School Groups, The White Paper, and Specialist Provision

In this episode of Independently Speaking, Helen Stanton-Tonner is joined by Justin Spanswick (Chief Operating Officer, Inspired Learning Group), Henrietta Jordan (Schools' Director, Melrose Education), and Hannah Lovegrove Campion (Head of SEND, ISA) to explore what the government's white paper, Putting Children and Young People First, means when viewed from the perspective of independent school groups. The discussion examines how reform lands not just at the individual school level, but across organisations responsible for strategy, staffing, and SEND provision at scale. Guests explore readiness for change across diverse settings, shifting referral patterns, the challenge of building specialist workforce capacity across multiple regions, and the critical role of local authority relationships in making the new framework work in practice.