What's new in senco

Adding a passkey asks you to confirm it's you

When you select Add a passkey under Account & security, a Confirm it's you box asks for the code from your authenticator app (or a backup code) if you have two-factor on, otherwise your password. If you sign in by email link or with Google, Microsoft or Apple, it asks you to sign in again, then brings you back to finish. Once confirmed, you can add passkeys for ten minutes without being asked again.

An email whenever a passkey is added

We now email you each time a passkey is added to your account, saying when, and its name if you gave it one. If it wasn't you, remove it under Account & security and change your password.

Signed in a while ago? Sign in again, not an error

If you last signed in more than a day ago, adding a passkey now offers Sign in again and brings you back to finish, instead of showing an error.

Setting your first password asks you to confirm it's you

If you sign in by email link or with Google, Microsoft or Apple, Set password under Account & security now asks you to sign in again first unless you signed in within the last ten minutes, then brings you back to finish. With two-factor on, it asks for your code instead.

An email when a password is added

We now email you when a password is added to an account that didn't have one. If it wasn't you, use Forgot password? on the sign-in page to reset it — that signs every device out.

See what you have typed

Every password box — signing in, creating an account, resetting, setting or changing a password, and confirming it's you for two-factor — has an eye button that shows what you have typed. It hides again as soon as you submit.

How strong is this password?

When you choose a password — creating an account, from a reset email, or under Account & security — a meter under the box says how easy it would be to guess and what would make it harder. It is advice and never stops you. It knows the tricks people lean on, so Password1! or a password built from your own name or email counts as weak.

One password rule everywhere

A password is anything from 8 to 128 characters, wherever you choose one. There are no rules about capitals, numbers or symbols. Creating an account now also stops a password over 128 characters before you submit it, rather than after.

Two-factor asks for your code however you sign in

With two-factor authentication on, an email sign-in link now works again and takes you to Enter your code, then on to where the link was going. Signing in with Google, Microsoft or Apple asks for your code too. A passkey still signs you in in one step. Before, email links were turned off for your account and Google, Microsoft and Apple skipped the code.

Updated shared building blocks

senco now runs on the latest version of the components it shares with its sister apps.

Trusting a device lasts 30 days

The two-factor sign-in screen said Trust this device lasts 60 days. It lasts 30, and now says so.

Scheduled job history kept for 90 days

The daily Housekeeping job now also removes senco's record of its own scheduled job runs once they are 90 days old. Each job's latest run and latest successful run are always kept, so Activity & jobs still shows when a job last ran. The record is new, so nothing will be old enough to remove until late December — this sets a limit from now on rather than clearing anything today.

Signing in with a passkey suggested in the Email field

Many browsers offer your saved passkey when you click into the Email field on the sign-in page. Choosing it signed you in, but the page stayed where it was, so it looked as though nothing had happened. It now takes you on to where you were going, just like Sign in with a passkey — and for senco's platform administrators it opens the admin panel, since a passkey counts as the second factor.

Scheduled jobs no longer show other schools' results

Under Settings › Activity & jobs, Scheduled jobs shows whether each daily job is healthy and when it last ran. What a run found across all schools, and the detail of an error — which could come from another school's records — are no longer shown to schools.

A job still running says so

A job that is still under way now shows Running instead of looking as though it had failed, and one that stopped without finishing says so. A job senco's team has switched off shows Paused, with when.

Scheduled jobs in the admin panel

senco's platform administrators have a new Scheduled jobs section: each job's health, what its last run did in plain words, a switch to pause or resume it for every school — recorded with who and when under Switch history — and Run now. Schools are not affected.

Signing in with a password and two-factor

With two-factor authentication on, signing in with your email and password now goes straight to Enter your code and, once the code is accepted, on to the page you were signing in for — an invitation, say, or the admin panel — instead of always the dashboard. It no longer says Signed in before you have entered the code, or flicks to the dashboard and back on the way.

The scheduler must present its key properly

senco's daily jobs now only start for a scheduler that sends its key the standard way, never in the web address. The older retention address runs the same schedule rather than a separate sweep. Anyone running their own scheduler for senco should point it at the one scheduled address with the key in the authorisation header.

A database update comes first

This release adds to senco's database. The update is applied before the new version goes live.

Updated shared building blocks

senco now runs on the latest version of the components it shares with its sister apps.

Resetting your password signs you out everywhere

Choosing a new password from a Reset your senco password email now signs your account out on every device, so anyone who had the old password loses their way in. Sign in again with the new one.

Changing your password always signs out your other devices

Under Account & security › Change password, every other device is now signed out whenever the password changes. The device you are on stays signed in.

