NPQ for SENCOs (NPQSENCO)

From Autumn 2024 we will partner with Best Practice Network to deliver the new NPQ for SENCOs.

Further detailed information is available on the BPN website.

Applications can also be made via the BPN website - please ensure that you select Leicester & Leicestershire Teaching School Hub as your delivery partner, to be part of the local cohort.

Who this course is for

This course is for:

• special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs)
• teachers interested in developing expertise in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or undertaking a SENCO role in future
• school leaders

Mandatory qualification for SENCOs

All mainstream schools (including academies and free schools) must have a SENCO. The SENCO must be a qualified teacher, or the headteacher, working at the school.

This NPQ will be the mandatory qualification for SENCOs from September 2024, with teaching beginning in autumn 2024. The 3-year window to complete the mandatory qualification on taking up a SENCO post will remain following the introduction of the NPQ for SENCOs. Refer to transition to national professional qualification for special educational needs co-ordinators for further information.

SENCOs meet their statutory requirement on receiving the outcome of their NPQ. Participants should allow up to 4 months on top of the 18 months of study to receive their outcome.

Overview

This 18-month course will enable you to:

• co-ordinate special educational needs (SEN) provision throughout your school
• work alongside other leaders to build a school culture in which pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can participate meaningfully in the full life of the school, achieve ambitious outcomes and make successful transitions to their next steps

Details of the course content and structure are outlined by the DfE in the SENCO NPQ framework. Providers have used this framework to design their course.

The course will include:

• independent study
• group coaching
• face-to-face sessions with other participants

The Department for Education have confirmed that the autumn 2024 cohort of NPQ SENCO will be FULLY FUNDED.