EPNE takes home double NASEN Award win

Education Partnership North East (EPNE) has won two accolades at the National Association for Special Educational Needs (nasen) awards – SEND Leadership Team of the Year and SEND Teacher of the year.

The regional college group, which includes Sunderland College, Northumberland College and Hartlepool Sixth Form College, was honoured for the transformative work it does, with these awards being on top of winning Further Education (FE) College of the year last year and recently becoming only one of four SEND Centre of Excellence organisations with the Education Training Foundation.

Lee Lister, Northumberland College’s Kirkley Hall Campus Principal said: “Thank you to the amazing SEND curriculum and Inclusive Learning teams who always work tirelessly every day to break down barriers and ensure equity for our students with SEND.

“SEND is not a statement or a label in our college, we place value, care, ambition and support for our students at the centre of our policies and practices and are now being widely recognised for the amazing work.

“I am so proud to lead a team who demonstrate inclusion and challenge inequality daily in their values and behaviours to change and enhance the lives of young people with SEND.”

Associate Principal SEND & Inclusion, Peter Monaghan and Cary Sawbridge, Lecturer and Programme Leader for SEND at Northumberland College collected the awards on behalf of EPNE at a ceremony Birmingham last week.

Cary was also recently named winner of the Pearson National Teaching Silver Award for SEND and Inclusive Practice, recognising her outstanding commitment to changing the lives of the students she works with every day.

Cary said: “I’m incredibly proud and humbled to receive the NASEN award for SEND Teacher of the year. Every day, I’m inspired by the strength, individuality, and potential of the young people I support.

“For me, inclusion means truly seeing each student for who they are and building strong, supportive relationships that empower them to grow.

“The heart of my work lies in building strong, trusting relationships — not just with students, but with their families and carers too. They know their child better than anyone, and their insight and partnership are the foundation of everything I do. This award is absolutely as much theirs as it is mine.”

Nasen is a charitable membership organisation that exists to support and champion those working with, and for, children and young people with SEND and learning differences.

This year, schools, individuals and organisations were recognised for their outstanding work to ensure that children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and learning differences reach their full potential.

The two awards were sponsored by Supporting Education Group and TTS – Supporting Education Group is a leading provider of education services, committed to improving the quality of education for schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and nurseries. TTS have supplied schools and learning environments across the globe with innovative educational resources for 40 years. Our dedicated teams design, develop and deliver thousands of products each year to inspire every child’s lifelong love of learning.

They provide specialist education at their school and special needs college, together with residential and respite care, supported by health, wellbeing and therapy services, community facilities.