About Us
Who are Phoenix ND Education?
Phoenix ND Education was founded by Eloise Barnett, owner of SENDS Support CIC. During six years of supporting families and schools through training, advocacy and in-home support, she found herself being asked more and more to support both schools and families with alternative provision, home education and EOTIS. Phoenix was established to enable Eloise to focus on the two different areas of being a SEND Education Consultant.
How did we begin?
Phoenix ND Education was borne out of a frustrating lack of provision for SEN, home-educated and long-term absent children. Our initial aim (and still long-term goal) was to establish a teaching environment that facilitates group learning funded by the local authority - a place of safety for pupils to flourish whilst fulfilling their academic dreams. Our work with families who have no education for their children, in our sister company SENDS Support CIC, has led us to establishing a service that meets the needs of these forgotten children in a more immediate way.
Eloise Barnett
Phoenix ND Education Founder and Director
As an autistic mum to an autistic daughter, Eloise has deep empathy for children who are academically able but find mainstream school simply over-whelming. The need to process large amounts of language and new information, alongside relationship difficulties and sensory differences mean that children are not only exhausted by school, but find themselves masking their true needs and identity to try and cope and even survive in school. After finding primary school difficult, her own daughter began significantly struggling in secondary to the point where she could no longer attend full-time and needed regular mental health support to overcome her anxiety. Her daughter could not cope in mainstream school but does not need, nor fit in to the criteria for special schools. Children who are left in this ‘middle-ground’ often find themselves out of school long-term with little to no formal education provided by the school or local authority. This lived-experience is what drives Eloise to improve provision and force change within the education system.
Eloise has a BA (HONS) in Primary Education and was a teacher, SENCO and Assistant Headteacher for 15 years before establishing SENDS Support CIC. She has 8 years of experience teaching the full primary curriculum and coordinating SEND provision in mainstream schools, along with 9 years experience as Head of Secondary in a special school. Here her role encompassed leading on behaviour, careers and qualifications pre and post 16. Eloise has successfully run her own business supporting families and schools with children with special needs for over 5 years. She delivers training, acts as advocate for families and consultant to families and schools. She has a long-standing relationship with Local Authorities across the East Midlands, supporting Parent Carer Forums, LA and CCG SEND initiatives and being part of working groups to improve SEND provision across the counties.
Nicola Warner
Phoenix ND Education Alternative Provision Manager
Nicola is a dedicated professional with a profound commitment to the fields of special education and social care. With over 20 years of experience of working in special schools, she gained extensive knowledge and skills supporting children and young people with SEN.
Nicola became an advocate for families of children with additional needs alongside Phoenix Director Eloise for two years, supporting families to overcome the challenges of accessing the specialist education for their child, implementing strategies to understand and support behaviour and helping families to thrive.
In early 2020, Nicola moved to social care, supporting children with complex mental health challenges and self-harm in a residential children's home, and became the acting Manager. Nicola advocated for the education of the children in her care, finding them the right educational provision and support to ensure their needs were met. She also devised and implemented personalised support plans to improve the emotional intelligence of the children, helping them to identify, understand and manage their emotions and support them through the impact of their traumatic experiences.
At Phoenix, Nicola manages the alternative provisions, liaising with parents, schools, social care and local authorities. She line manages the staff team, delivers in-house training and also enjoys spending time with our students.
"Working in both education and social care settings has been invaluable, giving me lived experience that I can bring to Phoenix ND Education, providing safe, nurturing care whilst supporting our young people to achieve their goals and aspirations".