Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENO)
A SENO works for the NCSE (National Council for Special Education) and allocates Special Needs Assistant supports and appropriate school places (including in a special class or special school) for pupils with Special Educational Needs. They are a key point of contact with relation to school and autism class placements and it is important to contact them when sourcing support for your child.
Each SENO is allocated to a fixed number of primary and post-primary schools within a geographical area. They will decide on behalf of the NCSE what supports are best suited to a particular child’s needs and entitlements.
Contact details for the SENO in your area
Regional Services Contact List
Link for special classes by county:
Notify NCSE – Special Class/Special School Placement
New measures to support the Forward Planning for Special Education Provision (www.gov.ie) it is indicated that parents seeking a special class or special school placement for their child for the coming academic year make contact with the NCSE. The NCSE have set up a dedicated NCSE email address to be used by parents looking to contact us about special class/school placement.
The dedicated email address is: parentsnotify@ncse.ie
Note: this email address is available to assist parents who have not yet engaged with their local SENO and wish to make contact with the NCSE for the first time in relation to seeking a special school/class placement for the school year.
If you have already made contact with your SENO and provided professional reports that may support special class/school placement for your child, there is no need to contact the NCSE via this email address.
What you can expect:
- NCSE Service Delivery Support Team will acknowledge your initial email.
- NCSE Service Delivery Support Team will check that you have included your consent form and professional report(s).
- When they have your consent and professional report(s) the NCSE Service Delivery Support Team will forward them to your local regional team, who will check that they meet eligibility criteria for the placement you seek.
- Your local SENO will make direct contact with you to discuss your child’s placement requirements and options.
- Your local SENO will provide you with written feedback that reflects the review of your submitted documents.
- Parents should not delay in making applications for special classes and special school placements to schools that have opened their admissions process for the coming year, when waiting for the NCSE to get back to you.
This new process has been developed to support schools and families and to assist the NCSE in planning for additional specialist placements. Schools have been made aware that our role is to assist with this process, whilst each school follows their own admissions policy.
For information on how to fill out the form and submit reports please follow the link below:
