As a SENDCo I was often frustrated by the lack of domain specific knowledge- about the realities of the role of the SENDCo and the expectations as set out in The SEND Code of Practice– of those above me. In particular, the ways in which a lack of understanding about invertedly led to school policy and practice decisions that were not inclusive.
Much of line managing a SENDCo is just good leadership, from providing coaching on how to have a difficult conversation with a TA about their performance to modelling how to meaningfully action plan. There is increasing understanding that good pedagogy, curriculum and time with subject specialists are the core of an inclusive approach and so SENDCo’s need a general understanding of good school leadership and the leavers that drive improvement. I unpack this further in my blog on High Quality Teaching, drawing on the notion of ‘cognitive similarity’ from this excellent piece from Peps Mcrea and his team on Inclusive Teaching. However, within this discussion it is also important that we don’t lose sight of how much the domain specific knowledge also matters.
Just because it’s specific does not mean as a leader who’s not a qualified SENDCo you can’t get to grips with it. There are professionals in discipline who like to obfuscate things, presenting it as a magical art only a few can access. And while there are a lot of acronyms to get your head around the best leaders I know are secure, humble and curious enough to admit what they know and don’t know and resourceful enough to find out (my aim is for this blog to help).
There is the technical aspect, I share a resource below for those line managing SENDCos that can support them in making sure significant balls don’t get dropped. But this is no substitute fir reading The Code of Practice (at least chapters 1, 6, 8 and 9). Yes, it is long but so is Keeping Children Safe in Education and we unquestioningly accept our responsibilities there.
There are also some common themes, and principles/ high leverage approaches that line managers can take to support their SENDCos borne of my experience of supervising, mentoring, coaching and line managing SENDCos across a range of schools’ contexts and trusts. They are developing your own understanding of SEND and being a ‘buffer’ for your SENDCo, both of which I will explore below.
Build you own domain specific knowledge
Building your own knowledge of the SENDCo role and the competing demands that a SENDCo has to balance will support you to support them. Beyond knowing the Code of Practice (and the key elements of the Children and Families act 2014 that sit behind it), it involves recognising the multifaceted nature of the role. This ranges from: the emotional labour that working close up with young people (and their families) who are struggling and often highly dysregulated entails; the hard strategic thinking required to effectively lead whole school change and implement an impactful Assess, Plan, Do, Review structure and the professional and cognitive skill involved in task-switching and prioritising competing operational and multi-agency demands.
A typical day for a SENDCo might involve a reintegration meeting for a young person with complex needs, a visit from an Educational Psychologist (that requires meticulous planning in order to get the most out of this scarce resource), several lesson and intervention drop-ins to ensure provision is high quality and inform next steps when strategic planning, a range of duties to support the wider pastoral team(and the inevitable task of de-escalation that comes alongside it) and a lesson or intervention (or two). CPD or planning meetings with the Trust or Local Authority, an SLT or Governors meeting and a whole host of complex administrative tasks (like responses to consultations, annual review paper work and EHCP Needs Assessments) might follow way on into the evening.
Having an on the ground awareness of the multiple (and sometimes competing hats) that SENDCos wear will keep your SENDCo on the path to being very effective but will also upskill you as a line manager if SEND. Below, I include some termly questions for Senior Leaders to ask their SENDCos which can help structure line management meetings and keep everyone focused.
Be their buffer
With all these demands it can be hard sometimes for SENDCos to see the wood for the trees and the important but not urgent tasks (focusing on high quality teaching, systemising provision etc) can easily fall by the wayside of more operational demands. Protect and free up their time, give them influence in order to support them to be strategic. Walk the walk to ensure that that leaders at all levels see themselves as leaders of SEND and that SEND is seen as everyone’s responsibility. Ensure responsibilities are distributed, that the systems are in place to share information and ask the right questions. For example, when guiding middle leaders on planning the curriculum, support them to consider how they might develop shared scaffolded resources or build in time for TA/ Teacher planning. Or as part of an SLT meeting consider how you might build SEND systems into the wider school processes. For example, how you might structure pupil progress meetings so that it align with your pupil concern referral processes.
