National Professional Qualification for Leading SEND (NPQSENDCO)

Become an expert leader of special educational needs and learn how you can build an inclusive culture in your school where all pupils can succeed.

This is a new course designed for SENCOs. It begins in autumn 2024 and replaces the NASENCO qualification.

Eligibility: You must be a current or aspiring SENCO, a school leader, or someone who is responsible for the strategic leadership of SEND in a school or trust. The NPQ for SENCOs is also open to leaders in specialist or alternative provision.

Duration: 18 months

Curriculum:

You will learn how to:

• Contribute to establishing and sustaining a positive and supportive culture across the school for all pupils.
• Support senior leaders to ensure staff and governors enact statutory guidance.
• Support teachers and support staff to understand the importance of expert teaching for all pupils and to implement a graduated approach in the classroom, subject or domain effectively.
• Support the delivery of effective provision for pupils with SEND and their families, and be able to review, monitor, evaluate and improve the impact of SEND provision.
• Work with staff, specialists and other agencies to assist the school in meeting the needs of all pupils.
• Implement an efficient SEND identification process across the school which ensures that barriers to learning are identified and addressed at the earliest opportunity.
• Work with and equip fellow leaders with the skills to establish and sustain effective curriculum planning that enable teachers to plan, adapt and teach effectively for all pupils.
• Support the development of a positive, safe and supportive environment for pupils across the whole school.
• Ensure all pupils feel motivated in school with a supportive setting to enable them to reach their aspirations and potential.

How you will learn:

The programme is delivered with a mixture of face-to-face and virtual sessions. The programme starts with a full-day Conference to introduce you to the structure and content of the course, allowing you to meet your Visiting Fellows and the wider NPQ cohort, a second full-day Conference will take place in year two.  

Each of the nine courses within the programme are taught through a combination of independent and paired self-study modules, a facilitated live clinic, and supported by peer-led community sessions. 

The North-West London Teaching School Hub team will be supporting you throughout your learning journey on the programme, tracking your progress and acting as your point of contact. 

Assessment:

There is no project work required for this NPQ. At the end of the 18 month course, you will be given an eight-day assessment window to sit an ‘open book’ style assessment in which you respond to a short case study. We will offer a webinar and live clinic before the assessment window to support you in preparing for your assessment.

Cost:

From September 2024, the DfE has changed NPQ funding. For NPQSENCO, funding is available to all publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations in England. 

Fully-funded spaces are limited and are filled up quickly, therefore we always advice early applications.

If you do not work in an eligible school, or all fully-funded spaces have been filled, the cost of the NPQSENCO is £1949 + VAT. 

Facilitators:

Rachel Robinson

Charlotte Maginnis

Middlesex Learning Trust

Further Info

Only in exceptional circumstances may a participant request either a deferral or withdrawal from their programme. Participants should be aware that there is a process to follow which is outlined in Ambition’s Institute’s Deferral and Withdrawal Policy

A participant considering withdrawal from an NPQ Programme should be aware that it is Department for Education Policy to only fund an NPQ course for a participant once. This means that a participant who starts a Department for Education funded NPQ course, and then withdraws from that course, will not be funded again for the same programme.