Everyone include- SEN/D Changes Info by NASEN

Fantastic Membership Benefi ts from nasen Everybody Included
The SEND Code of Practice explained
PRACTICAL HELP SEND audit tools
and action plans
KEY GUIDANCE ON:
u THE GRADUATED APPROACH
u THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK
u ASSESSMENT
u THE LOCAL OFFER
u PERSONAL SEN BUDGETS

Implementation events, funded by the Department
for Education will be run nationally in June and July
2014. Each event will provide practical information,
guidance and support for the implementation of the
SEND Code of Practice 0 – 25.
To supplement implementation events being run
around the country, the DfE will provide briefi ng
sessions at nasen Live 2014. For information about
nasen Live visit www.nasenlive.org.uk.
Inspirational day. Loads of
information to feed back and
work on over the next few months
Gaynor Martin, Assistant Headteacher
nasen Learning Event November 2013
Events will provide:
A summary of main points of the SEND
Code of Practice 0 — 25.
Workshops to support key elements of the
Code and how to respond to them.
An opportunity to network with other SEN
professionals to discuss and share how the
new legislation can best be introduced into
your setting.
Up to date information to support your
implementation of the new Code.
Book your place
To book your place at a learning event, please
complete the booking form on the reverse of this
fl yer and return it to us by:
Email events@nasen.org.uk
Fax 01827 313 005
Post nasen House, 4/5 Amber Business Village,
Amber Close, Amington, Tamworth B77 4RP
Once your booking form has
been received and registered
on our database, a booking
confi rmation will be sent to the
email address provided. If you
have not received the email
booking confi rmation within
48 hours of sending the form
by fax or within 3 days of
sending it by post, please call
01827 311 500 to check we
have received it.
Please book early to avoid disappointment
These events are free to attend and lunch will be provided. Places are limited
and will be allocated on a fi rst come, fi rst served basis. Please note that whilst
the event is free to attend we are unable to cover additional costs such as
travel or supply.
www.nasen.org.uk
NATIONAL SPECIAL
EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
IMPLEMENTATION
EVENTS
Sponsored by: Supported by:

www.nasen.org.uk|1
Welcome
Published by nasen
nasen
nasen House
4/5 Amber Business Village
Amber Close
Amington
Tamworth
Staffordshire B77 4RP
Tel: 01827 311500
Fax: 01827 313005
Email: welcome@nasen.org.uk
© nasen. All rights reserved.
Editor: Sean Stockdale
Project Manager: Kath Mackrill
Designer: Tim Wesson
Editorial enquiries:
Sean Stockdale
Tel: 01827 311500
Email: Seans@nasen.org.uk
No part of this publication may be
copied or reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means electronic,
mechanical, photocopy, recording or
otherwise without the prior permission
of nasen.
While every care has been taken in
the compilation of this publication,
nasen cannot accept responsibility for
any inaccuracies or changes since
compilation, or for consequential
loss arising from such changes or
inaccuracies, or for any other loss,
direct or consequential, arising in
connection with information in this
publication. The views herein are
not necessarily those of the editor
or nasen. Not all photographs in
this publication depict children with
special educational needs. Many
of the photographs are taken in
integrated classes.
Nasen would like to thank all those
who have contributed photographs.
Registered Charity No. 1007023
Registered Company, limited by
guarantee, No. 2674379 (England
and Wales)
A graduated approach from 0–25
years, page 4
Nasen welcomes the government reforms to special educational needs and disabilities
(SEND) which the Children and Families Act 2014 will bring, and the consequent
implementation of the new requirements for SEND for settings, schools, colleges and other
education providers from 1 September this year.
The reforms represent a transformation in the way support is provided for children and
young people with SEND up to the age of 25. They will bring new opportunities for all
education providers to reconsider the arrangements they make for children and young
people who may have SEND. The vision for reform is based on the following principles:
u High expectations and aspirations for what young people can achieve.
u Aspirations of young people and their parents and carers that are placed at the
centre of everything we do.
u Early identification of needs, and integrated early help.
u Integrated assessment and planning from 0–25, focused on long-term outcomes,
bringing together education, health and care support.
u High-quality provision organised with clear pathways and providing choice and
control to families.
u Excellent outcomes achieved through the knowledge, skills and attitude of everyone
working with children and young people.
Reform naturally brings change. What will this mean for settings, schools, colleges and
other education providers? Nasen has prepared this guidance with its range of practical
advice, tools and examples of good practice to enable all education providers to gain
a better understanding of how they might approach the new requirements for SEND. We
are particularly grateful to all the settings and organisations which have contributed to
this publication. Drawing on the experience and expertise across sectors has resulted in a
comprehensive range of materials and guidance which we expect all settings will find useful.
The new SEND legislation will bring changes to the way statements, reviews and
services will be delivered and publicised and how local authority responsibility will be
defined for local young people up to the age of 25 years. The new Code of Practice will
make teachers more accountable for the progress of all pupils, even those supported
by specialist staff. As part of performance management, teachers should expect to be
judged on how well they teach pupils with SEND. High-quality continuing professional
development, training and information will be of paramount importance to our education
workforce. How can we expect teachers to identify SEND and support pupils with different
needs if they do not know exactly what is required of them?
This guidance is just one of a number of high-quality resources nasen provides to
individuals and organisations through a comprehensive membership package. Membership
of nasen provides all the necessary information any SENCO or professional should need,
including a range of tools, templates and guidance prepared and ready for you to access.
Join nasen today using the form on the inside back cover of this publication or at
www.nasen.org.uk and let’s work together to ensure that everybody is included.
Jane Friswell, Chief Executive, nasen
Building new relationships with
parents, page 39
Effective transition planning,
page 42

Features
4 ASSESS – PLAN – DO – REVIEW
Jane Friswell discusses the key criteria for success in applying
the graduated approach across your setting
12 INTRODUCING THE SEND GATEWAY
The SEND Gateway has been designed to offer busy
professionals high-quality resources, guidance and training.
Terry Waller reveals just how easy it is to access the information
you need
15 FAQS FOR SEND REFORMS
We provide some guidance in answer to the many questions
nasen receives about the new SEND arrangements
18 THE TOP TEN FOR SEN
Looking ahead to the implementation of the new SEN legal
framework, Jane McConnell provides a checklist of the ten
essential actions for schools and settings
24 THE EPIC EFFECT
When consulted about the proposed changes to special
educational needs and disabilities, the young people involved
welcomed the chance to have their say, as Joanna Carr reveals
26 REASSESSING ASSESSMENT
Pat Bullen examines the new arrangements for assessment and
the introduction of education, health and care plans
29 WHAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE?
As part of nasen’s Outstanding Schools project, Annie Grant
asked stakeholders in a variety of settings what factors
contributed to the quality of their provision
32 EXPLAINING PERSONAL SEN BUDGETS
Following the major reforms to SEN funding in 2013, we take
a closer look at the new system of personal SEN budgets
35
35 WHAT’S IN A LOCAL OFFER?
With local authorities soon required to publish details about the
SEND provision available in their area, Pat Bullen sheds some
light on the local offer and what it entails
39 PARTICIPATING IN DECISION MAKING
Philippa Stobbs reviews the evolution of parent participation
through the SEN and disability reforms and considers
some of the implications for schools
42 TRANSITION PROTOCOL
Caroline Bennett considers the key ingredients
that enable a successful transition to adulthood for
young disabled people
44 EFFECTIVE PROVISION MAPPING
Auditing and evaluating your SEN provision
is much easier using a well-put-together
provision map, as Annie Grant reveals
46 GETTING THE POLICY
RIGHT
School SEN policies will need
to reflect the changes in the new
SEND Code of Practice. Read our
guidance on what you should include in your
revised document
26
AUDIT TOOLS AND
ACTION PLANS
49 Parental engagement and participation audit tool for
parents and carers of pupils with SEND
52 Children and young people’s voice and self-advocacy
audit tool
55 An action plan to support school preparation for the
SEND reforms
www.nasen.org.uk | 3
4
12
Contents

4|www.nasen.org.uk
The graduated approach is at the heart of
whole-school practice as we are continually
assessing, planning, implementing and
reviewing our approach to teaching all
children. However, where a potential special
educational need has been identified, this
process becomes increasingly personalised,
as it responds over time to a growing
understanding of the child or young person’s
barriers to and gaps in learning and an
increasingly individualised assessment of
need. This cyclical process enables schools
continually to reflect on their approaches
to meeting a child’s needs and in doing so,
necessitates that schools plan for enhanced
opportunities to engage with parents and
carers and the pupils themselves in a growing
understanding and awareness of needs and
approaches that enable good progress and
good outcomes.
Prerequisites for success
The role of the class/subject teachers
Where a potential special educational need
has been identified, there can be a tendency
for the response to fall predominantly into
the hands of the SENCO or the learning
support team and this may lead to an implicit
expectation on them for meeting a child’s
needs; ultimate accountability can be seen to
rest in their hands too.
The Teachers’ Standards 2012 make it
clear that it is every teacher’s responsibility
to ‘adapt teaching to respond to the strengths
and needs of all pupils’, a point reinforced by
the new SEND Code of Practice. Class and
subject teachers need to be at the heart of this
approach, driving the movement around the
four stages of action with the support, guidance
and leadership of the SENCO and, where
appropriate, other specialist staff.
The graduated approach
‘Class and
subject
teachers need
to be at the
heart
of this
approach
Assess – Plan –
Do – Review
Jane Friswell discusses the best way to make the graduated
approach work for your setting

