Our Cadmus Inclusive Team

Beccie Hawes, CEO

BA (hons) QTS, MEd (Inclusion and Diversity in Education), PG Cert (SpLD – dyslexia and Professional Studies – SENCo), AMBDA

Beccie has worked in all aspects of Special Educational Needs including mainstream, additionally resourced provision and specialist settings. She has extensive experience as a SENCo, Inclusion Manager, Lead Local Authority Advisory SEND Teacher and as Head of a SEND specific support service. Beccie remains very ‘hands on’ in the classroom and is passionate about being at the chalk face to support teachers and children in order to practice what she preaches. She is the author of ‘The Complete Dyslexia Toolkit’, ‘SEND: The Things and the Stuff’ and co-author of ‘Getting it Right for SEND’ and ‘How to Create the Perfect Partnership with Parents’. Beccie also writes the national Ebriefing: SEND Bitesize and frequently blogs. She has also developed a number of educational resources to support learners with educational needs. Beccie is especially passionate about celebrating learning differences. She strives to support schools to think differently to improve quality first teaching to ensure that every pupil has the chance to shine. Beccie is a mum/step-mum to four fantastic boys and Harry the dog.

To contact Beccie please email or call:

bhawes@cadmussupportservices.co.uk

Tel: 07983 773614

Ruth Lue-Quee, Senior Inclusion Consultant

Ruth has specialist expertise in Early Years and Key Stage One but is able to provide high quality support across the whole Primary school age range. Ruth has worked in many aspects of Special Educational Needs including mainstream and additionally resourced provision settings. Most recently, she has worked as a Deputy Headteacher in a primary school and has considerable experience as a Senior Leader, Assistant SENCo & EYFS / KS1 lead. Ruth is passionate about teaching, learning and inclusion and is proud to work with Cadmus Inclusive as part of Cadmus Services as our Senior Inclusion Consultant. Ruth values supporting teachers and children in a very ‘hands on’ and practical way to get the best outcomes for all involved, with children at the heart of everything. Ruth is a mummy to two children and combines her love for teaching, writing and being a mum on her website and social media where she shares inspiration and ideas for educators and parents of young children.  You can find her at @mymummyteacher on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and at www.mymummyteacher.com.

                                                       Emma Yates, Inclusion Consultant

Emma is a highly experienced teacher, special needs leader and assistant head teacher. We are very privileged to share her with Pinfold Street Primary school in Darlaston, Walsall. Emma leads developmental learning and nurture provision within her setting. She has a special interest in developing her pupils' social, emotional and mental health and uses many innovative ways to do so. Emma remains 'hands on' in the classroom, promoting and modelling best practice for the inclusion of vulnerable pupils.

Laura Timmins, Inclusion Consultant

Laura has a wealth of classroom teaching experience and not only leads special needs provision in her school but is also an assistant head teacher. We are proud to share Laura with Alumwell Junior school which is situated in Walsall. Laura is especially passionate about ensuring that all children have the best possible teaching and experiences in school to ensure that they have the brightest future.

Ali Rolph, Inclusion Consultant

Ali has over twelve years primary teaching experience and is an Inclusion, SEND and Pastoral Lead. We are pleased to share her with the Bentley Federation (King Charles and Bentley West Primary schools) in Walsall. Ali coordinates the Exceptional Learners Team and leads the Pastoral Team within her schools. She is passionate about celebrating what makes each individual child unique and uses this to break down barriers to learning to help them succeed. 

Jordan Jacks, Inclusion Consultant

Jordan has worked with, and been an advocate for, children with complex Special Educational Needs for a number of years. As well as supporting children with additional needs, she also has supported adults with learning disabilities within a care setting. This has provided Jordan with unique perspective of supporting complex SEND in different settings.

As well as working for our service, her current role as SENDCo in a primary school means that she has developed a comprehensive understanding of how to support deaf pupils as her school setting has a deaf resource provision. She has a particular interest in developing and supporting her pupils’ social, emotional and mental health needs by investigating and unpicking the factors impacting their presentation.

Steph Mayou, Inclusion Consultant

Stephanie is the SENCo, Senior Mental Health Lead and one of the Assistant Head Teachers at Pheasey Park Farm Primary School where she has worked since qualifying as an NQT in 2006. Steph's mum was also a primary school teacher and SENCo so you could say that the chalk dust is in her blood! She has experience of working across KS1 and KS2 but has also spent some time working within their EYFS provision. Steph strives to promote positive mental and emotional health, support children to make progress from their own unique starting points and ensure they receive the right support at the right time. Steph has another full-time job - being mum to two children! 

