How quickly would you expect to hear back after messaging your school SENco?

[UndertheMapleTree]

We’ve recently learned that our DS needs to have quite significant surgery to tackle a long term health condition, which will involve him being off school for 2-3 weeks recovering. On Monday we emailed our school’s SENCo to ask if we could have a meeting to discuss the time off, and how he could be supported now and afterwards - his condition can affect hearing, speech and leaves a physical difference that other children are noticing and we have guidance from a charity about everything that schools need to be aware of - and we’ve not heard anything back. I have no idea if this is fairly standard?

I know schools have so much going on, it’s a big London primary school, and I understand that we’re upset about his op so probably over sensitive but I just feel pretty sad not to even have a basic acknowledgment and a promise of a full response later. But should I just accept that that is pretty standard and wait/chase up next week?

I would email her again on Monday.
I used to give the SENCo in my daughter's mainstream school 3 working days to respond before I escalated it to the H/T.

Good luck with everything.

At my school, you should get a holding email within 48 hours if a full response is not possible.

Have you spoken to the class teacher? Usually the CT will be involved first and you can ask them to include the SENCo.

please know that all the sencos I know are snowed under and are dealing with a huge
workload, constantly firefighting. It’s likely they just haven’t got to it yet.

I agree, it's probably more appropriate to raise it with the class teacher first, but it's disappointing to have received no response at all. I think you have to assume it's been missed (rather than ignored) and follow it up on that basis.

I usually get a response from the senco after 3-4 days. Class teacher is usually quicker and his 1-1 is usually the same day.

If I got the email while teaching on Monday, I might well wait until my SENCO release time which is once a week. If it was something I could reply to quickly or felt it was urgent, I'd reply that evening. I don't think the issue you're raising is a SENCO one though - it probably falls under a class teacher's responsibilities.

Thanks everyone - we had a great meeting with his teacher this week who was fantastic and super reassuring, but as there are wider issues about his schooling that will apply for the next few years and beyond we really want to speak to the SENco as well. It’s not just the time off now but I can understand that wasn’t clear from my message.

I agree with those saying speak to the class teacher. They will then liase with the SENCO.

SENCOs are the most overworked members of staff in a school these days. The paperwork involved in EHCP applications alone is emense, with so many required these days. Not to mention all the parents who do through Right to Choose now, and the ridiculous amount of paperwork involved in that. Does your child have an EHCP? If not, it's likely the SENCO has a hierarchy of importance in terms of what they deal with first, with the EHCP children at the top of the list, those who have an application pending/in the process next etc. It's a shame you've not had a response of acknowledgement, with reassurance they'll back to you, but everyone works differently. Given how snowed under SENCOs are, I don't think a week is unacceptable in terms of response times, especially as some SENCOs are part time or have teaching duties to juggle too.

If you speak to the class teacher on Monday, they'll speak to the SENCO and this will likely escalate your enquiry as it's coming from the teacher. I think some people think bypassing the teacher and going straight to the SENCO will get a response quicker, but I actually think the opposite is true in my experience. Go through the teacher.

Does your school have a separate Senco? Our school couldn't afford ours, so a yr 3 teacher had to take over the role as well as full time teaching. Madness.

This is the norm in an awful lot of primaries. Half a day release time.

I get back to people within a couple of days, usually with a proper response but occasionally with a place holder email. If the query has come through the office or a teacher instead of direct to me then it may be a little longer as they have to be proactive in passing it on. I’m quick at replying but I’ve been doing the job a really long time so can deal with most queries without thinking and deliberating too much. Please also know that the only way I can reply with relative speed is by answering emails most nights until late. If I stuck to the hours that I should (and that I’m
paid for) it would be far longer.

I'd say a week or so, but with the usual SENco workload I'd expect to potentially have to wait several weeks for a meeting.

I think the policy at my school is to reply within 5 working days. Might be worth a follow up email Monday just to check they received the first one and are aware you want to meet to discuss ; ) Hope all goes well for your son

I would’ve gone to the head ti get the absence agreed, and then spoke to the head about next steps. Is your child already known to the senco?

My dc primary school, the senco answers emails at home. She asks parents to approach her during drop off. Ask for a meeting via the school office, the receptionist has access to her diary. Also to cc in the headteacher as she does the approval for the long time off. It is a tick box that is needed.

Policy at my school was reply within 48 hours even if only yo acknowledge and say we’ll get back to you

meeting with Senco - their time is like hen’s teeth. I’d expect to have to wait a while.

Absolutely agree with this. The initial email should, at the very least, have been acknowledged. Follow up on it on Monday - perhaps a call to the office? It could be the case that the SENCO was off last week etc.

Hope you get a response soon.

Thanks everyone who has replied, we’ll aim to speak to the head teacher to get the medical leave all signed off but the school website doesn’t give their details, we’re given a list of people to contact which doesn’t include the head but does include senco so we started there. We’ve been advised to isolate for a few days before the op which his teacher was in full support of so hopefully the head will also be fine with that.

I completely appreciate how insane their workloads must be especially as, as I mentioned, it’s a big school: we really just wanted a sense check of whether this was the norm.

We have recently received a letter from the Head detailing the lead times for replies from teachers, SENDCO etc. It states 5 working days for the SENDCO but in reality (I have to contact her a lot!) I usually get a reply the same day. I think the letter was to stop people from getting irate when they haven’t received a reply straight away.

Given the circumstances I would go into school and speak with the office manager first. Emails can get missed or not seen as a priority.

Is your child already on the SEN Register, and/or does he have an EHCP? The more aware the SENCo is of him already, the more likely it is that she will prioritise this.

As others have said, she’s likely missed your message amongst the many others she received on the first day back from half term. Contact her again and give her a nudge.