After signing in, you only ever land on senco

The sign-in and two-factor pages now only send you on to pages within senco.

Administrators need two-factor authentication

senco's own platform administrators now need Two-factor authentication on, and a sign-in with their authenticator code or a passkey, to use Platform admin. An administrator without two-factor will be asked to set it up on their next visit to an admin page; everything else in senco keeps working while they do. Adding a passkey, or changing an administrator's two-factor settings once it is on, also needs that kind of sign-in. Schools are not affected.

The privacy page names who handles your data

Privacy now lists each service senco uses and what each one receives — including the AI service an observation's text is sent to when AI extraction is used.

Sign-in safeguards tightened

The live service refuses to start without its own security key, and the private beta and sign-in limits were hardened.

A preference you ticked no longer un-ticks itself

Under My notification preferences, tick two boxes one after the other and both stay ticked. Before, whichever save was answered last decided what the boxes showed, so the first could flip back just after you ticked it. If one of them is refused, only that box goes back now.

AI extraction is for signed-in accounts

Asking senco to pick out behaviours with an AI model now needs you to be signed in. The public demo is unchanged.

See what's new in senco

The new Changelog page, linked from the footer, lists every release newest first, with its changes grouped by the part of senco they touch.

Updated shared building blocks

senco now runs on the latest version of the components it shares with its sister apps. Nothing looks or works differently.

The senco team's guide sits inside their tools

The guide for senco's own support team is now read inside their tools, and only by them.

Plan changes appear in Workspace activity

Open Settings › Activity & jobs to see each plan change in Workspace activity: who asked for it — starting checkout, moving plan or scheduling a move to Starter — and what Stripe then confirmed.

Your data export counts AI calls made for you

The export from Your data › Build an export now says how many AI model calls senco has made on your behalf, and over what period. It never includes what was sent.

Tools for the senco team

senco's own support team can now see each school's plan history and what AI model calls cost, so they can help with billing questions and keep plans fair.

Escalation changes show straight away

Acknowledging, resolving, changing the owner or due date and ticking the resolution checklist update at once, and put themselves back with the reason if the change is refused. Saving a note no longer freezes the rest of the card.

Notification preferences save as you tick

Each notification preference box saves on its own when you tick or untick it, so there is no Save button to remember. A colleague's role still has its own Save.

Marking notifications read is instant

Marking one or all notifications as read updates the bell and the inbox immediately.

The loading bar shows for every link

The bar at the top of the screen now appears for ordinary links as well as buttons, and the link you clicked shows that it is working.

A notifications inbox

See all notifications under the bell opens every notification a page at a time, with all or unread, Mark all read and Load more.

Repeats collapse into one

Several notifications about the same escalation refresh one unread entry instead of stacking up, and opening or acting on the escalation clears them.

Know when an invitation is accepted

The colleague who sent an invitation is notified when it is accepted.

Every escalation has its own page

Notifications, owner emails and dashboard cards open the escalation's own page, with its status, owner, due date, notes, checklist and history.

Escalation notifications no longer lead to a missing page

Following an escalation notification, including an urgent safeguarding one, opens the escalation.

No repeat 'assigned to you' for a new due date

Changing only an escalation's due date no longer tells its owner that it has been assigned to them again.

Tables render as tables

Tables and code examples in guides now display properly rather than as rows of symbols.

The device list stays available

Account & security could stop showing your signed-in devices a day after you signed in. It now always shows them, and devices whose sessions have expired are left off.

Two-factor authentication

Turn on Two-factor authentication in Account & security to ask for a code from your authenticator app when you sign in, with backup codes for when you don't have your phone.

A copy of your data

Your data › Build an export gives you a file of everything senco holds about you. Work you wrote about pupils is counted, not copied, because it belongs to the school's records.

Delete your account

You can delete your own account. It can be restored for 30 days, and nobody else's records are removed with it.

See and end your sessions

Account & security lists the devices signed in to your account. Sign one out, or Sign out everywhere else while staying signed in here.

Easier to see fields and focus

The edges of inputs, checkboxes and outline buttons, and the ring around whatever has keyboard focus, now stand out clearly in both light and dark themes.

Sign-in attempts are limited

Too many sign-in attempts in a short time are now refused for a while, and email sign-in links are handled by an updated, more secure version of senco's sign-in system.

Shared error pages and browser checks

Error pages now come from components shared with senco's sister apps, and the public pages are checked in a real browser.

Workspace activity

Settings › Activity & jobs shows who was invited, whose role changed, who was removed and who changed retention — and Export CSV downloads it for a trust review.

