Start Point: New To SENDCo
This free, editable checklist that maps out your key tasks for your first few weeks, half-term and full term. Whether you're brand new or taking over from someone else, it helps you hit the ground running with confidence.
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I'm brand new to the role
Start with the free checklist above, then explore the Everything You Need to Start Leading SEND resource for tools and templates to help you get organised, understand your responsibilities and build confidence from day one.
I'm experienced but new to my school
You know the role but every school's SEND provision looks different. Our Inclusion Audit helps you quickly evaluate what's in place, identify gaps and plan your next steps with clarity.
I need to improve and evaluate our SEND provision
From self-evaluation templates to handy checklists, our resources help you look critically at your setting's SEND practice and build a clear picture for governors, SLT and Ofsted.
Ofsted is on the horizon
Know what inspectors will look for in your inclusive practice - including how this links specifically to SEND - and build your confidence about the inspection process with our SENDCo Ofsted preparation resource.
Explore all resources for SENDCos
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19 products
19 products
New to the SENDCo role or stepping into SEND leadership at a new school? This comprehensive starter pack provides everything you need to establish effective SEND systems and build confidence from day one. Whether you're starting in September or mid-year, these practical tools help you quickly understand your school's current provision, build key relationships and set clear priorities for sustainable improvement.
☑️ 16 ready-to-use, editable templates covering essential areas including audits, action planning, pupil profiles, provision mapping, handover processes and stakeholder communication
☑️ Step-by-step guidance document with your first 30 days mapped out week by week, plus practical advice on adapting to your school context and building relationships
☑️ SEND Jargon Buster reference guide to demystify specialist terminology for you and your staff, ensuring clear communication across the school community
☑️ Quick-start checklists and observation tools for folder organisation, skills auditing, playground and classroom observations, and review meetings
Ideal for new SENDCos, experienced SENCos moving schools, teachers stepping up to SEND leadership roles, and anyone wanting structured guidance and professional templates to establish excellent SEND provision efficiently.
🔎 Want a closer look? Click here to preview the Everything You Need to Lead SEND pack🔗
🔒 Fully aligned to the final Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit 2025
New for 2025, this Inclusion Audit Pack helps SENDCos, DSLs, inclusion leads, designated teachers and SLT review inclusion, SEND and disadvantaged pupil provision across eight comprehensive areas. Aligned with Ofsted's 2025 School Inspection Toolkit, it supports self-evaluation, continuous improvement and strategic leadership for inclusive education.
☑️ Comprehensive 39-page inclusion audit document with structured prompts across eight key themes: inclusive vision and culture, identifying and meeting needs, supporting disadvantaged pupils, supporting pupils with SEND, supporting pupils known (or previously known) to children's social care, inclusive practice across curriculum and wider school life, partnerships with families and services, and evaluating impact
☑️ Complete audit toolkit includes action plan template, inclusion evidence checklist, staff, pupil, parent/carer and governor question bank, a one-page SLT/governor summary, Ofsted inclusion grade descriptor grids and guidance on conducting an effective audit
☑️ Supports comprehensive review of SEND provision, pupil premium strategies, looked-after and previously looked-after pupil provision, and wider inclusive practice with confidence and clarity
☑️ Fully editable templates allow you to adapt all materials for your school's specific context and priorities
Ideal for SENCOs, inclusion leaders, pupil premium champions, designated teachers for looked-after children, and deputy or assistant heads with responsibility for inclusion, whether preparing for inspection, reviewing provision or planning next steps for school improvement.
🔎 Want a closer look? Click here to preview the audit pack🔗
👉 This audit pack is part of our Complete School Leadership Audit Set, which includes eleven audits in one purchase, saving you money whilst ensuring you can evaluate your entire school provision across all Ofsted evaluation areas plus plus three essential good practice audits.
🔒 Fully aligned to the 2025 Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit
Ofsted inspection can feel overwhelming when you're a SEND coordinator, especially if you're new to the role or haven't experienced an inspection under the current framework.
Designed specifically for SENDCos, this focused preparation pack translates the 2025 School Inspection Toolkit into practical guidance about your role during inspection. You'll understand when and how you'll engage with inspectors, what questions they're likely to explore and how to demonstrate the excellent inclusion work you're already doing day-to-day.
You'll get:
☑️ SENDCo Inspection Role Guidance – clear explanation of when you'll be involved during inspection, what happens during the inclusion meeting and case sampling, and what inspectors want to understand from you
☑️ Example Ofsted SENDCo Questions – realistic questions you might be asked during your inclusion meeting with inspectors and inclusion learning walks, helping you practise articulating your approach and identify any areas to strengthen
☑️ Further supporting documents – including a leader action checklist to build your inspection knowledge, an inclusion inspection readiness tool to evaluate your current practice against toolkit statements, and editable grade descriptor grids highlighting inclusion across the framework
This Ofsted SENDCo resources pack helps to build your confidence to articulate your work clearly and supports you to prepare effectively without creating unnecessary workload. All templates are fully editable so you can adapt them for your school's specific context and use them as part of your ongoing SEND leadership, not just for inspection preparation.
👉 Looking for further support on preparing for inspection? These resources are also available as part of the full Ofsted Inspection Preparation Pack too.
🔒 Fully aligned to the final Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit 2025
Support your school prepare for Ofsted's new School Inspection Toolkit 2025 with this comprehensive Inclusion update pack - everything you need to understand the changes, brief your team, and ensure your school is inspection-ready.
