SEND Live Conference 2024
SEND Live 2024
It was great to see all our delegates at SEND Live 2024, we enjoyed talking to you and hope to see you again next year! Watch out for our SEND Live 2025 ticket deals coming up soon. SEND Live work experience update: We are very thankful to all our wonderful young people who came from local special schools to do the work experience opportunities. We met on the day and before the conference. They worked in catering, IT, or event management, and we appreciated their time and dedication.
We are delighted to announce that Alessandra from the local area got an offer for an Event Management job at the Kassam Stadium. This happened because a work experience opportunity was created, so please consider ways to create more work experience opportunities for our young people with SEND in your teams. Alessandra wanted to work in music therapy, within a library or museum setting, Event management never occurred to her, she was nervous about doing work experience for SEND Live but decided to try it and it revealed a hidden talent. We supported her throughout the whole process, with help and advice on the expression of interest, informal interview and getting familiar with the venue and work tasks before the conference. We are very proud of what Alessandra has achieved and we wish her well for her future.
We would also like to highlight the wonderful job our interviewer Maisy Gallagher-Horwood did, she was funny and engaging, even though she had some technical difficulties she still did a marvellous job and has been offered a role within the SEND team creating a monthly newsletter for School’s news with the overall aim of promoting Supported Internships. Congratulations Maisy! A few of your highlights:
How will SEND Live 2024 will change your practice at a whole school level?
"Lots of golden nuggets to take back in regard to updating staff on interception and neurodiversity." "Making sure every child’s voice is heard and their strengths are celebrated and encouraged." "Thinking about the whole child rather than what you initially see when they are in school."
What was your favourite experience or moment of SEND Live 2024?
"The inspirational keynote speaker. He really reminded us all why we are working so hard in schools!" "The Formulation workshop was incredibly useful." "Having the children and young people with SEND involved for work experience." "Quality, knowledgeable speakers."
How did the presence of our young people with SEND influence you or make you think about the ways in which we can support our young people's aspirations and prepare them for adulthood?
“I was interviewed by Maisy and found her to be funny, bright and professional – it was a pleasure to meet her, and I think she is a wonderful role model”. “Lovely to see young people and hear some stories from them”. “Highlighted importance of experience”. “Showed the importance of all people being able to access different experiences”. “It would be great to have the young SEND pupils to speak in our schools”. “Young people with SEND deserve the opportunity to try different activities that will give them a purpose in adulthood”. “Made me reflect on how important updating child’s aspirations are at every Annual Review and making sure these are captured in ways that are personal to them”.
Additional assessments All of our delegates indicated that SEND Live fully or partially met their expectations. Based on 97 responses from our delegates, the workshops throughout the day received an average rating of 4.48/5 stars for their quality and content. All of our delegates who attended would think about attending SEND Live again in the future. Almost all of our delegates (99%) said that the content from SEND Live would help them improve their work practice. All of our delegates planned to apply what they learned from the conference to their daily practice. All of our delegates intended to share their learning from SEND Live with their colleagues in their settings. Almost all of our delegates (99%) could give an example of how SEND Live will change their practice at a whole school level. Over two-thirds of our delegates (71%) reported having positive interactions with our work experience individuals.