Election addresses by nominees to the BATOD National Executive Council 2021 -2023

There was one candidate for President Elect: Sue Denny and she is hereby elected to the post

I have been a Teacher of the Deaf and a member of BATOD for many years – more than I care to remember! I have always been passionate about my work and have extensive experience in the field but especially as a peripatetic teacher, with specialist interests in Early Years and language development. I have been a member of NEC for a number of years and was Chair of BATOD North before relocating to mid Wales and joining the BATOD Cymru committee. I have represented BATOD at various organisations, including the Communication Consortium. I have also been involved in the supervision of students on Teaching Practice both in England and in Wales.

I hope that I can share my experience as a very ordinary Teacher of the Deaf but a passionate advocate for deaf children with BATOD members as President Elect.

There was one candidate for Minuting Secretary: Helen Devereux Murray and she is hereby elected to the post.

I am Lead Teacher of the Deaf managing an Additional Resources Provision (ARP) for secondary-aged deaf students within a mainstream all-through community school in East London. I am proud of our developing reputation as a centre of excellence for deaf education.

I sit on the National Executive Committee for BATOD as the regional representative for BATOD South and have recently developed new national policy and contribute regularly to the magazine in my role as BATOD’s social media coordinator. I represent BATOD on The Communication Trust, a national group of over 50 organisations supporting children with speech and language needs and am excited to expand my involvement with a new role on the Steering Group. I am a member of the GLADE network of QToDs in London and I have further developed my leadership skills in my current role as a Trustee of a successful Essex-based educational charity. I believe that teachers should never lose the desire or ability to learn, and relish the opportunity to further expand my knowledge and skills.

I am a trained musician and music teacher with a keen interest in how we can use music to support language, communication and social development for Deaf children and help break down barriers for them. If elected I would hope to bring my expertise as well as my great passion and enthusiasm to support the work of the steering group and the wider BATOD membership.

Emma Parker

I am currently an elected member of the BATOD NEC and am seeking re-election.

I qualified as a Teacher of the Deaf (QToD) in 2006 and have worked in a variety of roles (across all communication modalities) including Teacher in Charge, Peripatetic QToD, QToD at the National Deaf CAMHS inpatient service in London and resource base QToD. I am currently working as a freelance QToD/SSP, supporting Deaf students in HE.

As an elected member I represent BATOD on the Deaf Education Support Forum (https://desf.weebly.com/) and serve on the BATOD National Conference organising committee as conference coordinator. In addition to this, during my time as an elected member of the NEC, I have been part of the working group focused on the redevelopment of the BATOD website. Before my current election I represented BATOD South on the NEC and served as the regional secretary.

I have enjoyed my time on the NEC and the work that I’ve been involved in and would like to continue this work through re-election.

Marie Wilkinson

I originally trained as a ToD while working with Lancashire County Council and gained my PG Dip in Deaf Education from The University of Manchester in 2008. This followed fifteen years working as a mainstream teacher in secondary schools teaching English, PSHE, and children with SpLD. I took on the role of Acting SENCo for a year before joining Lancashire’s peripatetic team.

I currently work as a Teacher of the Deaf with Wigan Council. I support deaf babies and children from 0-16 but my main role is working with families and Early Years (0-2). I hold the PG Dip Ed. Studies (Early Years & Deafness).

I have been a member of BATOD since 2008 and a few years ago volunteered to join the BATOD North committee, helping to organise and run their annual study day.  I have been privileged to be a member of the NEC for a number of years and I would welcome the opportunity to continue to represent views of my colleagues from the North, especially during the challenging times we find ourselves in.

I am keen to develop coaching and learning skills both with families and professionals in education. Currently I am completing Forest School training which I hope will be a useful addition to my toolkit working for and with deaf children and their families.