Somewhere in your first proper conversation with school about your child, someone says “the SENCO” as if you’ve known the word all your life. Nobody explains who this person is, what they can change, or why every email about your child now seems to route through them.
Here’s the plain answer. SENCO stands for Special Educational Needs Coordinator: the qualified teacher who organises support for children with special educational needs (SEN) in a school. Every mainstream school in England must have one. Some schools write it SENDCo instead. Same person, same job, one extra letter.
This guide covers what a SENCO does day to day, the training the law now requires, and what you and other parents and carers can fairly expect. It also covers what to do when polite emails stop working.
What SENCO means
The role comes from section 67 of the Children and Families Act 2014. It requires mainstream schools and maintained nursery schools in England to designate a member of staff, “to be known as the ‘SEN co-ordinator’”, to coordinate provision for pupils with SEN. The SEND Code of Practice spells out that this covers academies and free schools too. It also sets the bar that matters: the SENCO must be a qualified teacher working at the school, though the rules let the headteacher take the role themselves.
So the role can’t be handed to a teaching assistant or the office manager, however brilliant they are. It belongs to a teacher, and the Code says a SENCO will be most effective as part of the school’s leadership team. That placement isn’t vanity. Half the job is arguing for time, staff, and budget.
Not sure who your school’s SENCO is? Check the SEN information report on the school’s website. Schools must publish one, and for mainstream schools it must include the SENCO’s name and contact details.
SENCO or SENDCo, which is right?
Both, and you’ll sometimes meet both spellings in the same school.
The legislation says “SEN co-ordinator”. The SEND Code of Practice shortens that to SENCO and uses it throughout. Many schools and local authorities write SENDCo instead, folding in the D from special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the wider term the system has used since the 2014 reforms. Our SEND glossary unpacks how all those terms fit together.
What doesn’t exist, anywhere in the law, is a separate SENDCo role. No different duties, no different qualification, no seniority hiding in the extra letter. If the website says SENDCo and the letter home says SENCO, it’s one person with one set of legal responsibilities. Use whichever your school uses.
What a SENCO does day to day
The Code of Practice gives the SENCO “day-to-day responsibility for the operation of SEN policy and co-ordination of specific provision made to support individual pupils with SEN”, including children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). Strip out the policy language and the SENCO is the hub every wheel connects to: teachers, parents and carers, outside specialists, and the local authority (LA).
The Code lists what that coordination involves:
- Overseeing SEN support in practice - running the school’s SEN policy day to day and keeping every child’s SEN records up to date
- Coordinating provision - organising the extra help individual children get, including children with EHCPs
- Advising teachers - guiding colleagues on the graduated approach and on where the school’s SEN budget will do the most good
- Working with you - liaising with parents and carers of children with SEN
- Connecting outwards - acting as the school’s contact point for educational psychologists, health and social care professionals, and the LA
- Planning moves - working with your child’s next school or setting so a transition is planned rather than sprung
Here’s the part the paperwork doesn’t say: most SENCOs also teach, some almost full time. The Code says schools should give the SENCO “sufficient time and resources” to do the job, but should isn’t must, and the time actually protected varies wildly between schools. If replies take three days, it’s rarely personal. It’s usually arithmetic. The difference between must and should, and how to use it in a letter, is exactly what our SEND Code of Practice guide covers.
The training a SENCO must have
The qualification changed recently, so it’s worth knowing what’s current.
Since 1 September 2024, the mandatory qualification has been the National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. Anyone new to the role must complete the NPQ within three years of taking up the post. It replaced the National Award in SEN Coordination (NASENCO), the postgraduate award that was required before September 2024.
The transition rules are generous, so don’t read anything into which award your SENCO holds. A SENCO who already has the NASENCO award doesn’t need the NPQ. One who started a NASENCO course before September 2024 can finish it instead, provided they complete it within three years of appointment and by 31 August 2027. And SENCOs in post since before 1 September 2009 aren’t required to take either.
In practice, your school’s SENCO might hold the new NPQ, the older award, or years of experience the rules pre-date. All three are legitimate.
What you can expect, and what a SENCO can’t decide
A surprising amount of parent-SENCO friction is really a disagreement about whose decision something was. Knowing what’s theirs to give keeps the relationship workable.
You can reasonably expect a named contact who knows your child’s file, and support that’s planned and reviewed rather than improvised. You can also expect meetings that actually happen: for a child on SEN support, the Code says schools should meet parents at least three times each year. What the school as a whole must provide is a bigger topic, and our SEN support guide covers it in full.
What the SENCO can’t decide is just as important to know:
That first “can’t” matters most. Under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014, where an assessment shows a plan is necessary, “the local authority must secure that an EHC plan is prepared”. Not the school, and not the SENCO. A SENCO who says “we can’t apply for an EHCP yet” is sharing a professional judgement, not a legal barrier.
You don’t need the school’s permission, or the SENCO’s agreement, to ask for an EHC needs assessment. Section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014 lets a parent or young person request one from the LA directly. Our step-by-step guide shows you how.
When the relationship stalls
Sometimes the meetings happen, the minutes get written, and nothing changes for your child. You’re allowed to escalate, and doing it in order keeps every later option open.
- Put it in writingEmail the SENCO with the specific concern and what you’re asking for, so there’s a record rather than a corridor chat
- Ask the headteacherThe SENCO coordinates support, but the headteacher runs the school and can reprioritise time and staffing
- Use the complaints procedureEvery school in England must have one, published on its website, and a formal complaint requires a formal answer
- Bring in SENDIASSYour local advice service is free and impartial, and an adviser can sit beside you in meetings
- Go to the LA yourselfRequest an EHC needs assessment directly if school-level support has hit its ceiling
Escalating isn’t burning a bridge. A written record often helps the SENCO too, because it’s evidence they can take to the headteacher when asking for more resource for your child. If the school’s answer stays a flat no at every stage, our guide to when school refuses to help covers the next moves. Your local SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) can back you up at any point in the process.
Common misconceptions
“SENDCo is the more senior version of SENCO.” It’s the same role with a newer spelling. The duties come from the same law either way.
“The SENCO decides whether my child gets an EHCP.” They contribute evidence and often write much of the paperwork, but the decision to assess, and the decision to issue a plan, both belong to the LA.
“The SENCO only deals with children who have an EHCP.” Their remit is every child with SEN in the school. Children supported without a diagnosis or plan are just as much the SENCO’s job.
“Nothing can happen until there’s a diagnosis.” The Code expects schools to use their “best endeavours” to make sure a child with SEN gets the support they need. Nothing in that duty waits for a diagnosis.
What to do next
If you’ve just heard the word for the first time, start small.
- Find the name. Check the SEN information report on the school’s website for the SENCO’s name and contact details.
- Ask for a meeting in writing, with two or three specific examples of what you’re seeing at home or hearing from your child, rather than a general worry.
- Ask what happens next. Which step of assess, plan, do, review is your child on, and when is it reviewed?
- Keep everything. Dates, emails, and copies of anything you’re given.
If the meeting doesn’t land, come back to the escalation ladder above. You’re not being difficult. You’re being your child’s record-keeper.
Getting help
Your local SENDIASS gives free, impartial advice about SEN support, EHCPs, and disagreements with school, and an adviser can come to meetings with you. Find yours through the Council for Disabled Children’s directory.
IPSEA offers free, legally based advice on schools’ and councils’ SEND duties, including template letters, for when a disagreement turns legal.
Contact supports families of disabled children with everything around the edges of school, from benefits to short breaks.