Who is the Special Education Needs Co-ordinator?

Schools are required to have a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) who is a qualified teacher, employed in the school. The SENCo will be either on the school’s Senior Leadership Team or will have identified strong links with it, so that they can work in a strategic way, co-ordinating the school’s support for special educational needs. The responsibility for the overall support for children with additional needs rests with the Governors or Management Committee and Headteacher of the school. However in practice, this role is often delegated to the school SENCo, who should facilitate the co-ordination and planning of SEN support within the school. The SENCo works alongside class and subject teachers to match the needs of individual pupils with the available resources in school.

The SENCo is also responsible for monitoring progress of children with SEN across the school, maintaining accurate records, and providing information to the Local Authority and Department of Education on SEN data. Schools should have in place a cycle of training for all staff in the school including all teachers and teaching assistants (TA). The SENCo will take steps to find out what training is required for different sections of the staff and for individual teachers and TAs, dependent on circumstances.