Spotlight on Liz Murray: Supporting Trusts to Deliver Inclusion at Scale

As the education sector responds to the ambitions set out in the Schools White Paper, one question is front of mind for many trust leaders: how ready are we to deliver inclusion at scale?

For multi-academy trusts, this is not just a question of intent, but of implementation - how to translate reform into consistent, high-quality practice across multiple schools and contexts.

Liz Murray, SEND Director at Supporting Education Group, brings a depth of experience that speaks directly to this challenge.

 
Extensive experience across schools, trusts and the wider system

With more than 25 years in education, Liz has worked across a wide range of roles, from classroom teacher to trust-level leadership. She began her career as an English teacher and Head of Year in London, before moving into senior leadership as Assistant Principal for Inclusion.

She has since led SEND and inclusion across schools in London and Manchester, established her own SEND school improvement consultancy, and most recently served as Director of SEND at Star Academies - a national trust of 37 schools.

Alongside her leadership roles, Liz has contributed to national work on SEND through the Department for Education and as a facilitator and coach on NPQ SENCo and NPQEL programmes.

This combination of classroom, school, trust and national experience gives her a well-rounded perspective on both the opportunities and challenges facing the sector.

 
A practical perspective on the Schools White Paper

Liz has been closely engaged in the sector’s response to the Schools White Paper, offering a measured and practical perspective on what the reforms could mean for schools and trusts.

She highlights the importance of the White Paper’s recognition that inclusion and standards are closely connected. For many leaders, this reflects the reality that the quality of provision for pupils with SEND shapes outcomes across the whole school.

Her analysis also points to several areas that trusts will need to consider carefully:

• A broader understanding of need, recognising the overlap between SEND and wider disadvantage
• A shift towards earlier, preventative support, rather than reactive intervention
• Greater emphasis on collaboration, particularly across trusts, mainstream and specialist settings
• The introduction of Individual Support Plans (ISPs) and a more consistent, layered model of provision

At the same time, Liz is clear that successful implementation will depend on practical factors such as workforce capacity, access to specialist expertise, and clarity around how reforms will be delivered.

 

Scaling inclusion through collaboration

 A consistent theme in Liz’s work is the role of collaboration in improving outcomes for pupils with SEND.

Her experience across schools and trusts has shown that sustainable improvement often comes from working across organisational boundaries - bringing together mainstream and specialist expertise, building shared understanding, and developing approaches that can be scaled.

This includes practical strategies such as:

• Developing partnerships between mainstream and specialist settings
• Creating opportunities for staff to share expertise across schools
• Embedding co-production with families and pupils
• Establishing trust-wide approaches that support consistency while allowing for local context

For trust leaders, this is about moving beyond isolated examples of good practice towards systems that enable inclusion to be delivered consistently across all schools.

Supporting trusts to prepare for reform

 In her role at Supporting Education Group, Liz is focused on helping trusts navigate the evolving SEND landscape and prepare for the changes ahead.

This includes supporting leaders to:

• Understand their current level of readiness
• Identify strategic priorities for SEND and inclusion
• Build capability across their workforce
• Access tools and expertise to support implementation

Her focus is on ensuring that approaches to inclusion are both practical and sustainable, with a clear line of sight to improved outcomes for pupils.

 
Join the conversation: how ready is your trust?

 Liz will be sharing her insights as part of our upcoming webinar:

“The Schools White Paper at Scale: How Ready is Your Trust to Deliver Inclusion?”

Designed for trust leaders, executive headteachers, directors of education and inclusion leads, the session will explore:

• What the White Paper means in practice for multi-academy trusts
• The key considerations for delivering inclusion at scale
• How trusts can assess and strengthen their readiness
• Practical approaches to implementation

As the direction of travel becomes clearer, the focus for trusts is shifting towards delivery.

Join Liz Murray, alongside Thrive's Tom Preston and Viv Trask-Hall to explore how your trust can take a considered, practical approach to inclusion at scale.

Tuesday 5th May | 4pm - 4.45pm (BST)

Register for the webinar