Use our comprehensive database list of school SENCO's across the UK to generate sales and create awareness through direct mail, email marketing and telephone marketing campaigns

A Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) is a member of staff in a school responsible for special educational provision.

By using our comprehensive list of school SENCO’s you can promote your relevant products and services that assist schools in meeting the needs of children and young people with a special educational requirement.

Special educational needs in UK schools

Some children and young people require special or different arrangements from their peers in order to achieve their potential, and have a designation of having special educational needs. This could be for a short time or for their entire time in school. 

A special educational need could exist because of a medical condition or a disability and, in some cases it can exist without an official diagnosis.

The Gov.uk SEND code of practice defines a child or young person as having SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which requires them to have special educational provision. 

A child or young person has a learning difficulty or disability where they:

• have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or

• has a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of the kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institution.

Over 1.5 million pupils in England have special educational needs (SEN). 

In 2022 the percentage of pupils with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) increased to 4.3%, whilst the number of pupils with a special educational need and no EHCP increased to 13%. 

These figures have continued to increase year on year since 2016 across schools in England.

Below are examples of the different types of special educational need:

• ASD Autistic Spectrum Disorder
• MLD Moderate Learning Difficulty
• SLD Severe Learning Difficulty
• HI Hearing Impairment
• MSI Multi Sensory Impairment
• PMLD Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
• PD Physical Disability
• OTH Other difficulty/Disability
• SLCN Speech Language and Communication
• SEMH Social Emotional and Mental Health
• SPLD Specific Learning Difficulty
• VI Visual Impairment

What is the role of a school SENCO?

A special educational needs coordinator is a qualified teacher who is responsible for the day to day implementation of the school’s SEN policy. 

Their role is to identify and arrange extra support for children and young people with special educational needs. In addition their job is to 

• put the schools SEN policy into effect on a daily basis,
• work alongside teachers and other members of staff to ensure that the best level of support is available to students,
• assess and review the provision given to children with SEN,
• keep records of students' needs up-to-date along with any support that they are receiving in school,
• work with parents to help their child achieve their potential,
• work with local council support services,
• work with other professionals, for example, in health services.

How are SENCO’s in special schools and mainstream schools different?

The one key difference is that a SENCO in a special school would be involved with all pupils on role.

This is because a student can only attend a special school if they have an education, health and care plan (EHCP).

In a mainstream school a SENCO would work only with the pupils who have an identified special educational need or have an education, health and care plan (EHCP).

More Than Words Note: Read our latest blog to find out more about the different types of schools in the UK.

What types of products or services would a school SENCO be interested in?

Earlier in this article we looked at some of the different classifications of special educational needs.

Taken altogether, the responsibilities needed to manage all these conditions are very broad, and therefore a special educational needs coordinator could be interested in purchasing an equally broad range of products and services. 

For instance they would need resources to help pupils who have additional needs with:

• Fine motor skills
• Gross motor skills
• Writing
• Reading
• Memory & Concentration
• Dyslexia
• Sensory

They also may look for specific support for maths, literacy or speech and language. In addition they may need to purchase laptops, Ipads or other technology to meet a young person’s needs.

Adaptations or adjustments may also be required within a school setting to ensure that the environment is inclusive for all students.

List of school SENCO’s- what’s included

The database is part of our UK Schools database and includes 8,141 SENCO contacts across 8,053 schools with a direct email address.

Each data record will also include the following fields of information:

• School Name
• Address
• Telephone Number
• School Type
• Governance
• Email address
• Website
• Ofsted Rating
• Number of Pupils
• Number of Pupils with SEN
• School Expenditure (England schools only)

All data records are GDPR compliant and we guarantee:

• 98% accuracy on postal address, 
• 92% on phone numbers, and 
• 85% deliverability on email addresses (excludes soft bounces)

If we fail to achieve these guarantees then we would replace your records like for like.

Our list of special educational needs coordinators is provided on a 12 month licence and can be used for postal, email and telephone marketing.

Refine your selection

Refine our list of SENCO contacts according to the phase of education such as Primary or Secondary. 

Or you may choose to select SENCO’s from specific school types such as Independent, LEA, Academies or Special schools.

Use email marketing to communicate with special educational needs coordinators

Email marketing to schools is an effective way to stay in touch regularly with a large number of recipients and build up recognition for your products or services. 

It is important that you send relevant and targeted messages in an email campaign to achieve the maximum possible impact. Vary the content between product/service promotion, latest news and useful resources to keep your audience engaged.

Clients can purchase the list of SENCO’s and use our fully managed email marketing service which includes:

Email content design- using our completed design brief the team will create your bespoke email design.

Email broadcast- our campaign manager will set up and send out your email campaign on your preferred date.

Full reporting- three days after the campaign has been broadcast we will provide you with a report showing opens and click throughs.

Speak to our account managers to find out more about using our managed email marketing service.

Consider a telemarketing campaign targeting school SENCO’s

Education telemarketing is an important sales and marketing tool. The reason for this is the unique benefit of having a two way conversation with a potential customer which creates a human connection. 

That human touch from a telemarketing call can:

• establish a rapport with potential clients,
• generate leads and appointments for your sales team, and
• gather market intelligence from current and prospective clients.

Telemarketing campaigns to schools can be used as a stand alone marketing approach, or it can be used to follow up other direct or digital marketing channels such as:

1. Direct mail
2. Email marketing
3. Social Media/online advertising

More Than Words’ Marketing provides a flexible fully managed telemarketing service which can be purchased alongside a database list of SENCO’s or can be purchased as a stand alone service. 

To find more about our telemarketing approach to the education sector contact our team.

More Than Words Note: Download our handy and informative guides for selling to schools or selling to Multi Academy Trusts.