Roles and Responsibilities

In Doncaster, we will work in partnership to take joint responsibility for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities to ensure they receive the right support at the right time to enable them to reach their full potential. This page outlines the roles and responsibilities agreed across the partnership.

An aim of the Doncaster SEND Strategy is to encourage all schools to provide for children and young people with SEND within their own local area. The responsibilities for children with SEND in schools and colleges are outlined in the SEND Code of Practice.

This includes partnerships:

  • with parents, carers and the support network around children and young people
  • across education settings, support services and Local Authority services
  • across multi-agency services – education, health and social care

Every teacher is a teacher of SEND

  • Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the learners in their class, including where children or young people access support from teaching assistants or specialist staff.
  • The SEND Code of Practice states that discussions about the child’s progress and needs (including SEND Plan reviews) should be led by a teacher with good knowledge and understanding of the learner who is aware of their needs and attainment. This will usually be the class teacher or form tutor, supported by the SENDCO. It should provide an opportunity for the parent/carer to share their concerns and, together with the teacher, agree their aspirations for the child or young person.

Teachers will:

  1. Assess:
    • Learning environment
    • Grouping of children/young people
    • Teaching styles
    • Curriculum materials
    • Individual children and young people’s physical, sensory, cognitive barriers, social emotional needs and other relevant circumstances
    • Have a secure understanding of how a range of factors can inhibit child or young person’s ability to learn, and how best to overcome these
  2. Plan and do:
    • Know when and how to differentiate appropriately, using approaches that enable pupils to be taught effectively
    • Individualised or small group planning and support
    • Increased use of ICT resources
    • Staff collaboration and planning with specialists within the school setting and outside agencies
    • Individualised programmes in more than one curriculum area
    • Environmental adaptations
    • Individualised programmes in several areas including the curriculum and non-curriculum areas, for example:
      • behaviour
      • communication
      • participation and access
      • personal wellbeing
    • Additional small group and individual support including for non-curriculum activities
  3. Review
    • Very detailed planning and tracking
6.36 Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the pupils in their class, including where pupils access support from teaching assistants or specialist staff.
6.37 High-quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEND. Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching. Schools should regularly and carefully review the quality of teaching for all pupils, including those at risk of underachievement. This includes reviewing and, where necessary, improving, teachers’ understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable pupils and their knowledge of the SEND most frequently encountered.

Every school should have a SENDCO (or similar role in further education)

SENDCOs will:

  • respond to concerns and issues about SEND provision in school
  • lead on developing whole school SEND roles and responsibilities
  • ensure a graduated approach is in place
6.90 The key responsibilities of theSENCO may include:
  • overseeing the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEND policy
  • co-ordinating provision for children with SEND
  • liaising with the relevant Designated Teacher where a looked after pupil has SEND
  • advising on the graduated approach to providing SEND support
  • advising on the deployment of the school’s delegated budget and other resources to meet pupils’ needs effectively
  • liaising with parents of pupils with SEND
  • liaising with early years providers, other schools, educational psychologists, health and social care professionals, and independent or voluntary bodies
  • being a key point of contact with external agencies, especially the local authority and its support services
  • liaising with potential next providers of education to ensure a pupil and their parents are informed about options and a smooth transition is planned
  • working with the headteacher and school governors to ensure that the school meets its responsibilities under the Equality Act (2010) with regard to reasonable adjustments and access arrangements
  • ensuring that the school keeps the records of all pupils with SEND up to date
SENCO Charter Final v1 11 Sep 23
Download (480KB - PDF)
The following document outlines appropriate expectations for SENDCO time allocations:
National-SENCO-Workload-Survey-Report-Jan-2020
Download (558KB - PDF)

Every setting should be inclusive for children and young people with SEND

Governors, school leaders and headteachers will:

  • ensure that to the best of their endeavours, the necessary provision is made for any child or young person who has SEND
  • ensure that where the headteacher or a nominated governor has been informed by the LA that a child or young person has SEND, those needs are made known to all who are likely to teach or support that learner
  • ensure that teachers are aware of the importance of identifying and providing for pupils who have SEND
  • ensure that a learner with SEND or a disability or both joins in the activities of the school together with other learners, so far as is reasonably practical and compatible with the child receiving the special educational provision their learning needs call for, the efficient education of the learners with whom they are educated and the efficient use of resources
  • report to parents on the implementation of the school’s policy for learners with SEND
  • have due regard to the statutory guidance within the current SEND Code of Practice when carrying out duties toward all children and young people with SEND
  • ensure that school notifies parents of a decision by the school that SEND provision is being made for their child
  • publish or provide information such as:
    • accessibility plans and admissions of disabled children
    • a SEND information report annually on their website
    • school arrangements for SEND to parents and governors
  • respond to concerns and issues about SEND provision in school
  • invest in whole school and targeted training for staff
  • ensure inclusive teaching and support is embedded throughout the school and that all teachers understand that they are responsible for learner with SEND

Implementation 

P 17 xx. The duties cover discrimination in the provision of services and the provision of education, including admissions and exclusions. All providers must make reasonable adjustments to procedures, criteria and practices and by the provision of auxiliary aids and services. Most providers must also make reasonable adjustments by making physical alterations. Schools and local authority education functions are not covered by this last duty, but they must publish accessibility plans (and local authorities, accessibility strategies) setting out how they plan to increase access for disabled pupils to the curriculum, the physical environment and to information.

Governors should ensure that SEND is a whole school or college responsibility

Governors will:

  • appoint a SEND governor
  • know how many children and young people have SEND
  • know how much SEND funding is in the school
  • ensure budget is in place to arrange appropriate SEND provision
  • review SEND policy and keep up to date, publishing the policy on the school website
  • monitor progress of SEND children and young people 
  • ensure that all provision in EHCPs is in place
  • ensure school improvement considers SEND
  • appoint a SENDCO who is a qualified teacher working with teachers and school leaders

Implementation

p 17 xxi. School governing bodies and proprietors must also publish information about the arrangements for the admission of disabled children, the steps taken to prevent disabled children being treated less favourably than others, the facilities provided to assist access of disabled children, and their accessibility plans.

The Local Authority should lead on SEND

The Local Authority will:

  • provide SEND strategy; policy and guidance
  • every year plan SEND places in:
    • special schools
    • units in mainstream schools
    • further education colleges
  • publish SEND data on numbers and funding
  • secure and fundSENDprovisioninEHCPs at:
    • mainstream schools and colleges
    • special schools
    • independent schools
  • monitor progress of children with:
    • SEND support
    • EHCPs
  • maintain the local offer with parents and young people
  • undertake and give guidance on statutory assessment
  • maintain, give guidance on and review EHCPs
  • respond to concerns and issues about assessments and EHCPs
  • provide a range of support and services
  • provide information, support and guidance to parents
  • provide medical provision for children unable to attend school long term

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