The AET programme is governed by its Programme Board which determines its strategy, protects its values and supports, and holds the staff team to account for the delivery of its objectives.
Programme Board membership reflects a broad and rounded perspective from across the autism and education communities to include autistic people and parents.
Adam Micklethwaite
Adam is the Director of the Autism Alliance, a national partnership of charities supporting autistic people and their families, and the parent of a young autistic person. His work focuses on improving policy, developing practice, and campaigning for change.
He is a member of the Department for Health and Social Care’s Implementation Group for the National Strategy for Autistic Children, Young People and Adults; the Department for Education’s autism charities group; and the NHS National Autism Steering Group; and chairs the national partnership of charities delivering Autism Central, a peer-led service providing education, signposting and help for parents can carers.
Prior to joining the Autism Alliance, Adam led partnerships at Good Things Foundation, the UK’s leading digital inclusion charity. This included programmes with the Department for Education, the Greater Manchester and West Midlands Combined Authorities, HM Revenue and Customs, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, and corporate partnerships with Google, J.P Morgan, BT and others.
Before this, Adam was a senior civil servant working across education and skills, advising on policy and leading national change programmes. This included establishing the first system of student loans in Further Education, and launching the National Careers Service.
Claire Thomson (Vice Chair)
Claire is Deputy CEO The Tarka Learning Partnership and Vice Chair of the Autism Education Trust Programme Board.
Claire is an experienced leader in Education having held leadership positions in mainstream and special schools and led on Local Authority contracts across a range of local authorities.
Claire was previously Director of National Services for Ambitious About Autism and is currently working in a multi-academy trust with responsibility for SEND, Inclusion and Safeguarding as well as a serving Ofsted Inspector.
Ian Adam Bellamy
Ian is an independent consultant with more than ten years’ experience developing content, managing projects and delivering innovative services in the not–for–profit, commercial and education sectors
Motivated by and building upon his personal experience of autism, Ian has researched, written, tested and edited resources on subjects including supporting young people to access further education, improving accessibility online and in the workplace, and developing person–centred educational provision.
During the course of his career, he has also been responsible for managing the operations of a training and consultancy service which grew to reach 90,000 people per year across the United Kingdom and internationally.
Ian was a member of the team which first developed the Autism Education Trust’s post–16 training programme and piloted it across England. He subsequently led a project to expand the programme through the development of a transition from school to college training module, supported by the Department for Education.
Jo Evans
Jo Evans is an experienced CEO of a large Trust of primary schools, based in the Southwest of the UK. The Trust supported the development of AET resources making board membership, a natural progression.
A highly successful school leader, Jo is also a non-exec director who contributes to local and national advisory bodies, including the SW SEND strategy Board. She is passionate about inclusion.
She has maintained a strong research interest throughout her career, contributing to books and articles along the way. Always a learner, she continues to write, facilitate and train, particularly in the areas of system leadership and organisational strategy.
Jo has an MBA in educational leadership and an MEd focussed on SEND workforce development.
Sarah Haythornthwaite
Sarah has spent much of her career helping organisations grow by better understanding their customer and stakeholder needs. Sarah is currently employed at RM Technology as Growth Director. Previously she worked as International Marketing Director at Renaissance having previously worked as Sales and Marketing Director for GL Assessment, where she authored a number of influential reports.
Prior to working in the commercial sector, Sarah was a lecturer in Engineering at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Bringing a wealth of consultancy experience, Sarah helped grow and transform businesses in South Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East – subsequently holding senior roles at leading brands including Orange, Superdrug and General Motors.
As a parent of a child with Autism, Sarah is passionate about improving the outcomes and opportunities for all children and young people with Autism by working to have their needs better met within the education system.
Since joining Renaissance, Sarah has overseen the launch of myON Reader, a personalized digital literacy environment and Freckle, an inclusive maths learning tool, to markets in the UK, China and Middle East, and has helped position the organisation as a thought-leader by cultivating strategic partnerships with influential bodies such as the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) and Education Policy Institute (EPI). In the UK, this work helped to contribute to Renaissance’s success in being awarded the Department for Education contract to research the impact of time lost to learning as a result of COVID-19.
To help support multi-academy trusts, Sarah worked with leader at CST to build the Directors of Improvement Network, and also launched a Partner School initiative which connects teachers and leaders across the world.
Sarah lives with her son in Marlow. She enjoys travelling, cooking, sailing and skiing and is often found at sports events at weekends. She admits to being a QPR supporter.
Dr. Amelia Roberts
Amelia is an Associate Professor at UCL and works full time at the UCL Institute of Education.
Amelia has worked in schools prior to this, supporting young people with special educational needs and those at risk of exclusion. Amelia’s current research centres on the ways in which schools and local authorities use and contribute to research using a Theory of Change approach.
Amelia was part of the team exploring MARAT (Making Autism Research Accessible to Teachers) and the academic lead on the Laurel Trust funded project ‘Autism Research in Practice’. Amelia leads on the SWERL project (Supporting Wellbeing, Emotional Resilience and Learning) and on two projects supporting children and young people looked-after.
Amelia has led a number of projects internationally including cross-phase inclusion consultancies in the Falkland Islands; a UNICEF funded Inclusive Classrooms project in Oman; an evaluation of an inclusion hub in Moldova and as an Inclusion Expert in Singapore. She is currently part of the team working on a large-scale evaluation in Hong Kong and a Nuffield-funded project on exam access arrangements for students with literacy difficulties.
Previously Vice Dean (Enterprise) for UCL Institute of Education, Amelia's research and knowledge exchange focuses on whole school and whole ecosystem approaches to provision for marginalised communities, such as young people with special educational needs, looked-after or at risk of exclusion.
Amelia is currently writing a book for schools on Unlocking Playground Potential.
John Roberts
Technology entrepreneur, business consultant, parent to an autistic young man and advocate for the use of touchscreen technology in special education.
John is a technology entrepreneur and business consultant in the telecom, media, retail and education sectors. He recently set up a non-profit project called Show Me CIC to develop the use of touchscreen technology and apps in SEND education, working with neuro-scientists and specialist schools across the UK and abroad.
John is parent to a young man with a complex learning disability and autism and has been a governor at his specialist school throughout his education.
Peter Watt
Peter joined the National Autistic Society in 2021.
He has previously worked as a Director at the NSPCC, ran a successful communications consultancy, was CEO at a charity supporting older people, was General Secretary of the Labour Party and a qualified General Nurse.
Peter is the Father of six children, two of whom are autistic and is a fan of (watching) all sports – particularly Liverpool FC and all things cricket.
Laura Crane
Professor of Autism Studies
Director, Autism Centre for Education and Research (ACER)
Professor Laura Crane holds a Chair in Autism Studies at the University of Birmingham, where she is Director of the Autism Centre for Education and Research (ACER). Previously, Laura worked at UCL's Institute of Education, based within the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), where she held the role of Professor of Autism Research and Education.
Danae Leaman-Hill
Danae Leaman-Hill, Director of External Affairs and Development
Danae works at Ambitious about Autism, where she oversees the charity’s national services, external affairs and fundraising. She is also a Trustee of ELHAP and a board member of GAIN (Group for Autism, Insurance and Neurodiversity).
Her career includes roles at Childline, NSPCC and Tommy’s, always led by her motivation to enable better life outcomes for children and young people.