REVIEW PLAN
Continuum of Assessment for ____________________ [insert school name here] __________________
Teacher SENCO Specialists
www.nasen.org.uk|5
or are predominantly carried out by specialised
SEN staff, with any results sitting in a file for
reference only. Schools who feel this is an area
to reflect on may wish to consider carrying out
an audit of individualised assessments using
nasen's whole-school ‘Continuum of Assessment’
tool (see below, available in the members' area
of the nasen website at www.nasen.org.uk).
Establishing a structured and agreed
approach to the identification of special
educational needs is a key responsibility of the
SENCO. Good practice in this area is to utilise
a record of initial concerns, where teachers who
have identified a pupil as not making adequate
progress, despite high-quality teaching targeted
at their areas of weakness, can record their
concerns, observations and any individualised
assessments that may have been made.
Establishing a structured and agreed protocol
around the possible identification of SEN
ensures that the decision is given the gravitas it
deserves; all information needs to be available
High expectations and aspirations
The graduated approach will only secure good
outcomes for vulnerable pupils if all those who
teach and support pupils with SEND have the
highest aspirations for them and if those who
lead and manage provision demonstrate an
ambitious vision and plan of action to enable
this to happen. An identification of a special
educational need should not result in excuses
for lack of appropriate progress or a lowering
of expectations.
Assess
A clear understanding of a child’s needs is
a critical precondition to planning effective
strategies, creating appropriate provision and
influencing the adjustments to teaching that will
lead to good progress and improved outcomes.
Assessment of need starts with a whole-school
approach that can quickly identify where a
child is not making adequate progress, despite
high-quality teaching. The Code suggests a
range of sources of information that teachers
can draw on to establish a clear analysis of a
pupil’s need:
u Teachers’ assessment and experience of the
pupil.
u Pupil progress, attainment and behaviour.
u The individual’s development in comparison
with their peers.
u The views and experience of parents.
u The pupil’s own views.
u Advice from external support services.
However, it may well be necessary to explore
further the precise gaps in the pupil’s learning
and development and to clarify what the
barriers to learning may be. It is good practice
to look afresh at the range of individualised
assessment ‘tools’ and approaches the
school itself can access to support this closer
identification of need, such as:
u Standardised tests.
u Criterion-referenced assessments and
checklists.
u Profiling tools, for example for behaviour and
speech, language and communication needs.
u Observation schedules and prompt sheets.
u Questionnaires for parents.
u Questionnaires for pupils.
u Screening assessments, for example for
dyslexia.
Carrying out individualised assessments should
result in greater clarity of a pupil’s strengths and
needs and influence subsequent approaches
to teaching and learning. To that end, schools
may wish to reflect on current practice in
using individualised assessments and consider
whether they are utilised by teachers to make
adjustments to their core or targeted teaching,
‘Assessment
of need
starts
with a
whole-school
approach
ASSESS
DO
æ
å
è
ç
J
Broad areas of need
from the SEND Code of
Practice
Area of assessment Assessment tools
available
for teachers
Assessments for use by
SENCO/trained TA
Specialists available for
further assessment
Communication and
interaction
ie this section can be broken
down into:
– receptive language
– expressive language
– social/functional etc
Cognition and learning ie this section can be broken
down further into:
– phonics encode decode
– HFW
– maths
– phonological awareness
– processing speed
– working memory etc
Social, emotional and
mental health
Sensory/physical needs
All pupils Pupils who are not making progress due to possible SEN
All pupils
Parents' views
Child’s views
Previous teachers’ views
Support staff views
Reports from previous
school/preschool
Development matters
Foundation Stage Profile
NC/P levels
APP
Phonics check
QCA
Behaviour policy

6|www.nasen.org.uk
teaching, further assessment and observation
and possible placement on the SEN record.
This particular tool should be helpful in
enabling SENCOs to engage and communicate
effectively with teacher colleagues in the early
stages of information gathering, when initial
concerns are identifi ed about a child or young
person. The Initial Concerns Checklist promotes
the requirement for a truly whole-school
approach to identifying, assessing and meeting
the needs of all pupils and provides a practical
approach and tool for this process.
Plan
First step: inclusive quality-fi rst
teaching
Once the need for SEN Support has been
identifi ed, the Code is quite clear that the
fi rst step in responding to a pupil’s identifi ed
need is to ensure that high-quality teaching,
differentiated for individual pupils, is in
place. Essentially, this should be the teacher
asking themselves, with the support of the
SENCO, what they now know – following the
individualised assessments they have undertaken
– that they didn’t know before about this pupil’s
strengths, areas of need, barriers to and gaps
in learning and the pupil’s and parents’ views,
and then what changes or adaptions to quality-fi
rst teaching this new understanding means they
need to make.
It is likely to be the role of the SENCO
here, or an appropriate specialist member of
the teaching staff directed by the SENCO, to
support the class/subject teacher(s) in the kind
of adjustments to teaching, support and use of
resources that would be most effective. However,
as SENCOs know all too well, they don’t have
a ‘magic wand’ and although experience in the
role over time will lead to a greater confi dence
and growing knowledge and understanding
of a range of pupils’ needs, no two pupils’
profi les are the same and therefore it is the level
of pedagogical discussion and refl ection that
is important, along with a willingness to seek
further advice if needed.
Making all staff aware of a pupil’s
needs
The Code says that ‘all teachers and support
staff who work with the child should be made
aware of their needs, the support provided and
any teaching strategies or approaches that are
required’. This can be a particular challenge
in secondary schools where there are greater
numbers of teaching and support staff to advise.
Some schools have adopted a pupil
passport approach to enable this to happen as
effi ciently as possible and also to ensure that
to the professionals involved in making this
decision and where there is not enough detailed
information, further clarifi cation can be sought
and provided. A process such as this in place
in a school should ensure that over-identifi cation
of SEN does not become a pattern, or that
the specifi c aspects of pupils’ needs are not
overlooked. Evidence is key to identifying needs
and ensuring that the appropriate provision is
provided. Without a structured approach to
identifying SEN, vital evidence is likely to be
lost, incomplete or lead to delays – a frequent
complaint of pupils and parents.
Nasen suggests the use of an initial concerns
checklist approach and has provided an
example of such a list which can be accessed
via the members' area of the website at
www.nasen.org.uk/ This Initial Concerns
Checklist is designed for class teachers/subject
specialist teachers to use to collate summative
assessment data, observations and any initial
individualised ‘testing’ they have on a pupil
in their class about whom they may have
concerns. This checklist can then be shared
and discussed with the SENCO to consider, for
example, possible placement of the pupil on
the SEN register, further adaptations to core
REFLECTION AND
READINESS
u How are we ensuring that we are identifying and
addressing pupils’ needs/SEN as early as possible?
u Can we improve our liaison with pre-school/feeder
schools to prepare and deliver our best endeavours for
pupils with additional needs as soon as they arrive with
us/them?
u Can we improve our liaison with post-school education
and training providers/further education colleges to
prepare and deliver our best endeavours for students
with additional needs and inform and plan for effective
transition?
u Have we available a range of tools and expertise to
support identifi cation and assessment of need?
u Do class/subject teachers make suitably effective use
of these tools to identify pupils’ gaps in and barriers to
learning, adapting their core teaching in the light of these
fi ndings?
u Do we need to refresh our procedures around the
identifi cation and assessment of SEN?
u Do we know how to call on the support of a range of
external specialists as and when we need to?
u Are there any areas of SEN where our staff need training
to support their understanding of and ability to identify
pupils’ emerging diffi culties as early as possible and to
respond appropriately?

‘Class
and subject
teachers
retain
responsibility
for the
pupil
www.nasen.org.uk|7
u Time is available to prepare resources linked
to targeted support.
u Teachers ensure that they seek and are
provided with regular feedback on pupils’
learning/progress with targeted provision.
u Parents understand and agree on the
intervention and support and the expected
impact.
u Staff make sure that pupils are clear as to the
key aspects of learning they will be working
on during this provision.
It is important to note that any system is only as
good as the environment in which it operates.
In some settings, particularly primary schools,
individual education plans (IEPs) form an
important part of provision. However, I would
encourage colleagues to think differently and
consider how new ways of working can support
the whole setting’s inclusive agenda.
There is a steadily increasing body of
research around what type of approach and/
or provision works best for pupils with a range
of additional needs, and SENCOs need to keep
abreast of this as a key aspect of their role.
Websites and links to organisations that collate
such information include:
u www.interventionsforliteracy.org.uk
u www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/
whatworks
u http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.
uk/toolkit/
Student passports
A student passport may cover the following
key areas and usually takes up one side of A4
paper:
u Student information and photograph (this
provides a personalised approach).
the individualised needs and views of the pupil
are kept at the heart of these strategies and
approaches.
Targeted special educational
provision
Once the specific areas of need and gaps in
learning and development have been identified,
additional or different provision targeted at
these key areas can be planned. The Code
says this planning process should take place
in consultation with the parents and the pupil
and should be ‘accurately recorded’. Class
and subject teachers retain responsibility for
the pupil, even when the pupil is undertaking
targeted provision away from them, and
therefore should be firmly at the centre of the
process of planning this provision with the
SENCO and any specialist staff involved with the
pupil. Parents and pupils must also be involved.
Planning targeted provision that is based
on reliable evidence of effectiveness is always
the best course of action, but even the most
efficacious targeted intervention can be
rendered ineffective if other areas have not
been considered, explicitly planned for and put
firmly in place. For example:
u High-quality training is provided for all
staff involved in delivering and monitoring
targeted provision.
u The time and place for targeted provision to
take place are established and adhered to
regularly.
u Skills learnt during targeted provision are
practised back in class.
u Time and a system for feedback from staff
delivering targeted provision to class/subject
teachers are planned for.

‘The SENCO
monitors
progress
termly with
all relevant
staff
8|www.nasen.org.uk
Using the student passport as a tool for
engaging the student in real discussions about
learning, needs and strategies allows for an
opportunity to activate metacognitive discourses
and thinking. This is considered as ‘high impact
for low cost, based on extensive evidence’
(Education Endowment Foundation) and also
provides a refreshing opportunity for a positive
dialogue with students, parents/carers and
other professionals, culminating in a single
document to support learning, teaching and
access to the curriculum.
What better way to inform a parent/carer
than to have a meeting and use the student
passport as a ‘discussion template’? Indeed,
some of the most powerful discussions have
taken place when parents/carers take the draft
passport home and have conversations about
learning away from school – empowering
them to have a more sophisticated level of
involvement.
Nasen will be sharing examples of pupil
passport proformas on its website at
www.nasen.org.uk/
Target setting – linked to targeted
provision
One of the key themes coming through loud
and clear in the SEND Code of Practice is the
need to ensure that where additional/different
targeted provision is planned for, there are
clear and expected outcomes linked directly
to the provision. Very often, targeted provision
is planned to take place outside the class and
away from the class/subject teacher. If this
is the case, then schools have to have a very
clear reason for it and be explicit, transparent
and precise as to the purpose of this targeted
provision – the expected (targeted) outcome
by the end of, for example, the term/half term
needs to be discussed, agreed and planned
for. It may be that the targets are the same
for a group of pupils and are recorded on
a group intervention plan or they may be
more individualised for a pupil needing more
personalised one-to-one support and therefore
recorded on an individual plan. There is no
expectation that schools use one particular
form or another; the important consideration
is whether the planning, target setting and
monitoring tool used is fit for purpose and
supports the process of raising achievement.
If a school’s current recording tools are
enabling this to happen, then it is probably
best to stick with what they are currently using.
If, however, the SENCO has long thought
that the school’s current system of individual
education plans is no more than a paper
exercise and does not support and underpin
the graduated approach, then maybe it is
time to refresh and rethink the school’s record-keeping
systems.
u I would like you to know that… (the young
person’s first-hand description).
u This means that… (again, first-hand
information for teachers from the student).
u I find it difficult to… (key areas that are
difficult, agreed after discussion).
u It would help me if you could… (practical
strategies and tips to support the identified
areas of need).
u I will help myself by… (agreed strategies and
practical solutions for the young person).
u Additional support (noted additional support;
speech and language therapy, therapy
sessions, teaching assisstant support, and so
on).
u Access arrangements (noted assessment
needs – extra time, reader/scribe).
u Data/information (key data/information,
as required – summarised for ease of
reference).
REFLECTION AND
READINESS
u How are we ensuring that teachers and other key
members of staff have access to all the information
about the special educational needs of pupils they teach,
including statements/EHC plans and specialist reports?
u Is the SENCO supporting the development of staff skills,
confidence and expertise in this area?
u Are teachers at the heart of the process of planning
targeted provision for pupils with SEN?
u Are we utilising research around effective interventions
and strategies for pupils with SEN?
u Is targeted provision always being carried out as
planned?
u Is there planned time and a system for feedback from staff
delivering targeted provision to class/subject teachers?
u Do support staff have appropriate time to prepare
resources linked to targeted support?
u Do parents understand and agree on the intervention and
support and the expected impact?
u Are pupils clear as to the key aspects of learning they will
be working on during this targeted provision?
u Are there effective tools in place to record the targeted
provision pupils with SEN are receiving? Do they serve
their purpose as effective working documents?
u Are pupils’ targets linked directly to their key areas of
need and the targeted provision being planned for?
u Are pupils and parents meaningfully engaged in the
co-production of SEN provision?
u How are we ensuring that the targeted provision and
support in place are addressing the objectives as outlined
in pupils’ statements/EHC plans?
u Do we need to refresh our approach to record keeping
and provision mapping, especially in relation to how we
currently use IEPs?

