Hi all and welcome Kay to your new role as SENCo. Parent partnership should take place right from the very beginning (eg as soon as the child starts school) and therefore as soon as the child is not making progress or any concerns raised, the class teacher will normally have had that conversation with the parents. By the time a referral comes into most SENCo’s the class teacher has already raised it with parents and told them about the referral to yourself. Your conversation with parents is then the start of the formality and building your relationship with them to tell them about assessment, observations, possible IEP etc, so it will be of no surprise to most parents that their child goes onto the SEND register. Conversations should always be had with parents and some schools do then send out a follow up letter of confirmation – this really depends on your school, ethos, structure etc.