Roles and Responsibilities

Trustees are the 'governors' of the trust. Their role is to ensure that trust leaders are appropriately supported and challenged to ensure that the outcomes for ALL children / young people are at least good.  They approve decisions about whole trust support and mainly liaise with the Chief Executive Officer, the Director of School Improvement,  the Director of Resources, the Headteachers and the School Improvement Team.

The trust has a link trustee for inclusion who meets regularly with the SIL-I for updates and support. This is then summarised to a sub committee of the trustees known as the PSC (Performance and Standards Committee) who provide challenge and support. 

The Academy Committee (AC) is the local governing body for the school and provides support and challenge for the school.

The AC ensures that the necessary provision is made for all CYP identified with a SEND and  ensures that the school's policy is embedded into practice. 

They need to be knowledgeable and up to date about the school's strengths and areas for development in relation to inclusion / SEND and know how funding and personnel resources are deployed including the impact on raising standards. 

To obtain this, the AC usually appoints a member to be the link governor for SEND / inclusion and they would have regular meetings with the SENDCo to review updates on whole school progress and how the school is supporting parents / carers of CYP with an identified SEND. 

The AC also ensure that relevant legislation is followed. 

The School Improvement Lead for Inclusion (SIL-I) is responsible for running the inclusion network and for ensuring that schools are meeting the needs of their children / young people and improving the outcomes for all children including those identified as having SEND as well as other vulnerable groups. The SIL-I role also includes looking at attendance and exclusions as well as teaching and learning (with a focus on inclusion). The SIL-I is also able to provide advice and support for particularly complex cases.  There is strong liaison between the SIL-I and the Trust Safeguarding Officer and the SIL-I and the link trustee for inclusion.

EVERY LEADER IS A LEADER OF SEND

The headteacher is responsible for the daily management of all aspects of the school’s work, including the provision for CYP identified as having SEND;  working closely with the school’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator / Inclusion Lead.  They are also responsible for  keeping the governing body fully informed about SEN/inclusion and for ensuring that a vision for inclusion is disseminated throughout the school.  The headteacher ensures that the school improvement plan, including any inclusion priority is regularly reviewed and is responsible for the check of the quality of teaching and learning. 

The headteacher is likely to delegate many of these tasks and would monitor the overall quality and impact.

The SENDCo must be a qualified teacher working at the school and they must achieve a National Award in Special Educational Needs Coordination within three years of appointment which is a postgraduate course accredited by a recognised higher education provider (our trust tends to use Exeter University). 

The SENDCo's main role is to work with the headteacher and the Academy Committee to determine the strategic development of inclusive policy and provision in the school, including legal compliance with the Equalities Act, 2010, The Children and Families Act, 2014, and the Code of practice, alongside any other legal documentation such as EHCPs

The SENDCo holds the day-to-day responsibility for the operation of SEND / Inclusion  policy and coordination of the specific provision made to support individual pupils identified as having a SEND, including those who have EHCPs.

 The SENDCo also  provides professional guidance to staff in order to ensure that the outcomes for CYP the best that they can be, including monitoring the quality of teaching and learning. 

The SENDCo's main responsibilities are bullet pointed below:

 • overseeing the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEND policy 

• co-ordinating provision for CYP identified as having a SEND 

• liaising with the relevant Designated Teacher where a looked after pupil has SEN or the Designated Safeguarding Lead if a CYP is subject to a Child in Need Plan or Child Protection Plan

• advising on the graduated approach to providing SEND support 

• advising on the deployment of the school’s delegated budget and other resources to meet the CYP's ’ needs effectively 

• ensuring the liaison with parents / carers of CYP with an identified SEND 

• liaising with other schools, educational psychologists, health and social care professionals, and independent or voluntary bodies to ensure that information is accurate and up to date 

• 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 the academy committee 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 CYP with an identified  SEND up to date and accessible

EVERY TEACHER IS A TEACHER OF SEND

A teachers role is more than just imparting knowledge; it includes being a positive role model, ensuring that the social emotional and moral development of the CYP is progressing and being a champion for the CYP in their classes. 

The teacher's responsibilities for CYP with identified SEND includes the bullet points below:

• Have high expectations of CYP with identified  SEND 

• Measure and monitor the ongoing progress in learning, behaviour and personal, social, emotional learning for CYP with identified SEND and to use such monitoring to identify potential needs for the CYP in their classes

• Identify and reduce any barriers to learning through QFT

• Scaffold the support to provide maximum access to the learning aims

• Discuss planning with additional support staff  

• Discuss progress of CYP with identified SEND with the SENDCo 

• Utilise a range of teaching strategies to match CYP needs and devise strategies (with support from the SENDCo if needed) to ensure the implementation of the support plan

• Liaise with the CYP an their parents / carers to keep the support plan accurate and up to date

• Understand and follow the graduated approach for CYP with an identified SEND   

• Ensure that they adhere to the teacher standards 

Teaching Assistants are in classes to ensure that all children / young people in the class achieve their outcomes.  To be effective, there has to be some communication between the class teacher and the teaching assistant detailing what is needed in each lesson and which children / young people are going to need a focus. 

It is good practice for a teacher and a teaching assistant to rotate working with different children / young people - a teaching assistant should not work exclusively with those with an identified SEND.

The teaching assistant's responsibilities for CYP with identified SEND includes the bullet points below:

• Know the identified needs of the CYP in the classes that they support

• Encourage the CYP's independence by using the hierarchy of scaffolding

• Work under the direction of the teacher to ensure that the CYP achieve the learning aims

• Ensure a focus on any individual targets for CYP and, in liaison with the teacher,  keep any support plans updated

• Contribute to any reviews of plans belonging to CYP that they work with

• Adhere to the Teaching Assistant's standards 

• support the teacher to ensure that all CYP in the class make progress

Parents / carers should be seen as PARTNERS in the education of the CYP. 

They have an extremely important role to play and all those who work with CYP with an identified SEND should have due regard to the parent/ carers' views. 

Parents / carers know their child extremely well and can give some excellent tips and strategies to use with the CYP.  They can also support the short term targets  and the school is encouraged to provide resources / training for them if it is needed.

The local authority is responsible for maintaining any EHCPs  for CYP who live in their jurisdiction.   They also have to be able to signpost service users to SEND support and they do this through the 'local offer'.  Please see here for BCP's Local Offer and here  for Dorset's Local Offer.

The Local Authority are also responsible for ensuring that impartial SEND advice is given (this is known in this area as SENDIASS - see here for BCP's SENDIASS link  and here for Dorset's SENDIASS link. 

Local Authorities are also responsible for providing specialist and alternative provision for CYP in their jurisdiction but it is the school's responsibility to check the effectiveness of safeguarding and quality of education in any dual placement.