Nicola Crossley

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College: College of Social Sciences and International Studies

My background is that of Secondary mainstream and more recently BESD/SEMH and SEND in general.  My experience includes roles as Head of English, Assistant Head, Deputy Head, Deputy Principal and Primary and Secondary School Improvement Adviser for Milton Keynes Local Authority.  In addition, for four years, I was the Principal Examiner for iGCSE English Literature, responsible for writing the examination papers and mark schemes and for the subsequent leadership of a consistent application of the mark scheme with nationally contracted examiners.

I am currently working on a self-employed basis to provide support to a range of schools across the country, with a specific focus on SEND and Pupil Premium, however more recently I have undertaken a range of Subject Specific reviews for a number of schools in Buckinghamshire, in order to support the further development of middle leadership.

I am an external consultant for a large multi-academy trust, working as part of the SEND team in a role designed to provide support and guidance to Senior Leadership Teams in accelerating the progress of children with SEND and those in receipt of the Pupil Premium; undertaking observations and audits of provision to enable rapid and sustainable whole school improvement, particularly in preparation for Ofsted inspections. 

I am a Chartered Educational Assessor and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors; I gained Chartered status in 2009 and was trained specifically in Quality Assurance procedures for evaluating the reliability, validity and robustness of assessment data in educational institutions.  Having been involved in the development of a set of professional standards for assessment (Excellence in Assessment), I was then part of the pilot project led by Sir Christopher Reynolds as part of the roll-out and am now regularly involved in conducting consultations for the Excellence in Assessment (EiA) award.

I have recently been invited to work with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) on their Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants project as a floating consultant to the advocate partners across West and South Yorkshire, where DfE research funding has been allocated due to the high levels of children eligible for the Pupil Premium in these areas.  As a result, I am currently providing support and training to schools in disseminating the findings of the EEF / Sutton Trust research whilst also raising awareness of the ‘Teaching and learning toolkit’ to help inform the choice of interventions a school might make.