Navigators Symposium: shining a spotlight on Alternative Provision
Date
13 January 2025
Author
sh-comms
A 2024 highlight for the Navigators team was welcoming a group of professionals and key voices in the Alternative Provision (AP) space for a collaborative discussion in its first ever symposium event.
The event focused on exploring industry best practices, and gave space to different ideas and perspectives about navigating the challenges facing APs and the students they support. The Navigators team were delighted with its outcome and the valuable and important conversations about how everyone involved could best serve young people whose needs are not met by mainstream education.
Navigators CEO Anthony Thompson gave a keynote speech for the event, highlighting the aim of helping to ensure the best possible outcomes for young people in APs:
“The question we ask ourselves, and want the panel to discuss today is: how do we create a social education programme to engage all young people not attending school? How can we develop a full-time alternative curriculum? And how do we develop a world-class, sector specific workforce?”
This was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by education consultant and SEN expert Barney Angliss. Barney began by introducing some of the key challenges facing alternative provisions, as well as the value of embracing disruptive practices in the space:
“Pushing children back into school environments which they have already either rejected or felt rejected by is futile. Schools need to understand this and train their people to work differently.
“The latest data shows that, not surprisingly, children in AP travel further to their school setting on average, but they also have much better attendance than they did when they were in mainstream school. That’s a very hopeful note to carry…”
The panel included several key voices and leaders in AP : Assistant Headteacher and Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) at St John Vianney, Kirsten Nesbitt, Navigators’ Head of Alternative Provision Jo McManus and Graham Herstell, education consultant and Current Practising Lecturer at MMU Business School. Together, they dissected the questions posed by Anthony, and offered their unique perspectives and experiences to the audience.