Making sure your pastoral team models inclusive values is also key element to supporting great SEND provision in your school. Heads of Year or Key Stage and other key staff should know children’s needs and provision in detail, so the SENDCo isn’t working in a silo. Not only is that inefficient, it can be deeply confusing and dysregulating for young people and their families and can bread the notion that some children being seen are solely the SENDCos or TAs responsibility.
Finally, don’t put your SENDCo on too many duties, they might be great with your most dysregulated children but if they’re always fighting fires how can you expect them to be strategic. Vis a vis teaching. It is important for SENDCos to stay relevant in the classroom, to ensure the approach to teaching and learning is inclusive and realistic (eg not expecting a Y9 Geography teacher to read EHCPs from cover to cover). It is also important for them to be visible for pupils with SEND (or their parents) on some break or gate-duties but they also need plenty of time to hide away and do strategic thinking. They also need time for contingency built in, so they can be responsive to problems as they emerge and crucially to get into classrooms! As we know high quality teaching is the single biggest leaver a SENDCo can pull to improve outcomes for pupils with SEND.
I have included some questions to ask your SENDCo below (note this is secondary-centric, if you’d like some equivalent questions for primary please do let me know):
Autumn 1
Assess
Have you reviewed GCSE outcome data? What are the trends and gaps?
Is there a gap between SEND and Non- SEND? E and K? How do these relate to national averages? What is the relationship to PP? Are there trends between certain groups of SEND (eg. CI) and outcomes? Does ethnicity have an impact? What are the trends across subjects? What is subject specific?
Have you reviewed reading age data? Where pupils are 18 months+ below their chronological age have you done further diagnostic assessment to understand their reading difficulties?
What other survey level data have you used to identify areas of concern/ use as a baseline for intervention? CATS/ PASS survey?
Have you reviewed attainment data across the school? Where students are underperforming have you looked at them in relation to other survey level data?
Are there clear assessment and identification pathways where a concern is raised about a child? (Eg. LASS test, SALT screener, Boxhall Profile)
Have you done an audit of TA skills?
What is the assessment process for casual admissions? How does this join up with SEND processes?
Have the students sitting exams this year been assessed for access arrangements?
Plan
Does your SEND register reflect any changes made as a result of the above?
Does every child on the SEND register have a profile/ IEP?
Do teachers and TAs know how to find who the learners with SEND in their class are? Do they know how to access the profiles/ IEPs and what they are expected to do with them? Do they know the expectations for TA/ Teacher planning? Do they know what to do if they have concerns about a child (referral process)?
How will the above inform your action planning for this year? Eg- what is your CPD plan for TA support? How are you deploying TAs? What structured interventions will you be delivering?
How does your action plan link to whole school priorities/ SEF/ CPD schedule?
Can this be distilled into summarisable priorities for the department? How will these be communicated to staff?
Have you got a calendar for the following: Student Support Meetings, Annual Reviews; Profile Reviews (3 times a year), curriculum/ department reviews; information events; parent workshops; intervention review points (following assessments); presentation to governors/ SLT; Y6 transition reviews; exam access arrangements assessments?
Are these in the wider school diary? Are key dates shared with parents/ carers ahead of time?
Have you reviewed the SEND policy, information report and accessibility plan?
Autumn 2
Do
Are interventions up and running? Are the children aware of what the aim and length of the intervention is? Is this reflected on their profiles? How do you know? Have you observed interventions? Is this logged on the provision map?
Have profile/ IEP reviews happened?
Are TAs and teachers planning together at least every two weeks? How do you know?
Are TAs being regularly coached? What are the outcomes?
Are meetings with HODs/ Curriculum or department reviews in place? What learning walks have you been part of? What are the findings and next steps?
Is there a regular programme of CPD in place that responds to overarching CPD priorities and coaching feedback?
Are student support meetings in place? Are they data driven or anecdotal? Are they a helpful mechanism to ensure joined up working? How are the outcomes tracked?
