Teach and Inspire

Clare brings deep expertise in play, creativity, observation, and outdoor learning, supporting early years and primary educators across the UK, Ireland, and beyond. Through her bespoke programmes, she helps teachers notice more, think more deeply, and design learning that is purposeful, playful, and richly responsive to children.

Hayley brings a bold, future-focused vision for education shaped by her work across innovative early years settings, progressive schooling models, and creative professional learning. She inspires leaders to nurture agency, adaptability, and joyful learning, offering practical insight into how play and curiosity can transform whole-school culture.

Emma brings a neuroinclusive, strengths-based lens to understanding children’s development, drawing on deep expertise in developmental psychology and hands-on work across Early Years and schools. She helps educators recognise diverse needs, rethink behaviour, and design whole-school approaches that honour every learner’s strengths—offering clarity and compassion to the SEND conversation.

Marcus brings decades of expertise in primary education, from leading school improvement across London to shaping Early Years policy in Guernsey and guiding the SDBE Multi-Academy Trust as CEO. Now CEO of Spiral Partnership Trust and a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, he champions responsive, community-driven, high-quality primary education.

Emma brings over two decades of expertise in SEND, neurodiversity, and leadership development, guiding schools and families through audits, consultancy, and training. As founder of the Essential Education Group, she champions person-centred practice, helping educators build inclusive environments where neurodiverse learners thrive and staff feel confident, equipped, and empowered.

Emma Neal is Director of Evidenced Education and an Early Years Advisor. She supports schools and trusts to establish and improve early years provision, including school-based nurseries. With expertise in curriculum development and leadership, Emma works nationally as a consultant, trainer, and DfE Expert in early education improvement.

With over 30 years’ experience in education, Ruth now works with The Education People, as their SEND specialist, providing training, support, advice and strategies for school leaders and SENCOs, ensuring that high quality inclusive practice is central to all schools.

Cath is a passionate advocate for children’s outdoor play, drawing on experience as a primary school deputy head, former Director of Play England, and founder of Outdoor People. She led the global Outdoor Classroom Day campaign for five years and now works as an OPAL mentor, supporting schools to transform play, learning, and childhood itself.

With a background in healthcare, including perinatal nursing, her early work sparked a strong interest in child development. This led to co-founding a bilingual, Montessori-inspired nursery in South America. After teaching English in diverse settings, she returned to the UK to study mental health and psychology, working across inpatient, community, and third-sector healthcare services. She is now Research Lead at Community Playthings, using evidence to inform environments that support children’s wellbeing and learning.

Matt works as Head of Early Years and Wellbeing for a school in South London. A teacher of over 20 years, his biggest passion is supporting young children to develop strong foundations in positive mental health. Matt is currently writing a parent and practitioner book for Routledge alongside releasing his first 4 children’s books with Bloomsbury.