www.nasen.org.uk|9
and review time is explicitly planned for and
regularly takes place is crucial if it is not to get
sucked away by other issues. Some schools
have utilised strategies such as:
u joint planning, preparation and assessment
(PPA) time with support staff
u support staff paid to join planning and
department meetings
u quick and concise communication tools to
convey outcomes of targeted provision
u targeted provision work carried out in pupils’
class/subject books so that teachers can
see what work has been done and to what
standard and pick up any emerging issues as
soon as possible.
Outstanding teachers continually reflect during
their lessons, and when marking and planning
afterwards, on where students are in their
learning, where they are going and how best
to enable them to get there. In the case of
children with identified special educational
needs, this reflective process can be especially
important because they can be the most
challenging children to teach. Ensuring that
there is a high level of pedagogical discussion
around how pupils’ day-to-day learning is
developing is crucial to moving the skills of
teachers and support staff on in a process
of continual refinement and in response to
what is happening in the classroom. Having
a forum in which professionals working with
a child can reflect together on what is going
well is vital, and can be both supportive and
developmental.
Sharing the learning journey
It is clear from the work carried out and collated
by the Education Endowment Fund that teachers
are becoming more aware of the effectiveness
of metacognitive and self-regulation strategies
(sometimes known as ‘learning to learn’
strategies). These are approaches that make
students think about learning more explicitly by
teaching them specific strategies to set goals,
monitor and evaluate their own learning.
Essentially, these strategies involve enabling
pupils to become aware of the strengths
and weaknesses in the way they learn.
Encouragingly, the evidence suggests that these
approaches tend to be particularly effective
with lower-achieving pupils. See http://
educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/
meta-cognitive-and-self-regulation-strategies for
more details.
The SEND Code of Practice is challenging
us to ensure that the child or young person is
participating as fully as possible in decisions
and being provided with the information and
support necessary to enable participation
in those decisions. An essential element of
moving through the graduated approach is to
ensure that we are regularly reflecting on how
Planning provision for a pupil with
a statement/EHC plan
The process of planning targeted provision
for a pupil with a statement or an education,
health and care (EHC) plan is firmly rooted in
the graduated approach, the difference being
that as these pupils’ needs are likely to be
more complex, the approach to meeting these
needs and ensuring progress will be even more
personalised and individualised. Crucially,
the approach will be based on organising
provision around the planned outcomes written
on the pupil’s statement/plan.
So what do schools need to ensure is in
place when planning provision for pupils with
statements/EHC plans?
u All staff working with children have read and
understood the statement/EHC plan and any
specialist reports.
u A clear range of strategies and approaches
to support class differentiation is agreed
by all those involved based on specialist
advice.
u Co-production of a plan to address needs,
with agreed outcomes for all targeted
provision, is produced.
u Any additional training for teaching and
support staff is arranged.
u Teachers monitor progress towards meeting
agreed outcomes regularly, adjusting
planning where needed.
u The SENCO monitors progress termly with all
relevant staff, parents and pupils.
Focus on outcomes not hours
In a local authority that indicates hours of
additional (teaching assistant/specialist teacher)
support on the plan, schools should focus first
on the agreed outcomes being sought and then
on how the allocated ‘hours’ are being used to
reach the agreed outcomes. Again, how this
is recorded is very much dependent on school
context and the effectiveness of current planning
and reviewing systems.
Do
The SEND Code of Practice places the teacher
at the centre of the day-to-day responsibility for
working with all pupils, including those with
identified SEN, whether receiving SEN Support
or with an EHC plan, even where interventions
and targeted provision involve group or
one-to-one teaching away from the class. The
imperative is that teachers work closely with any
teaching assistants or specialist staff involved
to plan and assess the impact of targeted
interventions.
Time is perhaps the most precious commodity
in all schools, so ensuring that this planning
OUTCOMES
NOT HOURS
u It is vital to be absolutely
clear about the outcome
required from any SEN
support provided – not
how many hours of
teaching assistant or
other staff time will be
provided.
u A clear date should be
set to check progress
and evaluate the
support that is used in
school.
u Open conversations
should be held with
parents about what the
support is intended to
achieve, how it will be
clear whether it has
worked and what the
school will do next if it
hasn’t.

REFLECTION AND
READINESS
u Are teachers confident and appropriately skilled to be
able to meet the needs of pupils with SEN whom they
teach?
u Is the SENCO supporting the development of staff skills,
confidence and expertise in this area?
u Do teachers monitor the progress of pupils within targeted
provision for whom they are accountable? Is time
planned in to enable this to happen?
u How can we ensure that the skills being taught and
practised within targeted provision are improving the
outcome of work in class and are developing pupils’
independence?
u Are we supporting pupils toward a growing awareness
of the way they learn best?
10|www.nasen.org.uk
we enable pupils to develop their skills and
confidence, to share their aspirations and goals
and understand the best ways that those who
teach and support them can help to remove any
barriers to their learning and participation. So,
the challenge for us as teachers is to consider
how, in the day-to-day classroom experience,
we support pupils to gain a better awareness
of the way they best learn and enable them
over time to participate fully in decisions about
their own life, particularly in reviews of their
progress, assessments of their support needs
and in decisions about their transition to
adult life.
Review
As mentioned in the previous section, teachers
are continually reviewing the progress of all
pupils on a daily, albeit informal, basis in
every lesson through marking and feedback
opportunities as well as regular meetings with
support staff. Teachers shouldn’t wait for the
more formal termly review meeting to reflect on
and make necessary adaptations to teaching
and learning approaches and provision.
However, the SEND Code of Practice states that
the progress towards meeting planned outcomes
should be tracked and reviewed regularly, at
least termly.
The tracking and reviewing of all pupils
has become increasingly robust over the last
few years, so schools should be considering
how they can utilise whole-school approaches
wherever possible. For example, many schools
carry out a regular (often termly or half termly)
pupil progress meeting or department review
meeting where both group and individual
progress can be reviewed. For teachers to be
ready to discuss the progress of pupils with
identified SEN at this meeting, they should
consider the following:
u Have the pupils met the expected end of
term/year National Curriculum/P level target,
and are they achieving the level/grade
independently and consistently? Evidence of
progress and attainment can be taken from a
variety of sources, including:
– observation
– work scrutiny
– assessed work
– use of APP (Assessing Pupil Progress)
– tests, where appropriate.
u Are they on track to meet their end of year/
key stage target?
u Is there an improvement in the previous rate
of progress?
u Is the gap narrowing (attainment and
progress) between pupils with SEN and
all pupils?
TESTING THE
TEACHING AND
LEARNING
These are some questions that class/subject teachers can
draw on, ideally with any support staff, when reflecting on
how successful day-to-day teaching and learning are for
pupils with identified SEN. They are also useful questions
to address as part of a lesson study focused on pupils with
additional needs.
u Has the adult support been effective in enabling planned
objectives to be met?
u Are the skills that are being developed in targeted
provision transferring back in class/across the curriculum?
u Are pupil confidence and self-esteem healthy?
u Is behaviour for learning appropriate/improving?
u Are the pupils on track to meet targets set?
u Have they had the opportunity to work in a variety of
groups this week?
u Have they had an equal amount of teaching input this
week?
u Are there any emerging gaps in/barriers to learning that
need to be investigated further?
u Have they been able to work effectively with peers?
u How engaged are they in the learning?
u How independently are the pupils able to work? Is this
improving?
u How well and how often are the planned learning
objectives being met?
u Has the adult support been effective in enabling them to
meet planned objectives?
u Are they developing a keen awareness of their strengths,
areas of need and what strategies and approaches to
learning they can utilise to enable them to achieve their
goals?

