Meet the Team

Hi, I’m Anna and I’m the Specialist Teacher here at The Acorn Centre.

I joined the team in September 2024 as the centre moved to its newly renovated location in South Oxhey. The much more spacious facilities allowed for this brand-new role for the provision, delivering in-reach group sessions based in our small classroom, alongside supporting any Permanently Excluded pupils at the centre from the DSPL9 area until a new school placement is secured.

During this time I have become a Thrive Licensed Practitioner, an approach which is grounded in child development, neuroscience and attachment theory. The intensive training course provided the tools and techniques to understand what is driving a child’s behaviour allowing me to respond in ways that help children feel safe, regulate and able to engage.

I have been a teacher for 24 years, completing a BEd degree in Primary Education specialising in English and Special Educational Needs. I taught initially in a large multi-cultural school in Barnet, before taking up various posts in Watford and Hemel Hempstead including working in deprived areas of the county and in schools with above average numbers of pupils with SEND. I taught in the Early Years Foundation Stage for 8 years and also had the opportunity to complete Level 3 Forest School training to be able to lead Forest school sessions in my settings.

My interest in working with pupils with additional needs led me to take on the role of leading Classic Boxall Nurture Groups in two different schools, undertaking specialised training at the University of Cambridge for the position. A Nurture Group is a school-based intervention run by two members of staff with a small group of pupils with identified SEMH needs with the aim to replace missing early experiences by developing positive pupil relationships with both teachers and peers in a supportive environment before re-integrating them successfully back into their mainstream classroom. Effective nurture practice follows the Six Principles of Nurture, all of which are still pertinent to my current role, especially ‘all behaviour is communication’.

In my personal life, this role led me to become a specialised respite foster carer for Hertfordshire County Council, supporting foster placements with high SEMH needs children by providing regular respite breaks for carers to enable placements to be sustainable. As part of this role I was trained in the ARC approach (Attachment, Regulation, and Competency), a therapeutic framework for delivering care alongside trauma-informed practice. I have also been a STEPs trainer for my setting (now known as Therapeutic Thinking). Therapeutic Thinking is a Hertfordshire wide theory driven, psychologically informed, whole school approach focusing on how children and young people are supported, particularly in terms of their SEND, emotional wellbeing, behaviour and mental health.

The knowledge and skills I have acquired over the years, and now as a parent to three myself, have come together to equip me for the unique role here at The Acorn Centre, and I feel fortunate to work alongside a team of experienced and dedicated professionals.