Special Needs Jungle, In Conversation

Aug 28 2024 21 ep. 47 mins 8

Special Needs Jungle, In Conversation Podcast artwork

Join Special Needs Jungle's Renata Blower, Tania Tirraoro and team, in conversations about current issues and interesting aspects around special educational needs and disabilities. The team will be chatting with a variety of voices from the world of SEND, explaining, exploring and educating on everything you need to know. The programme is also available in vision on YouTube. Theme credit: Luca Tirraoro

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SNJ in Conversation: CFA 10 years on Brian Lamb OBE says building good parental relationships is the key to fixing SEND

Aug 28 2024 59 mins

SNJ's Sharon Smith and Tania Tirraoro talk to veteran SEND expert, Brian Lamb OBE a new episode of SNJ in Conversation on the Children and Families Act 10 years on. Brian says building good parental relationships is the key to fixing SEND Find the webpage for this episode here

SNJ in Conversation with Edward Timpson CBE KC “You’ve got to really care about families and their lives …”

May 30 2024 57 mins

In the third podcast in our series on a decade of the Children and Families Act 2014, SNJ ’s Tania and Renata talks to former SEND Minister, Edward Timpson, who steered the legislation through parliament. We discuss the battles he had to fight to create a legal duty on health in the Act, and to bring in Ofsted /CQC SEND inspections. What does he wish he’d been able to push furt

SNJ in Conversation: 10 years of the Children & Families Act: Philippa Stobbs on the wins and losses

May 17 2024 73 mins

Philippa Stobbs OBE worked for 30 years at the centre of developing national SEND policy with the Council for Disabled Children—she's the highly-respected doyenne of SEN. Few people have as encyclopaedic knowledge of special educational needs as she does. She spent decades negotiating with the government of the day to ensure legislation and new policy supported children with

10 Years of the Children & Families Act 2014: Stephen Kingdom

Apr 18 2024 44 mins

This is Part 1 of a series on a decade of The Children and Families Act that was passed in 2014. What went wrong and what went right? First up is Stephen Kingdom, now of the Disabled Children’s Partnership, but in 2012, he was the SEND man at the DfE. Stephen looks back at the creating and implementation of the CFA and discusses with Tania Tirraoro and Sharon Smith what he'd

SNJ in Conversation with Dame Christine Lenehan

Sep 26 2023 46 mins

SNJ's Tania and Renata chat to newly-retired Director of the Council for Disabled Children about her career, her biggest achievements and who her favourite SEND minister has been... Find the webpage for the episode, including pictures from Dame Christine's Valedictory address to the SEND sector, here

What are Labour ‘s plans for SEND? We speak to Helen Hayes MP

Aug 15 2023 47 mins

While few except the DfE think the Government's SEND Improvement Plan is going to fix special educational needs provision in England, Tania & Renata ask Labour's spokesperson on SEND, Helen Hayes MP, for her views on the issue. Find the podcast webpage here: https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/snj-in-conversation-labour-send-spokesperson-helen-hayes-mp-fixing-send/

SNJ in Conversation with Carrie Grant: Supporting children at the intersection of SEND, Race and Gender Identity

May 11 2023 52 mins

Vocal coach and celebrity, Carrie Grant MBE is well known for having a diverse family. Along with her husband, singer, David Grant, she has four neurodivergent, mixed race children, several of whom also identify as transgender. Two are also up and coming actors, including in the series, Hollyoaks. In an interesting and entertaining episode of SNJ in Conversation, Carrie discusses t

SNJ in Conversation with public lawyer, Steve Broach: SEND Law in 2023

Mar 13 2023 53 mins

In the first SNJ in Conversation podcast of the year, Renata and Tania put your questions to public lawyer Steve Broach about SEND law in 2023. Your questions answered about EHCPs, Annual Reviews, what, if anything, has changed, group challenges via Judicial Review and much more! Listen to the show and find the show webpage here: https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/snj-in-conversati

SNJ in Conversation with Will Quince MP, Children & Families Minister

Jun 23 2022 43 mins

SNJ's Renata Blower and Tania Tirraoro discuss aspects of the SEND Review Green Paper with Minister for Children & Families, Will Quince MP. We covered a range of issues, including plans for mandatory mediation, ringfencing schools' SEND budgets, teacher training for SEND and much more over 45 minutes of in-depth conversation. If you want to know more about the Gree

Growing Up Disabled, with Siena Castellon and George Fielding

Dec 16 2021 53 mins

On this episode of SNJ in Conversation, young disability campaigners, Siena Castellon and George Fielding talk to Special Needs Jungle's Renata Blower, discussing their lives, their achievements, what it was like growing up with a disability and the challenges that has presented. They offer advice for other young people - and their parents. Find the main post for this podcast on th