Meet Emma

Hello, I'm Emma and I'm a member of the Lancashire Parent Carer Forum (LPCF)

Roundtable. I have almost 20 years of experience of working with children and

young people who have a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities

(SEND) through my work in education, the arts and communication.

My background is in dance with my work involving teaching and facilitating,

project management, research, data collection and  mentoring. I am also a school

governor at a secondary SEND school that is local to me. In the early years of my

career whilst I developed my freelance work, I worked as a Teaching Assistant (TA)

at several SEND schools. This allowed me to learn from others with more

experience and to see the great, and sadly, sometimes not so great(!), practice

happening in schools. In turn, this supported my own practice and has allowed me

to view education from different perspectives.

I believe that through dance individuals can develop a range of holistic and

transferable skills, such as, creative, physical, social, language and communication

skills, as well as boosting resilience, mental health and emotional wellbeing. This

then impacts on an individual’s wider learning, functioning and health.

I run an organisation called Splatter Dance which is based in Ormskirk, West

Lancashire. Splatter Dance provides inclusive and creative movement and dance

classes and projects. These take place in both schools where the focus is on cross

curricular learning and following the interests of each class, and through our

successful after school community classes. Physical exploration of a theme, topic,

book or idea through dance and movement, embeds learning in a powerful and

meaningful way, particularly for children and young people who experience the

world around them in unique ways.

Splatter Dance is also the first and only Makaton Friendly place in West Lancashire.

This award recognises the commitment we have made to creating an inclusive and

accessible environment for those with a communication or learning difficulty, and

particularly to those who use Makaton.

Alongside my work in dance, I am also a Makaton Tutor and so Makaton is a key

feature of all my work. I am able to deliver a wide range of standardised

workshops, as well as workshops that have a specialist focus. These include

workshops about how to use Makaton with singing, how to support and embed

safeguarding and workshops for individuals who work in frontline services. I also

work with dance and arts organisations to support their inclusive communication

skills.

Outside of work you'll usually see me wearing my favourite colour blue or

something stripy. I love Disney (yes, I am one of those adults!), podcasts,

musicals, tomatoes, long walks, solo (uninterrupted!) car journeys, bananas and

custard and spending time with friends and family.

I wanted to be part of the LPCF Roundtable because, through the work I do with

children and their families, I am painfully aware of the lack of support they

receive and the challenges they come up against. If I am able, I am more than

happy to help advocate for better opportunities, provision, knowledge,

understanding and empathy for children and young people with SEND and their

families, as part of a collective voice through the Roundtable.