Scheduled jobs at a glance

The same page shows when each of senco's scheduled jobs, such as retention clean-up, last ran and whether it worked.

A notification bell

The bell in the header shows escalation and team notifications inside senco, with mark as read and clear all.

Every guide is its own page

Guides now opens the full written guides, with a sidebar, an on-this-page contents list and search. The help button on each screen opens the guide for it.

Access code attempts are limited

Entering private-beta access codes is limited to a few tries at a time.

Friendlier error pages

If something goes wrong, or a page doesn't exist, senco shows a clear page in its own style with a way back.

Error messages stay general

When something goes wrong, senco explains it in plain words and keeps technical detail out of the message.

Exported spreadsheets are safe to open

Every CSV export is written so that a cell can never run as a formula when opened in a spreadsheet.

Incident log uploads have a size limit

Spreadsheets over 5 MB are refused with a clear message instead of being processed.

Private links stay out of search engines

Invitation and password-reset pages tell search engines not to list them.

A loading bar and page outlines

A thin bar at the top of the screen shows a page is on its way, and dashboard pages show their outline while their content loads. Both respect reduced-motion settings.

Checkout deployment settings

Deployment and billing configuration fixes so checkout works in production.

Tidier documentation

Internal delivery documents were restructured.

Access codes for new accounts

When the private beta is switched on, anyone creating a new account enters an access code first. Existing accounts sign in exactly as before, and the sign-in page says the beta is running.

Starter, School and Trust plans

Compare the plans on Pricing. Starter is free for a single SENCO; School and Trust add team seats, more students and the full review workflow, monthly or annually with two months free.

Manage your plan in Settings

Owners choose a plan, see how many AI reasoning runs are used this month, and open Manage billing and invoices from Settings › Billing.

Some features now need a paid plan

Team seats beyond one, more than 25 students, incident imports, collaborative review, audit exports and calibration governance need the School or Trust plan. Where a feature is locked, choose a plan from Settings › Billing to carry on using it.

A grace period for late payments

If a payment fails, paid features stay open for seven days while it is sorted out.

Passwords with email verification

Create an account with a password, confirmed from your email, and reset it with Forgot password if you lose it.

Passkeys

Add a passkey and sign in with your fingerprint, face or device PIN.

Sign in with Google, Microsoft or Apple

Where your school has them switched on, sign in with the account you already use.

Account & security

Change your email address or password and manage your passkeys and connected accounts from Account & security in Settings.

Search from anywhere

Press ⌘K, or use Search… in the header, to jump to a student or a screen.

Student actions in dialogs

Adding a student, a new observation or an incident import opens a dialog over the dashboard.

Reports as a table

Report history is a searchable, sortable table, with each report's detail and calibration feedback in a dialog.

SEND review sections

A student's SEND review is split into sections down the left, each with its own Add new.

Settings in sections

Settings is organised into sections down the left: Profile, Organisation, Calibration, Pathway, Notifications, Settings and Audit.

Imports have their own dashboard

Imports open the import dashboard, with Import incident log to start a new one.

Review timeline filter

Clearing the activity type on a student's review timeline no longer shows an error.

A guided example on first visit

A short walkthrough shows how an observation becomes a report, a review and, where needed, an escalation.

The dashboard in tabs

The dashboard is split into Overview, Students, Workload, Escalation and Imports, with a summary of what your role usually does next.

Each student's process at a glance

A student's profile shows each stage — observation, SEND review and reports — and explains what unlocks the next one.

Sign in with a password

As well as an email link, you can set a password in Settings and sign in with it.

Follows your system theme

senco now matches your device's light or dark setting, or you can choose one.

Released calibration can be applied to scoring

When switched on for your deployment, the latest approved calibration release adjusts how signed-in reasoning is scored.

Release comparison export

Download a comparison of the baseline, current and latest approved weights from Settings › Calibration.

Schools and trusts

A page on rolling senco out: phased pilots, what schools and trusts need to have ready, and what support covers.

Printable pilot checklist

A pilot-readiness checklist you can print and work through with your team.

A clearer footer

The footer is grouped into Explore, By role, Rollout and Legal, and the public demo uses the same header and footer as the rest of the site.

Features and guides

Features walks through what senco does, and Guides explains each workflow.

Pages for each role

Pages for SENCOs, teachers, clinicians and safeguarding leads show what senco does for each.

Trust and comparison

Trust explains the audit trail, retention and non-diagnostic safeguards, and Compare sets senco against spreadsheets, general chatbots and diagnostic tools.

