Welcome to the Special Educational Needs (SEN) online Academy!

ShipCon Special Educational Needs (SEN) online Academy (SC_SEN_ACADEMY) is a cumulative effort of experts & professionals to offer affordable, practical & personalised online training to parents, educators & professionals in the area of Special Educational Needs (SEN), Mental Health, Social Care, Disability & Inclusive Education. The overall effort has been initiated from three individuals,  Dr. Jacqui Ashton Smith, Mrs. Angela Winstanley and Mr. Chris Walvin, all with decades of hands on experience in the wider area of Health Care, Education and Parent support, who recognised the need to create a virtual platform that covers – the ever increasingly  important – area of Special Educational Needs in a consistent and holistic manner and at the same time keeping the personal touch among the experts and those in need of support, training and/or professional development.

Having worked for many years and in high executive positions across the UK and European Health, Education and Social Care Systems, Jacqui, Angela and Chris, came to conclusion that bringing together, under one roof, high quality training and individual/personalised support, was the best way forward and certainly a much better alternative to one-off online courses/training with no updates and no individual support from experts.  Equally important, they recognised that all these ‘fragmented’ and without consistency ‘online training’ initiatives may lead to the deterioration of quality of training, which is so important to be maintained by all those involved – directly & indirectly – in the area of SEN.

Moreover, over the years it became apparent that the vast majority of trainings and resources on Special Educational Needs (SEN) concentrate on the ‘problem’ and its understanding through provision of theoretical knowledge. However, what is missing, especially for parents and educators, is the equally important aspect of providing practical solutions to every day challenges and at the same time turn these challenges into opportunities; that is, opportunities for improving school performance, harnessing the potential and special skills as well as easing the social inclusion of students & young children with SEN. All these fundamentally important aspects cannot be addressed by ‘conventional’ training, which focuses mainly on the identification ‘problem’ and its origins. Parents and educators need comprehensive solution that aim directly to the so called ‘Inclusive Education’, that is, educational & social inclusion, of all neurodiverse individuals.

All these triggered the development of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) online Academy (SC_SEN_ACADEMY). The courses offered by SC_SEN_ACADEMY are differentiated to meet the needs of parents, educationalists and other professionals. Educationalists include teachers, tutors and support personnel, such as Social Workers, Nurses, Medics, Care Workers, Psychologists and other therapists, who will find these courses invaluable to their practice and their Continuing Professional Development.

The pillars in which SEN_ACADEMY is based upon are:

• Affordable: every effort has been made by SC_SEN_ACADEMY faculty members to reduce the costs related to training, coaching & support. This can be clearly seen from the fact that all  SC_SEN_ACADEMY online courses are offered with ‘Life Time Access’, regular updates of material & resources as well as online support from our experts which ranges from three months to twelve months. All these included in the original course fee.

• Practical: In all our online courses there are practical examples & case studies presented by SC_SEN_ACADEMY Faculty members & experts, which provide a thorough comprehension of the theory presented. This is an invaluable aspect when it comes to parents, educators and professionals alike.

• Personalised: All  SC_SEN_ACADEMY online courses are offered with  online support from our experts which ranges from three months to twelve months. In this respect, anyone who purchases a SC_SEN_ACADEMY online course, parent, educator or professional, can be in touch with our Faculty members & experts for a considerable amount of time, during which he/she has the opportunity to clarify any aspects related directly or indirectly to the course.

• Quality: SC_SEN_ACADEMY gathers the knowledge and expertise of experts with decades of hands on experience/practice in the areas of Special Educational Needs (SEN), Autism Spectrum, Disability, among others. All our online courses include the latest developments in the fields of study and they have undergone the scrutiny of a rigorous quality assessment from Quality Assurance (QA) professionals. Equally important all SC_SEN_ACADEMY online courses have automatic updates in the material and/or the resources, with no extra cost.   

• Comprehensive: Either as a parent, who aims to understand and support at the best possible manner their children, an educator who wishes to comprehend in depth the best teaching strategies within the classroom or a professional who works with SEN individuals, SC_SEN_ACADEMY is the most comprehensive virtual support platform in the area of SEN, Disability and Mental Health. All the needs for training & professional development in these areas under one roof, that is, the SC_SEN_ACADEMY.

• Innovative: SC_SEN_ACADEMY does not provide ‘courses’ only. It provides solutions to every day challenges of parents and educators and aims to turn these challenges into opportunities. The faculty of SC_SEN_ACADEMY are strong advocates of the idea that all individuals possess special skills and it is the responsibility of the educational & societal systems to ensure that all individuals, neurodiverse or not, can harness their full potential. To this          extend, SC_SEN_ACADEMY aims to become not another ‘training platform’ but the place in which parents & educators can turn to a trustworthy training provider of choice and at the same time to a coach & mentor, who can assist them all the way during this wonderful journey of Neurodiversity.  

The founders and experts of SC_SEN_ACADEMY have developed the most comprehensive suite of self-paced (asynchronous) courses ranging from Dyslexia to Sensory Sensitivities and Autism. For those who opt for ‘live’ (synchronous) online courses there are even Special Educational Needs (SEN) courses to choose from.

For more information you can visit:

Enjoy the journey with SC_SEN_ACADEMY!

The SC_SEN_ACADEMY founding members – senacademy@shipcon.eu.com

Angela Winstanley

Christopher Walvin

Jacqui Ashton Smith