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The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

Liz Murray

Liz Murray has worked in education for 20 years, as an accredited advanced skills teacher, pastoral and curriculum leader, SENCO and assistant headteacher. She has worked across the mainstream and independent sectors. She is also the founder of Spotlight Education Support.

Liz's particular areas of expertise and interest are SEND change management, CPD and curriculum design.

Latest blog posts

Liz Murray
19 May 2020

Effective remote CPD: principles, planning and lessons learned

A wealth of free opportunities can result in overwhelm. Liz Murray shares how a return to principles has enabled effective CPD planning for her team. At the time of writing we are seven weeks into school disruption due to the coronavirus lockdown. Like most school leaders, my first priority was to...
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Liz Murray
28 January 2020

Flexible working in action: progress, challenges, resolutions and impact

In the third instalment of her blog series on making a job share work, Liz Murray reflects on progress made so far and resolutions for the year ahead. As readers of the first two blogs in this series will know, I'm a co-SENCO at a large state secondary school. My job share partner and I embarked on...
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Liz Murray
20 November 2019

Flexible working in action: developing the working relationship

In the second of her blog series, Liz Murray reveals how plans are already changing, and what the job share partners are doing to ensure a successful working relationship. As readers of my previous blog will know, I’m in a new job share arrangement as co-director of curriculum support (basically a...
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Liz Murray
2 October 2019

Flexible working in action: planning and communication

In the first of a blog series, Liz Murray shares her experience of setting up a new job share. As teacher, SENCO, and educational consultant, I haven’t shied away from publicly advocating the importance of embracing flexible working across all sectors. I recently wrote about my zig zag career path...
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Liz Murray
11 September 2019

Developing an effective SEND register

A comprehensive SEND register supports every aspect of the SENCO role and prevents children from slipping through the net. Liz Murray explains how to put together a SEND register tailored to suit your school. Every year it seems to be more challenging to be prepared for our students with SEND. My...
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Liz Murray
6 March 2019

Why I took the zig zag path to career development

How part-time working in schools enabled an unconventional approach to Liz Murray's career development. There are many reasons why a teacher might request part-time hours. For me, it was after the birth of my daughter. I had been teaching for a decade and was head of English at a new academy. I had...
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Liz Murray
13 December 2018

Models for the SENCO role: context, value and intent

Should SENCOs be on the SLT? Does status matter? What’s the best way to ensure influence and impact on pupil outcomes? It’s several years now since I completed the NASENCo qualification , but I still remember the first day of the course. We started off by introducing ourselves. While we were all in...
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Liz Murray
13 November 2018

Managing change as a SENCO

When planning and managing complex changes, the SENCO’s priority should be to cultivate a shared vision. Liz Murray offers some advice for getting staff on board. If you’ve worked in education for a while, you will know that responding to change is an important part of the job. Change can be great...
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