Calibration analytics

Settings › Calibration summarises reviewer feedback and proposes scoring-weight changes.

Approve, release and roll back

Approve or reject each proposal, publish approved changes as a numbered release, and roll a release back if needed.

Exports for calibration meetings

Download a reviewed-versus-initial comparison and a meeting summary for your calibration meetings.

Extraction provider checks

See whether the optional AI extraction provider is set up, and run a safe test with a made-up observation.

Optional AI extraction

Where it is set up, an AI model can pick out behaviours from an observation. Its suggestions go through the same review as senco's own.

See what reviewers changed

Each saved observation keeps what was first extracted and a comparison of what the reviewer added, removed or changed.

Calibration feedback on reports

SENCOs and clinicians can record whether a report's scoring looked right, with a history of that feedback.

Charts across observations

Students with several observations show how each area has moved over time.

Review behaviours before saving

Edit, remove or add the behaviours senco picked out from an observation before the report is finalised.

See the words behind each behaviour

Each behaviour points back to the words in the observation it came from, and each area explains its confidence.

Trends over time

A student's reports summarise how things have changed across observations.

A review workspace for each student

Case notes, evidence, review actions, parent/carer communication summaries and SENCO-ready exports, with a timeline you can search and filter.

Meeting packs

Record agendas, decisions and the provision plan for review meetings, download the pack, and set a follow-up date with reminders.

Outcomes, sign-off and provision impact

Approve and sign off review outcomes, share a non-diagnostic summary with parents and carers, and track whether provision is making a difference.

Reminders and workload

Action owners get reminder emails, and the dashboard shows upcoming reviews and the SENCO's workload.

Permissions by role

Staff can contribute to a review; SENCOs, clinicians and owners manage downloads, exports and reminders.

Spreadsheet import

Upload an incident log, match its columns, preview what will be imported, and spot duplicates before anything is saved.

Import history and undo

Every import is kept with its outcomes by student and year group, and a whole import can be undone.

Review and correct rows

Open an import to review each row, correct it, skip or override a duplicate, reprocess it, and export a summary.

Cohort dashboard

See imports across a cohort, work through a queue of possible duplicates, and export the results for SENCO review.

Saved exports and background jobs

Save audit export filters as presets and create exports that run in the background, with download links that expire.

A paged audit timeline

The audit timeline loads a page at a time.

Edit your profile and notification preferences

Update your own details and choose which pathway notifications you receive from Settings.

Behaviour log wording is recognised

Everyday incident-log phrasing — leaving class, work refusal, verbal abuse, property damage, unsafe behaviour and more — now produces behavioural signals instead of no match.

Pack history and re-downloads

Browse every pack generated for an escalation and download it again while it is kept.

Retention you control

Set how long escalation packs are kept. Expired packs are cleared automatically.

Notification routing

Choose who hears about each pathway event — the owner, the SENCO or a clinician. Urgent safeguarding notifications can't be switched off.

The audit timeline

One timeline of notes, checklist completions, pack access, owner changes and retention changes, with search, filters and CSV export.

Pathway templates

Non-diagnostic templates for SENCO review, the designated safeguarding lead, CAMHS, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and educational psychology, with your school's own wording.

Printable packs and PDFs

Generate an escalation pack for a pathway, print it or download it as a PDF.

Checklists and pathway owners

Work through a resolution checklist for each pathway, with your own checklist items and an owner per pathway who receives the packs.

New colours and type

An educational teal and indigo palette in light and dark, applied to buttons, cards, messages and emails.

Bigger, clearer controls

Larger buttons and fields, more space, and labels that say what is happening while an action runs.

Escalations from reports

Reports that need SENCO review or urgent safeguarding create an escalation for your school's default owner to acknowledge and resolve.

Notes, due dates and overdue alerts

Add notes, set due dates, see what is overdue on the dashboard, and email owners when an escalation is theirs.

Privacy and security pages

Public pages explain how senco handles privacy and security.

Invitations and roles

Invite colleagues as a SENCO, member of staff or clinician. They join from the link in their invitation email.

A new homepage and public demo

A new homepage explains senco, and the public analyser lets anyone try an observation without an account.

Observations in your own words

Write what you saw; senco picks out the behaviours, scores them across areas such as communication, sensory processing and emotional regulation, and suggests possible areas of need with its confidence. It never diagnoses.

Suggested interventions and safeguarding flags

Each report suggests interventions from a curated bank and flags anything that may need safeguarding review.

Student profiles and report history

Keep a profile for each student with every observation, report and intervention saved against it.

Sign in with an email link

Sign in with a link sent to your email, and manage your organisation in Settings.