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.

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).