Inspirational women doing fantastic work
It’s always a real pleasure to celebrate International Women’s Day, an important opportunity to focus on the role of inspirational women across business, charities, public services, and the rest of our community.
I first met Lucy Toone last December at the Chichester Enterprise Centre, where she’d been steadily growing Tomm Jewellery since founding it at the age of 19. She’s a fantastic example of a determined young entrepreneur on our doorstep, and it was great to see how the business has grown since we last spoke – including a move to a new premises in Chichester.
I really enjoyed interviewing Lizzie Baily, a champion of people with disabilities across West Sussex. Since we last met at one of her Wheely Wonders events, Lizzie has been honoured, receiving an MBE for her advocacy. Finally, I spoke with Emma Schwarz, a Chichester ‘slow food’ pioneer and entrepreneur who established The Barn Little London, bringing quality, local food to the table following a long career in the city.
Thank you again to Lucy, Lizzie and Emma for taking the time to chat – they are doing fantastic work and are an inspiration to many others. I’ll be sharing the interviews on my Facebook page and website for those that are interested – www. gilliankeegan.com
Finally, I know parents often battle to get the right Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) support for their children and it’s an issue I’ve personally been determined to drive improvement in since joining politics. For that reason, I was really pleased to announce the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan last week. The plan sets out a number of ways the government will improve outcomes for pupils with more complex learning requirements in the long-term, including building 33 additional special schools to bring places for children who need them and expanding staff training opportunities to best equip those working with SEND pupils.
Extensive work has gone into putting this together, with 92 new specialist schools already built and thousands of consultation responses considered, and I’m confident we’ll see it make a real difference to the lives of children with additional needs in the months and years ahead.