Of all the roles required by schools, that of SENCO must surely be simultaneously one of the most rewarding, and demanding.
At its best, it’s about unlocking every student’s potential; supporting colleagues as they strive to meet learners’ needs; and bringing parents, carers and teachers together to create a powerful partnership with young people’s best interests at the heart of every decision that’s made, and each intervention that’s put in place.
The flipside, however, can often be an overwhelming tangle of paperwork, bureaucracy, miscommunication and frustration.
Few jobs in education come with as much associated, complex data to organise and understand; which is why access to a smart, streamlined and effective management information system – ideally developed with the specific needs of SENCOs in mind – is crucial.
Provision Map – powerful software from EduKey Education – is just such a solution; smart, intuitive, and a shining example of joined up thinking in action.
Want to know more about what it could do for you? Here are ten ways it’s already making life easier for SENCOs in thousands of schools across the UK:
1 | Flexible learning plans
Fully in line with the SEND Code of Practice and following the Assess – Plan – Do – Review approach, Provision Map’s learning plans are easy to use, and fully customisable according to your school’s requirements.
2 | Easy provision mapping
With Provision Map, putting effective interventions in place couldn’t be simpler. The system has been designed so you can easily enter details, schedule sessions, input costs, assign pupils and staff and upload files; and a huge provision library contains a list of interventions which you can add to or delete accordingly, which is an enormous time-saver.
3 | Streamlining for reviews
Thanks to Provision Map, keeping on top of reviews is a breeze – automatic reminders ensure that they happen in a timely and organised way; whilst the software enables the process itself to be consistent, clear, purposeful and again, in line with the SEND Code of Practice.
4 | Instant reports
The seemingly endless list of reports to be generated is the bane of many a SENCOs professional life – but Provision Map allows cost, time, Pupil Premium and outcome reports to be available at the click of a button.
5 | Increased parental involvement
Parental engagement is one of the most transformative influences on student success – arguably especially so for young people with SEND. Provision Map offers the option of sharing a pupil’s plan with parents/carers, encouraging improved dialogue and effective collaboration.
6 | Pupil Passports
More and more schools are realising the value of pupil passports, or ‘single page pupil profiles’ for sharing key information regarding students’ needs between different teachers and settings. Provision Map allows these to be created with ease, using customisable templates.
7 | Smoother staff communication
Chasing various staff members for vital details about students can often take up a disproportionate amount of time for SENCOs, which is why Provision Map comes with an optional School Robins plugin. When information is required, an email is sent out to all staff – and their replies are collated, and attached to the relevant pupil. No legwork required!
8 | Seamless transition
When a young person with SEND moves from one school to another, a huge amount of supporting information must be transferred, too. Provision Map streamlines this process, massively reducing the SENCO’s workload, and guaranteeing that plans, provisions, passports, files and meeting logs can be moved smoothly and securely between settings.
9 | Clear outcome tracking
What matters for SENCOs, as for any teacher, is what works – and Provision Map makes it simple to track outcomes related to particular provisions and pupil groups, so that the right decisions can be made moving forwards.
10 | Sound safeguarding
Safeguard my School is available as a plugin for Provision Map; with comprehensive data dashboards, simple compliance checks, and dynamic reporting tools, it represents another giant step for workload reduction.
Discover more, and book a demo for a 30-day free trial, at provisionmap.co.uk/demo. In our next blog, we’ll look at a couple of Provision Map’s functionalities in more detail, and find out how they could transform the way you work!
