Assistive technology to improve accessibility in education for students with visual impairments or neurodiverse conditions.

Noel Duffy, Chairman of the Board, Dolphin Computer Access

Awarded the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) Lifetime Achievement Award in April 2022, for 30 years’ work empowering visually impaired people to succeed in a digital world, Noel Duffy has been the driving force behind many UK and international initiatives that bring low-cost access tech and reading systems to blind and partially sighted people facing digital exclusion.

Noel also sits on the board of ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association) and is a member of APPGAT (All Party Parliamentary Group for Assistive Technology). Additionally, Noel is on the board of trustees at New College Worcester, a UK residential school and college for young people who are blind or vision impaired.

Joshua Murphy – Testing Apprentice at Dolphin Computer Access

Josh is completing his apprenticeship in Software Testing at Dolphin Computer Access, where he is part of a team that conducts a range of digital tests to ensure the software operates as it is designed to do. His role plays a key part of the business, and his attention to detail and problem-solving skills ensure the company creates an exceptional product. 

Josh is blind and uses screen magnification and screen reading technology to access the information on his computer and other devices. Josh is also a Guide Dog owner, so can usually be found in the company of his Guide Dog, Horatio.

Website

https://yourdolphin.com/Education

Al Kingsley has spent the last 30 years in the Educational Technology space and almost 20 of those as a school trustee and governor. He is Group CEO of NetSupport Ltd, an internationally acclaimed EdTech vendor, and Chair of Hampton Academies Trust and the Richard Barnes (AP) Academy, all in the East of England. He also chairs his region’s Governor Leadership Group.

Alongside these roles, Al also sits on the DfE’s Regional Schools Directorate Advisory Board for the East of England and is the Independent Chair of the County’s SEND Board. As a firm supporter of lifelong learning, he is also a regional Apprenticeship Ambassador and Chair of the Employment and Skills Board for his region’ s combined authority.

An active writer about all things Education, Al is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and sits on the advisory council for the Foundation for Education Development.

Website

www.alkingsley.com

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

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Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools’ from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future’ – 2023

ONVU Learning is a 360-degree video lesson capture system that helps teachers reflect, collaborate and analyse their entire teaching and learning process. It creates a community space where teachers can share best practice and learn easily with their coaches and peers.

When Matt Tiplin was an Ofsted inspector, he decided that something drastic needed to change in the way we both judged and developed teachers.

Teacher CPD was always something that was ‘done to’ teachers and not ‘done by’ them. And lesson observations were disruptive, costly and ineffective.

He set about creating a more supportive, teacher-led CPD programme as a senior leader in a multi-academy trust and has brought that passion and experience to his role at ONVU Learning.

Matt is a founding fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, has a master’s degree in Education and a National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership. He is also passionate about music and literature and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Website

www.onvulearning.com

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

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www.educationonfire.com

Ally Sousa has worked in education for more than 16 years and has a longstanding interest in teachers’ CPD and supporting ECTs. She’s a former teacher and currently leads the content creation at BlueSky Education where she works with a wide range of teachers to create professional development resources.

Prior to joining BlueSky, Ally taught in secondary education. While teaching physical education at Gosport and Fareham MAT, she took on the role of Initial Teacher Training manager and professional mentor, supporting primary, secondary and special phase trainees across a range of training pathways, and developing continued professional development programmes for trainees, ECTs and experienced members of the school community.

Ally is keen to help teachers to have more constructive conversations about professional development with those who support them. She would love to discuss how teachers can take more ownership of professional development, how PD can happen throughout the year, the approaches early career teachers take to CPD.

Website

www.blueskyeducation.co.uk

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

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www.educationonfire.com

Professor Stephen Heppell's “eyes on the horizon, feet on the ground” approach, coupled with a vast portfolio of effective large scale projects over three decades, have established him internationally as a widely and fondly recognized leader in the fields of learning, new media and technology.

He was a school teacher for more than a decade, and has been a professor since 1989. Stephen has worked, and is working, with learner led projects, with governments around the world, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies, with schools and communities, with his PhD students and with many influential trusts and organizations.

In June 2006 Stephen was awarded the Royal Television Society’s Judges Award for Lifelong Services to Educational Broadcasting. In 2008 he received the prestigious BETT Award for Outstanding Achievement in ICT Education. In 2014 he was honoured to receive the UK’s NAACE Award for Lifetime Achievement in educational technology.

Website

www.heppell.net

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

www.nape.org.uk

www.educationonfire.com

Sam Kendall leads all of Eden’s work with schools, young people and their teachers and has done so since 2010. Eden’s Schools Team design and deliver programmes and projects for children and young people and offer training, consultancy and resources to schools towards Eden’s vision for children and young people who are motivated and equipped to create, and flourish in, a better future in which all living things thrive within planetary boundaries.

