Following the success of the Conference in 2023, this year's Cumberland Annual SEND Conference will take place on Thursday January 11 and Friday 12, 2024, at the University of Cumbria, Fusehill Campus.
 Two day tickets are on sale from noon Thursday, 19 October 2023. There will be an exclusive £10 off for the first 30 two day tickets sold!
One day tickets are on sale from noon Monday, 30 October 2023.
The conference will welcome colleagues from across Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness to network, share knowledge, and attend a number of exciting Key Notes speeches and in-depth workshops.
Tickets will be on sale on the dates stated above and will be available via our Eventbrite page, linked below.
Ellie Costello - Director of Square Peg
Square Peg was set up by founder Fran Morgan in 2019, following her family's exeriences.
'Square Peg was set up in order to improve things for children with school-based anxiety and their families. This has developed to include all low or non-attenders, whether excluded on behaviour grounds, too anxious to attend, or disengaged with an education system which lacks relevance'.
- Square Peg website
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Before joining Square Peg, Ellie co-chaired a school PTA for 4 years and ran support and advocacy campaigns for other families. From 2014, she found herself advocating for her two children who had undiagnosed SEND and underlying health conditions. This led to invitations to work strategically with her local authority, CAMHS commissioners, Parent Carer Forum and SEND Crisis groups.
As a Therapeutic Parent, Ellie’s interests lie in developing ACE aware best practice, service-planning and provision for all those working with children and families in order to build cohesive, holistic, attachment-aware, trauma-informed frameworks and services. Passionate about mental health and neurodevelopment, Ellie envisions a world where happy, emotionally resilient, curious and creative children thrive equally; where improved health, education and life outcomes are delivered and sustained.
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Ellie will be speaking at the 2024 Annual Cumberland SEND Conference on Thursday, 11 January 2024.
Malcom Reeves - National Association for SEN (nasen)
'nasen supports those working with, and for, children and young people with SEND and learning differences by having an influential voice at national level through our partner networks, developing useful resources and delivering effective CPDL.'
- nasen website
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Malcolm has worked in the field of SEND for 30 years and in that time has worked in adult provision, mainstream schools, and special schools. He has worked with children throughout the age range and with learning difficulties ranging from moderate to profound. Malcolm has been a Headteacher of three schools and one federation.
He is a National Leader of Education, a Member of the National SEND Forum, and Patron of the Centre Algarve holiday centre for people with special needs.
Malcom will be speaking on both days of the 2024 Cumberland Annual SEND Conference (Thursday 11 and Friday 12 January, 2024.)
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Prof. Neil Mercer - University of Cambridge
Neil Mercer is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge where he is also Director of the study Centre Oracy Cambridge and a Life Fellow of the college Hughes Hall. His research explores the role of dialogue in education and the development of children's reasoning. Neil grew up in Cockermouth attending Cockermouth Grammar School before studying psychology at the University of Manchester and gaining his PhD in psycholinguistics from the University of Leicester.
It’s only words: Why oracy is important for all young people
In this Keynote, Neil will first explain why the development of all young people’s spoken language skills is so important for their learning, cognitive development and their life chances in general. Neil describes effective methods that teachers can use to develop those skills. He will then explore the latest learnings from recent school-based research about how teachers can best use talk to create inclusive classrooms in which all children can participate productively and make good educational progress.
You can learn more about Neil's work and view a list of his publications below.
Neil will be speaking at the 2024 Annual Cumberland SEND Conference on Friday, 12 January 2024.
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We have 5 workshops to choose from each day at the conference - these are listed below. Each attendee will be able to attend 3 workshops each day, and will be able to select their preferences when booking. Each workshop will last 45 minutes.
Workshops are delivered by a number of colleagues from the NHS and health settings, the University of Cumbria, Cumberland Council, and SENDAC, the Cumbria parent carer forum.
Thursday, 11 January 2024
Autism and Girls, delivered by ASC SAT
Dyselxia: Myth and Reality, delivered by Heather Swain
Adaptive Planning, delivered by Claire Vuckovic
Sensory Processing, delivered by Andi Butler and Zena Cassels
Coproduction, delivered by SENDAC, the Cumbria parent carer forum
Friday 12, January 2024
Demand Avoidance and Autism, delivered by Caroline Pollard
Attachment and Trauma, delivered by Ed Strong
Preparation for Adulthood, delivered by Jo Beech and Matt Prenton
Research in the Classroom, delivered by Claire Vuckovic
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder Awareness, delivered by Helen Howlett
Following Local Government Reorganisation and the splitting of the SENCO networks, we have now sent a newsletter to both the Cumberland SENCO Network and the Westmorland and Furness SENCO Network. If you did not receive either of these newsletters, we would encourage you to please amend your subscriber preferences below.
To do this, please click on the link related to your new Local Authority below. Following this you will be asked for your email address - you can then select which topics you would like to hear from your Local Authority about. Under 'Children, families and schools' you will find either Cumberland or Westmorland and Furness' SENCO Network. If for any reason this doesn't come up, please scroll to the bottom of the page where 'add subscriptions' will be listed; from here you may subscribe to new topics.
We would like to encourage all SENCOs in the county to subscribe to their relevant SENCO Network Newsletter. These newsletters often contain updates from the Local Authority, reminders of key dates and Network meetings, information and upcoming events for either school staff or families, as well as useful resources. If you know of any SENCOs who are not subscribed, or any colleagues who may find the information useful, we would really appreciate you sharing this message with them on how to subscribe and keep up to date.
You will also find the new subscriptions lists for Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness' SEND Partnerships in this category. It has been approved that the Cumbria SEND Partnership will split before the end of this year, with two new local area SEND Partnerships being formed; one for the Cumberland area and one for the Westmorland and Furness area. We recommend all SENCOs subscribe to receive their new local area SEND Partnership newsletters as well as SENCO newsletters, as these often contain important and useful information for families, as well as local events and resources.
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