My SENCO story

Patricia Padley, a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) at Alderman White School in Bramcote, offers an insight into her role:

The main part of my role is being an advocate for the students. Some of the students respond really well to the support they have and that’s really rewarding.

I’ve been a SENCO for a year now, but I have a 25 year background in teaching and most recently I was the head of department for English. In my previous role, I really enjoyed supporting children with additional needs by working with them in smaller groups or tailoring support for them in other ways. I was keen to do more work with children with additional needs, so I decided to complete my SENCO award, which is the masters-level qualification needed to become a SENCO.

As a SENCO, I do still have a small amount of time teaching, but the majority of my role is being an advocate for the 128 students on our register who need SEND support. I regularly meet with parents and key workers to make sure we have the right support in place for students. I find that little things can make a massive difference, whether that’s letting a student wear a polo shirt instead of the usual uniform shirt or spending an extra five minutes with a student who needs support.

We’re a really inclusive school at Alderman White and we will always do what we can to support our students, but it can sometimes be difficult to manage expectations. We can let students have some time out of regular lessons if things get overwhelming and they need a quiet space to support regulation. This is always managed and monitored to get the right balance between educational progress and wellbeing. Students learn best when they feel safe and happy.

Our staff training is delivered with the view that strategies that support students with SEND are strategies that support all students. Quality First Teaching (QFT) in the classroom is the most inclusive and effective approach. Using visuals, having consistent routines and offering ‘scaffolding’ (additional support when it is needed and removing this to improve independence) are examples of QFT that really help students.

One challenge we have is that space is limited. This is a particular issue during exam time, where we need to find separate quiet spaces for some students and, despite utilising all our school offices and other rooms, it is becoming more and more difficult to accommodate.

A big part of my role is around Education and Healthcare Plan (EHCP) reviews. This involves information-gathering with staff, find out students’ views and meeting parents to discuss the support in place, considering what else a student may need and writing up the reviews.

I also write the bids for the school to receive additional funding for SEND students, which is dependent on the individual needs of each child. This funding goes towards the cost of our 15 teaching assistants.

An increasing part of my role is around anxiety-related non-attendance, as the social and emotional health of students is a SEND need. My role involves working with parents, carers and students as well as working with other professionals including educational psychologists, specialist advisory teachers, social workers and alternative providers to put bespoke provision in place.

I also do a lot of work around transitions, as moving from primary to secondary school can be really overwhelming for some students. We can set up extra visits to help put them at ease and I really enjoy meeting the students one to one and forming relationships.

The main part of my role is being an advocate for the students. I work with the school staff to raise awareness about some of the difficulties they are facing. Otherwise, some of them would mask them and try and muddle along. Once you know the detail about each student’s circumstances, it really increases your empathy and gives you a different perspective. For example, we recently had trauma informed practice training, which I found really enlightening in understanding the reasons why some students may be struggling to attend school.  

A SENCO is like a triaging role. We look at each child individually and think about what support they need, whether that’s mental health support, help to fill gaps in learning, sensory support or just talking to them to check in every so often. I think it’s reassuring for parents to have a point of contact and know that someone is accountable for SEND students.

I’m proud to work with staff who have a shared ethos that SEND education should be about equity. There is recognition that we sometimes need to be creative in a mainstream education system that tries to push square pegs into round holes! It’s incredibly rewarding to see the transformative impact that reasonable adjustments can make to a child’s experience of school."