I think my child might need some extra support in school

What is a Special Educational Needs Coordinator?

A Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) is a dedicated teacher who is here to help you and your child navigate their learning journey. The SENCo’s main goal is to understand your child’s unique needs and provide the right support to set them up for success.

They work closely with you and your child’s class teacher to make learning more accessible for children with additional needs. If there are any concerns about your child’s progress, the SENCo will follow the Code of Practice (2014) and use the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle. This process helps pinpoint exactly what your child needs and how best to support them.

Throughout this journey, the SENCo keeps track of your child’s progress, sets goals, and maintains records. Regular meetings between schools and parents or carers of children receiving SEN support are essential. If a child isn’t making good progress, the SENCo or Inclusion Manager can reach out to other professionals, including health and social care services.

Havering expects that all mainstream schools should:

• Be able to identify pupils with special educational needs, ensuring they are assessed as quickly as possible, and appropriate support is put in place
• Have ‘Quality First Teaching’ in place, which means that all teachers understand how to use different approaches to ensure that they can teach pupils with a diverse range of needs
• Be able to meet the needs of a pupil as set out in their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
• Use their funding and other resources efficiently to meet the needs of pupils throughout the school.
• Have an up-to-date Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Policy, which is available to parents on the school website, along with information on the support they provide for pupils with SEND
• Work in partnership with pupils and their parents
• Ensure parents have access to independent information, advice, and support
• Make sure parents are aware of the provision being made for their child

All mainstream schools are expected to follow a ‘graduated approach’ to supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

The SEND Code of Practice defines a ‘graduated approach’:

“The approach recognises that there is a continuum of special educational needs and that, where necessary, increasing specialist expertise should be brought to bear on the difficulties that a child or young person may be experiencing” 

The graduated response helps the school to learn more about the pupil and what helps them to make good progress.  A graduated approach has four parts:

1. Stage 1: The school implements Quality First Teaching, which means that reasonable adjustments are in place to engage and support the learning of all pupils.
2. Stage 2: where a pupil is not making expected progress, the teacher and the SENCo will assess the pupil’s needs and put in place a plan to support the pupil. The plan should remove barriers to learning and put in place effective special educational provision.
3. Stage 3: The SENCO will help the class teacher(s) to support the pupil and monitor progress. If required,  further help from other professionals will be provided, such as support from the local authority or from health and social care professionals.
4. Stage 4: If the support required goes beyond the resources of the school, and a graduated approach has been used, then the SENCo can apply for an Education, Health and Care Plan from the local authority. 

 

SEN Support:

Once a child has been identified as having SEN, they will be placed on the SEN register and will be monitored as receiving ‘SEN Support’. This involves setting termly targets and identifying provision which will meet the pupil’s needs.  In Havering, these may be referred to as either an IEP (Individual Educational Plan) or a Pupil Passport. 

The targets are reviewed once a term (three times a year) with the class teacher, SENCo, parent and pupil to ensure the provision, progress and motivation are maintained.

All mainstream schools and maintained nurseries must have a SENCo. Smaller primary schools might share a SENCo.

Schools should meet with parents/carers of pupils receiving SEN support very regularly. If a pupil is not making good progress, the school should involve a specialist and involve parents/carers in that decision.   SEND Code of Practice.

There is a range of agencies and support teams available in Havering that schools and SENCos can refer to for support.

Local Authority Teams

• Early Help  
• SEND Early Years Support Service (SEND EYSS) (Opens in new tab)
  
• SEND Education Support Service (SEND ESS) (Opens in new tab)

We can be contacted at CAD5to19@havering.gov.uk 

• Sensory and Physical Needs Team:

Our team is made up of qualified Teachers of the Deaf, a qualified Teacher for Multisensory Impairment, a qualified Teacher for the Visually Impaired, a qualified Habilitation Specialist and a Specialist Assistant for Physical Impairment. 

We offer a year-round service working with children and young people from birth – 19 years old. We work with all Havering children offering support to families, in-home and educational settings to enable children to reach their potential. We usually accept referrals from health professionals, schools and families. 

We can be contacted at CAD5to19@havering.gov.uk   

 The Advisory Teacher for SEND is also the Havering link for the National SENCo Award programme run by the University of East London (UEL), a Master’s Level accreditation that all new SENCOs must hold within 3 years of appointment. 

We can be contacted at CAD5to19@havering.gov.uk 

• Educational Psychology Team:

Other support for schools:

Schools can also access health provision such as:

• CAMHS   ( Child and Mental Health Services )
• Physiotherapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Speech and Language Therapy

These services can support children and young people ADHD, ASD, SEMH, and other medical conditions

 Other support for schools:

Schools can also access health provision such as:

• CAMHS (Child and Mental Health Services)
• Physiotherapy
• Occupational Therapy

The assessment process and information for EHCPs is on this link: EHCP