Built by mainstream teachers who watched the model quietly break - and decided to do something about it.

Kirsty trained as a Food Technology and Design Technology teacher and spent the first chapter of her career inside Suffolk and Norfolk mainstream secondary schools, leading busy kitchens packed with thirty Year 9 students at a time. The deeper she moved into pastoral leadership, the more she noticed the same pattern: the children sliding off roll were rarely the ones who could not cook - they were the ones whose bodies could no longer cope with the noise, the smells, the time pressure and the visible failure of a curriculum built for thirty identical learners.

She gained the National Award for Special Educational Needs Co-ordination and moved into a full-time SENCO role, where she worked closely with families experiencing Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA), autistic burnout and the long aftermath of pandemic disruption. Her conviction grew that for a small but rising group of teenagers, the route back into learning would not be through a normal timetable - it would be through the rhythm of preparing a meal in a room small enough to feel safe.

Today Kirsty leads on assessment, EHCP-aligned target setting, SEND adaptation, and the day-to-day safeguarding of every young person on roll. She holds Designated Safeguarding Lead status and is the named contact for referring schools and local authority commissioners.

[REQUIRES USER INPUT: Specific qualifications, years of experience, previous schools, DSL training date, NASENCO award year, additional certifications.]

Selina began her career as a chef before retraining into secondary teaching, where she went on to lead Food Technology departments and develop schemes of work for mixed-ability cohorts including significant numbers of pupil premium and EAL learners. She has examined GCSE Food Preparation & Nutrition coursework and written cross-curricular projects linking food technology with PSHE, science and citizenship.

Over the last decade, Selina watched the cost-of-living crisis collide with the post-pandemic mental health crisis inside her own classroom. Families were skipping meals; students were arriving on energy drinks and crisps; behaviour incidents in the afternoon were almost predictable from what had - or had not - been eaten at break. She began informally teaching small groups of dysregulated students how to cook for their younger siblings, and saw the pattern that now sits at the heart of Suffolk Sensory Kitchen: learning lands when bodies are fed and calm.

Selina leads on the four-module Modern Home Economics curriculum, on cross-contamination and allergen control under Natasha's Law, and on parental engagement. She is responsible for ensuring every recipe, every shopping list and every session plan is anchored in evidence - drawing on Public Health England guidance, the NHS Eatwell Guide, and the growing body of research on nutrition and adolescent mental health.

[REQUIRES USER INPUT: Specific qualifications, Level 3/4 Food Safety certifications, years of experience, examining board, previous schools, any nutrition or psychology qualifications.]