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SENCo Network Conference
Overview
This conference is designed specifically for Primary SENCos seeking to strengthen inclusive, high-quality teaching for all learners. The day will focus on practical, evidence-informed strategies for supporting pupils with SEND across the four broad areas of need: Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH), and Sensory and Physical needs. Grounded in classroom practice, the event will open with insights from a young person with lived experience of SEND, providing a powerful, pupil-centred perspective. Delegates will then hear from experts in the field who will share best practice approaches that can be embedded within everyday teaching. The conference will offer realistic, research-aligned guidance for removing barriers to learning and fostering success for all pupils, equipping school leaders with the tools to lead inclusive improvement across their settings.
DATE: Thursday 5th February 2026
TIME: 09:30-15:30
VENUE: Doubletree by Hilton Coventry, Paradise Way, Coventry Walsgrave Triangle, CV2 2STR
COST: £230 per person for non-subscribing schools
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Schools who subscribe to the Gateway Alliance – SENCO Network have 1 FREE place per school.
Costs will be incurred for additional places and for schools that do not subscribe. Please contact us for details.
BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL
If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact us on 02476 347697 or email: info@gatewayalliance.co.uk
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Dr Pooky Knightsmith
Dr Pooky Knightsmith is an internationally respected face of child and adolescent mental health, Pooky works tirelessly to ‘be the change she wants to see’. A prolific keynote speaker, lecturer, trainer and author, she develops and shares practical, evidence informed approaches to promoting metal health – arming health, social care and education staff with the skills, understanding and knowledge they need to support the children in their care.
Pooky has a PhD in child mental health from the Institute of Psychiatry, is the author of many books, is the research and development director at Creative Education and is a former chair of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition. She lives in Sussex and has two daughters and three dogs. She’s a keen climber, an amateur knitter and a tenor in her local choir. She lives with PTSD and autism.
Kate Browning
For over 25 years, Kate Browning has been passionately committed to supporting schools to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND. Kate has worked as a SENCo, a Local Authority School Improvement Officer for SEND and interim Education Development Officer for NASEN for whom she wrote guidance and delivered national training on the SEND Code of Practice. Kate has a successful track record of working with individual and groups of schools, Trusts and local authorities through consultancy, training, reviews and producing written guidance. Kate is an associate of the University of Northampton where she teaches on undergraduate and post graduate courses in SEND.
