Supporting pupils with SEN | Page 5

Supporting pupils with SEN The Key for School Leaders SENCO’s year planner We worked with two of our associate education experts to develop lists of ongoing strategic and operational tasks for special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) to complete during the year. The tasks may be completed by SENCOs either alone or, where relevant, in collaboration with other senior leaders or members of staff. This booklet features a selection of articles we’ve written in response to school leaders’ questions. Thousands of up- to-date articles are Strategic tasks: planner currently available Strategic SEN tasks are related to the overall co- ordination of the school’s SEN provision. She suggested that the following list of operational tasks could be used alongside the strategic planner, depending on each school’s circumstances and arrangements for provision: Anita Devi and Lorraine Petersen, helped us to create a planner setting out the strategic SEN- related tasks that they recommend completing during each term. • Set dates for annual reviews of education, health and care (EHC) plans, ensuring that reports and other paperwork are completed and invitations to involved parties sent in good time You will find the planner overleaf, and available on our website as a downloadable resource. • Set dates for termly parent meetings The tasks are grouped into the following areas of focus: • • • • • • • • Local offer Policies and documents Procedures and structures Reporting Parental engagement Pupil engagement Staff development Monitoring Please note that the tasks included in the planner are suggestions and are not comprehensive. You should adapt the planner to your school’s needs and use it alongside the list of operational tasks, set out opposite. online on www. thekeysupport.com/sl • Set dates for continuing professional development, progress monitoring and team meetings, and share these with staff • Review the resources used for SEN provision across the school and in each classroom • Maintain a list of weekly SEN-related tasks and set aside time to complete them • Regularly update on SEN provision in staff meetings, to ensure that SEN provision remains high profile and that the knowledge and skills of staff are embedded Another of our articles links to proformas and guidance for the annual review of pupils’ EHC plans. Operational tasks: advice A further article from The Key relays expert advice on different methods for training all teachers to be ‘teachers of SEN’. Anita explained that ‘operational tasks’ are those involved in the day-to-day management of SEN provision. à continues on p.6 Not yet tried The Key for School Leaders? www.thekeysupport.com/free 5