SENCo operational checklist
Use this page as the practical review companion to the leadership page: what to check this week, what evidence to
collect, and how to decide whether to strengthen OAP, refine targeted support, or escalate.
How this differs from the leadership page
The leadership page focuses on thresholds, systems, performance, and whole-school consistency. This page focuses on
the SENCo's operational review cycle: fidelity checks, evidence quality, and next-step decisions for individual and
small-group support plans.
Weekly operational review checks
- Check which students are stuck because OAP is inconsistent versus because support is insufficient.
- Prioritise a small number of barrier-specific follow-ups (instruction, transitions, sensory load, output route, regulation).
- Confirm review dates, owners, and evidence capture are still active for current APDR plans.
- Flag cases needing leadership decisions (staffing, timetable, environment, training, funding).
What to look for in classroom fidelity checks
- Are instructions chunked, explicit, and supported with visible prompts where needed?
- Are agreed routines visible in the lesson (not only written in plans)?
- Are adults using consistent scripts for prompts, correction, and re-entry?
- Are adaptations preserving challenge while changing route, format, or timing?
Review evidence pack (minimum useful set)
- Short barrier statement linked to classroom examples (not generic labels only).
- What has been implemented, by whom, and for how long (fidelity snapshot).
- Impact indicators: participation, start latency, instruction accuracy, distress frequency, attendance, or work completion as relevant.
- Decision: strengthen OAP, refine targeted support, maintain, or escalate to specialist/multi-agency support.
Core source documents (further reading)
