Testimonials
I have been privileged to work with so many amazing children, parents and carers, families and staff over the course of my career, and value the experience each interaction brings.
Head of Virtual School
"Karen supported the launch day of our new attachment aware school award programme with groups of lead practitioners from 11 different schools (Early Years to KS5) with a wide range of staff including Assistant Heads, Deputy Heads, SENDCo's, Heads of Year, Class teachers, interventions managers, LSA's, HLTA's, pastoral leads and Educational Psychologists.
Not only did Karen deliver a full day of inspirational attachment and trauma training to this group but she connected with each one of us, created such a safe space that this group was able to share their own experiences, hopes and fears and brought the learning to life with examples from her own experience.
Tailoring the training to an audience with such a varied understanding of attachment and trauma was no easy task but Karen did this effortlessly and had everyone captivated. Each one of us left the day with a refreshed understanding and full of ideas and excitement about applying the learning in our own settings.
Every school would benefit from hearing Karen speak - a true inspiration and quite simply brilliant."
Former Team Member
"I had the privilege of working with Karen over the course of a year whilst she led the team that supported a few year 11 pupils who were working towards their GCSE's. At the beginning of the journey, the pupils were lacking in confidence, often didn't attend school and had little desire to gain qualifications.
Karen spent time getting to know the pupils and working with them on their emotional wellbeing in order to allow them to access learning.
The skills I learnt while working alongside Karen are invaluable and I try to implement these techniques with my current students. I always felt supported when working with pupils and Karen was always available to offer guidance, support and encouragement. I feel much more confident helping pupils grow both emotionally and academically and knowing the best techniques to help them get the most out of their education."
Former Colleague
"I was fortunate to have Karen as a colleague for a few years. She is a true professional, endeavouring to give the best educational experience to students with challenging behaviours. She is quick to see what is needed in a situation, and goes out of her way to help.
Karen is particularly good at seeing where one to one support could be effective, and implementing this to make a big difference to a student's understand of a topic."
Parent of Former Pupil
"What can I say that can genuinely put our experience with DNAC into words?
From the second we were first told our son was going to move to DNAC the staff made us feel at ease and, despite our initial anxieties about the whole process, they had our backs and made our child feel safe and welcome.
It's not just our child who has come on in leaps and bounds in the past 5 months, our family has been nurtured and supported too during one of the most challenging times we have had to face.
These incredible people really know their stuff and are adaptable, resilient, confident and professional at all times which has allowed our son the time and space he needs to "gain his wings" and get ready to fly on his new journey.
We honestly cannot thank the DNAC team for all their efforts. I thought we may never see our child experience any joy again, and even though his behaviour is still a challenge at times, the guidance he has been given has made a monumental difference to all our lives and we are just sad that he can't stay at DNAC longer; we will miss the team so much, but this is not goodbye as we are all part of a special "family" now and (hopefully) we will stay in touch."
Former LA Colleague
"I worked with Karen for a number of years when I worked for a Local Authority and Karen ran the SEMH provision for children both with EHCPs and undergoing statutory assessment. What always struck me was Karen’s dedication and passion for the children in her care - she would go over and above to understand and support their needs; and nurturing, developing and championing their successes. She never ever gave up on a child, and would work with the Local Authority to ensure their needs were captured and help find that child the best school for them.
Karen made sure that any meetings between the LA and parents were positive and had the child at the centre of our focus. She would work hard with families to support them, as well as the child - at times this was crucial as parents had such negative experiences of their child’s education up til that point.
Whenever I visited Karen’s provision it was clear how much her staff respected her and her practices and you could see how much the children had flourished from their time with her. Karen is always approachable, friendly, honest and passionate, and I will always go to her for support and guidance in helping vulnerable children."
Parent of Tutee
"Karen tutored our Year 4 daughter from September to July. During that time our child progressed dramatically from her starting point where she was feeling insecure and negative about maths and reluctant to attempt her homework.
Karen was brilliant - she applied just the right mix of confidence building and encouragement to bring out the natural mathematician in our daughter. She is now happy and confident with maths and it shows in her attitude to homework and in her school test results.
Karen worked well to understand how our daughter ticked and to learn how she enjoyed working. Our daughter enjoyed the sessions with her and looked forward to them each week."
"I was fortunate to have Karen as a colleague for a few years. She is a true professional, endeavouring to give the best educational experience to students with challenging behaviours. She is quick to see what is needed in a situation, and goes out of her way to help.
Karen is particularly good at seeing where one to one support could be effective, and implementing this to make a big difference to a student's understand of a topic."
Parent of Tutee
"Karen came to help our son with English in the run up to the SATs. He was reluctant to work with a tutor but he immediately hit it off with Karen as she was able to judge his character. Together they quickly identified a list of weaker areas to work on. Karen was always punctual and well prepared for each session with relevant and engaging materials. She updated us on progress after each session. He achieved outstanding results in both English papers which we believe was directly linked to Karen’s expert guidance."
"Dear Mrs May,
I made this slide for you because I think you are the best teacher in the world!
Sometimes you can be a bit crazy… but you always help us out. You’re always funny and joyful, and I enjoy that. You are always positive and you tell us to never give up! Also, you are very good at maths!
Now I am going to write your poem and I did not copy it!
You are always there when I need help
You always put a smile on someone’s face
You are always there when I need someone to talk to
You are always bright everyday!
Aaron"
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