- This event has passed.
BSA Seminar: Supporting Learning Differences Beyond the Classroom
- Date: January 31, 2023
- Time: 14:00 – 16:00
- Cost: Full Member – £100, Affiliate Member – £150, Non-member – £200
- Audience: Head, SLT, Inclusion Lead, Head of Boarding, Teaching and Boarding staff
- Platform: Zoom (online)
Course outline
This half day seminar aims to help delegates understand more about learning differences – signs and effective support for pupils within a boarding school environment will be considered.
The session will include information regarding ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and memory differences. Signs and symptoms will be considered to help us understand the potential barriers for pupils within our schools. The focus will be on how we can adopt a proactive approach to support pupils with learning differences in all aspects of boarding school life.
Learning outcomes:
Attending this training will help delegates increase their knowledge and understanding of ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and memory differences which will include the day-to-day impact having a diagnosis or traits can have on a pupil’s life. Delegates will hear about a range of practical strategies to adopt, adapt or use and will leave with the understanding and confidence to build on current practice.
Speaker: Zoe Beezer, Educational Consultant
Zoe Beezer MDG (Master of the Dyslexia Guild with Level 7 Postgraduate Certificate in Dyslexia/ SpLD conferring qualified teacher and assessor status), QTS, LLM, BA Hons runs her own business in educational consultancy and assessment (zoebeezer.com); she carries out SpLD assessments, advises parents and advocates for them, provides training services, as well as offering tutoring and coaching. Prior to this she was Assistant Head of Inclusion and Well-being at an independent secondary school. Other roles have included SENDCo and Head of Learning Support at an independent all-through school, Head of Learning Support at an academically selective grammar school and Head of Pastoral Care (Girls). Zoe gained qualified teacher status in 2001 and has taught in a range of settings from mainstream to independent schools, and from primary age to university lecturing. She is a qualified Specialist Assessor and regularly undertakes private assessments of pupils with suspected literacy related SpLDs and dyslexia. She is also a qualified Specialist Literacy Intervention and Dyslexia teacher and Level 1 Accredited Executive Functions Coach. Prior to devoting her career to special educational needs Zoe specialised as a Criminal Law Solicitor and Litigator. She holds a Masters in Criminal Law Litigation (LLM).
Zoe is the mother of four children (two girls and identical twin boys); one of her children has Inattentive ADHD and ASC, and another has Combined Type ADHD. She is using this ongoing experience of how to parent a neurodivergent child along with that of working with parents, schools and external agencies to meet the needs of neurodivergent pupils, gained during her teaching career, to co-author a book for parents of children with ADHD
Speaker: Lauren Harris Jones, Head of Boarding and Futures, Hereford Cathedral School
In her last role Lauren was Head of Sixth Form and Tutor in Elizabeth Boarding House at King Edwards School Witley. She has been working in co-educational international schools since 2003 and recently completed her NPQSL on reflection activities and metacognition as a support to students’ academic subjects. Lauren is currently building on previous research about the use of games in education to write about the amount of time secondary school boarders should be left unsupervised to ‘play’ and the amount of non-contact time that should be allocated as structured ‘compulsory fun’.
Speaker: Liz Fernandez, SENDCO, The Royal Prep School, Hindhead
Liz has over 30 years’ experience of working in state and independent nurseries and schools in Surrey. She has supported children with a wide range of difficulties and is passionate about helping pupils learn about their strengths and weaknesses so they can be the best individuals possible. Liz is a qualified specialist teacher and assessor and is currently working as SENDCo at an independent prep school, supporting neurodiverse pupils with differences such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, ADHD and speech and language challenges.
In 2018, Liz attended a lecture by Dr Bettina Hohnen & Imogen Moore-Shelley from Connections in Mind about executive functions. This was a turning point in her career, a ‘lightbulb moment’ which described the cognitive skills that underpin learning and explained why some of her pupils (and colleagues!) found some skills so difficult to engage with. Liz then trained with Connections in Mind to be an EF coach. Learning about executive functions has changed the way she approaches what she does and how she does it. Liz believes that everyone, young and old, deserves to understand what makes them tick and how to use their strengths to make the world a better place. It also helps to develop an understanding that everyone is different, so we no longer ‘tolerate’ or ‘accept’ difficulties, but ‘include’, ’embrace’ and ‘celebrate’ uniqueness.