This is a sponsored post on behalf of nasen LIVE 2026!
On Friday 3rd July 2026, the SEND community will come together at The Vox Conference Centre, Birmingham, for nasen LIVE 2026 – a national conference designed to support the sector through a period of significant change.
Following a sold-out 2025 event, this year’s conference builds on that momentum with a renewed focus on how we inspire meaningful innovation in SEND during times of change.
This comes at a critical moment. The publication of the government’s Schools White Paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving (February 2026), sets out proposed reforms to the SEND system in England, alongside a national consultation open until May 2026.
Against this backdrop, nasen LIVE 2026 provides an important opportunity for educators, leaders and practitioners to step back, reflect, and engage with what these changes may mean in practice.
Inspiring SEND innovation through times of change
This year’s theme – “Inspiring SEND Innovation Through Times of Change” – reflects the realities facing the sector.
With increasing pressure on systems, alongside ongoing reform, there is a growing need to balance policy expectations with practical, sustainable approaches.
Across the day, sessions will focus on how professionals can respond to change with confidence – while continuing to prioritise the needs of children and young people.
A programme shaped by reform and practice
The nasen LIVE 2026 agenda brings together leading voices from across education and the wider SEND sector, combining strategic insight with practical application.
A key feature of this year’s programme is its focus on the Schools White Paper and proposed SEND reforms, including a dedicated panel session featuring nasen CEO Annamarie Hassall, alongside Adam Boddison OBE, Lorraine Petersen OBE and Paul Keenleyside. Together, they will offer specialist insight into what these changes mean for the sector and how professionals can respond with confidence.
Alongside this, the programme brings together a diverse range of sector-leading specialists, including Aaron King, Chantal Bryan OBE, Emma Shackleton, Errol Comrie, Faye Whittle, Jason Selormey, Matt McArthur, Rebecca Gonyora, Rowena Hicks, Sarah Giles and Stacey Jukes, and will explore a range of timely and relevant themes, including:
- Accessibility planning that drives inclusion, not just compliance
- Internal alternative provision and what effective implementation looks like in practice
- Supporting parents as partners in SEND provision
- Inclusive literacy approaches for all learners, including those with complex needs
- Practical, sustainable strategies to support regulation and prevent burnout
Sessions are designed to move beyond theory – providing clear, actionable insight that can be applied within classrooms, settings and leadership practice.
Connection, collaboration and shared learning
nasen LIVE is more than a conference – it’s a space to connect with others working across the SEND landscape.
Alongside a sector exhibition featuring over 60 award-winning organisations, offering resources and services to support inclusive practice, the day is designed to create meaningful opportunities for conversation, reflection and shared learning.
Your ticket also includes a complimentary lunch and refreshments throughout the day – allowing you to stay on site, connect with peers, and make the most of every opportunity to network and share ideas.
Tickets are now available!
Tickets are now available at just £109, offering strong value for a full day of CPD, insight, networking and free lunch!
We’re also pleased to offer a limited number of parent/carer tickets at a reduced rate of just £89. To redeem this offer, please use discount code: SNJ20. This helps ensure the event remains accessible to a broad range of voices across the SEND sector.
Join us on Friday 3rd July 2026
At a time of ongoing change across SEND, nasen LIVE 2026 offers a space to engage with the issues that matter – while gaining practical insight to support your work.
Find out more and book your place: https://nasen.org.uk/nasenlive
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Also read:
- How do you ensure pathways to education, health, and social care support, meet both diagnosis and needs?
- Researching flexi-schooling: How beneficial is it for children with SEND?
- Oops, we did it again… The Government must now listen to more than 100,000 people who do not want to lose SEND rights
- Experts at Hand: When is an occupational therapist also a SEND expert?
- Could using AI to filter Government consultation responses lead to “algorithmic silencing” of neurodivergent voices?
- A council’s “improvement journey”? How determined SEND parents catalogued the trail of their LA’s unlawful behaviour
- Research: Social networks in special schools. Friendships, bullying and play
- CrowdJustice SEND accountability: When the law says “must”, local authorities cannot treat it as “maybe”
- DfE must give its SEND reform Child Rights Impact Assessment a do-over; this time, without marking its own homework
- Research: SEND case officers are LAs’ “human shield” gatekeepers. But parents shouldn’t have to be their own key workers
- Research finds the Government’s SEND National Conversation “performative”, lacking pathways for young people’s inclusion
- EOTAS: Why the Government must listen to those with lived experience
Key Content
- Research: SEND case officers are LAs’ “human shield” gatekeepers. But parents shouldn’t have to be their own key workers
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
- What schools and practitioners are missing about Tamil and South Asian families trying to navigate the SEND system.
- Should “highly valued” EHCP Independent Supporters return to help parents navigate the SEND jungle?
- Philippa Stobbs OBE: Reform plans must have a clear line of sight from children and young people with SEND to better outcomes.
- Where will all the teaching assistants come from? The research exposing the reality gap in the government SEND plans
- Consultation: Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school. What’s new, what’s missing and what you need to know
- National Education Union’s Daniel Kebede: “Reforming SEND cannot be done on the cheap”
- “We are living on a knife-edge” SENDCo research sounds the alarm about the high cost of mainstream inclusion
- £200 million for SEND training announced—but will there be anyone left to train?
- The complex SEND needs teacher training gap in mainstream schools and how to fix it
- What schools and parents need to understand about supporting autistic and neurodivergent children
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SNJ is a non-profit and everyone who writes here does so voluntarily. We need your support to help us with costs by donating once or as a regular patron. Find out more here
- How do you ensure pathways to education, health, and social care support, meet both diagnosis and needs? - October 7, 2026
- Researching flexi-schooling: How beneficial is it for children with SEND? - October 5, 2026
- Experts at Hand: When is an occupational therapist also a SEND expert? - September 30, 2026
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