MODEST Coventry professor Adam Boddison, made an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for helping children and young people with special educational needs, nearly deleted the congratulatory email thinking it was a scam.
Prof Boddison has been the chief executive of the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN) for around six years having initially been a maths teacher at Finham Park School.
He found out about the OBE at the beginning of December when he saw an email come into his inbox from the cabinet office.
“It simply said I’d won an award and to click on an attachment to see, which made me more suspicious – I nearly deleted it.
“I was really surprised but equally delighted.
“It’s been lovely as I’ve heard from people and students who have seen the news and reached out, so it’s been a great way to reconnect with old friends and colleagues.”
After working as a teacher for several years, he decided he wanted to help those at a national level beyond his classroom and applied for the role at NASEN.
He said: “I hadn’t considered it before as I didn’t have much expertise in special educational needs.
“What I brought to the table was that they needed someone to take others’ expertise and scale it to a national audience.
“I feel generally there are a lot of misconceptions and lack of understanding around special educational needs.
“We achieved many things that I’ve seen have a massive impact on students and parents, including early identification of needs and helping school leaders and governors take responsibility for special educational needs.”
He added he felt funding needed to be addressed in the future as, due to budgets, the most inclusive schools were ‘effectively being penalised.’
After leaving his role around a year ago, Prof Boddison is now the Chief Executive of the Association for Project Management as well as being chair of the corporation at Coventry College.
The full list of Coventry honours
SIX Coventrians are among 26 people across the West Midlands to have been named in King Charles III’s first New Year’s Honours list.
As well as Prof Boddison, Diane Hill was made an OBE for services to the administration of justice.
Jessica Jane Leyland-Barrett Hudson was thanked for her dedication to helping her local community in the city with an MBE, while Paul Nee and Bhavena Patel were also given the same honour for services to further education.
And Robert Johnston was among nine people in the West Midlands to be given a BEM for services to physics.
In addition, the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands, John Crabtree was granted the region’s only knighthood for his work supporting a variety of businesses and charities, including acting as Chairman of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 Organising Committee.
He was appointed the region’s Lord Lieutenant in 2017, acting as Queen Elizabeth II’s, and now King Charles III’s, personal representative in the West Midlands.
The honours list is announced twice a year to mark the monarch’s official birthday in June and at the end of December.
Mr Crabtree said: “This year’s recipients showcase a range of outstanding achievements and provide an insight into the amazing people who make our region so great.
“For my part, I am both honoured and humbled to be awarded a knighthood and to be in the company of wonderful people from across the West Midlands that make a real difference.
“We are all immensely grateful for what they do every day and I am absolutely delighted to see so many gain the recognition they deserve in the King’s first New Year Honours.
“Now more than ever, there are so many unsung heroes who deserve to be honoured but they need someone to nominate them.”
