CHILD CENTRED CONSULTANCY

KATE FLETCHER

About Me

With over 25 years experience of working within education I have developed a reputation for being focused upon young peoples needs with a positive planned approach.  Throughout my career I have been privileged to work in both mainstream and specialist schools where the young person was at the heart of my every thought and action. During differing roles, I have always worked hard to ensure I use data and policy to implement change and drive consistent excellence in the daily lives of the young people in my care, whether this be through being a member of senior leadership, SENDCo or Principal. My driving force being that - if every decision is made with the young person at its centre, then it can only be what is best for them! I am known by others as going above and beyond to ensure the young person and their families get the desired outcomes, they set out to achieve. My extensive experience includes supporting families, schools, and social workers to apply and gain an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP), advising school leaders on policy and practice, supporting educational staff and care professionals, providing staff training at all levels, school management, working with many differing needs and backgrounds. Alongside this I have developed the skill set to complete observations of young people and make recommendations, construct behaviour plans, learning support plans and a variety of methods on how these can be put into practice within the school, home, or community environments. Within a care and education provider I have worked with over 16 local authorities to ascertain the best care and education placement for the young person, a role which enabled me to develop individualised reports and responses to help local authority commissioners and SEND teams as well as working directly with families and the networks of support around them. I am used to working with clinical teams and the reports generated, and using them to support EHCP applications as well as turning them into planned support programmes which are regularly reviewed using SMART targets.  These professionals include Educational Psychologists, Care Managers, Doctors and Consultants, CAMHs, Community Paediatrics, Autism Teams, SALT, Art and Play Therapists. I have worked within mainstream primary and secondary schools, and within these establishments, holding the SENDCo and Safeguarding Lead positions which enables a multi-layered and professional approach to hear the young person and care givers, and balancing that with the guidance and strategies put into place to support positively…using it for the young person’s benefit. As a result of this approach, I am delighted that all needs assessments have been successful. Everyone needs a person to stand up for them and I take this as something of importance, rather than job role or career. I firmly believe that we all have the right to be the best version of ourselves.