REFLECTION AND
READINESS
u Are pupils and parents meaningfully engaged in the
review of SEN provision?
u Are we utilising whole-school tracking and reviewing
processes to support the evaluation of the achievement of
pupils with SEN?
u Are staff well prepared to discuss the term’s outcomes
(qualitative and quantitative) of pupils with identified
SEN?
u Have we got in place appropriate recording tools to
collate the outcomes, views and future adjustments to
provision?
www.nasen.org.uk|11
contribution to discussions about assessment
and provision. The SENCO's skills will be
called for in ensuring that a ‘real’ student
voice is heard and that the development of
self-advocacy is part of a truly person-centred
approach. These are key elements of successful
schools currently, and using student passports
has proved to be a very effective mechanism
to engage students, parents/carers and school
staff, while keeping the young person central to
all discussions and decisions.
With any system of approaches it is important
that there is positive engagement with parents
and carers. Many schools have great dialogues
with parents and carers of students with SEN
and this should be at the centre of provision for
all schools from September 2014.
Jane Friswell is the Chief Executive of nasen.
Reviewing the progress of pupils on the SEN
record may, in some schools, be a clearly
timetabled termly meeting with the teacher(s),
SENCO, support staff and parents, and
perhaps pupil, in attendance. Or it may be a
process where the views of all those involved in
supporting and teaching the pupil are sought
and reviewed between the class teacher/tutor
and SENCO. However it is managed in a
school, the review process needs to be planned
for as it is a crucial part of the graduated
approach, providing an opportunity formally to
evaluate the success of teaching and learning in
class as well as the impact of targeted provision
on pupil progress data and pupils’ wider
development. Once again, the teacher needs
to be the key driver of this process, with the
support of the SENCO.
Key considerations during this meeting may
include an assessment of whether inclusive
quality-first teaching and targeted provision
have been effective in relation to achieving the
planned and expected outcomes. Consider the
following:
u Have they achieved agreed targets?
u What is the evidence from day-to-day
intervention tracking?
u Has there been a generalisation of skills
transferring back into class work?
u How have the pupil and parents responded
to targeted provision?
u What are the views of support staff, pupil
and parents?
u How does this term’s evaluation feed back
into the analysis of pupils’ needs?
u What are the necessary changes to support,
provision and targets needed for next term?
Finding time to implement a comprehensive
termly review will always pay dividends in
enabling an ever-sharper focus on the nature of
pupils’ needs, with increasingly well-targeted
support leading to improved outcomes.
The new arrangements may take significant
adjustments for some schools and settings. The
replacement of School Action and School Action
plus with the new SEN Support arrangements,
the introduction of EHC plans and a focus on
the provision of evidence-based programmes
while ensuring that students are being provided
with high-quality inclusive teaching will
constitute a shift in philosophy for some settings,
although many have already made significant
inroads to adjust their provision.
With the emphasis on the identification and
support for students with SEN being identified
and implemented by class and subject teachers
– and the SENCO having a supporting,
specialist role – training and professional
development will be an essential part of
developing provision.
In addition, there is renewed emphasis
on improving the parent/carer voice and
‘There is
renewed
emphasis
on improving
the parent/ carer
voice

SEND Gateway
Introducing the
SEND Gateway
So much information, so little time – Terry Waller takes a look at the benefits that nasen's
new SEND Gateway will bring to all special educational needs professionals
12|www.nasen.org.uk
At a time of unprecedented changes in the
special educational needs landscape it can
often be difficult to know where to go for high-quality
advice and information.
A web search engine often provides too
many results, finding resources that are of
mixed quality and not always relevant to the
UK system or context. And with time at a
premium, it can be very frustrating to follow link
after link, only to discover a resource that is not
what you need!
Nasen knows there are many fantastic
resources out there for meeting the needs
of children with special educational needs
and disabilities (SEND), often developed by
teaching professionals, families and carers
and the voluntary sector, working closely with
local people. Recent government funding has
contributed to the development of many of
these resources, but finding them can often be
a challenge.
The SEND Gateway has been developed by
nasen to provide the solution, and is designed
to help busy professionals easily access high-quality
information, resources and training, as
well as relevant topical news. It will provide
an opportunity for the education workforce to
develop new skills and understanding, navigate
the recent and upcoming reforms to SEN and
access resources and training materials from the
UK’s leading voluntary community sector (VCS)
organisations supporting children and young
people with SEND.
The SEND Gateway already includes
government-funded resources from the voluntary
and community sector and the Department
for Education. The value of the resources lies
in the research and quality assurance behind
them, provided by the organisations that have
developed them, which is the reason that nasen
wants to promote these organisations and the
excellent resources they provide.
But this is only the start! Initially the site will
reference free resources, but over the next few
months further materials and training will be
added, providing an even wider choice of
high-quality content ready for the new school
year.
Quality will be at the heart of the content on
the site, and that may mean it will take time
to include all of the great resources that are
around. However, from the word go there will
be a wide range of high-quality resources,
including an easier way to access the wealth
and breadth of content developed as part of
the Complex Needs and Advanced Training
Resources.
Schools will also be able to contribute
by adding good practice examples, case
studies and additional materials to assist in
developing an evidenced-based approach
to effective practice. The intention is that
over time there will be resources to support
education professionals from all settings,
making it highly relevant to all those working
with children and young people with SEND
aged 0–25.
QUALITY
WILL BE
AT THE
HEART OF
THE CONTENT

SEND Gateway
www.nasen.org.uk|13
An easy way to find exactly what
you want
Finding resources through the SEND Gateway
couldn’t be easier. There are two routes: you
can either search by free text or browse via
topics. Searching using free text is found on
most websites – just type a word or phrase
into the search box and a list of results will be
displayed, along with a brief description and
an indication of the type of resource. Scanning
the list will give an idea of the resource content.
Clicking on the title of the resource then
provides further details of an individual
resource. This might be a digital publication,
a DVD, a report that can be requested by
post, a free information service, a webpage
or even a video showing good practice.
Once the required resource is found, it can
be downloaded immediately if uploaded to
the Gateway, or accessed via a link to the
provider’s website. As the resources link back
to the originator’s website, professionals can
easily identify additional resources of interest.
If you are not exactly sure what you want,
then selecting one or a number of the carefully
chosen topic headings provides a way to
browse the content. By selecting sub-topics it is
possible to narrow down the search further to
the desired resources. And by registering you
can collect resources through the ‘My Gateway’
favourites option, then continue searching and
access the full list of favourites again when
convenient. These will still be logged in your
personal Gateway when you next visit the site,
or can be cleared immediately.
Alternatively, if you want to browse the latest
resources from several organisations there is
an A–Z listing of all the providers, along with
contact details and an overview of the type of
material they have provided.
In order to help SENCOs and other
professionals to encourage colleagues at the
school to exploit these resources there will
be regularly updated collections of resources
showcased, focusing either
on specific topics or on
audiences, for example
SEN governors or
teaching assistants.
These will bring
together the latest or
recommended items for
quick reference.
However, if locating high-quality
local training is a priority,
you can find out what is available
nearby, by topic and locality.
Searching by region or for national
events and online training opportunities will
be an important aspect of the SEND Gateway,
making it easier to identify continuing
professional development opportunities for
you or your colleagues. Within a few clicks
you could be booking a place at an event, or
sharing the details with other professionals in
your setting.
Although all the resources on the site have
to meet quality criteria, professionals visiting
the site may be interested in how others rate
the resource in practice. Therefore, if you
particularly like what you have found, you can
rate the resource, share it with others through
email or social networking, or send feedback
directly to the provider. Your feedback will help
others when they visit the site, and also inform
resource providers on ways to improve the
content further, and help nasen to identify any
gaps in resource coverage. Nasen will then
seek out or encourage the
development of content
not covered by the
Gateway.
Keeping you
up to date at
all times
Registering
with the SEND
Gateway will
bring immediate
benefits. If
you take a
few minutes
to add basic
information, on
your next visit
the latest
WITHIN
A FEW
CLICKS
YOU
COULD BE
BOOKING
A PLACE
AT AN
EVENT

SEND Gateway
CONTRIBUTING
ORGANISATIONS
Among the many
organisations that will be
adding details of materials,
training and news items to
the Gateway are:
u Autism Education Trust
u Dyslexia-SpLD Trust
u Whizz-Kidz
u Royal National Institute
of Blind People
u British Association of
Teachers of the Deaf
u Afasic
u British Dyslexia
Association
u Council for Disabled
Children
u SEBDA
u Contact a Family
YOU CAN
OPT TO
RECEIVE
A REGULAR
SEND
GATEWAY
NEWSLETTER
14|www.nasen.org.uk
resources matching your interests will be
displayed. As your priorities change, simply
updating the topics in My Gateway will save
time, with only resources that match your
immediate interests shown.
As you browse or search for resources, you
can add them to your Gateway favourites, and
retrieve, review or visit the resources at any time
– and if you want these can be saved for when
you visit the site again.
We all have favourite websites, and even
though they may be constantly updated with
new and useful information, there isn’t always
time to visit them all. To save you time and
keep you right up to date with the latest news,
training and events, you can opt to receive a
regular SEND Gateway newsletter.
Just interested in specific topics? Then you
can chose to receive email alerts whenever new
resources matching your interests are added
to the Gateway. When you spot something of
interest, just follow the link in the email, and
instantly view or download the resource.
As the requirements of the Children and
Families Act and the SEND Code of Practice
0–25 come into force, the SEND Gateway
will be well placed to provide the support
necessary to develop new skills and a more
thorough understanding of SEND. SENCOs will
be able to access resources to support whole-school
planning and development, and to help
colleagues in identifying resources relevant to
their particular professional development needs.
Busy teachers looking for the latest resources
designed to support the education of young
people with high incidence or complex needs
will be able to find them via this portal.
Interactive and responsive
Nasen has been liaising with a large number
of leading voluntary and community sector
organisations, who received funding from the
Department for Education, to identify and bring
together materials and professional support to
include on the SEND Gateway.
So that you have the information at your
fingertips, all in one place and whenever you
need it, the site has been designed to work
on desktop computers, portables and mobile
devices. With the potential to include some of
the best blogs around, and well-established
communities of practice, such as the SENCO-forum
and the Sld-forum, the Gateway means
that access to advice and the expertise of
classroom practitioners will be only a click
away.
The SEND Gateway was developed in
response to comments and views expressed
by people attending the many nasen events
held during the last couple of years. Being
responsive to those needs is very important
for nasen, and the association will continue
to listen and seek feedback from users of the
portal. In response to feedback from those
using the site and existing and potential
contributors, nasen can revise the content and
also the way the site operates to ensure that it
delivers what you want.
But this is only the start
It is important that the SEND Gateway continues
to be current, relevant and responsive to needs,
so the intention is to expand the number of
resources on the site while maintaining quality
standards.
Newly created resources from teaching
schools and other public bodies will be added
from the summer term onwards, and in early
2015 commercial organisations will also be
eligible to join the Gateway and share their
resources.
The quality assurance framework and
moderation process that nasen has put in
place will ensure that as the number of
resources increases you will not be far from
high-quality content. This process will not be
bureaucratic, instead it is designed to promote
and encourage the sharing of useful resources.
For example, materials created under Creative
Commons licences, designed by and for
specialist and classroom teachers, will be
included.
With one in five children identified as having
a special educational need, and inclusion still
at the heart of provision for these children, it
is clear that every teacher must be given the
support necessary to develop new skills and
an understanding of SEND. In order to achieve
this, teachers and SENCOs must be supported
and empowered to deliver the first class
education that all children deserve, no matter
what their abilities are. The SEND Gateway has
been developed to offer education professionals
the guidance and assistance they need to give
young people with SEND the best possible start
in life.
Terry Waller is an independent education,
inclusion and technology consultant.
SHARING RESOURCES
The launch of the SEND Gateway will provide an opportunity
for resource and training providers to register an interest.
In line with the site’s terms and conditions, organisations or
individuals will go through the approval process and can then
add resources.
If you have resources which promote multi-agency working
and the development of personalised education solutions that
can make a positive difference to the lives of children and
young people with SEND and their parents, carers and families,
please contact nasen at webadmin@nasen.org.uk.

