SEN and special school staffing rota. Cover that knows who cannot move.

• 1:1 keyworker time and EHCP support hours held as weekly blocks
• More than one adult on a post, with a required skill when it matters
• Cover proposals that skip anyone already committed
• A record of sessions that did not run, with the reason

Why SEN staffing breaks a normal rota

A mainstream primary rota assumes most adults are interchangeable at lunch. A special school cannot. The adult with a pupil who needs a familiar face is not spare because their row looks empty. A hydrotherapy session, a sensory circuit or a speech and language block is time that is already spoken for. When someone rings in sick, the question is not who is free. It is who is free, allowed, and not already holding something that must not drop.

How the board holds it

Recurring provision goes in as weekly blocks: One to one keyworker time, EHCP support hours, Sensory circuits, ELSA, Speech and language. The person is shown as busy in that window, so cover routes around them. Duty posts carry the number of people needed and, if you set one, a required skill. Cover will not propose anyone without that skill. You add the skills your school uses, such as a first aider or a named physical intervention training.

What it does not hold

SchoolRota records staff time, not pupil records. No pupil is named on a weekly block. There is no EHCP or SEND register in it, and it is not a pupil attendance register. Keep those in the systems built for them. Use the session label for the provision, not for a child's name. The rota says which adult is where. The provision map says why.

SEN school staffing is mostly fixed points

In a special school a large share of the adults are not free to move at all. A pupil with a plan that names consistent adult support is not a gap to be filled by whoever is spare. A TA trained in a particular physical intervention is not the same as one who is not. A class that needs three adults to go to the pool cannot go with two. Those are the rules your staffing already follows. The rota has to follow them too, or the person running it ends up carrying them in their head.

An SEN base inside a mainstream school has the same problem in a smaller space. The base staff are on the main school's duty rota, and the main school's cover routine can quietly take them, because on the sheet they look free at break.

Weekly blocks for provision

Each recurring session is a weekly block on the person who runs it: One to one keyworker time, EHCP support hours, Sensory circuits, Speech and language, Occupational therapy, ELSA, Thrive, a nurture group. Pick a suggested label or type your own provision map wording. The kind you choose sets how hard cover tries to avoid that person.

When you record a session, three things follow. The person is blocked in that window, so cover routes around them. If the session is dropped, it is logged with a reason. The missed work view then shows planned, missed and ran counts by session name, which is the evidence a provision review asks for and a spreadsheet rarely keeps.

Posts that need more than one adult, or a trained one

Set people needed on each duty session. A hall that needs three adults at lunch gets three, and an empty place stays on the board rather than disappearing because the row looked full. Add a required skill where it matters. Cover will not propose anyone without it, and every person on that session must hold it.

Skills are yours to name. First aider and can lead duty are there to start with. Add the training your school actually uses. Keep the list short enough that people keep it up to date, because a skill nobody ticks is worse than no skill at all.

Same-day cover with all of that in place

When someone rings in, log the absence. The board proposes a name for each empty post and says why: free, holds the skill, not on a block, not already used three times this week. You approve it. If nobody fits, the gap stays visible, so the decision to merge a group or bring in supply is made by a person, on purpose, before the day starts.

Then publish once. Staff get the day as a PDF, or in the staff app. The staffing that was agreed is the staffing everyone can see. The question of how many adults a group needs is a risk assessment, not a rota setting. Staff to child ratios covers what is statutory and what is not.

Common questions

Can a post need more than one adult?

Yes. Set people needed on the duty session. Rebuild fills that number, and an empty place stays visible on the board until someone is assigned.

Will cover move a TA off 1:1 time?

Cover routes around 1:1 time held as a weekly block and proposes someone else. A clash that remains shows as an amber tag, and Admin cover policy can refuse publishing until it is fixed.

Does it store pupil or EHCP information?

No. It holds staff time only. Label a block with the provision, such as EHCP support hours, and keep pupil details in your MIS and SEND systems.

Does it work for an SEN base inside a mainstream school?

Yes. Base staff sit on the same board as the rest of the school. Their provision is held as weekly blocks, so mainstream cover does not take them at break without you seeing it.

Can we report on missed interventions?

Yes. Missed work shows planned, missed and ran counts by session name for the dates you pick, with the reason recorded when a session was dropped.

See also same-day cover, duty rotas, staff to child ratios and SEND and intervention features.