SEN interview

[iseethembloom]

Hi teachers, TAs, parents of SEN children in school,
I’ve got an interview next Monday at a secondary-phase SEN school.

Unfortunately, I have a long-standing arrangement to go away this weekend, so I’m anxious about preparing for the interview process.

If anyone could give me any tips or advice about the kinds of questions I may be asked, or about life generally in an SEN school, I’d be enormously grateful.

Thank you

So are you already working in a school or is this a complete career change?

Is it for a teacher role or TA role? What type of school is it?

in most interviews a safeguarding question will be asked, however without more details I could not make generalisations.

You'll be asked similar questions to that of a mainstream school interview.

You'll probably be asked how you'd deal with behaviour on a given scenario, as well as the safeguarding question.

Spend time reading their website about curriculum, therapy and how they meet need. The school newsletters will give you a great insight as to how the school works and what they value.

I work as part of the admin team in a SEND school (children aged 4-19). As pp have said, you will definitely be asked about child safeguarding. Think about things like what you would do if a young person disclosed a concern to you, how you would record it, who you should report it to in the school. Also potential warning signs to be aware of e.g. indicators of abuse or neglect - young people with SEND are a very vulnerable group and may not necessarily be able to communicate concerns.

If you have no direct experience of working with children with SEND, think about why you are interested in doing so? Do you have any experience that would be helpful e.g. a relative or child known to you who has SEND, or do you have parenting experience you can draw on? How can you build positive relationships with the young people you will work with, and their families?

Knowledge of EHCPs and how they are used and reviewed in schools will be helpful as all the children in a SEND school will have an EHCP.

Agree with pp advice to have a good look on the school website to get a feel for their ethos and also take note of things like how the school communicates with families (e.g. we use an app called Earwig where we can send home photos of the kids doing things at school and also post their school reports etc)

Good luck with your interview!

Thank you, all. That’s very useful.

It’s a teaching role. I’m doing something similar at the moment.