RECAP The Podcast

🎙️ Does learning to read really begin with phonics? Many parents worry about whether their child is "ready" to read, whether they're falling behind, or if they're doing enough at home. But what if the most important reading skills actually develop long before children learn their first letter sounds? In this episode of RECAP The Podcast , I'm joined by Stephanie Hammond - Tea...

🎙️ Why do children behave the way they do? What if the behaviour we often see as "challenging" is actually a child communicating an unmet need? In this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I'm joined by Johanna Simmons - play therapist, educator, author, and neuroscience-informed parenting expert - to explore how understanding children's nervous systems can completely change the way we...

🎙️ Can Museums Help Children Who Struggle With School? When we think about learning, museums aren't always the first places that come to mind. But what if museums could play a powerful role in helping children who feel disconnected from education? In this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I'm joined by Leslie Palanker, Learning Coordinator at North East Museums, to explore how museums are crea...

🎙️ Is Your Child Really Hearing? The Hidden Difference Between Hearing, Listening & Processing Sounds When we think about hearing difficulties, we often assume it's simply a question of whether a child can hear or not. But what if the real challenge is something much more complex? In this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I'm joined by Dr Josephine Marriage, Clinical Scientist in Paediatric Audiol...

🎙️ Why History Matters More Than Ever (And How to Make Children Love Learning) History isn’t just about dates, facts, and famous names. It’s about stories. It’s about people. And perhaps most importantly, it’s about helping children understand the world around them. In this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I’m joined by Charlotte Jones, Education Officer at the Brontë Birthplace in Thornton, Bradford...

🎙️ How Can We Help Children Find Their Voice? When a child struggles to communicate, the impact reaches far beyond words. n this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I’m joined by Rishi, founder of The Speech Heroes, to discuss speech and language delay, developmental language disorder (DLD), parenting, creativity, and why every child deserves to be seen for their strengths rather than their challenges....

🎙️ Are We Getting Sensory Rooms Wrong? We talk a lot about inclusion in education…but what if some of the very spaces designed to support neurodivergent students aren’t always meeting their needs? n this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I’m joined by Kylie Melville - PhD researcher and former SEND educator - to explore multi-sensory environments in schools, sensory safety, and why lived experience mu...

🎙️ School Isn’t Working for Every Child… So What’s the Alternative? We often think of school as the only way…but what if it doesn’t work for every child? In this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I’m joined by Nirvana Yarger -educator and founder of The Community Classroom - to explore the reality of home education, alternative learning, and what happens when families choose a different path. Together...

🎙️ How Children Actually Learn (And Why School Gets It Wrong)We talk a lot about “learning”…but what if we’ve misunderstood it completely? In this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Will Zoppellini - educator, researcher, and founder of Coffee & Theory - to explore how children actually learn, and why the systems around them don’t always reflect that. From deep learning and learne...

🎙️ Early Years Education Explained: Why Play Matters More Than You ThinkEarly years is often seen as “just the start”…but what if it’s actually everything that follows? In this episode of RECAP The Podcast, I’m joined by Michelle Windridge, National Education Lead for school-based EYFS, to explore what’s really happening in early years education right now and why it matters more than ever. Togethe...

I’m thrilled to be joined by the team behind Nourishing Our Future - a pioneering research-to-impact food and nutrition initiative led by Anglia Ruskin University and commissioned by Essex County Council Public Health. Whether you’re working in early years, public health, family support, or simply care about children’s health equity, you’ll find inspiration, insight and action in this conversation...

👋Today we welcome the wonderful Hannah Hagon... Hannah Hagon is an educator, author, and founder of Unplugged Tots, a movement inspiring families and educators to rediscover the power of screen-free play and genuine human connection. Her work is at the intersection of early childhood education and computational thinking, blending academic insight with hands-on experience to show how unplugged lea...

