We Love SENCos Birmingham 2026: Building Better SEND Support

We Love SENCos is a practical, thought-provoking day for the people leading SEND and inclusion in schools.

Our first event brought together 250 SENCos and inclusion professionals at the London School of Economics. What made the day special was both the incredible speakers on stage, and the opportunity for people doing some of the most demanding jobs in education to meet, speak and share ideas that could make a difference back in school.

We are bringing that same spirit to Birmingham - with a bigger programme, more choice and more free stuff!

The Department for Education has set out significant proposals for reforming the SEND system through Putting Children and Young People First. Schools are also beginning to work with the new £1.6 billion Inclusive Mainstream Fund, alongside emerging National Inclusion Standards, inclusion strategies, Experts at Hand and a greater emphasis on identifying and meeting needs earlier in mainstream settings.

These changes could reshape how SEND support is funded, organised and delivered. But SENCos and school leaders cannot wait for every detail of reform to be settled. They are already managing increasing levels of need, stretched budgets, growing workloads and pressure from pupils, families and colleagues who need answers now.

We Love SENCos Birmingham has been designed to help bridge that gap.

The programme brings together practitioners, school and trust leaders, policymakers and specialists to examine the challenges facing SEND - and, most importantly, what schools can do next.

Throughout the day, we will explore:

• What the DfE’s SEND reforms could mean for schools, trusts and families
• How schools can make effective use of the Inclusive Mainstream Fund
• The changing expectations around mainstream inclusion and early intervention
• More manageable ways to identify need and turn evidence into action
• How the developing Experts at Hand offer could improve access to specialist support
• Assistive technology and the practical potential of AI
• Effective intervention that does not depend on expensive programmes
• Executive functioning, SEMH, speech, language and communication
• How overlapping needs can affect identification and support
• Practical ways to reduce SENCo workload without losing professional judgement
• Building school cultures in which pupils and staff genuinely feel they belong
• SEND equality - and which children and young people are still most likely to be excluded, disengage or become NEET
• How schools can respond to reform without creating another layer of bureaucracy

Alongside the main-stage programme, delegates can choose from three parallel tracks:

SEND Masterclasses
Practical sessions exploring comorbidity, executive functioning, SEMH, and speech, language and communication in the classroom.

Operational SEND
Support for the day-to-day realities of leading SEND, including workload, AI, belonging and building an inclusive school culture.

Strategic Inclusion
Two extended panel discussions examining the changing SEND system, the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, inclusion bases, Ofsted’s developing approach and the children and young people who are still being left behind.

The afternoon will also include Experts at Hand, an audience-led session giving delegates direct access to specialists in access arrangements, speech and language, educational psychology, executive functioning, SEMH and dyslexia.

There will be time throughout the day to meet other SENCos and inclusion professionals, compare experiences and speak directly with specialists from across the sector.

Lunch and refreshments are included in the ticket price, giving everyone the opportunity to stay, talk and make the most of the whole day.

This is not a day of abstract discussion or sales pitches. It is an opportunity to step away from the immediate pressures of the role, hear honest perspectives from across the system and leave with practical ideas for your own school or trust.

We Love SENCos Birmingham is run on a not-for-profit basis.

Income from ticket sales and exhibitors is put back into making the event as valuable as possible - from securing an accessible, high-quality venue and providing lunch and refreshments to bringing together an ambitious programme of speakers, specialists and practical sessions.

Our aim is not to make money from the event. It is to create the kind of day we believe SENCos and inclusion leaders deserve: useful, welcoming, affordable and focused on making SEND support better.

The event is designed for:

• SENCos and assistant SENCos
• Inclusion leads
• Headteachers and senior leaders
• Multi-academy-trust and local-authority leaders
• Specialist teachers and assessors
• Educational psychologists and other SEND professionals
• Teachers with responsibility for inclusive practice
• Anyone involved in improving SEND provision in schools

Delegates will leave with:

• A clearer understanding of the DfE’s proposed SEND reforms
• A better sense of what the Inclusive Mainstream Fund means for schools
• Practical approaches to identifying and responding to pupils’ needs
• Classroom strategies that do not add unnecessary cost or complexity
• Ideas for reducing workload and making sensible use of technology
• New perspectives on inclusion, belonging and equality
• Direct access to experienced practitioners and specialists
• Connections with SENCos and inclusion leaders facing similar challenges
• Time and space to decide what you want to change in your own setting

Join us at Millennium Point in Birmingham for a day of practical support, honest conversation and shared determination to build better SEND provision.

Your ticket includes access to the full event, your choice of parallel sessions, lunch and refreshments.

Info: Registration, refreshments and networking.

Info: An introduction to the day, including the key themes, practical information and what delegates can expect from the programme.

Info: The SEND system is facing significant reform, but schools and families are already dealing with immediate pressures. Our opening speakers will examine where the system stands today, what needs to change and what a more inclusive future should look like.

Info: Identifying need should help schools decide what to do next-not generate more data, paperwork and uncertainty. Jamie will explore how schools can build a clearer, more manageable approach to identifying needs and turning evidence into action.

Info: AI and assistive technology are developing rapidly, but which tools genuinely improve access and independence? Julia will explore how technology can remove barriers to learning while remaining practical for pupils and teachers.

Info: Effective intervention does not always require an expensive programme or another layer of complexity. Sarah will examine how schools can make better use of teaching, existing resources and targeted support to improve outcomes sustainably.

Info: Children’s needs rarely fit neatly into a single category. This session will explore how overlapping needs can affect identification, assessment and support-and how practitioners can avoid focusing on one difficulty while overlooking another.

Info: A practical introduction to the executive-function skills behind attention, organisation, working memory and self-regulation, with strategies teachers can use to reduce barriers in the classroom.

Info: This session will explore the relationship between social, emotional and mental health needs, behaviour and participation. Delegates will leave with practical ways to build safety, connection and readiness to learn.

Info: SEND leadership can become dominated by urgent tasks, competing demands and growing paperwork. Abigail will explore how SENCos can manage those pressures while keeping belonging, relationships and pupils’ experiences at the centre of their work.

Info: How can schools recognise communication needs and make everyday teaching more accessible? This session will offer practical strategies that can be used across the classroom, not only during specialist intervention.

Info: SEND is entering another period of significant change. This panel will explore what emerging reforms, the Inclusive Mainstream Fund and Ofsted’s developing approach could mean for schools and trusts.
The discussion will consider the role of inclusion bases, how leaders can respond before every detail of the reforms is known and how to ensure that new policy creates meaningful improvement rather than additional bureaucracy.

Info: An honest discussion about what it takes to create a culture in which pupils and staff feel that they belong. The panel will explore attendance, relationships, staff wellbeing, leadership behaviours and the practical conditions needed to make inclusion sustainable.

Info: Inclusion is not experienced equally. This panel will examine which children and young people remain most likely to disengage, be excluded or become NEET-and what schools, trusts and the wider system can do about it.
The discussion will explore belonging, access to opportunity, transitions beyond school and how reform can lead to better long-term outcomes rather than simply moving pupils between different parts of the system.

Info: An audience-led session giving delegates direct access to specialists across assessment, access arrangements, speech and language, executive functioning, SEMH and educational psychology.
Delegates will be able to submit questions and hear practical, cross-disciplinary perspectives on the challenges they are facing in their own settings.

Info: A final keynote bringing together the central ideas from the day and challenging delegates to consider what they will change in their own schools, trusts and communities.

Event venue & nearby stays

Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham, United Kingdom

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