Stuart Hall

Strategic Director

When he was born in 1996, Stuart’s son suffered a brain haemorrhage, leaving him with cerebral palsy, left hemiplegia, epilepsy, hydrocephalus and partial sightedness. In the early years, Stuart and his wife experienced a frustrating lack of support, resources and understanding.

Since the launch of Aiming High in 2008 however, Stuart believes that the picture has changed. He says “I am pleased to say that the needs of children and young people with disabilities and special needs seem to be much higher on Wiltshire Council’s agenda. I am proud to have played a part in the transformation of services in Wiltshire through my previous roles as Vice-Chair and Interim-Chair of the WPCC and it is very rewarding to see some of our achievements recognised at a national level.”

Stuart became Strategic Director of the WPCC in 2014. As Strategic Director of the WPCC, Stuart has overall responsibility for the Participation and Strategic work of the WPCC and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Service (SENDIS). Additionally, Stuart works locally, regionally and nationally with bodies including the National Network for Parent Carers (NNPCF), Contact and the DfE to ensure that the voice of parent carers and their experiences are not only heard at a local level in Wiltshire but also nationally to affect real change in services that families use. Stuart is an active member of many boards and working groups including FACT, the Local Offer Working Group, the Disability and SEN Trust Group, and Safeguarding of children and young people; additionally, Stuart meets regularly with many representatives of LA services, and organisations and services including health, commissioned providers and the voluntary sector.

You can contact Stuart using the details below.

Trudy Srawley
Chair of Participation.

Trudy has a husband, a 17-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son. Her son was diagnosed with dyslexia six years ago and she says it’s been a steep learning curve for all the family, especially with the social and emotional issues that can accompany this learning difference. Trudy has lived in Wiltshire all her life and says: “I love Wiltshire”.

Before joining the WPCC in 2014, Trudy worked for 10.5 years on Danone Nutricia’s baby careline, providing parents, carers and healthcare professionals with advice and support. Trudy also has experience in consumer insights events which she is passionate about as she believes they promote good communication and help tailor information and services to families’ needs. Coaching/mentoring, counselling and emotional intelligence have also been a big part of Trudy’s work. Helping others has always been at the heart of what Trudy does and she says she is looking forward to continuing this in her role with the WPCC.

Kieran McCaldon
Office Manager

Graduating from Bath Spa University in 2016 with a 2:1 degree in Business Management, Kieran started working at the WPCC in February 2018. As WPCC’s Office Manager, Kieran is responsible for many aspect of the day to day running of the office behind the scenes including: managing and updating WPCC databases and membership, GDPR and Data Protection compliance, booking venues for events and arranging catering, finance, and general office administration, as well some providing some PA support to the WPCC’s Strategic Director. Kieran also produces WPCC’s Short Breaks Bulletin five times a year.

Kieran himself has an Aspergers diagnosis and says he understands and appreciates that life can be frustrating and confusing when Special Educational Needs and Disabilities are involved, especially when the disability is very much unseen. However, Kieran also said that he thinks there have been significant positive changes in recent years since he was at school, and said that “It has been great to see how much support people gain from WPCC and how it is able to give people a voice who otherwise would not be heard”.

You can contact Kieran using the details below.

Rosie Dalgado
Volunteer Coordinator

Rosie has two wonderful children, aged 7 and 3. Her first child has additional needs and received a diagnosis of being autistic at the age of 6. As such, SEND has become an important part of Rosie’s life. Navigating the systems in place to ensure that her child receives the right support has been a challenging experience. The journey so far has given Rosie an insight into the difference the right support can offer a child and the impact it can have on wellbeing and learning. Rosie and her family are hugely thankful to a range of services and educational staff for their input in to making sure life is happy and healthy.

Rosie has learnt so much from her children throughout the early years, especially the value of seeing things from different perspectives and the joy of sharing other people’s passions. Rosie has also drawn inspiration from other parent carers, and the first time she really felt at home with other parents was on a sensory processing parenting course. Being together was uplifting and empowering, and made Rosie realise the potential for learning when parent carers are brought together.

Rosie’s previous professional experience is in creating learning programmes and events for adult audiences in heritage organisations, and she has a love for history and art. Rosie also believes passionately in the rights of children and adults with Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities, and can’t wait to work with parent carers across Wiltshire as Volunteer Co-ordinator for the Wiltshire Parent Carer Council.

