🎙️ EPISODE 4: Vision for the Visionless | Dr John Patterson on SEND Reform, Inclusion & Leadership

Описание: In this thought-provoking and deeply personal episode, Jeremy is joined by Dr John Patterson — curriculum and innovation consultant and former Principal of St Vincent’s School for the Blind in Liverpool.

For many years, John led one of the UK’s most respected specialist schools, advocating passionately for blind and visually impaired pupils. Now working more broadly in curriculum and innovation, he continues to champion a vision of education rooted in dignity, community and belonging.

With the Government’s Schools White Paper — and particularly its proposals around SEND reform — making national headlines, this conversation is both timely and urgent. Drawing on their professional lives and personal experiences within their own families, Jeremy and John explore what meaningful inclusion truly looks like.

At the heart of this discussion is a clear conviction:
Children with disabilities should not be hidden or peripheral — they should be visible, valued and fully participating members of their schools and wider communities.

Together, they examine:

• The evolving landscape of SEND education policy in the UK
• Why deep, trusting partnerships between state and family produce the best outcomes
• The concept of reverse inclusion, where mainstream pupils visit specialist settings to build friendships and enrich their learning
• Dual placements that allow pupils to attend two schools within the same week
• The importance of community integration rather than segregation

Jeremy and John also reflect on their long collaboration pairing blind and sighted pupils in shared projects — work that has taken them from the battlefields of Belgium to the shanty towns of Sierra Leone. These experiences reveal how disability education is not just a local issue, but a global one.

Internationally, improvements in diagnosis and more inclusive governmental policies have reshaped school systems in significant ways. John discusses his pioneering Sightbox initiative, which has supported countries in developing inclusive practices and strengthening provision for visually impaired learners.

Whatever the political future of SEND reform may hold, Jeremy and John return to a simple but powerful conclusion:

Inclusion is about relationships.
It is about trust.
It is about leadership with vision — quite literally.

This episode will resonate with:

School leaders and governors

SENCOs and SEND professionals

Teachers and education policy makers

Parents of children with disabilities

Anyone committed to building inclusive communities

Because when education is built on partnership and belief in every child’s place in society, everyone benefits.

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