☑️ Staff & Governor Briefing PowerPoint (23 slides) – Ready-to-use presentation covering all new inclusion requirements, from identifying, assessing and meeting needs to support for pupils who face barriers to learning
☑️ Toolkit vs. Handbook Comparison Document – Clear side-by-side analysis of what's changed from the scattered requirements about disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND in the old Ofsted framework to the new strengthened requirements in the standalone Inclusion evaluation area, plus the inclusion threads that run across the entire toolkit
☑️ Understanding Ofsted's Toolkit Guide – Easy-to-digest breakdown of the new evaluation criteria, with practical considerations for school leaders who hold responsibility for inclusion
☑️ Leader Action Checklist – Strategic planning tool to help you implement the changes across your school community
☑️ Editable Grade Descriptor Grid – Customisable toolkit reference for your leadership team
Perfect for: Headteachers, SLT members, and anyone responsible for inclusion (such as SENCos, DSLs, designated teachers and pupil premium champions) preparing for Ofsted inspection under the new 2025 School Inspection Toolkit, or wanting to ensure their provision in inclusion meets the latest requirements.
Save hours of research time – we've analysed the new toolkit so you can focus on implementing the changes that matter most for your pupils' outcomes.
🔎 Want a closer look? Click here to preview the update pack🔗
This flexible pack is perfect for SEND link governors or anyone looking to support a special educational needs and disabilities governor, such as headteachers, trust leaders, governance professionals, SENDCOs or a chair of governors. With four comprehensive, editable resources - a SEND audit for governors, an equality and accessibility audit for governors, a SEND report to governors template and a SEND link governor roles and responsibilities document - this pack will support governors who are new to role or in cases where the SEND and inclusion governor needs more structure and support in order to be highly effective in their role.
🔒 Fully aligned to the Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit 2025
This SEND Self-Evaluation Form (SEF) template helps SENDCos and inclusion leaders evaluate their setting's SEND provision, strengths and development areas and is aligned with all areas of the Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit.
You'll get:
☑️ SEND SEF template with structured criteria across all key areas of SEND leadership: leadership and governance, safeguarding, curriculum and teaching, attendance and behaviour, personal development and well-being, working with parents, assessment and identification, achievement, monitoring and evaluation, efficient use of resources, quality of SEND provision, and pupil perspectives
☑️ Reflective questions in each section to support critical, evidence-based evaluation of your SEND provision, plus guidance on where to find multiple sources of evidence to support your judgements
☑️ Ofsted Grade Descriptor Grids fully aligned to the 2025 toolkit, with particular focus on the Inclusion strand to inform your self-evaluation decisions
The template is fully editable so you can adapt it for your school's specific context and SEND cohort.
Who should use this template?
This is essential for SENCos, inclusion leaders and SEND coordinators responsible for evaluating provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. It's particularly valuable for new SENDCos building their self-evaluation practice, or experienced leaders who need structured headspace to evaluate SEND strategically rather than getting lost in day-to-day operational demands. Headteachers and SLT with SEND oversight will also find it useful for monitoring inclusion provision.
🔒 Fully aligned to the 2025 Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit
Understand Ofsted's case sampling approach and prepare your school with confidence using this comprehensive support pack.
Case sampling is central to how Ofsted evaluates inclusion during inspections, with inspectors closely following approximately six pupils throughout the inspection to understand their experiences, the support they receive and the progress they're making. This pack gives you the practical tools and guidance you need to understand this process, identify eligible pupils in your school and conduct your own case sampling as part of your monitoring cycle.
You'll get:
☑️ Complete guidance on Ofsted's case sampling process – Understand which pupils are eligible, how inspectors gather evidence and what happens during the planning call and inspection activities
☑️ Templates to identify and track vulnerable pupils – Move beyond obvious SEND and disadvantaged groups to identify context-specific vulnerable pupils, with structured prompts and tracking tools to prepare for confident discussions with inspectors
☑️ Practical frameworks for conducting your own case sampling – Step-by-step templates for gathering evidence, analysing findings and taking action, helping you see what inspectors would see and strengthen your provision before inspection
☑️ Ready-to-use preparation and communication resources – Comprehensive checklist covering all aspects of preparation, plus example letters and messages for parents and carers if their child is selected for case sampling
All templates are fully editable so you can adapt them for your school's specific context. Perfect for headteachers, SLT and school leaders wanting to prepare their team and build confidence and understanding of the Ofsted inspection process.
👉 Looking for further support on preparing for inspection? These resources are also available as part of the full Ofsted Inspection Preparation Pack too.
Dealing with complaints - whether from parents, carers or community members - can be one of the most challenging aspects of school leadership. With vexatious complaints against schools and the number of instances of parents complaining on the rise, headteachers and SLT need ways of managing complaints and, crucially, preventing complaints from occurring when possible.
This checklist is designed to do exactly that and allows school leaders to review their processes in order to prevent complaints from parents but also to manage legitimate complaints carefully. It covers the following key areas:
- Complaint prevention
- What to do following the receipt of a school complaint
- Complaint investigation
- Complaint resolution
- Managing persistent, serial and vexatious complaints
Use the checklist to evaluate your current position when it comes to school concerns and complaints, such as how effectively you build and manage relationships with parents/carers and your use of communication to maintain a culture of mutual respect in school. This can help you to identify areas to develop to bolster your efforts in maintaining strong relationships and addressing concerns before they develop into a bigger issue, thus helping to prevent complaints from forming.
When complaints do occur, the checklist can support you to think about your processes in order to listen, investigate and respond to complaints in order to find a resolution for all parties. It also allows you to consider your complaints policy and whether the details in it support you, as a school leader, to deal with complaints, including complaints that are persistent, serial or vexatious.