Sam has been a member of Eden’s Education Team since the project opened in 2001, establishing Eden as a must-go school visit destination for schools across the UK and maintaining a focus on high quality teaching and learning across Eden’s learning programmes – at Eden and online. Following a first degree in Natural Science at Jesus College, Cambridge, she qualified as a primary school teacher, with science specialism, in 1997 and worked in schools in Bristol, Cornwall, Karachi and South Africa prior to joining Eden in 2001. In 2021 she completed an MSc in Environment and Human Health.

Website

www.edenproject.com/learn/schools

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

www.nape.org.uk

www.educationonfire.com

Voice 21 is the UK’s oracy education charity. They work with schools to transform the learning and life chances of young people through talk. They campaign for oracy to have a higher status in the education system.

Oracy skills are vital to success in school and in life. And yet, for many children, especially those growing up in poverty, opportunities to develop these vital skills are missed. Only a minority of schools have consistent, coherent or adequately resourced provision to develop these skills in their students.

Voice 21’s sustained approach weaves oracy into a school’s DNA, ensuring current and future students have access to a high-quality oracy education. This means that students in Voice 21 Oracy Schools, including those who would otherwise miss out, develop the oracy skills they need for success in school and in life. 

Website

www.voice21.org

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

www.nape.org.uk

www.educationonfire.com

Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting service children who have parent(s) serving in our British Armed Forces, regular or reserve. These children often face unique challenges including frequent house and school moves, as well as regular periods of separation from their serving parent(s) for varying lengths of time due to exercises, training, operations and other service commitments.

As a charity, Little Troopers ensures our British Armed Forces children and their families have access to child-focused support wherever they are in the world and whatever community they live in. They provide fundamental resources and initiatives to help ease repeated separation periods and keep parent and child connected even when miles apart. They are the only charity in the UK dedicated to celebrating just how special all our Little Troopers out there really are.

Louise Fetigan, founder, is a British Army veteran who saw active service in Kosovo. Her husband was also a serving soldier for 24 years, and undertook seven operational tours of duty. Together they have a daughter who spent her whole childhood as a military child and is the inspiration behind the charity, Little Troopers.

Website

www.littletroopers.net

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

www.nape.org.uk

www.educationonfire.com

A Gobblegark’s Guide To Your Brilliant Neurodivergent Brain is Suzanne Robertshaw’s new book.

Suzanne has been a teacher for 23 years. She has worked as a SENCO, supporting students with learning differences since 2015. She feels passionate about the positives of being neurodivergent which she regularly promotes on her Instagram page – @teachingwithadifference.

A Gobblegark’s Guide To Your Brilliant Neurodivergent Brain is quite a magical book. You’ll meet caterpillars and gobblegarks and best of all? You’ll see how fantastic being neurodivergent is! Win keys by completing some challenges along the way, each one leading you closer to the treasure and to knowing a bit more about yourself and your brain. Built-in breaktimes ensure that you won’t get overwhelmed.

Afterall, it can be tiring investigating your brain, making your way through a maze, and finding out how to use the strengths of your brain and understand yourself!

Downloadable worksheets let you truly make this book your own because you can go back to activities as many times as you need, or do them in different ways, (and of course skip the ones you don’t!). Let’s make our brilliant brains even more amazing with this Gobblegark Guide!

Website

www.suzannerobertshawauthor.my.canva.site

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

www.nape.org.uk

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Join BBC Teach on a journey through Musical Storyland, where children’s fairy tales and traditional folktales are re-imagined with music performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The stories are narrated by a host of stars; BBC Radio 5 Live presenter, Nihal Arthanayake; international storyteller, Jan Blake; and CBBC and Eastenders actor, Molly Rainford.

There are currently five short films: Three Billy Goats Gruff; Jack and the Beanstalk; Ananse and the Monkeys; the Great Race; and The Little Fir Tree. A further five will be available on Monday 25 March. The films feature an array of guest musicians, including multi-instrumentalist, Sidiki Dembélé; Guzheng player, Zi Lan Liao; and DeaF trumpeter, Sean Chandler.  

On the BBC Teach website, the classroom videos are accompanied by comprehensive activities and listening guides, exploring musical skills and cross-curricula connections for non-specialist early years and primary-level teachers.

Website

www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/articles/zqg2s82

NAPE is the long term sponsor of Education on Fire. This episode is repurposed for NAPE from the Education on Fire podcast hosted by Mark Taylor - NAPE, Vice Chair

www.nape.org.uk

www.educationonfire.com