RECAP The Podcast

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Hugh Viney from Minerva Virtual Academy. Over the last eleven years since founding Minerva Tutors, Hugh's leadership and dedication have enabled thousands of students, overlooked by the traditional system, to receive the education and qualifications they deserve. He founded Minerva Virtual Academy in 2021, a multi-award-winning o...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Sarah Guscott...Sarah is a dedicated educator, author, and occupational therapist with a background in both early years education and higher education. She holds two degrees one in Early Childhood Studies and the other in Occupational Therapy, as well as a Master’s in Education, and is a Fellow of Advance HE. Her career began in earl...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Samantha Dholakia...Samantha Dholakia is an international trainer and specialist in behaviour and emotional regulation, with nearly 20 years of experience in education and childcare. She works closely with teachers and parents, supporting positive behaviour management and emotional well-being in children. As the creator of The Behavi...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Andrew Symeou, from Quizcards. Andrew is a dedicated and accomplished educator with a proven track record in teaching Physical Education and Science, complemented by leadership roles such as 'Head of House' and 'Advanced Lead Teacher'.Andrew is currently working for a well-known charity called Teach First, as a Develo...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast! 👋Today we welcome the wonderful Rachel Ballantyne...Rachel Ballantyne is an English teacher and 11+ and 13+ specialist tutor, with 12 years of teaching experience and 10 years in tutoring across all key stages. She holds an MA in Education, a PGCE in English and Qualified Teacher Status. She is currently working towards an Education Doctorate (2025), specialising i...

🎙️Welcome to the RECAP podcast!  👋Today we welcome the wonderful Samantha Bowen... Samantha  delivers training globally to the museum and cultural sector on all aspects of welcoming children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). She also speaks at conferences, writes articles and mentors museums on organisational change in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Samantha has work...

Ben Davie is a mind and movement specialist. As someone who is passionate about health and wellbeing, Ben shares his expertise in a range of ways. With a background in working abroad as a sports coordinator, working as a fitness coach with The Body Coach Online Nutrition and head of HIIT and running at Digme fitness, Ben clearly has a passion for helping others achieve their goals.    In 2015, he...

*Trigger warning* This episode contains explicit language and sensitive topics around abuse and knife crime. From gangs to youth mentor and tv personality... Groomed from the age of 9 and growing up through physical abuse, drug addiction, knife crime and many stints in prison, Carl Scott has turned his life around and is now a mentor and youth ambassador. As Program manager at Project Youth, he le...

Amanda is a research psychologist, passionate about children’s play. She is the CEO of the research consultancy Fundamentally Children and Dr Gummer’s Good Play Guide - a consumer-facing review site for children’s toys, apps, learning and baby products. She is the independent chair of the Association of Play Industries, is an NED for  Families in Focus CIC, and is on the advisory board of a small...

Mark is proprietor of 'Left n Write'​ Ltd and has a left-handed son. Along with his wife, Heather, they opened “Anything Left-Handed” in 1994 and with Heather being an ex-Primary School teacher, they were immediately drawn to the educational side of being left-handed and found that there was minimal active help or training on how to help left-handed children within the UK Education System.   Since...

Melissa is a home educating parent to a teenager aged 14 and has been home educating for the past four years. She has worked in recruitment, communications and engagement, and learning and development working in both the public and private sector with a focus on youth employment and youth participation. Melissa has also successfully delivered work experience/work related learning programmes in upp...

Veena Virahsammy is a former award winning radio presenter and marketing consultant. She is a qualified clinical hypnotherapist and CEO of alternative provision Oxford Creators. Join us today as we delve into the depths of alternative provision and what it takes to set up your own when you feel like you have been let down by the system. You can contact Veena on her website: HOME (veenav.com) Veena...

Emma and Emily are the dynamic duo behind The Autism Wellbeing Project - a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting autistic adults in Halton and the surrounding areas. As a Community Interest Company (CIC), their primary goal is to provide comprehensive support services tailored to the unique needs of each individual. Find out more about the wonderful work they are doing in today's podcast...

TRIGGER WARNING: this episode contains some discussions around losing a child & grief As a dedicated and experienced neurodivergent educational leader, Simon is deeply committed to neurodiversity inclusion and enhancing the educational experiences of all students and educators.  With over two decades of experience in teaching, educational leadership, and management, Simon has honed his skills...

Melanie is a parent of two neurodivergent teens, a Montessori practitioner and Higher Level Teaching Assistant and specialist support practitioner for children with additional needs. She has worked in classrooms since 2011; starting with Montessori kindergarten in Austria, then at a Montessori school primarily with children aged 3 -9 in Australia before moving to England where she worked in mainst...

Dr Jo Bowser-Angermann is an Associate Professor of Applied Teaching and Learning and is currently Director of Learning, Teaching and Assessment within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University. Jo has had experience of teaching all age ranges, from key stage 1 through to Further Education and now Higher Education which has given her an excellent un...

Shingi is a PhD student conducting research on embedding outdoor learning in special schools for pupils with complex, severe, profound multiple learning disabilities - often abbrieviated to  (CSPMLD) and his research is focused  in England. He is knowledgeable through lived experience and studies in areas of safety and inclusion for those with disabilities, Black and minority ethnic (global majori...

Dr Kay Aaronricks is a mum of two and the Head of the School of Education at Anglia Ruskin University. She is passionate about childminding and all things Early Years. Kay joins us today to talk about the wonderful work she is doing for Childminders and tells us of the fantastic things happening for the community. With information on CPD and The Childminder Cafe, this really isn't an episode t...

Lewis openly shares that his passion in life is twofold: to help people reach their potential and to raise the status of the Early Years sector. He does this through being a dad to two young boys and owning the group of nurseries they go to. Lewis is also the vice-chair of TacTyc - a charity that is committed to today’s young children.  Alongside this Lewis lectures at Brunel University in Leaders...

Rob has a background in teaching after gaining an initial degree in music and completing his teacher training. He taught Essential skills in colleges in Wales and England where he worked with a variety of learners. He also gained some experience teaching in prisons for 3 years. After this he moved on to teaching and supporting secondary age learners with Behavioural, Emotional and Social difficult...

Parenting a child who has allergies can be incredibly scary. Today we have Tara with us talking about her experience. Tara works as a freelance social media and business development manager. Working with B2B and B2B companies helping them to win new business and enhance their online presence. Tara has 14 years experience in marketing and has been freelance for the last 6 years.  She is also a mum...

With a passion for Disney and musical theatre, Ellie left her hometown of Weymouth in 2018, to study Writing for Broadcasting, Media and Performance. Despite her university years being interrupted by the pandemic, she gained a 2:1 which is incredible. She has worked a variety of jobs, including working as an assistant gymnastics coach and an NCS assistant leader. She is looking to build her online...

Dr Sarah Wall is a Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University with over thirty years experience working in a variety of educational settings, including mainstream and special provision, from nursery to post-16. She has had roles such as SENCo, Senior Teacher and Specialist Teacher and developed a keen interest in children and young people with social, emotional and mental health needs. Sarah has...

Rachel Dove is a qualified Post 16 teacher with an MA in Creative Writing. She lives in the North of England (Yorkshire) with her husband and two teenage sons. She currently works part time as a support worker for a charity working with disabled children and their families, writes fiction for various publishers, and is the chair of her local library group which runs various events and projects suc...

Sarah Sudea is the founder of Finding The Flex,which is an organisation dedicated to working with Local authorities and schools to enable children to access flexible educational solutions when in their best interests.  She is an advocate for finding ways to enable all children to access education in ways that will allow them to thrive and works with families, schools and the local authorities. As...