FAQs
FAQs for SEND reforms
Nasen receives a lot of queries about the SEND reforms, so in answer to these and to dispel the
many myths circulating online, we provide some essential guidance
‘The
definition
of SEN
and the
thresholds
are the
same’
www.nasen.org.uk|15
WHEN DID THE SEND LEGISLATION
RECEIVE ROYAL ASSENT?
The Children and Families Bill, Part 3, refers
to the reform to the provisions for children
and young people with special educational
needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Following
agreement by both Houses of Parliament on the
content, the Bill received Royal Assent on 13
March and is now an Act of Parliament (law).
The Act seeks to reform legislation relating to
the following areas:
u adoption and children in care
u aspects of the family justice system
u children and young people with special
educational needs
u the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for
England
u statutory rights to leave and pay for parents
and adopters
u time off work for antenatal care
u the right to request flexible working.
WHEN WILL THE NEW LEGISLATIVE
CHANGES AROUND SEND COME
INTO FORCE?
The legislation within the new Children and
Families Act 2014 will come into effect from
1 September 2014. This is the commencement
order designed to bring into force the whole
Act of Parliament at the date specified after
Royal Assent has been granted. The practical
implementation of the Act is the responsibility
of the appropriate government department,
not Parliament. The associated regulations,
SEND Code of Practice and other related
documentation from the Department for
Education (DfE) provide comprehensive
statutory and non-statutory advice and
guidance on the implementation of the new
legislation.
IN THE NEW CODE OF PRACTICE,
WHAT WILL REPLACE SCHOOL
ACTION AND SCHOOL ACTION
PLUS?
These will be replaced with a single school
stage called SEN Support. It will be provided
by early years settings, schools, colleges and
other providers and will be based on early
identification of needs, early help and SEN
support. The work will be done with other
services as needed, in an integrated way
using the Common Assessment Framework
and the Team Around the Child. This work will

FAQs
16|www.nasen.org.uk
be centred on children, young people and
their parents/carers, and their aspirations and
desired outcomes. For further details on what
this SEN Support approach may look like in
your setting refer to the article ‘Assess – Plan –
Do – Review’ on page 4.
WILL THE INTRODUCTION OF THE
SINGLE SCHOOL STAGE REDUCE
THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN WITH
SEN, MEANING THAT MOST
CHILDREN CURRENTLY ON SCHOOL
ACTION WILL NOT HAVE SEN FROM
SEPTEMBER 2014?
The definition of SEN and the thresholds are
the same as they are now and should stay
the same in September. The reforms have not
been introduced as a number-cutting exercise;
however, settings, schools, colleges and other
providers will need to decide clearly what
constitutes ‘SEN Support’ in their respective
context. They are well placed to do this,
as they will know their cohorts best. Nasen
recognises that for some this may present a
challenge, particularly when the new guidance
recalibrates the significance of the phrase
‘every teacher is a teacher of every child’. We
anticipate that the real challenge for settings
will be the point at which quality-first, highly
differentiated teaching is no longer meeting the
needs of some individual children and young
people. Refer to the article on page 4 of this
publication for further explanation of how this
may work for you in your setting.
WILL SENCOS STILL HAVE TO BE
QUALIFIED TEACHERS?
The regulations concerning the role of the
SENCO have not changed and the requirement
for qualified teacher status is embedded within
the new legislation and the new guidance.
Governing bodies of maintained mainstream
schools and the proprietors of mainstream
academy schools (including free schools)
must ensure that there is a qualified teacher
designated as SENCO for the school.
WILL LOCAL AUTHORITIES STILL ISSUE
STATEMENTS?
From September 2014 the education, health
and care (EHC) plan will replace new
statements and there will be a programme
to ensure conversion so that all children and
young people who previously had a statement
will have been transferred to an EHC plan by
2017. The aim is to start with conversions at
key transition points.
WILL THE CHANGES IN SCHOOL
FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS ALLOW
SCHOOLS TO REDUCE THE HOURS
OF SUPPORT FOR A CHILD WITHOUT
A STATEMENT?
The same duties apply under the new
legislation; however, schools and colleges
may deliver outcomes differently. The focus of
the new legislation in this regard should be
outcomes, not hours. This may be a challenge
for some, but we need to continue actively
pursuing quality provision which contributes to
longer-term life outcomes.
CAN A PARENT STILL BE INVOLVED
IN DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR CHILD’S
SUPPORT ONCE THE CHILD TURNS
16?
The parents can be involved, but the young
person’s voice is the main one. For some
providers, this may mean an opportunity to
review existing arrangements for listening
to pupil and student voice within their
organisation and to address how they will
support and educate families in enabling
their children to become increasingly more
independent.
WILL FEWER CHILDREN AND YOUNG
PEOPLE GET AN EHC PLAN THAN
GET A STATEMENT OF SPECIAL
EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AT PRESENT?
The definition of SEN will remain the same,
and according to the new legislation there is
no suggestion that fewer children and young
people will be eligible for an EHC plan
than currently are for statements. However,
nasen recognises the concerns that many
‘The
young
person’s
voice is
the main
one’

FAQs
www.nasen.org.uk|17
providers have around this particular issue
and we have already voiced these concerns
directly with government. There are some
isolated yet worrying indications that a few
local authorities are beginning to ‘move the
goalposts’ in relation to local eligibility criteria
for statutory assessment. Nasen believes this
to be unacceptable practice within the reform
framework and any changes which do take
place at local level should be undertaken in
open and full consultation with all stakeholders.
HOW LONG DOES THE NEW
LEGISLATION GIVE THE LOCAL
AUTHORITY RESPONSIBILITY FOR A
CHILD/YOUNG PERSON’S SEND
SUPPORT?
The new legislation extends the local authority’s
responsibility to the age of 25 if a young
person is in education, college, training or
supported employment.
WILL ALL PARENTS AND YOUNG
PEOPLE WITH AN EHC PLAN BE ABLE
TO GET A DIRECT PAYMENT?
All parents and young people with an EHC
plan will be able to request a personal budget
for some services. This is an option for all of
them to consider.
IS THE LOCAL AUTHORITY’S LOCAL
OFFER LARGELY A DIRECTORY OF
SERVICES FOR FAMILIES WITH
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
WITH SEND?
No. This would be a very narrow view of the
local offer. It should be a website, or some
webpages, that will enable all families to find
out exactly what they can expect from schools,
health services and other services, what criteria
services have for access and what happens at
transition points. There should also be a facility
for service users to comment on the usefulness
of the information. The local offer should
be co-produced by parents, children and
young people to ensure it answers all of their
questions and it should be subject to regular
review by all stakeholders. For more details see
the article in this publication on page 35.
DO THE NEW ARRANGEMENTS IN
THE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES ACT
APPLY TO DISABLED CHILDREN AS
WELL AS TO CHILDREN WITH SEN?
Some of the duties do apply to disability.
The Government amended the Children and
Families Bill to include disabled children
and young people within the scope of the
legislation in December 2013. Previously the
Bill covered only children and young people
identified as having special educational needs;
the decision to include disabled children has
been warmly welcomed by the voluntary and
community sector. The amendments mean
that disabled children are now incorporated
into a number of clauses in the Act, including
the local offer and local joint commissioning
arrangements.
IF A PARENT IS NOT HAPPY WITH
THEIR CHILD’S EHC PLAN CAN THEY
APPEAL TO THE TRIBUNAL?
They can make an appeal, but only for the
education element of the plan. There is no
single point of appeal for parents and carers
in respect of the entire EHC plan. This reflects
the fact that, in law, the EHC plan is largely an
educational plan. Should parents and families
wish to appeal about the health or social care
aspects of their child’s plan, they will have to
follow the appropriate and separate appeals
process for each provider. Nasen believes that
this is a flaw in the appeals process for the new
legislation that will make life more difficult for
those parents who may wish to appeal.
ARE PARENT PARTNERSHIP SERVICES
FEATURED IN THE REVISED LEGISLATIVE
GUIDANCE?
Parent Partnership Services are there and
support for parents is detailed, as is advocacy
and support for young people with SEN. Local
information will be made available on how to
access these services.
ARE INDIVIDUAL EDUCATION
PLANS (IEPS) STILL NEEDED AND
DO SETTINGS HAVE TO HAVE SEN
REGISTERS?
IEPs are not a statutory requirement and never
have been. The new Code of Practice provides
guidance which promotes child- and pupil-centred
approaches to recording individual
needs, targets, interventions and outcomes.
Nasen supports the use of pupil passports
and this guidance refers readers to a range of
examples. However, the continued use of IEPs
should not be cause for revolution. We would
suggest that evolution is a good route when
considering what works best for you, your
pupils and students and your staff. Schools and
settings are advised that it is good practice
to provide a record of pupils and students
in receipt of SEN Support – presently this is
referred to as the SEN register. There is no
requirement on settings and schools to keep a
register; however, nasen would advise that all
providers have an up-to-date record of those
pupils and students who have received or are
receiving SEN support and this should provide
clear, precise information relating to entrance
and exit points on and off the record.
‘In law,
the EHC
plan is
largely an
educational
plan’

The top ten for SEN
As the September deadline for the new SEN legal framework looms, Jane McConnell highlights
the essential top ten actions for schools
18|www.nasen.org.uk
We have a new Children and Families Act
2014 which is due to be implemented from
September 2014. Before that can be done,
secondary legislation in the form of SEN
Regulations and statutory guidance – the SEN
and Disabilities Code of Practice – needs to be
finalised.
So what do we already know for certain
about what an early years provider, school or
post-16 institution should be doing in order to be
as prepared as they can be for these changes?
Here is a checklist of the top ten things any
1provider of education or training needs to be
aware of. Definition of SEN
The Children and Families Act 2014
section 20 (C F Act 2014 s.20)
defines when a child or young person
has special educational needs (SEN). This is
when they have either a learning difficulty or
a disability and they need special educational
provision (SEP) to be made for them. SEP is
defined as any education or training provision
which is additional to or different from that
generally made for others of the same age in
mainstream schools or post-16 institutions
in England.
These definitions are at least the same as
we have under the current legislation. Any
child or young person who is currently on the
SEN register will therefore remain on it unless
something changes for them individually which
means they no longer need SEP.
However, it is possibly now an even wider
definition. The comparison made is now against
the typically developing child or young person
of the same age across England – not just
those in the local authority area as the current
law requires. It will mean that potentially more
children and young people should be included
in the definition of SEN.
Perhaps the most interesting addition to
a local authority’s duties towards any child
or young person identified with SEN or a
disability is the over-reaching requirement
that the local authority ensures they receive
education or training to ‘achieve the best
possible educational and other outcomes’
(C F Act 2014 s.19(d)). This raises the bar
from the current requirement to receive an
appropriate education.
SEN top ten
‘Potentially
more children
and young
people should
be included
in the
definition of
SEN’

