SEND Governor Questions: Five great tips for working with SENCos

The SEND Governor performs a vital role via challenge and support for school leaders on the topic of SEND. This is often done via visits to school or meetings with the school’s SENCo. Taking that into account, here are five tips for new and experienced SEND governors. The information is handy for SENCos as well.

1. How often should the SEND governor meet the SENCo?

Three times per year – about once a term.

In September, book all dates for the school year. This makes it easier to avoid busier times and also reduces the risk of time slipping away while you try (and sometimes forget) to organise each meeting individually.

The meetings can be remote, but at least one should be face to face so that the governor can see what SEND provision looks like for pupils.

If you plan for one hour, you are both responsible for sticking to that time and moving things along to make sure you’ve covered all the agenda. Sticking to time helps convey the message that you value each other’s time. It also helps you avoid getting stuck in the small details of one topic.

2. What should meetings cover?

Image shows SEND Governor Yearly planner that is free to download form the link on this page.
An annual plan – all on one page

It can be hard for new SENCos or SEND governors to know what to cover. There’s lots we could talk about. How do we pick what to cover in a one hour meeting?

Helpfully, here’s our planner. It facilitates discussion on school improvement, with the SEND action plan, pupil outcomes, parent views, pupil views and accessibility plan at the heart of the planner.

3. What should a SEND Governor ask the SENCo?

If you use the yearly planner above, you’ll probably find that your meetings flow. However, it can still be really helpful to see the kind of questions that might get asked more generally.

Image of front page of "SEND Governor Questions to Ask"

The guide covers a range of topics that you might drill down into (especially if they are included in the SEND action plan):

A helpful guide to SEND jargon can be found here to help governors to more easily understand the most common SEND terms.

4. What is ‘Lack of agency’ and why SEND governors need to know about it?

Our ‘sense of agency’ is how much we feel in control of events. A lack of agency happens when we feel like we’ve not much control over certain events.

Two common times when SENCos feel like they have a lack of agency for are:

SENCos often find both of these hard to navigate and they often spend time discussing them. Talking things through can help any of us reflect and learn – great!

However, one risk is that discussions between Governors and SENCos are over-dominated by these two issues. Use our meeting planner to help minimise the risk of this.

5. What stops the SEND governor and SENCo meeting?

Some SEND governors are hesitant: “The SENCo always seems so busy, I don’t want to add to their workload.” This is an understandable concern, but the truth is that meeting with the SEND governor is a normal part of the SENCo job. So, we shouldn’t avoid meetings between the SEND Governor and SENCo.

Another common issue is both parties waiting for the other to make contact.

In short, if you both assume it’s your responsibility, then the meetings are much less likely to fall off the agenda.

Finally, some governors aim for ‘gold standard’ of face to face. The pandemic showed us that lots of things can be done remotely. Whilst the SEND Governor should be visiting school at least once a year, remote meetings are ok too. Remote meetings are also very helpful for SEND Governors who work as they can often be slotted in more easily.

Where can I get more info?

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  • Aaron King, Director

    With 25 years as an educator and school leader in mainstream and SEND settings, Aaron is the driving force behind 9000lives.

    Aaron has been published in various publications on inclusion, SEND and leadership topics. He has also been a governor for 16 years.

  • Aaron King, Director of 9000 Lives
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