculum development for 14-19 Foundation Learning departments. She is a trained mediator and is qualified to Masters level in Special Educational Needs Autism (Adults) from the University of Birmingham; she is an experienced speaker and presenter at both local and national conferences.

Action for Inclusion associate Pat Teague is the Independent Specialist Providers’ 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.

Action for Inclusion associate Maxine Winter is the 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.

Action for Inclusion associate David White is an independent consultant based in Reading. Most recently David has undertaken a research project, looking at the aspirations of autistic learners with the aim of increasing local opportunities for employment and training.  David’s current role is in improving the transition process for vulnerable learners and in setting up community based solutions and social enterprises. Prior to this he worked in the Thames Valley as the Learning Disabilities lead with the Learning and Skills Council, and supported the setting up of a number of local capacity building projects and led on the creation of a Berkshire Learners with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities data base to inform commissioning.

Initialy, David qualified as a teacher of special education and has a Master’s Degree in the ‘Sociology of Disability’. He has extensive experience of working in schools, colleges and universities.  As a university lecturer David has trained social workers, nurses and teachers; his main research interest is in the inter-professional working for people with a learning disability.

Action for Inclusion associate Richard Lamplough describes himself as a “freelance creative” and what he creates, more often than not, are marketing initiatives that support people with additional needs into work. He makes videos, he takes photographs and he designs and manages websites. As well as designing and managing the Action for Inclusion site Richard runs The South East Employment Network and Aspirations for Life.

Richard has worked with people with leaning disabilities and autism for 20 years. Before going freelance in 2006 Richard managed a specialist support agency in South West London supporting people with learning disabilities and other disabilities into work. The agency also ran an Access To Work contract that Richard succesfully tendered for in the late 1990s.