SEN top ten
www.nasen.org.uk|19
with parents. Progress towards outcomes must
be recorded. It is not expected that this part of
the Code will have changed drastically when it
is finally in force.
If you have a successful record-keeping
practice already in place then it is highly likely
this will do the job more than adequately. You
just need to ensure that you have identified
outcomes for the child or young person and that
progress is recorded against those.
Action: Review your record-keeping
processes to ensure that they record what
provision is being made that is additional
to or different from others for all children
or young people with SEN – whether they
are on SEN Support or have an EHC plan.
Make sure you consistently record outcomes.
Note that this information has been shared
with parents or young people at least termly
and that you have acknowledgement of their
response, such as a note of a meeting or a
signed, returned copy of the record, with
4 comments. Children and young people
with SEN but no EHC plan
The Code of Practice now refers to
a single group of children or young
people who have SEN but who do not have
such needs as to require a statutory assessment
or EHC plan put in place. They are now termed
those who are receiving ‘SEN Support’. How
you organise that support is up to you as a
school or institution. If you want to continue
a graduated or stepped response, you as a
school have the flexibility within the framework
to decide to do this.
Action: Ensure that all children and young
people who are identified as having SEN
under this definition are on the SEN register.
Add any who now fall under the wider
definition and are receiving education or
training which is additional to or different
from that made nationally in mainstream
schools or post-16 institutions.
Consider whether the education and
training being provided will enable the child
or young person to receive the best possible
outcomes. Consider what support the local
authority would need to put in place to
2achieve this. Governing bodies’ duties
Under the C F Act 2014 s.29 the
governors of early years, schools
or post-16 institutions – including
academies – have a duty to co-operate with
local authorities, and local authorities must
co-operate with governors in relation to carrying
out their duties towards children and young
people with SEN.
The C F Act 2014 s.43 requires governing
and equivalent bodies to admit a child or young
person to their school or other institution where
they are named in the education, health and
care (EHC) plan.
Most importantly, under the C F Act 2014
s.66 governing bodies of schools and other
institutions must use their ‘best endeavours’ to
ensure that SEP is made for a pupil/student.
This is a direct legal duty on them as a body
and is a proactive duty that requires them to
check what is happening in their school or
institution and that special education provision
is being put in place – not just rely on what they
are being told.
Under C F Act 2014 s.68(2), parents
and young people must also be informed by
governing bodies if the child or young person is
receiving SEP and is on the SEN register.
Action: Ensure that responsible bodies –
governors/proprietors – are aware of their
specific duties towards children and young
people with SEN. Arrange training for them
3 on how to fulfil these duties. Record keeping for children
and young people with SEN
The draft Code of Practice required
schools and institutions to keep
clear records of the special educational needs
an individual child or young person has, the
provision put into place to support them and
the outcomes expected to be achieved. This
provision needs to be reviewed at least termly
‘Make
sure you
consistently
record
outcomes

SEN top ten
‘Ensure
that all
staff are
aware
of the
cycle
of action
20|www.nasen.org.uk
must respond to that request within the
maximum of six weeks – but legally as soon as
it is able – to say that it will or will not do so.
A local authority is responsible for carrying
out a statutory assessment of a child or young
person with SEN under the C F Act 2014
s.36(8) if:
u the child or young person has or may
have SEN – any child or young person on
the school SEN register has already been
identified and accepted as having SEN
u it may be necessary for SEP to be made
for them in accordance with an EHC plan.
This is only a ‘may’ test and therefore the
threshold for the local authority to carry
out a statutory assessment is a low one –
especially where teaching professionals who
are working with a child or young person
are requesting it.
Action: Ensure that you request a statutory
assessment for children or young people who
are not achieving better outcomes even with
additional SEN Support.
The evidence to be provided by the
existing early years setting, school or post-16
institution should be:
u a copy of all records regarding SEN
Support given
u any additional professional reports that
have been obtained already
u notes of termly meetings to review SEN
Support.
Please note that early years settings, schools
or post-16 institutions cannot be required by
a local authority to obtain evidence from an
outside professional, such as an educational
psychologist, as a prerequisite of requesting
a statutory assessment.
The ‘cycle’ of action the Code of Practice
sees a professional taking is potentially a
management approach to SEN:
u Assess – the child or young person’s needs.
u Plan – what you need to do, what provision
is needed and what outcome should be
achieved.
u Do – do it! Put the provision in place.
u Review – what difference is it making
towards outcomes?
If this cycle is not effective in improving a child
or young person’s outcomes then professionals
must consider requesting that the local authority
carries out a statutory assessment of their
needs. A school or institution is only expected
to provide support to the best of their abilities
within the resources – finance and teaching
staff/expertise – that they already have.
Action: Consider how best to support
children or young people with SEN
within your school or institution. Is it via a
graduated approach? If it works for you then
consider keeping it. Ensure that all staff are
aware of the cycle of action that should be
followed and how that will be expected to
be put into practice and then evidenced as
having been followed. 5 Requesting a statutory
assessment for children
and young people with SEN
who may need an EHC plan
If an early years setting, school or post-16
institution requests that the local authority
carries out a statutory assessment of a child or
young person’s SEN then the local authority

SEN top ten
www.nasen.org.uk|21
needs cannot be met without an EHC plan
being in place.
If the local authority is not going to issue
an EHC plan it must inform parents up to 16
weeks after the initial request for assessment is
made. Practically – in order to meet statutory
time limits regarding consultation – if a local
authority is going to issue a draft EHC plan
then it needs to do so within 14 weeks.
A draft EHC plan will be issued to parents or
the young person and they will have 15 days to
make representations to the local authority about
its contents. The draft EHC plan will not include
the name or type of school or post-16 institution
that the child or young person will attend. It must
be written, based on the evidence gathered, to
reflect the child or young person's individual
needs and the provision required. Only once the
draft EHC plan is issued can the local authority
ask parents or the young person the type of
school or institution they want to attend and
which specific school or post-16 institution they
want named.
Once parents or the young person have
made a request for their chosen school or
institution then they have to be consulted and
also have 15 days to respond to the local
authority. There are very limited grounds
on which a local authority can reject the
parents’ or young person’s choice of school or
institution. Even if the consultation is negative,
the local authority has the legal power to name
the school or institution anyway, and it will
have to admit them.
The EHC plan has to be finalised within
20 weeks of the initial request for a statutory
assessment being made to a local authority.
6 Statutory assessment and
the decision to issue a draft
EHC plan
Once a local authority has agreed
to a statutory assessment, under the C F Act
2014 s.36(2) it must assess the education,
health and care needs of a child or young
person. The local authority must request advice
and information on the child or young person’s
needs and the provision that should be put in
place to meet those needs from:
u the parents or the young person
u an educationalist – headteacher/principal of
the school/post-16 institution
u an educational psychologist
u health
u social care
u anyone else the parents or the young person
request – including health and social care
professionals
u a specialist teacher for the visually impaired
or hearing impaired, if appropriate.
If a professional is asked by the local authority
to provide this advice and information they
must do so within six weeks. This advice
and information should be specific about the
provision to be put in place and based on the
child or young person’s needs and not on the
resources available within a local authority
area, school or post-16 institution.
Once the statutory assessment has been
completed, based on the evidence gathered, the
local authority must decide whether it will issue
an EHC plan. The C F Act 2014 s. 37(1)
requires a local authority to do this where ‘it is
necessary for the special educational provision
to be made…in accordance with an EHC plan’.
If a school or post-16 institution has requested a
statutory assessment be completed it is usually
clear evidence that the child or young person’s
‘A draft
EHC plan
will be
issued to
parents
or the
young
person

SEN top ten
22|www.nasen.org.uk
(instead of health care provision or social
care provision)’. Ensure that any therapies or
specialist support are specified in the special
educational provision section of the EHC plan
if, without them, the child or young person
would not be fully able to access education or
7 training. Children and young people
with SEN with a EHC plan
Once an EHC plan has been
finalised, the local authority must
ensure that specified special educational
provision is secured. This duty can never
ultimately be delegated to the school or
institution named in the plan if you can prove
that you do not have the actual resources to
make that provision. This legal duty on local
authorities cannot be fulfilled by delegated
funding schemes such as banding or blanket
agreements regarding funding arrangements.
Legally, an individual child or young person
must receive the provision in an EHC plan, and
lack of money is never an acceptable excuse for
them not to be receiving it. This will include any
therapies – even if they are usually delivered via
an agreement with local health care services.
If the EHC plan specifies health care provision
then the responsible commissioning body –
usually the local clinical commissioning group –
must arrange it. If the EHC plan specifies social
care provision the local authority does not have
a duty to ensure it is delivered. It may have
duties under separate legislation to do so, but
this will need to be clarified.
Action: Ensure that you are clear as to
what resources you need in order to make
the special educational provision specified
in each individual EHC plan. This is an
existing duty regarding statements, so you
can start this exercise in anticipation of an
EHC plan being issued. Remember that if
a child or young person has an existing
statement, unless their individual needs
have changed drastically, they should
be issued with an EHC plan, as the legal
threshold for being eligible is at least the
same as it is under the current system. Once
you have made this assessment then be
clear to the local authority what additional
resources you need to receive in order to
support the child or young person. 8 Review of EHC plans
The C F Act 2014 s.44 requires a
local authority to review an EHC plan
within 12 months of it being finalised
and within each subsequent 12-month period.
It is irrelevant who made that request – parents,
young person, school or other institution.
Action: Ensure that you gather all
additional evidence you have already to
support the statutory assessment process,
including any up-to-date reports from class/
subject teachers. Be clear what needs you
have identified as the child or young person
already having, the provision you have put
in place to support them and the outcomes
this has or has not achieved.
Support parents or the young person
to identify other professionals from whom
they need to request that the local authority
obtains advice and information, such as
speech and language therapy, occupational
therapy and behavioural support. The
local authority can then instruct specialist
professionals to assess needs and specify
(usually in terms of hours of support) the
provision to be put in place to meet each of
those needs and the outcomes they would
expect to be achieved.
When considering draft EHC plans sent
to you for consultation by a local authority,
be clear what your school or institution
can provide from your existing resources
and what you will need in terms of extra
support – finance or specialist input – from
the local authority in order to meet the needs
and make the provision. If provision is not
clearly specified in the EHC plan – it is not
clear who has to do what, when, how often
and reviewed by whom – then request that
is addressed. Watch out for woolly words
or phrases – ‘opportunities for’, ‘regular’,
‘access to’, ‘as required’ – which are not
specific. Without provision being clear you
will not be able to ensure that you have
delivered it or have the funding to do so.
The C F Act 2014 s.21(5) states that
‘health care or social care provision which
educates or trains a child or young person is
to be treated as special educational provision
‘Watch
out for
woolly
words or
phrases

