To be a good Primary SENCo do you need to know a lot about a little or a little about a lot? Rachel Mackay shares her insights in this blog for the new term.
SENCo CPD comes in many different forms, and you don’t always have to go on a course to learn more. This blog aims to offer a few ideas for trickling knowledge and picking up tips without having to go to a conference or sit in front of the computer for hours. We can’t ever know everything, though sometimes we feel like we need to!
Officially, the SENCo role is to coordinate provision for learners with special educational needs. The SEND Code of Practice 2014, point 6.87 (page 108) states:
It’s often an interview question: what does the Code of Practice define as the role of the SENCo? In reality, the SENCo is often involved a whole host of other aspects of school leadership (whether or not they are on the senior leadership team), including managing behaviour, identifying trauma, coordinating visiting professionals, ensuring adequate provision for pupils with medical needs, carrying out risk assessments, and anything else that crops up. Many SENCos do the role alongside their class teaching commitments so their to-do lists are naturally even more varied!
Here’s an actual question my nine year old asked last week: Mummy, do you prefer to read a book or browse Facebook? Hmm. Tricky. If we were to track my activity, Facebook would win hands down but often I would prefer to be lost in a book (by the side of a pool, sipping a cocktail!). I’m quite nosey so Facebook provides an outlet for me to indulge here, as well as offering lots of links to articles and resources that help me in my role. Another popular interview question is about how valuable the NASENCo course was. I learnt, and continue to learn, more about the role from Facebook forums and online webinars than I did from all the academic reading that was part of the course. I did complete it in the very first cohort so I hope it’s changed since then, but it wasn’t really that useful; I needed something that would tell me how to do the job. I needed the reading to be relevant to the issues I was coming across. I’m hopeful that the new NPQSENCo will be more aligned to the job on the ground.
Facebook Groups
Whilst the Facebook algorithm is busy making links to training and information for me, there are lots of other ad-hoc places for gaining knowledge. Facebook groups, such as The Sweary SENCo, give opportunities to ask questions of fellow SENCos, but also to read and learn from responses left by others. This one, in particular, is a place for an anonymous rant when you need one!
I recently found free training on using the Cherry Garden Branch Maps with Tapestry and our team had a 45 minute tour through how this works, improving our use of the maps and improving outcomes for the children. This opportunity popped up on a Facebook post! I also follow Sensible SENCo, SENCo/SENDCo Support (Professionals) and Independent School SENCos where I learn a lot from other posts. There’s also SEND Sharing Station and you’ll find lots more if you do a quick search. It’s amazing how many SEND related posts are placed on Family Lowdown Tips and Ideas by parents, often negative experiences, but there are some really helpful responses. Following Birkett Long Solicitors EHCP and SEND Law advice group is worthwhile, too; not necessarily for the SEND law advice (as you would expect, that comes at a price), but for the comments made by others. If you’d rather keep work away from your Facebook feed, you could set up a page or account as a SENCo and access this when you have the space in your brain to look up new things.
Instagram, X and others
If Facebook isn’t your thing, there are lots of other platforms where you’ll find useful information to support your role. I potter around on Instagram from time to time but have stayed away from X (Twitter) for fear of losing even more time to my phone!
Podcasts, Blogs and Online Training
In addition, here are a few of my top picks for learning as a SENCo:
- Positive Young Minds is great place to begin as well as Lynn’s SEND CPD range at MyCPD. There are also loads of free SENCo resources.
- The SEN Resources Blog is full of ideas and resources to support a range of needs.
- Blogs provide multiple opportunities to learn about different topics and you never know where you’ll find the next one! Search for a few via Google and all of a sudden, they’ll be cropping up on your socials!
- The National College webinars are great. I’m lucky to be able to access the webinars through my work, but you can purchase them one at a time, if you find one that is useful. So far, I’ve covered equality, diversity and inclusion, sensory movement breaks, trauma informed practice, and scaffolding learning.
- Podcasts: my regular listens are The SENDcast, with a great range of guests covering topics from developmental language disorder to The Zones of Regulation; and SEND in the Experts with Georgina Durrant, again with a full range of topics and ideas.
