Ellie works strategically as a key stakeholder and expert by experience in the education, mental health and children & families’ services landscape. She contributes across policy and practice nationally to facilitate and advise on numerous projects at all levels, including legislation, policy development and implementation, service evaluation and delivery, ensuring marginalised family voice is represented and understood.
In 2022, she successfully lobbied for the introduction of Attendance Mentors and the Support First Approach to school attendance, now explicitly embedded in DfE statutory guidance. Ellie was called to give evidence to the Education Select Committee in 2023 and 2025 reporting on the impact enforcement and criminalisation is having on schools, local authorities, the courts system and the children and caregivers themselves.
Ellie is Parliamentary Vice Co-Chair for the Special Education Consortium (convened by the Council for Disabled Children, part of the National Children’s Bureau family). She regularly meets with practitioners, clinicians, leaders, Parliamentarians and civil servants to deliver briefings, share best practice and support the development of much needed new and novel approaches to school attendance difficulties.
Ellie has considerable understanding and technical expertise in SEND, health and social care pathways from early support to Tier 4 delivery in addition to contact for families at the edge of (or in) the justice system. Department for Education engagement to date includes working with the Attendance team; Neurodivergence Task & Finish Group (Prof. Karen Guldberg); Comms team campaign ‘Thriving in School’; Wellbeing team; SEND AP team and with the Ministry of Justice on Safeguarding Children in Care & Care Leavers. Government publications direct input: Working Together to Improve School Attendance (2022, 2023, 2024) + supplementary Advice for Parents; Mental Health Affecting a Pupil’s Attendance (2023); Neurodivergence Task & Finish Group report (2026); Internal Alternative Provision (2026 / coming soon).
She co-produced one of the first NHS England Long Term Plan National Keyworker Service pilots for the Arden Region. Several of her recommendations became national policy with the highest reported KPIs on trust, safety and improved outcomes for and by children and young people accessing the service, and their families.
Advisory board roles include the Foundation for Education Development, The Difference IPPR Lost Learning Solutions Council and Minerva Virtual Academy alongside consulting on NIHR and UKRI projects with the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Kings College London, Bristol and Sunderland.
Square Peg has an extensive and unique multidisciplinary cross sector network which works in partnership with Not Fine in School who offer direct support to families, having acquired almost 80k members in 8 years.
