The SENCO meeting

The SENCO meeting is the everyday meeting with the school about how they are helping your child day to day. The SENCO is the Special Educational Needs Coordinator, the teacher in charge of SEN. The meeting might be about getting support started, reviewing support already in place, or sorting out a problem. This is England-specific; check your nation if you are elsewhere in the UK.

It helps to know the backdrop. Schools must use their “best endeavours” to make sure children with SEN get the support they need. Support in mainstream school normally follows a cycle the Code calls Assess, Plan, Do, Review. This meeting is part of that cycle, not a one-off favour. You are there as an equal partner in a process the school is already meant to run.

Lead it calmly by bringing structure. Hand the SENCO a short agenda at the start, or email it the day before. A sensible shape: where my child is now, what support is actually happening (not just what is written down), what is working and what is not, your three asks in order, the plan, how you will both know it is working, and the follow-up. Keep your tone warm. You are not fighting the school, you are solving a problem together, but you hold your ground.

Three questions do most of the work in the room. Ask them plainly. “What exactly will be put in place, who will do it, and by when?” turns good intentions into a plan with names and dates. “How will we know if it is working, and when will we check?” sets a measure and a review date, so vague support cannot quietly fade away. “If this does not work, what is the next step?” keeps the door open to the next stage, including, if needed, asking the local authority for an EHC needs assessment.

If you hear “let’s wait and see”, or “they cope fine in class”, or “they have no diagnosis”, you do not have to accept it. There is a calm, rights-based reply to each of those (covered in a later lesson). For now, the move is to keep returning to what your child needs and what the evidence shows.