Simon Muller, SEND Strategic Development Consultant 

After leading SEND within a primary mainstream school, Simon moved into the special sector and currently works as an Assistant Principal at Phoenix Academy, a specialist Social, Emotional and Mental Health primary provision in Walsall. As part of a multi-academy trust, Simon is also a SEND System Leader across 21 academies situated across the country. Having experience of SEND leadership in both mainstream and specialist provision, he is passionate about ensuring all leaders are equipped with the knowledge they need to know to ensure that all pupils can access the support they need to thrive.

Deb Stegall, Senior Team Teach Trainer

After initially training for and working in a mainstream junior school, Deb became a SENDCo, found her ‘light’ and moved into the special sector.  She worked in special schools (primary and all age) for nearly 20 years, with 14 years in leadership roles and in her last role was as a head of school at a primary special school.  Deb feels very privileged to have been able to work with some fabulous children, families and professionals and thrives on collective potential.  She now works independently, valuing and facilitating opportunities to collaborate, share good practice and collectively develop provision for some of the most vulnerable young people in society.  Firmly believing everyone has something to offer and no-one (including young people and practitioners) should be isolated, she is excited to work with the Cadmus Inclusive team and be able to contribute to inclusion, in every sense.   

In addition to formal study and extensive experience rooted in SEND, Deb is also a Senior Team Teach tutor.  As something which made a real difference to her practice, she is an advocate for this approach as she feels very aligned with the importance of putting the young person at the heart of everything.  She is more than happy to have conversations about how this approach could help; please do get in touch if you would like more information. 

Steph Collins, Speech and Language Therapist

Steph is passionate about all things communication and has specialist skills in Early Years, Neurodiversity Informed Practice and Play based approaches. She enjoys facilitating learning experiences for everyone and sharing information to advocate, educate and empower others. Steph’s early careers began when she gained an English Literature and Psychology degree in 2006 from Swansea University and gained a first class honours degree from Birmingham City University in 2009 in Speech and Language Therapy. She has been a Speech and Language Therapist for 14 years. She worked within the NHS in Staffordshire and then Sandwell for 6years and then joined an Independent Speech and Language Therapy Service as Student and NQP Co-ordinator, mentoring and coaching the new generation of therapists. Here Steph also developed highly specialist skills in supporting schools to establish SEN friendly spaces and optimising communication friendly environments within their universal design.

Within the last 3 years Steph has continued to develop her specialism in Neurodiversity and supporting children and young people with Complex Communication needs and their families. She is a member of the Clinical Excellence Network of Diagnostics in Autism and Neurodevelopmental Conditions and is an active member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the HCPC and The Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP). Steph always wanted to work with children and young people and is hugely passionate about the experiences of CYP and respecting individual differences in learning and communication. She is an advocate for SEND and has a down to earth, approachable and friendly style.

In 2023 she set up her own Independent Private Practice Go Talking Ways with a clear vision… children and families are the experts when it comes to their experience and we will create radical acceptance and supports for Neurodiversity and empower communicators, now and for the future. In June this year Steph qualified as a Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) Practitioner offering the therapeutic and affirming approach to the natural language development of gestalt language processors, becoming the only therapist at this time, within all of the West Midlands to be qualified and registered as a practising NLA Therapist.  Steph strongly supports the evidence base that Speech and Language Therapy, Sensory Supports and regulation are fundamental to the communication and learning development of our complex CYP. She is so passionate about this hybrid role that in 2024 she is pursuing her post graduate learning as a qualified Sensory Integration Practitioner.

Finally, Steph is the proud Mum of her own tiny human and knows firsthand that if children are given the necessary tools to succeed, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams!

Amirah Hussain, Speech and Language Therapy Assistant

Amirah graduated with a degree in Speech and Language Therapy from Birmingham City University in 2020. She has experience of working within a private company in schools and working in NHS clinics to support families and children’s speech, language and communication needs. Although, Amirah enjoyed working as an Speech and Language Therapy Assistant (SLTa), she decided to change her career and began a PGCE Primary course as she always wanted to work in schools, but later discovered that her true happiness was working in the field of Speech and Language Therapy.