Is the referral process running smoothly?
Have form 8s been completed for students with exam access arrangements?
SENDCO Development/ Wellbeing
How are you emotionally/ physically? How you balancing the operational and strategic demands of the job? Do you have enough time resources expertise to do your role effectively? What would support or training would help?
Exams
Is the access arrangements timetable in place? Have the invigilators had all the relevant training? What is the procedure for returning papers to heads of department? How will standards be maintained in the extra time area? How has this/ will this be communicated to staff?
Spring 1
Review
Has exit data been gathered on interventions? Has this been reviewed in relation to more generalised outcome measures (eg. Phonics score + reading age improvement above number months passed and progress in English assessments). Has intervention progress been looked at by subgroup? Do students move out of intervention where they have been successful. Is information shared with staff, students and parents/ carers on this? Does everyone know how these strategies will be applied in the classroom?
Has attainment data been scrutinised for progress and concerns? Where students are making progress in line with their peers (and do not have a diagnosed disability) are they taken off the register? Where students are underperforming is further diagnostic assessment done?
Is the SENDCo meeting with HODs to look at key areas or classes where students with SEND are under performing?
What are the themes emerging from TA/ Teacher coaching? How are they being addressed?
Have pupil profile/ IEP reviews now happened for all year groups?
Transition
Have Year 11 Annual Reviews happened? Are there destinations clearly marked on Annual Review paperwork?
Have all 11+ consultations been responded to?
Keeping up with research and policy changes
Are the SENDCo and SLT aware of any legislative or policy changes? Are they familiar with the latest findings from the EEF toolkit? Is there any CPD that is needed as a result of these changes?
Spring 2
Assess
Have Y10s been assessed for access arrangements?
Plan
When will the SENDCo be going to Y6 transition reviews (for EHCP students) and information gathering (for SEN support)?
What plans are in place for additional transition days for vulnerable year 6s.
Is the JCQ inspection folder in place with form 8s and supporting evidence?
Do
Have the second round of pupil profile reviews started? Are these used widely by staff (eg. Would a Head of Year refer to one in a return to school meeting?).
Are learning walks, TA coaching and intervention observations still continuing to happen? What action is being taken as a result?
Has the SENDCo presented the SEND data and action plan to governors/ SLT?
SENDCO Development/ Wellbeing
How are you emotionally/ physically? How you balancing the operational and strategic demands of the job? Do you have enough time resources expertise to do your role effectively? What would support or training would help? What are your areas of interest or the next steps you are considering taking in your career? What succession planning (including for TAs) is in place in the department if necessary?
Summer 1
Plan
Is the JCQ inspection folder in place with form 8s and supporting evidence?
Do
Have profile/ IEP reviews happened?
Are TAs and teachers planning together at least every two weeks? How do you know?
Are TAs being regularly coached? What are the outcomes?
Are meetings with HODs/ Curriculum or department reviews in place? What learning walks have you been part of? What are the findings and next steps?
Is there a regular programme of CPD in place that responds to overarching CPD priorities and coaching feedback?
Are student support meetings in place? Are they data driven or anecdotal? Are they a helpful mechanism to ensure joined up working? How are the outcomes tracked?
Is the referral process running smoothly?
Summer 2
Do
Have the final round of profile/ IEP reviews happened?
Has the folder been check by the JCQ inspector? Was there any action that was needed to be taken?
Have transition days and meetings happened? How is this being used to plan for next year?
Review
Has exit data been gathered on interventions? Has this been reviewed in relation to more generalised outcome measures (eg. Phonics score + reading age improvement above number months passed and progress in English assessments). Has intervention progress been looked at by subgroup? Do students move out of intervention where they have been successful. Is information shared with staff, students and parents/ carers on this? Does everyone know how these strategies will be applied in the classroom?
Has attainment data been scrutinised for progress and concerns? Where students are making progress in line with their peers (and do not have a diagnosed disability) are they taken off the register? Where students are underperforming is further diagnostic assessment done?
How is this informing strategic priorities for next year?
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