I'm a SENCo....AMA

[SurvivingSenco]

With the news and social media being full of SEND news, I thought it might be insightful to do one of these.

That sounds like a lot for all of you.
Routine and predictability will help at home to support any unpredictability in school. Keep things regular, calm, routine. If there is ADHD I wonder if self-esteem might be playing into it. Activities at home that focus on celebrating who they are and developing self esteem may support.
When the new senco starts, let them settle for a bit! If you jump in too soon you might get an overwhelmed senco not giving the best of themselves. I'd then ask them to observe your little one in school and go from there.

I'd be wanting to speak to other staff to be honest, every teacher is a teacher of sen and how they approach needs is going to be telling. Look at the school in lesson times but also at less structured times like lesson changeover or breaks. Also look at the sen section of the website, is it clear? Asking questions like what work do they do to support parents may also give you an insight

I know the law, so I quote and reference where I need to. I reference case law with examples.

I've signposted parents who have wondered about JR and yes have been a witness at tribunal for both the LA and the parent. No incentives either side, just my professional judgement.

Yes. Pupils have gone onto EOTAS, by that point the parent has done all of the communicating directly with the LA and made that choice themselves.

I monitor behaviour and suspension data very closely. Typically our SEN data is not over represented in this.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming white paper apparently stating every mainstream school is going to have a resourced base?

Thank you so much - i had not considered what brings joy cos he does really like sport

I think it's needed and I'd welcome it. There are some schools in my county that have 2 resourced bases. It can work well.

Do you think there are lots of underachieving academically able children with SEN? I got the impression that if your academic performance was average and you weren't disruptive, then that was considered ok and reaching your actual potential just didn't matter to the school.

Interesting thread.

My DS is 12. He was diagnosed with asd at 3. He needed 1:1 support transitioning to primary school. Over the years his needs reduced and he now has little, if any, 1:1 support. He can still be impulsive eg answer question without putting his hand up. He has issues with social awareness. He is very intelligent and scores highly in tests.

He starts secondary school in September. What type of support should we look for/expect in secondary school? Am I being naive in thinking he will get along fine with little support?

Ah that's amazing :) it's great to hear success stories like that!
Transition can be tricky, so much is changing for them. I mentioned above that keeping things as regular at home as possible can be really helpful for transition to limit how much of their world changes. Lots of visits, chats, social stories etc. He might need a bit more support at the start of year 7 with a view to peel it back once he's settled.

Thank you - my DD had an assessment by the top academic research department in the UK on Dyspraxia - following an NHS diagnosis of the same. Her school dismissed everything in it and contacted the exam boards to say that they disagreed with it - when challenged the Head said it wa because putting in for extra time etc for a DC with dyspraxia would put the extra time for every other DC in the school at risk which seems nonsensical to me. Make it make sense....

For GCSEs?
Very strict rules on access arrangements. If the school hasn't got enough evidence of normal way of working and that it is needed in exams situations along with jcq evidence being fulfilled then they won't have been able to apply and if they did then yes it would've put other students arrangements at risk.

I’ll add to this: how can I ensure that his support plan is being adhered to? currently it’s not worth the paper it’s written on and sone staff are punishing him for the behaviours that come with ASD and ADHD such as lack of eye contact, slower processing, getting overwhelmed and frustrating so coming across as rude. He doesn’t trust the staff because they lie and gaslight him. We are looking at other schools and praying that secondary school will be better. He’s a bright lad and he’s not achieving his potential at his current school due to their approach. Do you have any advice on how I can improve things for him? Home is very safe and predictable with 3 activities a week for self esteem building, friendship and letting off steam plus he’s getting plenty of exercise and quiet time.

Fair play to you. I was one for 20 years in secondary. It’s a very hard role.

theoretically could there be sencos who are really lacking in knowledge and training and experience? I know at least two!

Very clear evidence of normal way of working from year 7 onwards and NHS diagnosis in that year - they asked for the EdPsych report in Year 10 and then rejected it when it was in line with the NHS findings in the previous report which they had been following up til then.

ETA they even took away the previous normal way of working to provide an enlarged paper to accomodate DD's poor handwriting.

That sounds difficult. Staff awareness will be dependent on how much they understand needs. Are there targets on the plan with regular review meetings and staff feedback to inform progress made towards them?

It's entirely possible that they have knowledge and training but have reached compassionate burnout due to how the system is working

It sounds like getting answers from them directly would be helpful. They have to follow jcq guidance so I'd assume decision making is in line with it.

This is of course true of many, and I'm sorry to cast shade. The specific ones I am thinking of unfortunately, work in the private sector, haven't really met a broad range of children presenting with a variety of needs, in fact behave as if they have never met an autistic child before of any kind. They both often ask me the kinds of basic questions about ASD that I was asking people for the first month my child was newly diagnosed, and which I am now confident to answer for others. But it's their actual job that they have been doing for years.

Thanks for your previous response, I find it all very interesting. I've been finding out about the new Ofsted (which sounds even more rubbish than before frankly). I wonder if you think there's an awareness that those with SEN are the only children Ofsted are now interested in and will talk to? As a parent I find this shocking, I have to say, as I do think all children are as important as each other. It almost feels that sometimes if you don't have SEN at school then Ofsted don't care.

Thank you for your reply. No, there’s no targets. No targets have ever been mentioned. I’m told he has the most adjustments in the whole school but I think that’s because I u destined his needs and have broken them down into specific things rather than wooly vagueness. He is privileged to have these reasonable adjustments that other children don’t have need so I’m feeling rather pissed off with the school. The sendco is checking if certain things are being done even though Ds reports they aren’t. Things like not being given a scribe for practice SATS when his plan says he’s to have one. He asked and was told he couldn’t have one. Everybody has been shown the plan and it’s been checked that they understand the plan but it’s not being implemented by all staff. Imagine if a school turned round and said a child using a wheelchair was privileged because other children have to walk. Understanding around SEN is still woefully poor. I also feel there is a lot of fear-mongering about secondary school about how ADHD behaviours wont be tolerated and he’ll spend his life in isolation for the smallest thing. How can a child best be prepared for the transition to secondary?

I'm pleased there's a narrative on inclusion, if provision is good for the most vulnerable of pupils then the thinking is it will be supporting others too. There will still be a focus on other pupils. For me inclusion doesn't just mean those with sen.

I think targets might be a helpful starting point so there's something measurable? Less focused on what staff are doing but more so about how your ds is developing towards targets.

I wonder if part of this is around the training and statutory expectations for sencos. Its such a big role though that I know there's very few people who truly want to do it.

I've seen a lot of posts in general about poor sencos. I know there will be parents that think that of me. Its never wilful incompetence, capacity is a huge issue unfortunately. I really hope that's addressed in some way in the white paper, although I'm not convinced it will be.