👋Today we welcome the wonderful Cheryl Warren... Cheryl is an award winning trainer and consultant working across the UK and is clear on her mission, to provide early years spaces that enable our neurodivergent children to thrive, not just survive. Cheryl’s passion and specialism for understanding and acceptance for neurodiversity within early years is impactful and comes from the heart, as a pro...

👋Today we welcome the wonderful Brad Wendes...Brad Wendes, is a creative professional with a career that’s taken him from setting Guinness World Records as a gymnast and performing on Britain’s Got Talent, to choreographing action sequences for international films and Olivier Award-winning theatre productions. He has been fortunate to work across theatre, film, and television, collaborating with...

👋Today we welcome the wonderful Kierran Pearce... Kierran Pearce is the lead for the Multi-Schools Council (MSC). He has 17 years’ experience of working within SEND education, teaching in two special needs schools, becoming a SEND governor at his former Secondary school and creating the MSC model which is now a full-time role funded by the local authority.  Kierran’s passion for SEND education is...

👋Today we welcome the wonderful Dr Veronica Roberts...Veronica is an Educational Psychologist and Parent Coach based in Frome, Somerset. Graduating as an EP from the Institute of Education in 2009, she worked for many years in Local Authorities , specialising in autism and mental health. After having her own son in 2015 and realising she wanted to work more closely with parents she shifted into i...

👋Today we welcome the wonderful Dr Kim Collett...Dr Kim Collett has a PhD in inclusive education and is an Associate Lecturer teaching on education, research, social work and social science degrees. Her research focuses on how we understand what inclusion is and how this is experienced by those in the classroom as well as how research can listen to the voices of those often silenced by research a...

👋Today we welcome the wonderful Tracie Butterfill...As Twinkl's National Lead for private Early Years settings and Parents, Tracie has over 30 years' experience in early childhood education, with a passion for the wellbeing and development of babies and young children, especially during their first 1000 days. Her diverse career includes roles as a consultant, manager, university lecturer,...

👋Today we welcome the wonderful Dr Gina Gomez De La Cuesta...Gina founded Bricks for Autism (now Play Included) in 2018, supported by the Cambridge Social Ventures incubator programme. Having studied LEGO based therapy for her PhD at Cambridge University Autism Research Centre, Gina is co-author of the LEGO based therapy manual. Gina completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Universit...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Suzy Stanton...Suzy is a copywriter and the creator and editor of We Made a Wish digital adoption and parenting magazine. She's a mum via adoption to two beautiful sisters, and the magazine is the resource she wished had been available when she started her adoption journey, as she struggled to find many blogs, articles or books w...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Sue Atkins...Sue Atkins is an internationally recognised parenting expert, author, and broadcaster. She’s the author of Amazon bestsellers including Parenting Made Easy, host of the ‘Navigating the Digital Jungle’ podcast, global spokesperson for World Digital Detox Day, and a regular guest on ITV’s This Morning and BBC Radio. Sue wo...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Kate Larsson...After the birth of her daughter in 2015, Kate embarked on a deep and transformative journey into Montessori education. Driven by a passion for child-led learning, she pursued rigorous studies at both Diploma and undergraduate levels, and she is now preparing to begin her Master’s Degree. Her career has taken her from s...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Catherine Lippe... Catherine Lippe is a Registered Nutritionist specialising in early years nutrition. She has worked across both public and private sectors, championing better nutrition for young children through practice, policy, and advocacy. Catherine began her career in the NHS, working in infant and maternal nutrition as part o...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Morgan Fail...Morgan is the Learning Coordinator for History at the Great North Museum: Hancock, part of Newcastle University and North East Museums. Her role is to lead on the history programming for formal and informal learning through school facilitation and project delivery. As well as leading rep for GEM NE, Morgan is a previous...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Emily Elsworth...Emily is a late diagnosed autistic woman. Prior to her diagnosis, she had quite a varied career from working within museum education, training as primary school teacher and delivering peer support. She now works as an access consultant, supporting museums to make them more accessible spaces for neurodivergent people....