Our Community And The Hive Mind.

Setup back in 2019 the SENsible SENCO Facebook group was a safe place for SENCOs to discuss the best way to support their students needs. There are no “stupid” questions and everyone there has one common goal, what is best for the pupil.

We know SENCOing is a very lonely role and with the SENCO Community beside you, you never need to feel like this again. While the Facebook Community looks after the discussions and day-to-day help. This website holds all the resources, videos, links and anything else we can find to help SENCOs. While there are a small amount of paid items, the majority is free and paid for via our educational supplier sponsors. We are constantly growing the website and with the help of our friends it will become the place for all SENCO information!

An SEN Hive Mind

SENsible SENCO Community gives training and advice for SENCOs/ALNCOs across the UK. You think the SENCO role is a lonely one? No one to support and help you? Well you haven’t seen our community! With well over 10,000 (10,950 at time of writting – Dec 2022) SENCOs/ALNCOs and SEN professionals all in one place, every question is answered usually in a matter of minutes, you see you don’t have to feel alone anymore!

Join our Hive Mind

What is a Community Interest Company?

SENsible SENCO is a CIC (Community Interest Company), this means we give back to the community rather than trying to make vast amounts of money, in fact both Abigail and Gavin receive no financial payments for working on SENsible SENCO, everything (with the exception of bills) goes back into making the site better or straight back to the community in the way prize draws and special giveaways.

You can support the community by subscribing to our website from as little as £2 a month!

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Community Rules!

Yes, we do have to have some rules, these are mainly to keep the community a safe place for SENCOs.

1

Be kind and courteous

We’re all in this together to create a welcoming environment. Let’s treat everyone with respect. Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required. Be prepared to jump off your high horse, and remember written messages are read by a human without your ‘tone’.

2

Parents & Professionals

This is a group for professionals -not a group for parents– there are plenty of these available. As SEN professionals we cannot answer questions about your child or the way your school SENCO operates! Some of us are both – but use parent forums for parent questions

3

Do NOT use “F” to follow posts (or connotations!)

The grumpy gremlin comes out! It is RUDE! Turn on notifications for a post instead (grey dots) We will kick repeat offenders especially those who type it immediately after posting.

4

Do not share information/emails…

Not literally…but to protect you we remove any posts where an email address is used or your school (and therefore you) can be directly identified. Use direct messages or request something is put in files instead.

5

No promotions or spam or adverts

Give more to this group than you take. Self-promotion, spam and irrelevant links aren’t allowed. NO ADVERTS! (And that includes for anything free.) Any adverts on this group are paid for by companies to support the upkeep of the network. All ads will be posted by SENDCO Solutions or SENsible SENCO.

6

No hate speech or bullying

Make sure everyone feels safe. Bullying of any kind isn’t allowed, and degrading comments about things such as race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity will not be tolerated.

7

Look before you post!

Scroll through and have a look in the files (or guides) before you post. Try to avoid cross-posting in other groups, most of us are already members elsewhere!

8

Give and Take

Try to give more to this group than you take. I offer pages from my book, or will suggest a copy…but if you want my services you have to ask me. Please approach in the same way.

9

Manners!

Get to know & read the rules! Do NOT ask for someone to send things. They will be put in files/on the website. Membership of the website starts at FREE.

10

Respect everyone’s privacy.

Being part of this group requires mutual trust. Authentic, expressive discussions make groups great, but may also be sensitive and private. What’s shared in the group should stay in the group.

Need further support as a SENCO?

Call (01623) 751115 to Chat Or Contact Us to get Involved

We are busy, please use our Community Facebook Group as the first place to ask questions.

Supporting SENCOs across the UK, in the first year we’ve:

Website members

SENCOs & SEN Professionals Community

Given back to the Community

The first year!

SENSible SENCO as a CiC was transformed on 19th April 2022. Since then we’ve worked hard to give you support for your role as a SENCO, we’ve giving countless discounted products, giveaways, online discussions and more.

The website was mainly a dropping point for resources from the Facebook Community. But now it’s a beating heart of everything we do, with a shop, SEND jobs, videos and much, much more. From its first creation, up to what is now version 2 of the website it has held over 1,000 SENCO made resources, 100’s of hours of video and audio content. We’re not programmers and are learning as we go, so imagine what the site will be like in another year or two?

So far:

£7,000+ given back to schools in giveaways, promotional discounts and book vouchers.

1000’s of SENCOs supported with personal advice.

And we’ve really only just started. Need advice support as a SENCO? Check out our helpful & friendly community!

Join the Community

Our Mission

To support SENCOs across the UK to the best of our ability, Abigail Hawkins who was a SENCO for 25 years, knows how lonely and hard the role is, even more so in the current financial climate. We want to empower all SENCOs to be the best they can be, by giving you all the information we possibly can do. This will help you to make informed choices whether you are a New SENCO, Old SENCO or leadership covering the role.

Become a Member. Get Involved.

With 11,000 SENCOs and SEN professionals in our community we want to create a huge amount of support. With our Facebook Community, you have 24/7 access to the Hive Mind of knowledge from all these professionals! Add to that the resources on here, and you’ve got more content than you’ll probably ever need. Nevermind the support from our partners, with Birkett Long Solicitors giving advice on EHCPs and legal matters. Angharad Welch as our resident SLCN expert!

There is so much we can do with your support!