Are Senco's qualified or teachers with an added responsiblity for it?

[mumofthreebeauties]

Sorry of this sounds insulting to anyone in the know but I'm unsure of what training a SENCo does.

Is it different to a teacher taking responsiblity for say ICT or Literacy?

W have a meeting tomorrow with teacher and SENCo and I don't know what to say.

Until recently a SENCO was almost always a teacher. Most schools recognise the additional workload by paying them a small amount of extra money on top of their basic salary. A good school should also release the SENCO from their class from time to time for administrative work and to work alongside class teachers making sure that the teaching really meets the needs of children with individual needs. However some schools now use a teaching assistant, normally a very experienced, higher level teaching asdistant who is responsible for writing IEPs( individual educational plans) and seeing that the plans laid down in those are met by the school. They will generally be paid on the teaching assistant scale.
The SENCO should have an overview of provision in the school and of local funding arrangements, sources of specialist help within the LEA etc. A good LEA provides training and mwentoring for new SENCos.

Our senco in 'just' the senco (god what am I saying the job is anything but 'just' ) But this is for a school of 1300 kids, about 18% on the SEN regester. She is a fullt trained teacher with exra qualifications in SN

Specifically then - how does a teacher/senco know the difference between a child experiencing difficulty settling in to school and one with a problem? If they are not specifically trained to identify these.

I heard today of a school near us putting a little boy on to senco observation after 2 weeks in reception necause he cries every day for his mum.

this isn't a special needs issue - it's a frightened litle boy who needs some tlc and time to adjust.

I can't talk about primary, as I have no experience there. I do know that our SENCO has more experience of SN than the rest of the staff. she has had specialist training recognising SN and knows the systems that are in place to get a Dx (if there isn't one already) she also liases with the various external agences that can help.

A SENCO will not be able to make a diagnosis but will refer a child on if required. Sometimes no external help is needed and the child just needs some internal support from the school. The SENCO can then set this up, writing an IEP etc.

SENCOs will vary in ability, just like the rest of the world. Ours is excellent, we are very lucky. In the end I think a lot comes down to expereinece as well as training

And other teacgers will refert a child to a SENCO is they feel there are probelms above the 'norm' IYSWIM

At ds1's primary school the SENCO is a qualified teacher with no class of her own. This frees up her time and gives her the opportunity to visit children in other classes as well as attend training courses. She's very good at her job IMO.

As hmb says, the SENCO wouldn't be able to make any kind of diagnosis if they feel there is a problem. They will just discuss things with you and then make referrals to any relevant professionals if needed.

Calling in a SENCO because a Reception child is crying for their mum seems a bit harsh IMHO.

ditto what HMB says...same fromt he primary perspective usually

My friend who is a teacher has just started her SENCO training - it is a one year full time course or a two year part time one!

So it is quite a serious additional qualification IMO!

I guess I'm feeling a little raw.

DT teacher told me she wants a meeting with us and Senco and her.

This is based on 4 weeks of term in yr1 - son being a bit silly for a week, and saying "I'll kill you" to another child.

When I spoke to him about it he says he's sad that his twin isn;t with him anymore (he's in a full yr1 class) he doesn;t want to be in with the reception children (his is a mixed class) and he said "I'll kill you" because the person concerned had hurt him at playtime and i've told him not to hit/kick/punch back.

The teacher didn;t even give us a chance to discuss these things - it's straight to SENCo.

Since talking to him this week there have been no problems.

I'm a bit angry but we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Also today he said he had to work in with the reception children because there wasn't enough space for him where the year one children were!

please don't be angry. the SENCO will not be running a witch hunt, or trying to apportion blame in any way. What she will try to do is to see if your ds needs any extra help settling in. Many, many children spend some time on the SN regester. It honestly isn't a stigma, loads of them need a little extra help and then come off the regester. I should know I've taught loads of them, smashing kids they are too....and for that matter my son is starting to be put on the SN regester for some extra help with his reading and he is in year 1 too.

I know it can make you feel awful, but it is realy there to help not to punish. And as a teacher I would say that early help is the ket to sorting things out asap.

I hope everything goes well, I'm sure it will.

Just for your interest the school I work in has about 18% of the kids on the SN regester.....and it is a 'good' school. Nationaly 15% of kids in the UK will be on the regester at some point in thie time at school....there is no stigma attached. I have kids in the Sixth form applying to uni who are on the reg

Thanks HMB for the reassurance.

I'm worried they've noticed something else that I haven;t. We have no problems with him at home, behaviourly or otherwise. His reading writing etc are going well.

I'm sure they will be pleased to know that. Even if they do think that your ds needs some help it is all done with you. Our sENCO discussed targets etc with the child and the parents and they all have to agree what goes on the IEP. It may well be that nothing official wil be done but they will all just keep an eye on things. I would think that they must be quite good if they have been active so quickly. better this than letting children struggle....thats when probelms get worse.

Please let us know how it goes, I'm sure it will be fine.

qualified

We went to see DT teacher and the SENCo.

DT has been on occasion displaying behaviour that the teacher has not experienced before.

On one occasion while sitting on the carpet, he put his arms around another child'slegs as they walked past. On another occasion after being told they had to work quietly, DT let out a yell at the top of his voice.

At the meeting they asked if it was OK for a behavioural expert to be called in.

He doesn;t do it all the time, just occasionally.

I was very upset at the thought of this but at least it will let us know if it's something more than him being in a new class, new teacher, separated from his twin for the first time, trying the boundaries etc and something that needs addressing now to prepare him for his future at school.

I hope that you feel it was helpful.

And as you said, this is something that needs to be sorted....the sooner the better and then things can all get back to normal.

Honestly loads of kids go on the sn regester and then come off it later. And even if they don't what matters is that the get the help that they need.

Hope it all goes well.

Just to back up what HMB said about lots of children going on the register and coming off at a later date. This is especially true of kids who are put on the register early (ie KS1). They get the help they need early and this enables them to catch up or learn more appropriate behaviour if its a behavioural issue.

Even if he doesn't come off the register and continues to need monitoring/support then you can take comfort from the fact that his needs have been picked up early and that he's being helped to reach his potential.