Advanced SEND Leader
Funded by the Apprenticeship Levy

• Experienced SENCOs seeking to take their SEND expertise to the next level and develop their leadership skills
• Experienced SENCOs seeking to enhance SEND provision in their setting
• SEND Leaders working across multiple schools
• SENCOs aspiring to a senior leadership role

This course will support you to be a high-impact SENCO or SEND leader. Through online learning, live and interactive masterclasses, workshops, case studies, and EP-led discussions, we’ll delve into the latest research in SEND and inclusion. 

You will:

• Create a whole-school, strategic SEND and inclusion plan based on data, and statutory and inspection requirements
  
• Gain the relevant skills required to transform SEND provision within your setting or across multiple schools, or nurseries, for example in a multi-academy trust

• Implement and champion new initiatives and interventions across your setting to improve outcomes for children or young people and staff
  
• Learn how to use data to inform financial and resource management strategies in order to strengthen your setting’s SEND provision, while gaining other leadership skills such as workforce planning

• Understand how to work more effectively with Governors and Local Authorities as well as how to gain support from local businesses or organisations in your area
  
• Complete a leadership behaviour assessment, which will help to establish your strengths, and work with your dedicated leadership coach to identify behaviours that will improve your effectiveness
  
• Further develop your ability to work in partnership with colleagues, professionals from outside the setting, and parents and carers
  
• Lead effectively across your setting, using evidence-informed approaches that include advanced methods to capture student voice
  
• Learn the principles of instructional coaching and how to enhance your own and others’ personal and professional development
  
• Gain a professional network of colleagues beyond your own setting

The programme runs for 18 months during which you will participate in a variety of activities through our blended learning model:

• Online learning – study flexibly at a time and place that suits you
• Self-directed project work – apply new knowledge and skills through practical projects and research in your setting. Build a portfolio of evidence that will help embed your learning and allow you to have a positive impact from the very start
• Live online workshops – mandatory workshops (2 hours) twice per term with SEND experts, plus follow-up discussions and opportunities to share good practice
• Live online SEND community circles – once a term, optional 90- minute community circle session hosted by an Educational Psychologist
• Progress reviews – one 60-minute review per term with your apprenticeship coach and your mentor

Leadership coaching – x3 one-to-one leadership coaching sessions with your dedicated leadership coach

You will have termly progress reviews in which you’ll celebrate your growth and successes and discuss challenges you have been facing. These will be scheduled with your Mentor and Apprenticeship Coach at a time that is convenient for you.

The final progress review is combined with a Gateway Review. Once you have completed this, you’ll then undertake the End-Point Assessment. You’ll then meet your independent End-Point Assessor to present your 4,000-word business proposal and have a professional discussion based on your portfolio of evidence.

This programme can be fully funded using the Apprenticeship Levy. In line with government apprenticeship funding bands, the cost of the full training package is £14,000.

If your employer (school, nursery, MAT, or local authority) is an apprenticeship-levy paying employer (i.e. they have a wage bill in excess of £3m) then 100% of the apprenticeship is paid for from the employer’s levy pot. You will need to gain approval to access your employer’s levy and we advise that you discuss details with your business manager / financial director prior to registration.

If your employer does not pay the Apprenticeship Levy then the Government will fund 95% of the apprenticeship and your employer will need to commit to paying 5% of the fee, which is £700. ESF should be able to support your school or nursery to reclaim this £700 via a process known as Levy Transfer.

The next cohort for the Advanced SEND Leader programme starts in October 2024.

Application Deadline: Please apply as soon as possible. If you wish to guarantee a place, please apply by 30 September. We can still take applications up to 12 October if there are places available.

• You must have worked as a SENCO for at least a year (full-time equivalent). 

• You most likely will have completed the National Award for SEN Coordination (NASENCO) or other SEND-related training

• You must not have already completed a Level 7 Senior Leader apprenticeship.

• You must have lived in England for the last three years and have the right to work in the the UK

• You must be employed at least 16 hours a week and spend at least 50% of your working hours in England over the duration of the apprenticeship

• You will need to provide evidence of having achieved GCSE Level 4 or equivalent for English and Maths

• Your employer must agree to appoint a workplace mentor to attend the termly progress reviews

• Your employer would need to agree and enrol you as an apprentice. We can support you with this

Please note: This programme is open to delegates in England only.

To register for the Advanced SEND Leader programme, please:

• Complete the expression of interest form 
• We will be in touch with further details and the forms you need to complete. You will need to work with your Manager to provide registration information for your Employer.