Academy trust boss to lead new SEND inclusion expert panel

Academy trust boss Tom Rees will lead a new expert panel to oversee reforms to make mainstream schools more inclusive as part of the government’s plan to fix the broken system for pupils with special needs.

Dame Christine Lenehan, the long-time former director of the Council for Disabled Children, has also been appointed the government’s ‘strategic adviser’ on SEND.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said also she’s bringing together “leading neurodiversity experts, including those with lived experience” to work in the Department for Education “to understand how to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream”.