Naomi Paterson
Engagement Team - North

Naomi lives in Wiltshire and has four children living at home whose ages range from 5 to 19. Two of Naomi’s children have additional needs ranging from ASD, ADHD, sensory processing difficulties and Pathological Demand Avoidance.

Over the years, Naomi has accessed training to become a Reiki practitioner, a Cool Kids with Cool Minds tutor, and a massage therapist.

As a member of WPCC’s Engagement team, Naomi is keen to work with settings and meet parent carers to help support families to know about the WPCC.

Having many years of experience of finding her way through the special needs system as a parent carer, Naomi was keen to volunteer to become a member of WPCC’s Engagement team. As member of the WPCC, Naomi wants to help ensure that as many parent carers as possible are aware of the WPCC, so that they can access support, reduce their struggles, and make sure their voice and experiences help to shape and improve the services they access.

VACANT POSITION

Mandy
Parent Representative - Engagement Team

Mandy has been married for 18 years and has two children. She has lived in Wiltshire all her life, mainly around Devizes except when attending University in Southampton. After studying to be a Communications Engineer, she got her dream job working for NTL near Winchester.

Mandy returned to work briefly after having her children but then gave up work to be a full time carer for her youngest child who had had difficulties and struggled in education from pre-school, when was diagnosed with Aspergers when he was 10 years old.

Now that her children are older and more resilient, she has volunteered to become a parent rep for the WPCC and will be supporting her WPCC Engagement team colleagues in their roles.

VACANT POSITION

Laura Davies
Lead Parent Representative for Early Years

Laura is a proud mum to a 7 year old boy and 5 year old twin girls. Laura’s son is diagnosed with autism, ADHD and has a genetic deletion. Laura’s daughter is also on the pathway, awaiting assessment.

Laura lives in Wiltshire and has a background in customer service and travel. She enjoys being around people and is very passionate about SEND. Laura enjoys time at her caravan with her family when they can get away in the holidays.

VACANT POSITION

Keeley Cross
Lead Parent Representative for Health

Keeley is mum to four children, three of whom are neurotypical: Alistair 23 years old, Iona 21 and Cameron 18, and then her beautiful special child James who is 10.

Keeley’s son James has multiple and profound needs; he needs full time care, is fully tube fed, and has a long list of diagnoses. He has a chromosomal abnormality which has caused a long list of issues, affecting brain, heart, gut, growth, kidneys, bowel, respiratory health, hearing and vision amongst others.

Keeley says that being a mum of a child with profound needs has been a very steep learning curve, particularly related to his medical needs.

Keeley’s previous professional life involved her being an electrician for Wessex Water. Keeley describes her son as a gift. He has made her more understanding, more appreciative, more aware of the suffering of others, and probably the most important thing he has taught her is to be grateful for the small things in life. It is the joy that you find in the everyday mundane occurrences in life that makes everything worthwhile. Keeley says she is most definitely a ‘glass half full kind of girl’, and having James makes her appreciate the world around her.

Sue Saunderson

Committee member

Sue is a very proud mum of two beautiful sons. Her eldest is 17 and has a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome and ADHD, and her youngest is 12 years old with a diagnosis of autism and ADHD.

Sue’s experience of accessing education has been very different with each of her sons. The youngest has had specialist help from a very early age through portage, stepping stones and specialist placements. In contrast, Sue has had to fight to get the same treatment for her eldest. Both of Sue’s boys receive funding from Wiltshire Councl to attend day placements at specialist schools located outside the county.

By working with the WPCC Sue hopes to be able to help improve local services so that they can make a greater difference to the lives of all who need them.

You can contact Sue using the details below.

Terry Morrish
Parent Representative – Events Front of House

Terry is a single mature father of a 10 year old boy who has been diagnosed with ADHD, Global Developmental Delay and sight impairment.

Terry’s son attends a mainstream primary school with an EHCP in place but is likely to be moving on to more specialised provision in the future.

Of the WPCC, Terry says “they have been an amazing lifeline in helping my son and I to obtain the help and benefits we were entitled to. I now feel the time is right to offer something in return and make a positive contribution to the WPCC”.

As a volunteer parent rep with the WPCC, Terry welcomes attendees as they arrive at events, he is on hand if attendees need help finding their way around venues, and provides general support to the WPCC team to help ensure the smooth running of events.