Issues with SENCO

[Buryedmunds]

My son is in y7. He told us over a week ago that he was taken out of class for random tests by the SENCO. I emailed the HOY and she didn’t know why this was, nor did his class tutor. The SENCO then said a teacher referred him and he did above average in the tests. Since then I’ve emailed the SENCO, HOY about why he was referred but have had no responses. I also telephoned his tutor who was “confused” by the referral which apparently was blank and she was trying to find out which teacher had referred him in the first place.
I’ve emailed the senco and hoy again yesterday but no reply! What do I do and what is going on?!

Why didn’t you email the teacher directly. I would expect to wait 3 days for a SENCO in a busy high school to reply.

It’s been over a week now.

Look to see if there is a member of SLT who is over sees SEND and email them.

I would imagine one of the teachers has concerns about his abilities with reading/writing or finishing class tests and has referred him to the SENCO for testing. If he has above average scores that means that he wouldn't be eligible for extra time/reader/scribe in assessments or exams.

Other than that, some schools routinely do the tests for access arrangements in Year 7, so it might have been that.

But if access arrangements were the case here and he’s doing above average in tests why was he referred in the first place 🤷🏽‍♀️
primary never mentioned any concerns nd he didn’t need them for SATS, scored 110 in all!

I think your best bet is to try and get in touch with the teacher who suggested it in the first place. That person will be the one who knows why they enquired about it.

If there was something that your son needed support with, finding out about it and putting things in place would be helpful surely? As there doesn’t seem to be a concern, that’s a good thing.

Not all referrals end up as access arrangements, that's why they test. Again, it might be something the school does for all Year 7 pupils.

I wouldn’t panic about this. Sencos are there to support teachers with inclusion, differentiation and meeting children’s needs. They don’t usually need a referral to see a child or young person in their setting. They could just go in to observe and in this case do a quick assessment. I think if there was any issue they would have come back to you.

What upsets me is how they’re not replying to me

Speak to the senco and ask is there a problem? Is there anything I should be aware of? They will email you back in a few days.

I wrote that over a week ago and asked again on Monday

You just need to wait for a reply. "Over a week ago" may be a very small amount of SENCO time. Most SENCOs will have a teaching timetable and that will be their primary focus outside of designated SEN time.

They also will want to know what to say to you before they reply, and it seems that they don't know. To be honest, it's sounding like this might have been a straight up error. They thought your child had been referred but it was someone else. Or sometimes, one teacher flags concerns over lots of children for many reasons. The SENCO has done some tests, which appear to have ruled out the need for additional support.