Online SEN training for teachers and TAs: 26 scenario-based CPD modules, 6 capstones, printable tools and certificates. Module 1 is free, no sign-up.
Sensory Spark Training is online special educational needs training for teaching assistants, teachers and other school staff. It is awareness-level continuing professional development: 26 core modules and 6 capstone simulations, around 8 hours across the full pathway, written by an experienced SEND practitioner and built on the SEND Code of Practice 2015. It is not a professional qualification, and it does not replace your school's policies, specialist advice or task-specific practical training such as moving and handling. The method is scenario-based. Instead of watching a video and ticking a box, you make decisions in a branching classroom situation, and the consequences of those decisions carry forward into the next scene. Module 1, Behaviour is Communication, is free to try and needs no sign-up, so you can judge the approach for yourself before anyone at your setting spends a penny.
The pathway is organised into six strands. Understanding Children covers behaviour as communication, autism, sensory differences and overload, presuming competence and the Engagement Model in practice. Communication covers AAC in the classroom, visual supports, early interaction principles, symbol exchange and requesting, and the communication functions of behaviour. Regulation and Behaviour covers regulation before learning, de-escalation and the low-arousal approach, anxiety and demand sensitivity, and the differences between meltdown, shutdown and tantrum. Classroom Practice covers scaffolding rather than Velcro support, structured teaching and visual environments, task design, and evidence that counts. The Journey covers EHCPs for support staff, annual reviews and the voice of the child, preparation for adulthood, and transitions large and small. Needs Awareness covers ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia, physical and medical needs, and supporting deaf and vision-impaired learners. Each strand ends with a capstone simulation assessed through the decisions you make rather than a separate quiz.
Every module opens with a plain-English introduction and explanations of the key terms, so a new TA and an experienced SENCO can both start from the same place. You then work through a branching scenario. In Module 3, for example, you hold a pupil's sensory battery in your hands and then play out assembly day beat by beat; in Module 12 you follow a single incident from escalation through the peak, the false calm and the repair. Retrieval questions bring back earlier learning, interactive practice tasks let you apply it, and each module ends with a quiz where every answer must be correct, with unlimited retakes. Printable classroom tools and a workplace commitment connect the learning to your next shift, and that commitment is revisited the next time you log in. Text size is adjustable and listen buttons are available where narration exists. Your place in a module is saved in your browser, and completions are recorded against your account when you are signed in.
Sensory Spark started in a Reception classroom. The founder built the platform for his partner, who teaches Reception and was carrying the extra SEN planning on top of a normal workload. That is why the early modules lean on the kind of moments early years and primary staff recognise: a lunchtime incident, a carpet session where nothing seems to happen, ten minutes on the floor with a child who will not join in. Module 5 works through the Engagement Model using five lenses on one apparently empty session and the observation skills that fund provision. Module 8, Early Interaction Principles, is built around joining a child rather than directing them. Alongside the training, the Sensory Spark site offers a free 12-page EYFS sensory curriculum covering all seven areas of learning, and more than thirty free browser-based sensory games that need no sign-up, so the practical side of the training has somewhere to land straight away.
Each module credits its own stated CPD minutes. Before a certificate is issued you complete a learner declaration, and the certificate that follows is printable and carries a unique reference so a school leader or inspector can check it. Completing all 32 pathway units, the 26 modules plus the 6 capstones, unlocks the full pathway certificate. The school licence holder can invite colleagues to their own accounts and see completion counts across the setting, which means the SEN training record for the whole team lives in one place rather than in a folder of INSET sign-in sheets. There are no shared logins. On accreditation: this is provider-certified CPD and it is not yet externally accredited. A specialist peer review by practising SENCOs, specialist teachers and allied professionals is under way, with sixteen reviewer comments published so far, and formal accreditation review follows once it is complete.
Most schools pay for SEN training in one of three ways. A half-day INSET usually comes with no assessment and no follow-up, so little of it sticks past the week. Watch-and-tick video CPD is passive, with no consequences for a wrong call and no retrieval of earlier learning. Per-head external courses can be excellent but are priced per attendee, which makes them hard to justify for every teaching assistant. Sensory Spark Training is one licence for the whole setting: £99 a year covers unlimited staff at one school, with separate accounts for each person. Content is at version 2.2, the Deep Edition, last reviewed in September 2026 and due for review again in September 2027. If you would rather wait for external accreditation, you can register your interest for a £79.99 first-year licence offer that becomes available once accreditation is achieved. Registering is free and does not start a subscription.
Start with the free module. Behaviour is Communication takes around fifteen minutes of notional learning time, needs no account, and uses the same branching simulation format as the rest of the pathway. If it lands with you, read our plain-language guide to what behaviour is communication means in practice, then look at the full SEND CPD training page for the module-by-module detail and the licence. Teaching assistants looking specifically at SEN training for their role, and leaders comparing autism training options for their staff, each have their own page in this section.
Email: support@sensoryspark.co.uk
Address: United Kingdom
No. It is awareness-level continuing professional development for school staff, not a Level 2 or Level 3 teaching assistant qualification and not a replacement for school policies, specialist advice or practical task-specific training.
Around eight hours for the full pathway of 26 modules and 6 capstones. Each module states its own CPD minutes and is designed for short self-paced sessions. Module 1 is about fifteen minutes.
Yes. Module 1, Behaviour is Communication, is free to try with no sign-up. The remaining modules are covered by a school licence at £99 a year for unlimited staff at one setting.
It is provider-certified CPD and not yet externally accredited. Specialist peer review by practising SENCOs, specialist teachers and allied professionals is in progress, and formal accreditation review will follow.