Best Practice

How to look after your school's SENCO

The SENCO role is highly demanding, often overwhelming, sometimes lonely. Sara Alston offers 10 ideas for how primary school leaders can support their SENCOs to be effective and to thrive in their roles
Vital support: The SENCO role can be a lonely one in schools with high workload and substantial paperwork. It is vital that they receive the support they need to be effective in their roles

Ensuring the best support for our pupils with SEND begins with having an effective SENCO. And ensuring an effective SENCO begins with proper support from the school’s leadership.

However, due to the nature of their role, support for a SENCO can look quite different to support that we might offer other school staff. Often the role of a SENCO is one of a portfolio of roles and it differs from school to school.

A SENCO may also be the headteacher or deputy, a safeguarding lead, a subject lead, mental health lead, or a class teacher. At the same time, the SENCO is the only role in school that must be filled by a qualified teacher who is also required to complete additional training.

Register now, read forever

Thank you for visiting SecEd and reading some of our content for professionals in secondary education. Register now for free to get unlimited access to all content.

What's included:

  • Unlimited access to news, best practice articles and podcast

  • New content and e-bulletins delivered straight to your inbox every Monday and Thursday

Register

Already have an account? Sign in here