Who we are

Cheryl Wyatt- Head of IAS Service

Working days- Monday to Friday all year round

Cheryl has been with the service for almost a decade, and took over the head of service role in 2019. Cheryl oversees the Dispute Resolution Service (DRS), and is the named person for statutory assessment (EHC) support. Cheryl had previously worked in social care sector and then went on to study this at university, but always had a specific interest in special educational law. Cheryl has Bar Accredited legal training and is qualified to teach adult learners, hosting our parent/ professionals training. Cheryl is mother to a young person with SEND.

Nan Cooper- IAS Officer - specialisms in ASD, Early Years, Appeals

Working days- Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, term time only.

Nan has been with the service since 2019. As well as working for IAS, Nan is also the chair of the local parent carer forum, and so has a wealth of knowledge and experience about the difficulties that parent carers face. Mum to a young person with SEND and Autism. Nan has Bar Accredited legal training and works with the team part time so that she can continue with her forum duties too. Nan arranges and co-hosts training for parents and carers with Cheryl.

Mike Hirst- IAS Officer - Specialisms in Post 16, Secondary and Exclusion

Working days- Monday and Friday- all year round

Mike has been with us the longest of all the IAS team, and has worked in the service for 20 years. He has a great deal of experience in working with families and young people with both SEND and emotional health needs. Mike has Bar Accredited legal training, as well as being a qualified counsellor. Mike works part time for the service as he also works in schools offering 1:1 counselling to young people. Mike is also a father to an adult son with a disability.

Karen Partridge- IAS officer- Specialisms in SEMH needs, Primary based difficulties and EHC administration

Working days- Tuesday and Wednesday- all year round

Karen has been with the service almost 6 years, but has been closely linked to IAS for many years due to her sister, Nicola McGuinness, previously managing the service. She has Bar Accredited legal training. A qualified teacher, Karen has a wealth of knowledge in education, having worked in the education sector for 38 years. This included schools for pupils with SEMH needs and moderate learning difficulties. karen also has personal experience of caring for a family member with Down Syndrome..

Kirsty Walsh- IAS volunteer support worker

Working days- Varies, generally Wednesday and Thursday- term time only.

Kirsty has been with IAS for 18 months and supports the day to day running of the service. Kirsty is mum to a little girl with SEND, and so understands the challenges that this can bring. Kirsty is likely to be the person who takes your call and all your information for the officers when you first get in touch. She also completes parental advice forms and supports with requests for EHC needs assessments. Kirsty is level 1 legal trained and is a qualified early years practitioner.

Samantha Kirby- IAS Officer

Working days- Monday, Tuesday and Friday, all year round.

Samantha is a new member of the IAS team but comes with a wealth of personal experience. Samantha has a son who has SEND and so understands the parent journey well. Trained to Bar accredited advanced level with her legal training, Samantha is looking forward to helping parents and carers in Bolton to navigate the SEND processes for their children.

Supporting the work of IAS, and working alongside IAS...

IAS is based in COG nursery, and sit within the COG charity.

We work closely with Bolton Parent Carer forum and co-deliver our parent carer and professionals training with them.

We hold monthly drop ins with the Families Information Worker, Elaine Nuttall, from Bolton Council's childrens social care team.

We work collaboratively with our partners across the community voluntary sector, including Breaking Barriers NW.

We support and endorse the work of the youth forum who do an excellent job of getting the views and experiences of children and young people in the borough.