One of the few positives of the pandemic and lockdown, was the creation of the Oak Academy resource, an online suite of lessons created by a group of volunteer teachers. They wanted to help support children’s education as a supplement to what their schools were providing during coronavirus. While many children benefited from their teachers’ hard work teaching them remotely, as our survey revealed, this was far from a universal experience.
Oak’s lessons came as a godsend to many families, although its sparse SEND offer and lack of differentiation came in for criticism from some, which was perhaps unfair, given the speed with which it was created. Since its launch it has been supported by the Departmen for Education, commissioned to create 10,000 lessons for the coming year.
It also has a new specialist curriculum lead in Anne Heavey, who is director of Whole School SEND. Anne is working to improve Oak Academy’s offer for children and young people with SEND and she wants you to send her any ideas you have to her via Twitter. She recently joined us for a chat about her plans for an episode of SNJ in Conversation. When you start to listen, you may think you missed one as we welcome her back – but don’t worry, we have recorded another topic with Anne but decided to release this one first (stay tuned for the next one next week!)
Listen via podcast
YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music
Watch on YouTube
Listen to all episodes
Don’t miss a thing!
Don’t miss any posts from SNJ – simply add your email address below. You must click the link in the confirmation email you’ll receive to activate your free subscription.
You can also keep up with us by following our
Want more? Be an SNJ regular donor!
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
She is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
- Dear Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell: an Open Letter from Special Needs Jungle and SEND legal charity SOS!SEN - August 4, 2026
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them” - July 30, 2026
- EOTAS Consultation: A further assault on children’s SEND rights with cost saving and reintegration to schools at its heart - July 15, 2026
Please share this article!
Discover more from Special Needs Jungle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
