This year the Tes SEND show celebrated its 30^th anniversary with a brilliant exhibition, spanning two days, showcasing 42 seminars and over a hundred exhibitors for the benefit of over 2,300 delegates. Aside from the general excitement of the show, the event, run by MA Exhibitions, offered a much-needed assembly for SEND professionals to come together to share in all the truths and triumphs of working in the SEND profession.

The show kicked off at 9:00am on Friday 7^th October with David McIntyre, Founder and CEO of Cubbie, the show’s headline sponsor, cutting the show ribbon and subsequently opening the doors to swarms of delegates who filed into the Business Design Centre, armed with totes, cupcakes, lists of questions for exhibitors and a palpable buzz for the day ahead.

Many delegates headed straight to the opening keynote presentation which constituted a panel discussion on the SEND Green Paper and its implications on leadership. The Leadership Summit, which took place throughout day one alongside many seminars, began with an address from Mel Ainscow CBE, a former professor at the University of Manchester. This session discussed the fundamentality of inclusivity within schools and how best to achieve this. The Summit proceeded with workshops and discussions frequently re-visiting the recent Green Paper SEND review: right support, right place, right time and the place of leadership in light of the review.

Heading downstairs to the exhibition floor, Michael Rosen hosted this year's poetry competition which saw so many fantastic entries, with the 'Primary Individual' category first place prize awarded to Benjamin Graham, 11, for his poem ‘A world with no doors’. The enthusiasm for the poetry competition could be felt across the exhibition floor, attracting a large crowd to hear the announcement of the winners. It was great to see the role it played in encouraging open discussion and promote the importance of literacy learning supported by the lesson plans created for teachers through the work of the poetry competition. The 2023 poetry competition will be launched next spring.

Across the two days, delegates chose from over 40 seminars and workshops which covered a wide range of topics and interest areas, all led by SEND professionals. On Friday, Julie Pointer, Children and Young People Lead, from National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), delivered a seminar on ‘Post 16-employment pathways for young people with SEND’ which explored an oftentimes overlooked aspect of SEND. The talk, which attracted a large audience of engaged delegates, covered career advice, traineeships, information on supported apprenticeships and general guidance on how best to promote post-16 pathways in SEND. Underpinning this talk was a purely evidence-based approach which gave delegates a clear understanding of what works both in theory, and crucially, also in practice.

Continuing with the marriage of theory and practice, but this time from an international perspective, Charlotte Bjerregaard, a clinical Psychologist, and Pernille Thomsen, a Physiotherapist, both of whom work in Denmark, led a seminar which focused on the seamless interdependence between the brain and the body. Their talk on ‘Reducing stress and anxiety through sense and sensibility’ discussed the need within SEND to tap into this synergy by combining psychological and social dimensions of practice to holistically promote better mental health in young people. There were too many take-ways from this session to list but perhaps the most impressionable words from Bjerregaard and Thomsen came from their familiar catch-phrase ‘feed the seahorse’.

The hungry seahorse is a direct reference to the hippocampus, which for children with SEND, is ever shrinking. Games such as Lego-run help to keep the ‘seahorse’ kicking by demanding both physical activity (that’s the running part) which triggers adrenaline, as well as a cognitive demand (that’s the Lego part). The marriage of both of these results in the cocktail of positive neurotransmitters, such as oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin.

Kate Browning, an independent consultant for school improvement for SEND, made a compelling case for the inclusion of SENCos in senior leadership in her seminar titled ‘Leadership for SEND – not just the SENCo’s role’. The talk detailed how this distributed approach looks and the benefits of this set up. Echoing the case for wider participation in SEND was Sherann Hillmann MBE, who is head of family services at Seashell Trust. Hillmann’s Saturday seminar focused on the promotion of healthy and positive relationships with parents, carers and families. The parent and teacher forum honed in on the fundamentality of this relationship by amplifying parent voices from across the SEND community. David and Carrie Grant’s ‘What is a warrior parent and how do you survive and thrive as one’ expertly captured the arduous balancing act of SEND parents.

Aside from the seminars, the show also presented over one hundred exhibitors, and behind the colourful banners, free chocolates and pens was an impressive display of SEND products and services ranging from publications, assistive technology and support groups to name just a few. The SEND Network spent the day on their feet and engaged in conversations with hundreds of delegates, representing a broad spectrum of interests. These discussions were not only informative but also provided a much-needed space for SEND professionals to come together and share in both their success and their struggle.

The event came to an official close at 16.30 on Saturday with many delegates still engaged in conversations, reflecting on the talks they had attended as well as finishing the rounds of the exhibition stands. The final half an hour also saw many exhibitors coming together to discuss their experience of the show and also explore opportunities for collaboration, finding common ground in their shared commitment to the future of SEND.

Overall, the event was a roaring success and in case you missed any of the talks, the seminar recordings will all be available for premium members of the SEND Network in the coming weeks. To become a member of the SEND Network and be informed when these presentations are available, please sign up here.