A comprehensive SEND register supports every aspect of the SENCO role and prevents children from slipping through the net. Liz Murray explains how to put together a SEND register tailored to suit your school.
Every year it seems to be more challenging to be prepared for our students with SEND.
My team and I work hard to finish the previous year’s tasks and prepare for those all-important transitions, but it isn’t always within our control. Students with EHC plans are being placed in schools later each summer term and even during the summer holidays.
The one tool that I need in place for the start of every academic year is a comprehensive SEND register. It supports the strategic and proactive leadership and management of every aspect of the SENCO role.
There isn’t much written about the SEND register in many of the texts on SEND leadership; it seems to be assumed that there will be a register, but little detail about how to put it together. Perhaps this is because it isn’t a particularly exciting topic to write about!
Some SENCOs even criticise a focus on data and suggest that it is at odds with the person-centred approach that is required to be an effective SENCO, but I would argue that without one, an organised and strategic overview is not possible. Once you have clear structures and systems in place the creative and personalised work can happen around this, safe in the knowledge that no child has slipped through the net.
In some schools the SEND register seems to have disappeared and been replaced by data management systems such as SIMS, but these are nowhere near as useful, or user-friendly, as a context specific SEND register designed on a simple Excel spreadsheet.
There are software packages that can create one, drawing the information from whichever data management system a school uses, but these can be expensive.
I’ve now developed SEND registers for four different schools and although they all contained the same basic information, they were all tailored to the different contexts of the setting. All that is needed is a person, ideally an administrator, who is proficient in Excel and a consistent approach.
'Needs' is probably the most challenging bit to get right.
It should include the SEND Code of Practice categories of need, but also the presentation of need. For example, the acronym MLD (moderate learning difficulties) isn’t particularly useful to enable effective teaching, so it is essential to think about your audiences and how the information will be used.
Whatever you choose it needs to be consistent. See the table below for an example.
| Category | Primary need | Presentation |
| Cognition and learning | Dyslexia | Slow verbal processing |
| Cognition and learning | Dyslexia-type tendencies | Poor word reading |
Click the image below to see an expanded SEND register example.
I usually find that I need to consider at least two audiences. You might need two spreadsheet tabs to communicate the relevant information to each.
1. Teachers
This is your primary tool for communicating student needs to teachers. It can be a one-stop shop for everything they need to know about the children they will teach.
Users should to be able to filter to find their class groups easily and see at a glance the children with needs and then click links to more detailed information such as pupil passports which would include personalised teaching strategies.
2. Leadership
The register can be filtered for data. For example, it can help to quickly answer questions such as:
This data is useful when thinking strategically about the focus for student provision, training for TAs or CPD programmes for teachers.
One headteacher I worked with loved our SEND register and used it all the time. He said he found it practical from a broad overview when speaking to governors, to a focused approach when talking to the parents of a child with SEND.
It’s important to keep the register up to date and to ensure that it syncs with the main data management system.
1. Communication with staff
Put your SEND register on every staff desktop and everyone can access information about students.
Middle and senior leaders can access an overview of departments or year groups and can look in detail at any student’s specific need, whilst class teachers can see the needs of every child quickly and easily all in one place.
2. Highly relevant provision planning
Filter students into groups of need to plan provision. You can also choose to add the provision to the register, so it becomes an instant provision map.
3. CPD for staff
Filter the most common needs at any school and work out a comprehensive CPD programme for teachers and TAs.
At a previous school I worked at, no one had realised that 80% of the children on the register had dyslexia. Once we could see this in black and white, we could plan a structured programme for staff and become experts in this area.
4. Instant data
If you need data for a governors meeting, the census report or to persuade a budget holder that you need to send staff on targeted training, the SEND register can provide it instantly.
Want to review, improve and celebrate SEND provision in your school? The SEND Inclusion Award gives you the opportunity to demonstrate outstanding provision in six areas.
Find out more at oego.co/SENDIA