We recently took the decision to increase our support of the Early Years and those special people who work within this amazing Sector and were excited to hear that two of the people that we have a lot of respect for had teamed up to form a Training Partnership with the aim to bring quality, cost effective training courses to those in Practice covering some of the much needed areas supporting Diversity and Inclusiveness. So here is our recorded chat with Sejal Payne and Kim Benham who have formed S & S Training Partners and what they are offering, why the time is right for them to come together and how this has all come about!
Sejal is an extremely experienced Education Consultant with many years of experience in the Education Sector and a particular love of the Early Years / Early Childcare Sector.
Kim is the Owner/Manager of two very successful Pre-Schools in Croydon, who over recent years has been sharing her knowledge and experience with colleagues within the sector alongside running her businesses and caring for the children who attend her provisions and their families and her staff, always with a focus on the Child at the Centre and never standing still, always looking for ways to improve her practice.
Who would have known that they both started out as nurses together at Great Ormond Street Hospital and have been firm friends for many years, with a hope that one day they could combine their knowledge and experience to support their beloved sector.
And now it has happened! They have formed a Training Partnership.
About S & S Training Partners
Kim Benham – Sparkles Early Years Consultancy
Kim Benham is the renowned and well-respected Senior Manager and Owner of two successful provisions, Sparkles Pre-School and Millies Pre-School in Croydon and she divides her time between the two settings, supporting and caring for her staff and the children. She is passionate about inspiring young children and those that work with them to be the best they can be, very much with a focus on wellbeing and mental health. Kim is devoted to creating spaces where the children and families she works with are all included, feel safe and represented.
Kim has worked in the Early Years sector for over forty years, originally training as NNEB and later upgrading her qualification to a BA in Early Years, as well as attaining Early Years Professional Status. More recently, she founded Sparkles Early Years Consultancy after years of supporting and helping friends with their EY professional journey with the aim to be more accessible to share her experience and knowledge and support EY colleagues. Her other passion is about high quality, professional Early Years care and education, and because she is still working in practice, she truly understands the current challenges that owners, managers and staff face.
Kim is the person behind the successful Twitter account and hashtag EYTalking and is also an integral member of the newly formed Early Years LGBTQIA+ Working Group, an role she accepted without hesitation, as is of the opinion this is great opportunity to further support those working in the sector and really help to make a difference.
Kim writes regular blogs and articles including contributions to Nursery World, and has been published by the Early Years Alliance and the well-known Katy Brodie plus was the subject of a podcast on twice achieving ‘Outstanding’ from Ofsted In addition to her own training activities she has delivered online training with Laura Henry-Allain on Laura’s ‘KiSP© – Keep it Simple: Planning’ which is now available to download from Laura’s website. Kim was also filmed with Laura by BBC News for My Family Week, a week long celebration of the uniqueness of every family that Kim supports with her Pre-schools every year.
“I have so much respect for those who take on the sometimes challenging and complicated world of Early Years education, and my goal is to make sure every business has the support they need and deserve. I love helping others achieve success and can tailor consultancy and/or training to suit your professional needs. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!”
Kim Benham
Sejal Payne – Sejal Payne Education
Sejal Payne is an independent, specialist bespoke education consultant with the many years of skills and expertise in supporting school improvement. A dedicated, knowledgeable and highly respected consultant with 20 years of working in schools, within local authority, nationally and abroad. She is passionate about supporting the provision and attainment of Black and Minority Ethnic Pupils, including learners of English as an Additional Language and working collaboratively with the schools to identify areas of development and address the gaps. Her experience ranges across from Early Years to secondary school.
She holds a TEFL certificate and has taught English in Oman; been a nursery teacher at Dubai Small World Nursery, set up the Ethnic Minority Achievement provision in a local primary school and worked with local authority to share practice and raise standards in target schools. She has undertaken an Accredited postgraduate course with Bedford University and Milton Keynes Ethnic Minority Achievement support services.
She has vast experience in providing tailored strategic and operational advisory support to settings and schools in order to raise standards in the classroom and improve the learning experiences of all pupils, addressing their needs with regards to race, ethnicity, language and culture.
She works with all colleagues, from the senior leadership team, teachers, subject co-ordinators to support staff. She uses the model and coach approach to support the professional development of specialist inclusion staff, including Ethnic Minority Achievement Co-ordinators.
Sejal has led on high quality targeted Interventions within the local authority and is an accredited trainer for language intervention programmes such as for talkingpartners@primary, Talk Volunteer, Talking Maths and Boosting Reading @ primary & secondary programmes. She has a proven track record of developing and delivering a diverse range of professional development training programmes for schools and settings relating to Equalities and inclusion.
She works with various training partnerships, including Primary Enrichment Partnerships in Milton Keynes; Tommy Flowers SCITT and British Schools of Middle East, where she has delivered at an EYFS conference in Dubai and numerous webinars to support professional CPD.
She has worked with a range of children centres and Early Years providers to develop practitioner knowledge and establish early interventions to tackle barriers to young children’s development and learning.
Sejal also has vast experience in forging home school links and is an accredited trainer for the Race Equality Foundation- Strengthening Families & Strengthening Communities parenting programme. She has successfully delivered numerous courses to target parents with extremely positive outcomes and has co- written and delivered Empowering Parents – a targeted Milton Keynes community-based parenting programme.
She is a governor for a local authority nursery school and for a community-based Arabic language school. She is well known and respected within the Milton Keynes diverse community groups. She is absolutely committed to improving the learning experiences of all pupils and has a hands-on approach to developing an inclusive and a highly engaging teaching and learning environment in settings and schools so that every child can access the curriculum and reach their potential.