Kathryn is a primary and secondary senior adviser with twenty years of experience specialising in SEND, Social and Emotional Mental Health, and Wellbeing.
After completing a master’s degree, Kathryn qualified as a secondary teacher of Art and Design from Goldsmiths before taking up her first post in Barking and Dagenham. It was here that Kathryn found she was drawn to the children who struggled to regulate their emotions, the ones stood out in the corridor during lesson times and that other teachers appeared frustrated with. Over the next seven years, Kathryn pursued her career in alternative provisions, where the predominant area of need was SEMH. However, these children often have co-occurring difficulties so by the time she became Deputy Head, Kathryn had attained three specialist qualifications in SEND to develop the knowledge base that would support her to successfully manage the vast range of experiences presented by struggling four–to-sixteen–year–olds. Kathryn feels fortunate to have the lived experience that enables her to empathise with children and their families. It has meant that while working across Essex, Newham, Redbridge, Hertfordshire, and now returning to Barking and Dagenham, she is able to provide effective support through devising local area Nurture Group pilots; developing pastoral teams and outreach teams; supporting home school tuition; facilitating and teaching alternative qualifications so learners experience success; creating onsite alternative provisions; and enhancing cultural change for schools and local communities through her support for the leadership of inclusion.
Kathryn is committed to bringing a solution focused approach to the issues around SEND and Inclusion and has recently completed a PGCE in Mental Health. As a committed life-long learner, she is not stopping there and is undertaking a journey to become a counsellor through the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body with a focus on school-based anxiety, staff wellbeing and developing meaningful supervision.
