What can SENCOs do in the summer term, to ensure a smooth September?

Remember that feeling in the pit of your stomach, come mid-August and the holidays are disappearing all too quickly? Well, here are some steps you can take now, as a SENCO, to avoid that; you’ll thank me (and yourself) when you can swan out of school on time during those first weeks back.

1.     Get dates in the diary

Once you have your teaching timetable (if you teach) for the next academic year, you can start scheduling your annual review meetings. I suggest finding a two-hour/two-lesson slot that doesn’t go into break or lunch – if such a thing is possible! Communicate the planned dates and times with current parents/carers.

Liaise with any outside agencies you work with and get dates in the diary for meetings to plan for the year ahead. Note down any students you want to discuss with them now, as come September you may have forgotten (if you’re anything like me – I can barely remember where my office is after six weeks off).

Name a SENCO who doesn't love a diary

2.     Update paperwork

Update Individual Education Plans (IEPs)/Success Passports etc, as well as your SEND List (a brief overview of who is on your SEND register - click HERE to access my FREE template) – so you are good to go come September. If possible, recruit some help as this can be time consuming. If you have a deputy or assistant SENCO, you could share the load. Alternatively, you could ask your HLTAs or TAs, if they have admin time built into their timetable. Whoever you ask, they need to know the children (apologies for stating the obvious!).

Every school’s SEND Policy and SEND Information Report must be updated annually. It may be that you update yours at a different point in the academic year, which is fine. You just want to ensure that you have up to date policies on your school’s website as these contain valuable information for both current and prospective parents/carers. Ofsted will also check these documents when they come-a-calling…

If you would like an editable template for your school's SEND Information Report, click HERE. To get your editable SEND Policy, click HERE

3.     Planning

Sit down with whoever oversees professional development at your school and plan what SEND specific training will be on the agenda. This may look a bit different this year as a new national SEND training programme is due to be rolled out in England from September 2026 although, at time of writing, no details have been shared about this.

Still, it is worth meeting to plan what you can. It is always helpful to have a whole school introduction to the new Year 7 SEND cohort, at the start of the new term. As well as delivering some ‘housekeeping’ training to new staff as part of their induction. This could include things like, how to locate and access the SEND List and Success Passports; how to refer a student they believe may have additional needs, but who isn’t on the SEND register; how to find out who has examination access arrangements among other things.

You may wish to plan the recruitment of new HLTAs or TAs, should that be relevant to you. Think about when you would like to hold the interviews, what tasks you would like the candidates to undertake, when you will place the advert etc.

Now find me a SENCO who doesn't love a Post-It - this is getting trickier...

4.     Year 7 transition

The groundwork for ensuring a smooth transition for your new Year 7 SEND cohort will need to be completed in the summer term. Hopefully, you will already have an additional transition day planned, as well as opportunities to meet with the new parents/carers (for example, during a coffee morning – for more information, read How to help students with SEND transition to secondary school).

Effectively communicating information about your newbies to all teaching staff is essential. There are plenty of opportunities to gather information about them, for example, when meeting with their parents/carers on a tour of the school or on open evenings; during primary school visits; when meeting with primary SENCOs etc. Distil this information into a brief overview – and do this as you go along, so it doesn’t become an overwhelming task. This will then form the basis of their IEP/Success Passport.

Share information with staff ahead of any transition events. Once the transition day(s) have passed, get feedback from the staff and tweak the information, as necessary. Good communication from the outset can save a lot of pain and time in the long run. Your September-self will thank you.

My FREE SEND transition resources will help you, click below to be taken to my Tes Shop:

• Six Steps To A Successful SEND Transition Poster

• Getting To Know You Bingo - ice breaker activity

• New SEND Student Information Form - fully editable

5.     Assessment

Nothing gives ‘summer vibes’ quite like a load of assessments. But before we can start dreaming of walks on the beach and barbecues in the park, Years 7 and 8 should have their reading and spelling ages assessed. This will not only save time in September (when they are in Years 8 and 9) but it is more likely to give an accurate result, as children’s literacy skills can regress over a long break (this is sometimes referred to as ‘summer learning loss’ or the ‘summer slump’).

You could also assess the new Year 7s when they come in for their transition day/week. This can be effective, but it does put a dampener on their introduction to secondary school – so I will leave that decision to you!

Finally, it is a good idea to assess the current Year 9 for any examination access arrangements in the summer term. And you can assess anyone who missed out at the start of Year 10 – believe me when I say this alleviates a lot of stress! Any arrangements that are put into place are valid for 26 months so this will cover your students until they sit their GCSEs.

Before the summer fun - think "assessments"!