In this week’s podcast, Dale Pickles from B Squared is joined by Natalie Packer to discuss managing the SENCO workload.
Natalie Packer is an independent education consultant, specialising in SEND and school improvement. Natalie develops and delivers a wide range of training and support to schools, multi-academy trusts and other organisations. She is a member of nasen’s 0-11 Advisory Group, and also supports the Whole School SEND review process. On top of this and being a Governor and Trustee Natalie has also found time to write books The Perfect SENCO and The Teacher’s Guide to SEN.
The role of the SENCO is a really important one but one of the most challenging in a school. The recent nasen / Bath Spa University research publications (‘It’s about Time’ and ‘The Time is Now’) highlighted the significant challenges with SENCO workload – this has not eased with the introduction of the SEND reforms in 2014 and it is becoming even more of a challenge as SENCOs take on extra responsibilities e.g. as part of senior leadership team. It’s often difficult for other leaders who have not been a SENCO to really understand the role and getting the message across to all leaders about this is important.
Key messages about SENCO workload have been fed into the DfE SEND Review consultation and it is hoped that some of the recommendations made in the above report will be considered in the outcomes of the review!
SENCOs benefit from being supported with ideas on how to manage their workload so the purpose of the podcast is to provide information about the background of the challenge but also some practical tips on how to do this, including:
- Being part of / making links with SLT
- CPD for staff so they understand their responsibilities
- Working with curriculum leads to support High Quality Teaching
- Knowing the law
- Planning your time (and securing enough time in the first place!)
- Setting up effective systems
- Using administrative tools
- Using High impact interventions
- SENCO wellbeing
Contact Natalie
Be the first to hear when new podcasts go live!
The SENDcast is powered by B Squared
We have been involved with Special Educational Needs for over 25 years, helping show the small steps of progress pupils with SEND make. B Squared has worked with thousands of schools, we understand the challenges professionals working in SEND face. We wanted a way to support these hardworking professionals – which is why we launched The SENDcast! Click the button below to find out more about how B Squared can help improve assessment for pupils with SEND in your school.
Introducing SENDcast Sessions
SENDcast Sessions are a new way for schools to access high quality CPD from SEND experts brought to you by the SENDcast. It’s the same great guests featured on our weekly podcast, delivering focused 1-hour online training sessions on a wide range of SEND topics.
SENDcast Sessions provide schools with in depth content that can be accessed forever. Build a library of online CPD that your school can continue to use in the future – choose from over 100 training sessions!
