SENCO

[Shinyandnew1]

I have been teaching primary (both KS1/2) for 18 years-full time and part time and am increasingly thinking about wanting to be a Senco. I am aware that if you haven't been one before, you now need to have done or be doing the accredited training. I also believe that do to the training-you need to be working as a Senco so that you can do the tasks/assignments.

How would you get taken on as a senco though without the training and with no experience!?

Shadow the SENCO in your current school? Further reading/research about how to support children in your class who have additional needs? Possibly some kind of dyslexia-type diploma thing?

My understanding is the same as yours that to get the SENCO accreditation you have to be working as a SENCO in order to complete the assignments.

In short - express interest, become as expert as you can on SEN related subjects, read the NASEN website, SEN threads on here etc. Then you'll have things to put in an application and talk about at interview.

Thank you-that's really useful. I will start researching.

I wonder if it will be harder to get a SENCO job? There will be a smallish pool of people who have either done the job and don't need the accreditation or those who have done the job AND have the accreditation and everyone else who might want to do the job but are a bit of a risk as they are unproven!

My perspective is from secondary but IME its pretty hard to find people who want to be SENCOs. It's always been a big and often thankless role so the additional demands of the qualification have put some people off completely. Perhaps different in primary, of course.

I think it wouldn't be too hard to get a SENCO post as it is quite a challenging role. The role of a SENCO is less about working with children and more about liaising with outside agencies, finding (and fighting for) the correct support for children, advising teachers, Safegaurding and endless form filling and paperwork! It is a rewarding post in terms of helping children and supporting parents, many of whom struggle to accept that their child has SEN. I understand that the training is quite good and yes, you do need to be in post to do it.

Surely schools who need a new SENCo would take you on with a promise of you doing the training when you start.
Couldn't harm your application if you'd done some shadowing work with the SENCo at your school though.

Look up the rules - I think you have to complete the training within the first three years of being in post. Be warned, it is a lot of work - not just a few inset days. But I have found it very interesting. Agree that not many people want SENCO roles - lots of change at the moment.

Read up on different common SEN, as well as the new Code of Practice, and emphasise all the work you've done with SEN students in your classroom.

lbn is right - you have 3 years from starting as a SENCO to do the training. IME schools are screaming out for a good SENCO, and you can always ask local SENCO network meetings etc for advice when you're not sure what to do.