Skip Navigation

National Award for SEN Coordination Course Preparation

To help you feel prepared for your postgraduate studies, you’re asked to complete a pre-course task and a short survey to assess your leadership style. Read on to find out more.

Your pre-course task

Special Educational Needs and Disability: Policy context and leadership reflection

Your task summary

Your task is to look at the latest documents from Government around Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).  And investigate policy within your own school context and then reflect upon your role as a SEND leader within your setting. This will involve Independent research using Government publications and school policy, with completion of a leadership survey around the SENCo role.

These activities should be completed prior to your course commencement in September and should take between two to three hours to complete. On your induction day you’ll be invited to share your thoughts around the Leadership Survey activity and how this may shape your expectations of the course. You will be sharing your thoughts from activities one and two at the training day within module one. Please bring your completed activity three to share. This could either be a typed document or handwritten notes.

‘Children only get one childhood. They deserve to get the support they need to thrive and prepare for happy, healthy and productive adulthoods. For children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), or in alternative provision, this is especially vital’ (HM Government, 2023)

Your tasks to complete

The context of SEND within education has been fast-changing since the implementation of the latest Code of Practice (DfE, 2015) and continues to offer challenges to all those who work within this field. In preparation for your learning on the National Award for SEN Co-ordination, you are asked to engage with the following 3 activities:

Task one

Read the documents below

  1. The SEN Review: right support, right place, right time (HM Government, 2022)
  2. Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan (HM Government, 2023)

Prepare a short summary of these documents in relation and their possible implications for your own setting.  What concerns do you have? What conversations may need to take place?

Task two

Think now about your own school context. Find and read any of the following policies which are in place. How are learners with SEND represented within these policies? Are there aspects of these documents which may need to be amended or added to?

  • Anti-bullying policy
  • IT/technology policy
  • Equality policy
  • Health and Safety policy
  • Behaviour policy

Task three

To help you plan for your own learning on the course, please complete the Leadership Survey (Cheminais, 2014) and begin to reflect on your strengths and future priorities within your enactment of the SENCo role.

Frequently asked questions

Find out more about your SENCo course and your assessment

Your Induction

Your induction will take place on Saturday 16 September 2023.

Please head to the Faculty of Education – Lakeside building (number 9 on the map). A member of team will be there to greet you in the foyer and direct you to your classroom.

If you are travelling to campus by car, please display your temporary parking notice on your dashboard.

Meet your programme leader

Your central department contact