- One-off training like one from acesonlinelearning.com can be useful in gaining knowledge on a certain topic. I managed to do this course while it was free but now it’s been redirected to another site and costs £5. If it’s the same one, it’s worth it!
- If you cover early years, Kathie Brodie’s Early Years Summit runs every May half term, with free to access discussions during the week, or you can purchase them to listen at another time.
- NASEN and Whole School SEND are definitely worth joining and downloading the Whole School SEND Teacher Handbook is a must – it’s a big document but is like a handbook to SEND provision for all staff.
- Finally, for day to day SEND needs and SENCo training, SEND Station is great value.
Networks
Go to what you can! I am fortunate to be able to go to the network meetings in the local authorities within which I work – these are essential in keeping up to date, especially with all things EHCP. Though there’s a statutory process for EHCPs, local authorities also have a set of unwritten rules and the only way you know about them is if you break one! The network meetings help SENCos to get a feel for how to do things to meet these unspoken
boundaries. If your school is in a cluster or trust, they may have network meetings, too: ours are essential in keeping up to date. Your local authority’s Local Offer page may also contain a wealth of resources and information and it is worth getting to know where things are. In North Yorkshire, we benefit from projects run or provided by the Locality Board so look out for similar opportunities in your area. It’s useful to get your name on the mailing list, even if it means another email in the inbox!
What’s on TV?
Take everything on TV with a pinch of salt, but you can pick up knowledge from programmes like:
- The A Word: a few years old now but really good!
- Lost Boys and Fairies (BBC): I’ve just started watching today!
- Documentaries like the one about Christine McGuinness recently where the viewer gets a peep inside life with a particular diagnosis.
Books
I haven’t covered books at all during this blog, perhaps put off by the NASENCo, but a book I’ve been reading recently is from the ‘How to talk’ series: h How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. This book has helped with a lot of conversations I’ve had with parents recently (and with how I approach things with my own children). Lots of SENCo chats with parents involve behaviour at home, so it’s really beneficial to have books like this to share.
I also had The Perfect SENCo as a new SENCo but must have let someone borrow it at some point! SEND Strategies for the Primary Years: practical ideas and expert advice to use pre- diagnosis is Georgina Durrant’s new book which is out now. Georgina’s podcasts (SEND in the Experts) are great and her books provide a wealth of ideas and experience. Lynn How’s book, Starting Out as a Primary SENCO can be pre ordered and covers getting into the SENCO role and your first year.
Reports and Episodes of Care
When reports come in to school from other professionals, they do take time to read but can offer insights and suggestions that can help with other pupils. Often the strategies recommended are very universal and can benefit other pupils whilst you are ‘waiting well’ for professional assessment or diagnosis; many suggestions are transferrable and can support more than one child in your setting. Quite often the Speech and Language Therapy team in your area may offer free training for you and your colleagues. This might be aimed at current needs in your local health trust.
Stepping into the future with AI!
AI (artificial intelligence) is taking the world by storm, in good ways and bad. I’ve recently been introduced to ChatGPT and though I was wary at first, I’ve just had a brilliant success! I asked it to write a social story for a 10 year old about using sun cream, then sat back and watched it produce this for me! I can’t say I’ll use it for everything but I was really impressed with this document and so was the young person I created it for. There are also specialist teacher AIs now such as Rocket AI.
A lot about a little or a little about a lot?
The type of SENCo you are depends on your background, experience and current setting. I think I’m in the ‘little about a lot’ camp and I moved schools last year, from independent back to state, wanting to learn more and broaden my experience and researched SENCo CPD opportunities which were cost effective. I’ve certainly done that! We’ll never know everything but can be on a mission to find out!
Rachel Mackay is a SENCo for three gorgeous primary schools, an Early Years Professional and a Trauma Informed Practitioner, now with IPSEA Training and half an NPQ so far! With a wealth of experience in both the state and private sectors, Rachel also runs Wilbur and Flops: Bespoke Tutoring and SENCo Support. Rachel advises families on all aspects of primary education and learning needs, and works with parents and carers to write their contributions to requests for assessment as they begin their EHCP journey. With a growing blog of her own, Rachel was delighted to be able to write another guest post for Lynn How at Positive Young Minds.