SEN top ten
www.nasen.org.uk|23
10 Personal budgets
and direct payments
Under the C F Act 2014
s.49, once a draft EHC
plan has been issued to parents or a young
person they can then request that the local
authority prepares a personal budget for them.
This will be a notional amount of money that is
available to secure the provision specified in
the EHC plan.
Parents or the young person can then request
that the local authority makes part of that
budget as a direct payment to them as money
in order that they can directly commission
services themselves in lieu of the local authority
making the provision. Regulations will make
clear the exact details of how these direct
payments will work and when the duty of the
local authority will have been fulfilled, ie when
the payment is made to the parents or young
person or when the actual service is delivered.
What is very clear is that headteachers or
principals of post-16 colleges will always retain
power of veto within their own settings.
Action: Once the final arrangements
for direct payments are clear, make sure
you are aware of the circumstances of
when a parent or young person could be
able to use them within your school or
institution. Ensure that you discuss the use
of any potential direct payment carefully
with parents or the young person and
the reasons why you are agreeing or not
agreeing.
Jane McConnell is the Chief Executive of the
charity IPSEA (Independent Parental Special
Educational Needs).
The local authority will usually ask the school
or institution to hold a review meeting on its
behalf at which evidence will be gathered.
The report of that meeting, sent to the local
authority from the school or institution, will
be the basis on which the EHC plan will be
reviewed. The details of this process will not be
so different from the current arrangements and
will be outlined in the SEND Code of Practice.
A local authority can take one of three routes:
u Amend the EHC plan in line with the
recommendations of the meeting.
u Leave the EHC plan as it is.
u Decide that the EHC plan is no longer needed
because all outcomes have been achieved.
Action: Be clear about what is involved in
reviewing an EHC plan and put in place
a process for careful consideration of its
contents. Look at any amendments that
need to be sought to ensure that they reflect
current levels of need and provision, with
9 particular regards to specificity. SEN information report
Under the C F Act 2014 s.69, the
governing bodies of schools and
nurseries – including academies
– must publish an SEN information report.
Regulations will outline in detail what this should
contain but this is not finalised yet. It is likely,
based on the draft SEN Regulations, to include
details of the expertise already available in a
school or institution to meet SEN, how you can
access specialist equipment or services, your
approach to SEN and admissions arrangements
for those with a disability and/or SEN.
This information must be published online on
the school or institution’s website. This is not a
‘school offer’. There is legally no requirement
for a school or institution to produce a
'school offer'.
Action: Start to plan the development of
your SEN information report. Once it is
made clear in the SEN Regulations what
it must contain, assemble the information
into one document and review it ready for
posting on your website. This requirement
is not so different from the one already on
schools under existing SEN information
regulations, so if you are already doing this
it will not mean starting from scratch.
If your local authority asks you to fill out
a separate document, which they have
developed themselves, consider whether
this is something you may want to do, but
ensure that you have put together the SEN
information report first as this is something
you must do by law.
‘Start to
plan the
development
of your
SEN
information
report

24|www.nasen.org.uk
The special educational needs and disabilities
(SEND) reforms set out in the Children and
Families Act 2014 will create the most
significant changes to the way children and
young people with SEND are assessed and
supported for a generation. The Government
hopes that these reforms will give children and
young people with SEND better and more
flexible support, increase their participation in
making decisions about their education and
help them secure better life outcomes. But what
do the children and young people, for whom
these reforms are intended, actually think about
the changes?
Since October 2012 the Equality,
Participation, Influence, Change (EPIC) group
has been advising the Department for Education
on the SEND reforms. EPIC members, recruited
from all over England, have met in London to
discuss in detail some of the different areas
of the reforms, including education, health
and care plans, the local offer, transition to
adulthood, decision making and access to
information. EPIC members regularly meet with
officials at the Department for Education (DfE)
to share their views and have spoken directly
to the ministers leading the reforms. For a small
group of young people with busy lives and
many other commitments, they have worked
incredibly hard to inform and influence top-level
decision-makers. They have had many successes
and some disappointments. Listening to children
and young people talking about their lives and
finding out what is important to them can only
ever be a positive and productive experience.
Children and young people are the experts on
their own lives, and EPIC has proved that young
people can effectively advise on and influence
change.
Wider engagement
In late 2013 the DfE put the draft SEN Code of
Practice out for consultation and commissioned
the Council for Disabled Children (CDC) to
consult young people on the content. As a
national group, EPIC members bring diverse
perspectives to their advisory role. However, the
DfE wanted to consult a wider group of children
and young people on the draft Code. The CDC
met 19 groups involving 168 young people
directly affected by the SEND reforms to be
implemented from September 2014. The CDC
has written a report presenting the findings from
the groups.
In order to gain as wide a range of views as
possible, the CDC selected young people:
u across England
u across the 5–25 years age range
u from diverse ethnic backgrounds
u with experience of different academic
settings
u living in a range of settings, for example
towns, cities and villages
u with a range of impairments.
Here is a flavour of the views of the young
people on some of the issues raised by the draft
Code. You can read the report in full, and an
accessible young people’s version, on the CDC
website: www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/
Taking control of your rights at the
age of 16
‘I wasn’t involved in decisions until I hit
transition and then everyone wanted me to
make complicated decisions and I felt a lot
of pressure and didn’t feel I had enough
experience of making decisions.’
Pupil voice
‘Children
and young
people
are the
experts
on their
own lives’
The EPIC effect
As the reforms to special educational needs and disabilities are intended to
improve the lives of young people, it seemed only sensible to ask the young
people themselves for their views. Joanna Carr reports on the consultation

Pupil voice
www.nasen.org.uk|25
Privacy and sharing personal
information
While awareness and understanding of the
reforms were limited for many of the young
people who took part in the consultation, they
were still able to contribute very effectively
to discussions on what information they felt
should be included in an education, health
and care (EHC) plan to enable professionals
to provide the support they need. Some of the
considerations were age-related:
‘I think a plan should change in questions
asked as you get older; what you might need to
be asked at 5 might not apply at 14.’
Many of the young people expressed concern
about who would have access to their EHC
plan. They wanted to know how their plan
would be stored, who would be able to see
it and who would be able to share it with
others. All of them agreed that they would
want to approve who had access to their plan
prior to it being shared. In addition, there was
considerable worry over who would be able to
see personal and private details about a young
person’s support needs. These worries included:
u access to mental health information
u details about potentially embarrassing
personal care needs
u information about a young person’s home
life, for example if they were in the care of
social services
u incidents of bullying, particularly if the
bullying was carried out by an adult
u concerns about emotional well-being, for
example being at risk of self-harm or eating
disorders.
The young people strongly suggested that
some parts of their EHC plan should be made
available only to those people who absolutely
needed to see that information. Some felt that,
if the entirety of their EHC plan was available
to a range of professionals, they would be less
likely to ask for help with serious issues when
they needed it.
The three areas discussed here clearly show
that children and young people have very
definite ideas about how their SEND support
should be designed and delivered. Unanimously
the young people who took part in the draft
Code of Practice consultation welcomed
and appreciated the opportunity to be
involved. They all said how much they valued
participating in the consultation and felt that
their views and opinions should hold significant
weight with government.
Joanna Carr is the Participation Development
Officer at the Council for Disabled Children.
She currently supports the EPIC SEN advisory
group to the DfE and recently co-ordinated the
national young people's response to the draft
0–25 SEN Code of Practice consultation.
Reaching Year 11 is something of a milestone
for many young people. They are suddenly the
oldest in their school, they begin preparation
for their exams and, it is hoped, they are
looking forward to moving on to the next stage
in their life. Young people with SEND have the
additional responsibility of making decisions
about their SEND support. Until this point,
they may not have been involved in these
decisions in any meaningful way, or they may
have had significant support from family and
professionals.
During the consultation, the young people,
particularly the younger children, were very
clear that they value the support of their family
in helping them to make decisions. They were
equally clear that involvement in decision
making needs to begin much earlier to give
young people the chance to develop these key
skills and gain confidence in making important
decisions.
Decision making and access to
information and support
The young people were very clear that they
want to have better information and support
about their options and they want opportunities
to develop skills that will give them a real
chance to secure better life outcomes.
‘[We need] to be made more aware of what
will happen step by step, who will be involved
and why they are involved.’
The young people felt that if they had greater
involvement in their assessment and review
meetings they would have more confidence
to make decisions, be able to communicate
their support needs and form better working
relationships with support staff, agencies and
service providers.
‘I need to know all my options, and be aware
of the consequences of my choices.’
It became very clear during focus group
discussions that young people need to have
some context to understand, in practical terms,
what will happen when they make certain
decisions and how this may have an impact on
future choices.
‘They
wanted
to know
how their
plan would
be stored
READ THE
REPORT
For a copy of the report on
young people’s views of the
draft SEN Code of Practice
visit www.councilfordisabled
children.org.uk/what-we-do/
policy/sen-and-disability-reforms/
key-documents-on-the-
children-and-families-bill/
young-peoples-views-on-the-draft-
sen-code-of-practice/
An accessible young
people’s version of the
report is also available
at www.councilfordisabled
children.org.uk/media/
547660/draft-code-of-practice_
young-peoples-views_
accessible_final.pdf/

26|www.nasen.org.uk
Within the new Children and Families Act
2014 are changes to statutory assessment
and a replacement of SEN statements with
new education, health and care (EHC) plans.
The Government has listened to the views
of parents, carers and young people and is
introducing a more person-centred approach
to assessing need and planning for better
outcomes for children and young people aged
0–25 years.
The 0–25 co-ordinated assessment process
and EHC plan are core components of the
special educational needs and disabilities
(SEND) reforms. They sit alongside the local
offer, the option of a personal budget for those
with an EHC plan, improved multi-agency
working and joint commissioning.
Pathfinder authorities have been testing the
new arrangements for over two years. Initially,
the Government intended a single assessment
approach for children and young people with
complex needs but it became evident quite
early in the testing that this was a challenging
requirement. Would educational psychology
take a lead? How would speech and language
assessments fit within a broader assessment
regime? What if the child had significant health
and medical needs? Would the assessment
then be led by a paediatrician? What role
would social care play? And most importantly,
what difference would this make to the lives of
children with SEND?
All 20 pathfinders, without conferring in the
early stages, moved towards an integrated
assessment approach, with a view to shortening
the time that assessment took, and to reducing
bureaucracy. The Lamb Inquiry in 2009
reflected the views of parents and carers:
‘Many parents found the statutory assessment
process stressful and difficult due to a lack of
information, poor support and the negative
attitudes they often encountered. Parents
need to have confidence that their children’s
needs are accurately assessed and regularly
reviewed.’ It also stressed that: ‘At times, the
needs of children with SEN have been lost sight
of by spending too much time assessing and
providing for services that are easy to quantify
rather than those that are most effective at
delivering improved outcomes.’
EHC plans will replace the current statement
of SEN and the Learning Difficulty Assessment.
Assessment
‘Eligibility
must be
set out
clearly
by all
local
areas
Reassessing
assessment
Pat Bullen discusses the new arrangements for assessment and the
introduction of education, health and care plans

