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		<title><![CDATA[Leicestershire and Rutland Teaching School Hub News Feed - Latest News]]></title>
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		<description><![CDATA[St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Multi-Academy Trust hosted a SEND Conference

The theme of the Conference was &ldquo;Planning ahead for 2026-27: Exploring practical ways to&nbsp;
support inclusion, considering some of the key challenges practitioners are currently facing.&rdquo;
We were delighted that Aimee, a Year 12 student from De Lisle was able to support the event&nbsp;
and below is her blog post summarising the event.&nbsp;

The purpose of this conference was to share initiatives to help mainstream and specialist schools&nbsp;
ensure education is accessible for all students. According to attendee and organiser Ruth&nbsp;
Hurcombe (Director of Performance and Standards at the St Thomas Aquinas Catholic MultiAcademy Trust) the event was a &ldquo;Chance to hear from experts inside and outside the Trust and&nbsp;
to make a difference for children in schools and allow collaboration.&rdquo; There were a variety of&nbsp;
workshops in the morning including &lsquo;Strong foundations KS1&rsquo;, &lsquo;TA role&rsquo; and &lsquo;inclusive classroom&rsquo;.&nbsp;


This was followed by a Keynote Speech in the afternoon led by Rosalind Hopkins (Director of&nbsp;
Specialist Provision at Discovery Trust). Key themes from the Keynote Speech included changing perspectives, specifically taking the time&nbsp;
to think about whether lessons are fully accessible and how to accommodate for students who&nbsp;
struggle in lesson or with attendance. It also heavily encouraged collaboration and frequent&nbsp;
communication, especially between specialist and mainstream schools. When asked about what&nbsp;
she took away from the speech, Ruth Hurcombe said &ldquo;Specialist and mainstream schools should&nbsp;
work together to solve problems and to take advice and information then use that to help a larger
number of children. There is a lot of expertise in specialist and mainstream education that can&nbsp;
work together and problem solve.&rdquo;


The atmosphere in the workshops was engaging; the speakers were interesting and informative.&nbsp;
Discussions that took place were relevant and informative. People listened intently and many&nbsp;
made notes during these sessions either on a laptop or notebook. The general atmosphere during&nbsp;
changeovers or breaks was busy as many socialised and networked.
This conference was important as it encouraged collaboration and networking within the Trust
and other local schools. It has also allowed people to share and discuss ideas allowing people to&nbsp;
take this new information and improve how they approach these matters. Ruth believes that &ldquo;any&nbsp;
training is empowering for working with young people and these conferences allows us to share&nbsp;
knowledge.&rdquo;


The collaborative nature of this conference was vital as it brings a variety of knowledge and ideas&nbsp;
that people can use, share and take away from the event. This may include a new perspective on&nbsp;
an aspect of their job or guidance for an area of improvement. Ruth also mentioned that &ldquo;Working&nbsp;
together, people can share expertise and think of children in our settings and learn from different&nbsp;
perspectives.&rdquo;


Thank you to everyone involved in the event.


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