Latest Articles

• • • Laura Gillespie

    • Chair
  • • Laura is our Chair. She was a Physiotherapist prior to having children, specialising in Neurology. Laura has two children, a son and a daughter. Her son has a diagnosis of autism and attends Club 61 and Mencap Gateway for his adult social care. Laura is interested in inclusion and preparing our amazing children and young people for adulthood.

      Laura is one of our parent carer representatives and supports our volunteers. She is also Chair of Sheffield Lightning Athletics Club and Chair of Governors at Bents Green Special School. She is also a Director of Learn Sheffield.

      In her spare time, she loves walking in the Peak District, holidays in Cornwall and is a season ticket holder with her family at Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey Club.

• • • Lucy Mottram

    • Trustee
  • • Lucy is a mum to three beautiful boys, two of whom have Autism. She became a trustee in 2023 after taking her youngest child to the SPCF Christmas movie screening.

      Lucy was formerly a nursing sister in critical care and a community nurse but now works in higher education. Her roles have included recruitment, interprofessional working, student experience, equality and diversity and course management.

      In her spare time, Lucy is training for a marathon and enjoys being outdoors and keeping fit.

• • • Jane Carr

    • Trustee
  • • Jane has two sons, the eldest of whom has autism and ADHD and attends an Integrated Resource.

      Jane has worked for the Department for Education since 2005, on numerous policies spanning children’s social care, early years, schools and apprenticeships. With a colleague, she set up a support group at work for parents of children with SEND.

      Jane has also volunteered for Mencap and was the SEND link governor at a local primary school for seven years.

      In her spare time, Jane enjoys travelling with her family, going on walks and trying to fathom the complicated board games her older son enjoys.

• • • Joel Hardwick

    • Trustee
  • • Joel has three children. The middle one has a rare chromosome disorder (2q23.1 Microdeletion Syndrome), attends an integrated resource, and enjoys climbing hills in the Peak District (or at least the snack stop at the top!).

      Joel previously worked for the local authority in planning and commissioning the Sheffield education system and is now Assistant CEO at Nexus Multi-Academy Trust, who have 10 special schools across South Yorkshire.

• • • Cathy Wilson

    • Trustee
  • • Cathy has two children, both with a rare chromosome disorder and an array of diagnoses including ASD, ADHD, learning disability and attachment difficulties. She worked at the Forum from 2018 to 2022 on the Sheffield Local Offer and now works for a neighbouring authority on their Local Offer.
      She has a particular interest in improving the experiences for families of care-experienced children where SEND intersects with trauma and adverse childhood experiences.

• • • Clare Peck

    • Trustee
  • • Clare has two daughters in their twenties, the younger one has Down Syndrome.

      Clare has retired from general practice and is learning the saxophone (has the instrument, now needs to practice!). She is an active member of her local Christian community and is busy learning Makaton to sing and sign. She loves walking, gardening and reading.

      Since retirement she has become more involved in our outreach work, meeting parents in Sheffield schools and nurseries.

• • • Jayne Woodward

    • Trustee
  • • Jayne is mother to two sons; her eldest attends social care day services and is autistic and has dyspraxia, ADD and oral dyspraxia. Her youngest has graduated from university and has SpLD.

      Jayne works part time as a Disability Adviser at the University of Sheffield which involves supporting disabled students. She has been involved with the Sheffield Parent Carer Forum since its inception, and was chair of the organisation from 2008 to 2017.

• • • Julie Chambers

    • Trustee
  • • Julie became involved with the forum after her daughter was diagnosed with subcortical band hetereotopia, a rare genetic condition, and it became clear that she would need an EHCP. Julie recently became a trustee, and has a particular interest in working with the local authority on trying to improve the whole EHCP experience for other parents and children. Amongst other things, Julie represents the forum on the EHCP QA group where they review the quality of EHCPs and feed back recommendations to the SEN team. Julie previously worked as a research scientist but is now a full-time mum to her two daughters.