Amirah joined Cadmus in September 2023 as an SLTa and works with the team to deliver speech, language and communication interventions across various schools. Amirah has a wealth of experience in working with children and families, wider professionals and teams across schools and clinics. To describe Amirah as a person, she highly organised and, being bilingual herself, values inclusion and being respectful of individual’s needs. Amirah is determined and passionate about working with the Cadmus team to create a positive impact on children and young people’s communication by supporting schools, their staff and pupils. Amirah also enjoys spending time with her family and friends and highly values self-care and wellbeing.

Louise Holmes, Speech and Language Therapy Assistant 

Louise qualified as a teacher in 2007 and has been an Early Years Leader for the past 10 years, creating engaging and exciting learning environments for children and leading a team of practitioners in raising the outcomes for Early Years children.  Louise is also a Specialist Leader of Education and has worked with underperforming schools in both Walsall and Dudley, developing their Early Years provision and promoting high standards of teaching and learning. 

Louise has worked closely with renowned Early Years theorists John Siraj Blatchford and Lynette Brock investigating the theory of schematic play in developing practice in Early Years settings.  Louise is able to identify dominant schemas and use these to plan children’s next steps in learning.  She has also been able to use this approach successfully in supporting children with SEND within her setting.

Louise is passionate about raising outcomes for children, particularly those who have communication difficulties. Louise strives to create environments that are accessible to all, so that every child feels happy and supported in school and therefore makes the best possible progress.

Rebecca Thompson, Makaton Tutor

Rebecca is a teacher, Makaton tutor and musician with a passion for writing and sharing music, particularly with children.  She believes music offers huge pleasure and enjoyment and provides a powerful means of encouraging cooperation and inclusion, celebrating diversity and building self-esteem.  ​Since qualifying as a teacher in 2003, Rebecca has delivered the curriculum across the primary age range, written a wide range of music resources designed specifically to be used with Makaton and established two award-winning choirs for children aged 5 to 7 and 7 to 11.

An increasing number of mainstream schools and nurseries use Makaton within their setting on a daily basis where there are children with a range of communication needs and where English is an additional language.  Makaton signs and symbols can act as a common thread between languages and can bridge the communication gap.  As an experienced Makaton tutor, Rebecca has delivered courses to parents and carers, teachers and school-based staff as well as speech and language therapists and those working in care settings. 

The use of Makaton can encourage a sense of community, allowing all children to communicate with each other and with the world around them. This is something Rebecca feels particularly passionate about as her son, Jacob, has Down’s Syndrome and has used Makaton from a very early age.  

You can also find Rebecca via www.jacobsladderproductions.co.uk

Kelly Liones, Counsellor 

Following the successful completion of a BA (Hons) in Counselling and Psychotherapy Kelly qualified as a counsellor in 2016. Since then she has worked with adults, children and young people in a range of settings including schools on a voluntary and paid basis. She is registered with the British Accredited Counselling Practice.

Kelly is passionate about making a therapeutic counselling approach accessible to children and young people by creating ‘sparkle’ moments using creative, fun and play based approaches. She is keen to ensure that all those she works with have opportunities to develop transferable self-help strategies that will last a lifetime, leading to long term positive mental well-being.

Bethany Ward, Inclusion Facilitator for Vision Impaired Pupils

Bethany qualified as a Teaching Assistant in 2014 and gained the RNIB Braille certificate in 2018. She has experience of working with students with vision impairments who have a range of different needs. She works alongside class teachers to ensure that those children can access the curriculum. Bethany is passionate about making sure that the children she supports are getting fair access to all areas of school life. 

Harry 'Bear' Hawes, Support Dog

Harry is a five year old Labradoodle with a passion for supporting tiny humans to feel safe, secure and good about themselves. He lives with his mum and dad (Beccie and Tony Hawes) and his four human brothers. He loves belly rubs, treats, long walks and is very mischevious!

Harry loves nothing better than to visit schools with his mum and dad to support children who may be vulnerable for a variety of reasons. During his visits, he spends time with individuals and small groups of children sharing stories, admiring their work, playing games, cuddling, going for walks and listening to anything that they might want to tell him about. He also likes to keep in touch with the children that he has met, writing to them regularly. Harry also offers fuss to the staff too! 

If you would like Harry to visit your school please contact his mum (Beccie Hawes) to find out more. 

bhawes@cadmussupportservices.co.uk

Tel: 07983 773614