Gary Aubin leads on a SEND School Improvement programme with Whole Education, supporting schools and Trusts to drive a whole-school approach to supporting pupils with SEND. Gary sits on the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review panel.

Gary is the Education Endowment Foundation’s SEND Associate. In this role, he has worked extensively on sharing the evidence base behind high-quality teaching for SEND, as well as advised on the development of the SENCO NPQ.

As a Consultant, Gary has spoken internationally, advised the BBC, written content for the National Institute of Teaching and given talks to hundreds of Trust, Local Authority and school audiences.

Gary Aubin is the author of The Lone SENDCO, a handbook of 300 questions and answers for busy SENDCOs. His second book, The Parent’s Guide to SEND, is being released in early 2025. Gary led on SEND provision for a Multi Academy Trust of 10 primary and secondary schools for several years. He is a secondary teacher, former primary and secondary SENDCO and former secondary Head of Year. Gary also authors the SENDMattersUK blog.

Victoria is the Deputy Headteacher at the Research School. She is also the Assistant Headteacher at Dulwich Hamlet Junior School, where she leads on curriculum, data and assessment, staff wellbeing and pupil premium. During her teaching career, she has been involved in a number of research-into-practice projects and trials, including Challenge the Gap (EEF 2017) and Fluency Focus (London South Research School). A self-confessed research and data nerd, Victoria spent her pre-teaching career in science and medical publishing, working on a variety of journals and championing transparency in data publication. When not teaching or thinking about teaching, she is most likely to be found running, swimming or cycling around South London.

Kat is the Director of the North London Alliance Research School. She has experience of leading partnerships in London and beyond on improving reading outcomes for disadvantaged KS2 and 3 students through the use of scaffolding strategies in the classroom.

Katie is an Assistant Headteacher with over ten years’ experience in pastoral education, including more than five years as a Head of Year. She has developed pastoral and attendance strategies in inner-city schools with high levels of Pupil Premium and SEND. Her current role focuses on attendance, behaviour and building a strong culture of belonging.

James Crane is Co-Director of Durrington Research School and an Assistant Headteacher at a large coastal comprehensive on the south coast. A PE teacher by background and author of Making Every PE Lesson Count, he has spent eight years working at the heart of the Research School, supporting schools to translate evidence into practice. His work focuses on curriculum, oracy and high-quality teaching, helping colleagues create classrooms where every student can thrive.

Ben is Co-Director of Durrington Research School and Assistant Headteacher at Durrington High School. He has been part of the Research School Network for eight years, gaining extensive experience supporting school leaders and leaders from mid-tier organisations, including multi-academy trusts and education charities, to implement evidence-informed change at scale. Ben has a particular interest in the theory of adult behaviour change and how this can be aligned with school improvement priorities to achieve sustainable change in practice.

Abigail Faik is Team Leader for History and Politics at Parliament Hill School, where she also worked as an Associate Lead Practitioner. Alongside her leadership and teaching role, Abigail has worked as a consultant with both primary and secondary schools across London, supporting teachers and departments to develop effective, evidence-informed classroom practice.

Abigail is particularly interested in the role of AI in supporting SEND provision and also disciplinary literacy, the teaching of challenging texts and how carefully planned scaffolding can enable all students to access ambitious subject content. Her recent work has explored how teachers can maintain the richness and complexity of texts while explicitly teaching students the strategies they need to read with confidence and increasing independence.

Nick has been a senior school leader for 20+ years and has been headteacher of Greenshaw High School since 2015.

Fliss is Director of East London Research School and an Assistant Head Teacher based at Sheringham Nursery School and Children's Centre (host school for East London Research School & A Brighter Start Stronger Practice Hub). She is a highly experienced teacher and leader having both worked in education for over 20 years. She is passionate about high quality evidence informed early childhood education and care and delivers professional development nationally.

Bennie Kara is a former deputy headteacher in the East Midlands. During her years in school leadership, she specialised in curriculum, teaching and learning. She started her career in the inaugural cohort of Teach First in 2003, teaching English in East London.

Since then, she has taught in four London boroughs and in South Oxfordshire, before her return to the Midlands to teach in Derby. She co-founded Diverse Educators in 2017.

Bennie now speaks, writes and trains on leadership of the curriculum. Alongside supporting schools to develop their curriculum, she is the author of ‘A Little Guide for Teachers: Diversity in Schools’ (Sage Education). She has written on the subject of diversity in the curriculum for publications such as Schools Week and the Chartered College of Teaching’s Education Exchange, as well as contributing to many books by educators.

She is a nationally and internationally recognised keynote speaker. Her second book, ‘Diverse Educators: A Manifesto’, a co-edited book with her Diverse Educators co-founder, Hannah Wilson, was published in April 2022.

Bennie is a qualified coach with RLE accreditation, with a special interest in leadership coaching for middle leaders.

Notable awards: 2020 Joan Goody Award for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity (NATE); 2022 Sage Social Justice Book Award (Sage Education).

Mary Mbema has taught for over 18 years in schools all over London. Mary is currently the Senior EDI Lead at Greenshaw High School and the EDI Regional Link for the London and South East Research Schools.

Helen is a former English teacher and headteacher in specialist and mainstream settings and is currently a Trust Leader for Teaching and Learning. She is the Assistant Research Director of East London Research School.

Corinne Settle is Interim Senior Content and Engagement Manager at the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). She brings over 18 years’ experience in teaching and school leadership and has a particular interest in formative assessment, professional development and effective implementation. Before joining the EEF, Corinne worked at SSAT, where she led national teaching and learning programmes and worked with Professor Dylan Wiliam on Embedding Formative Assessment. Her work focuses on helping schools translate research evidence into practical, sustainable improvements in teaching and learning.

Phil is Director of Greenshaw Research and Deputy Headteacher at Greenshaw High School, a large secondary school in South London.

Jade has progressed from Inclusion Support Worker to Specialist Head of Year during her ten years at Greenshaw High School. Her approach is informed by her training as a counsellor and a Postgraduate Certificate in Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Wellbeing. She builds partnerships with other agencies to provide joined-up support and help create an inclusive environment.

Matthew leads teaching and learning across the Torriano and Brecknock Federation, where he has extensive experience in developing both curriculum and professional development. He is passionate about supporting teachers with English pedagogy and delivers professional development training for the research school and local authority.

David is the deputy headteacher at Charles Dickens Primary School and the director of the London South Research School at Charles Dickens (LSRS). David has worked as a teacher in several primary schools across London. He has taught in all years from nursery to 6, as well as having worked in teacher training and adult education. His specialisms include teaching reading and writing in KS1&2, focusing on reading fluency and modelled writing. As the LSRS lead, he focuses on helping teachers engage with research evidence to best support their practice and broadening the number of education professionals advocating for evidence-informed practice in schools.