North East FLSE Membership

Annual Membership of the North East Federation of Leaders in Special(ist) Education. The NE FLSE draws together leaders from Special(ist) Schools from across the North East of England: Right from the Scottish Border down to Yorkshire!

It is an opportunity for leaders to network with others in similar settings, share practice and knowledge and hear from sector leaders that regularly engage with the Department of Education, Ofsted and government ministers on matters relating to the specialist sector. Membership entitles schools to attend 3 termly full day meetings at a central venue in addition to any other FLSE endorsed events.*

The typical structure of an FLSE termly meeting includes:

Morning:

Current issues/updates from:

· National SEND Forum from FLSE Trustees

· DfE Expert Advisory Group updates

· Ofsted: Headteacher reference group feedback/ Inspector updates

· Feedback from individual Inspections

· The Council for Disabled Children’s Special Educational Consortium

· National Children’s Bureau

· Other national bodies such as Equals, MISS and Whole School SEND.

Roundtable discussions on specific topics with tables arranged by school designation (SLD/ PMLD/ SEMH/ Autism etc…).

Afternoon: Focused sessions delivered by schools with specific foci.

Future topics are set to include:

o Staff wellbeing

o AI in education

o Tribunals and legal challenges

o Staff attendance

o Behavior and culture

o Multi-generational staff engagement

o ITT routes

o ECF

o Pupil Attendance

o Physical Intervention and use of restraint.

o lesson observations and quality assurance

o Preparation for life (outside of/ beyond school) including preparation for adulthood where relevant.

National LSE:

FLSE is an independent body which, as a registered charity and a ‘not for profit’ organisation, provides a framework for extensive dialogue between all those providing special education services and the DfE and local authorities. It is the organisation which relates to government and policy makers and is the voice of leaders who work within the field of special education. FLSE champions the rights of the children in our care, through the established networks of like-minded practitioners that create a powerful collective voice within special education both regionally and nationally.

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Our regions national FLSE trustees are James Waller (Sunningdale School), Paul McLean (Kiirkleatham Hall School) and Sharon Common (Ascent MAT).

Membership of the national FLSE Group is £300 and regional North-East Membership is £250. This can be purchased for the 2025-2026 academic year by contacting Andy Peterson at info@flse.education

It is intended that future memberships (2026+) will be purchasable via SENhub

*Some larger events and conferences may incur an additional costs.