Assessment
‘[A] statutory assessment
should not be the first
step in the process;
rather it should follow on
from planning already
undertaken with parents
and young people in
conjunction with an early
years provider, school,
post-16 institution or other
provider.’
SEND Code of Practice
www.nasen.org.uk|27
A person-centred approach
A key element of the SEND reforms is a focus
on more person-centred planning and services.
It has been central to pathfinder testing to
develop an approach which is ‘co-produced’
with families – families should not be passive
recipients of services but enabled to be in
control of the decision making affecting
them and their family members. It has been
important to move away from ‘doing to’ and
towards ‘working alongside’ families.
Pathfinder sites have worked with parent and
carer forums, in partnership with the National
Network of Parent Carer Forums, and with
children and young people’s groups, to ensure
that they have begun to develop processes that
are more person-centred and empower families
to take choice and control.
Practitioners are familiar with describing
activities and services, but this new approach
demands a more considered understanding of
how actions affect the outcomes which people
want in their lives.
A new focus on outcomes is creating
a workforce development need to work
differently. This fits with the culture change that
the new reforms also demand.
Leicester City Pathfinder visits the family
in their home, following referral for statutory
assessment. A family supporter develops
a family file (based on the Early Support
materials – see www.ncb.org.uk/early-support)
in order that information is gathered only once,
and this is then circulated by the person in the
key working role to all of the relevant parties –
families give their consent and information can
then be shared more freely than in the past.
The home visit in Leicester also captures the
views, feelings and aspirations of the child
or young person in creative ways – through
pictures and a one-page profile. This feeds into
a person-centred meeting and an integrated
assessment meeting.
Other pathfinders work in similar ways; for
example, the Hartlepool Pathfinder also works
initially in the family home to gather important
information about the child/young person
and their family. Downloadable from the
pathfinder website, the information pack on
co-ordinated assessment and education, health
and care plans gives many more examples
and links to individual pathfinder sites (see
www.sendpathfinder.co.uk).
A focus on outcomes
The new way of working with families requires
much new thinking, including a move away
from narrow educational ‘objectives’ towards
a more outcome-based approach. Outcomes
can be arrived at creatively and from many
different directions. Planning with families
means that we can decide with them how an
They will be focused on the outcomes the
child or young person seeks to obtain across
education, health and care to enable them to
achieve at school and college and to make a
successful transition to adulthood. Delivering
EHC plans for 16–25 year olds in post-school
education or training will more than satisfy the
legal requirement for local authorities to carry
out Section 139A of the Learning Skills Act
2000, Learning Difficulty Assessments.
EHC plans will set out how services will work
together to meet the child or young person’s
needs and support their outcomes. The co-ordinated
assessment and planning process
puts the child and their parents or the young
person at the centre of the decision making.
Eligibility
Within the new SEND reform agenda, eligibility
must be set out clearly by all local areas in the
local offer. It is not anticipated that eligibility
will change for an EHC assessment and
plan, and it should be based on the current
arrangements in local areas.
The statutory assessment process must be
co-ordinated across education, health and care
to ensure a cohesive experience for children,
parents and young people. Information from
existing relevant assessments should be used
and professionals should share information so
that families do not have to keep giving the
same information on different occasions. It is
important that EHC plans reflect the views,
interests and aspirations of children, young
people and their parents, alongside detail of
assessments and provision aligned to outcomes.
The process should also consider the different
ages of the child or young person concerned,
particularly for young people preparing for
adulthood. The new Code of Practice outlines
that a core goal of this co-ordinated and
personalised overall approach should be that
‘children, young people and families should
experience well-co-ordinated assessment and
planning leading to timely, well-informed
decisions’.
Chapter 3 of the Code reinforces that families
should be at the heart of the new co-ordinated
assessment process and EHC plan. Person-centred
planning is identified as an effective
approach to support this, as it focuses on
identifying the outcomes that are important to
the individual and then the support and services
that are required to achieve these. An outcome
in this context should be seen as a personal
goal and not a service goal.
Nottinghamshire County Council is one of
the 31 pathfinder local authorities engaged in
planning and developing EHC assessment and
pathways. It has produced a useful animation
of the EHC assessment journey at https://klikin.
eu/page/view/id/47860/
‘Families
should
not be
passive
recipients
of services
‘Planning should start with
the individual and take
account of their wishes and
aspirations, the outcomes
they seek and the support
they need to achieve them.
It should enable parents,
children and young people
to have more control over
decisions about their
support.’
SEND Code of Practice

Assessment
28|www.nasen.org.uk
What makes a good EHC plan?
Some families have experienced a statement
that weighs a few pounds dropping on
their doormat. A complex document of
over a hundred pages is not uncommon,
frequently with out-of-date information
and old materials included. The statement
has felt moribund and cannot address the
planning needs of the family. An interesting
example of an interactive EHC plan is shown
on the pathfinder YouTube site from the
Greenwich Pathfinder: www.youtube.com/
watch?v=76q1U31ihw0feature=youtu.be/
Implications for SENCOs and
schools
Schools will need to be aware of the following
issues:
u The local offer in their own area should be
‘exhausted’ before application is made for a
statutory assessment – schools must be much
more aware of universal offers made through
health and social care. Duties placed on
local authorities from September 2014
should locate all such arrangements in one
place (see www.localofferleicester.org.uk for
an example).
u SENCOs will need evidence of applying a
graduated approach to interventions beyond
the universal, including what has worked
well, and interventions that have not worked
or have ceased to make an impact.
u Schools should develop their evidence base
of engaging the family in both graduated
approaches and planning, and of hearing
their views, wishes and aspirations.
u Schools and SENCOs will need to be geared
up to review existing statements of SEN for
children in their care with the local authority
in order to convert current statements to EHC
plans. Local authorities have three years for
the conversion. This could involve training for
schools, or special arrangements with local
authorities in holding transition reviews.
Summary
The spirit of new arrangements for assessment
and EHC planning is the ability to be better at
co-ordinating assessments across agencies, to
hold the views and aspirations of the family at
the centre of the planning process and to co-produce
the plans with the family and agencies.
The option of a personal budget will require
development over time, but it is an essential
aspect of building a more constructive approach
to meeting the needs of children with SEND,
with an emphasis placed on what children can
do alongside their special educational needs and
how all parties can improve a child’s outcomes.
Pat Bullen is the SEND Pathfinder Lead at
Leicester City.
outcome could be arrived at, potentially using
resources in a different way. For example,
families who have previously accessed short-break
arrangements from social care budgets,
where the outcome was to give other siblings
time with their parents, have been able to buy
resources such as a trampoline, which a child
can use every day, rather than a short time-limited
period of attending a club or doing an
activity with support.
Key working
A main message of the new reforms is to
support families through the statutory processes,
with a renewed emphasis on key working.
Key workers can be a range of different
practitioners – in Northamptonshire, the person-centred
meetings which establish the desired
outcomes and the EHC plan are facilitated by
several different professionals, from educational
psychologists to social workers and voluntary
sector key workers. The aim of key working is
to support the family, emotionally as well as
practically, through the assessment process.
The key worker provides the right information
and signposting, and ensures that the family
understands the steps within the process and
is empowered to access each stage, being
as well equipped as possible. In the current
system, families often feel that they are not
in control, that the professionals know what
happens next, but they do not. SQW evaluation
of the pathfinders has shown that parents and
carers have valued the support of key workers
enormously – see the pathfinder website for
evaluation of the programme.
‘The
key worker
provides
the right
information
and signposting

Outstanding practice
What makes
Stakeholders from some of the
settings in nasen’s Outstanding
a diff erence?
Schools project spoke to Annie
Grant about what contributes to
the quality of their provision
Nasen has spent the last several months visiting schools to collect information for its Outstanding Schools project. Part of the
project involved talking to a range of stakeholders in a number of settings about what makes the difference to the quality of
provision. We will be sharing some of the audio and video recordings from these sessions via the nasen YouTube channel and the
SEND Gateway.
www.nasen.org.uk|29
TRANSITION AT LAKES COLLEGE
Angela O’Connell,
additional learning
support co-ordinator
What makes a difference
for me is getting parents
on board, because that
transition from school to
college is quite massive for parents of young
people with special educational needs and
disabilities.
Jeanette Hughes, parent
I always felt very involved. It helped
me to relax because I was anxious
about the transition from school to
college. I just didn’t know whether
my son would settle into a new place.
James, pupil
When you think about leaving
school and going to college
it’s good to know people in the
college and then you realise
there is nothing to worry about.
Shannon, pupil
I liked getting to
look round and
getting used to it. I
feel more confi dent
now I’ve met some
of the teachers and
helpers and they seem dead nice, so I'm
not worried about starting now. If I've
got any problems, I can always go and
speak to them. I’m looking forward to it
much more than I was.
Lance, pupil
Visiting the college
was great because,
as I have special
educational needs,
it's different for me.
Other people just get
thrown in at the deep end and get on with it,
but with us, we just need a wee bit of time to
adjust. But once we adjust we'll be fi ne. I am
really looking forward to going to college
now. I can't wait.
‘ I always
felt
very
involved’

PARENTS AT LYMEHURST NURSERY
Ian, parent
For me, it’s the dedication of the staff, their warmth and their readiness
to engage with you and to support you far beyond anything you could
have expected.
Gill, parent
My child’s challenges – and she has more than most children – were
not seen as problems but as opportunities. She was seen as a bonus,
that she brought as much as every other child, she was as important
as every other child and she was valued as much as every other child.
30|www.nasen.org.uk
Gillian Ellis,
nursery manager
and owner
It’s all about teamwork.
My staff are absolutely
brilliant. They’re
passionate about childcare. It’s about
going that extra mile to make sure that the
children’s needs are met.
‘ They reach out
to parents’
Claire Fursey, higher
level teaching assistant
Pupils get constant
encouragement from staff and
the attitudes of their peers are
helpful and accepting.
Garry Freeman, director
of inclusion and SENCO
We respond to the needs of
each child and we will support
those needs and remove
barriers, and that runs through
everything that we do.
Lorraine, parent
The nursery is part of the local
community. They reach out to
parents and if you come to them
with any problems, they listen
and they put strategies in place
to overcome them.
Paul Clayton, deputy headteacher,
responsible for the curriculum
We have a combination of staff who know how to
build relationships with pupils and are experienced in
providing bespoke and targeted differentiation.
Kelsey, pupil
The staff give me strategies that help me to calm down or
give me time to think and refl ect.
James, pupil
The Student Support Centre has been
vital. If I had gone straight into the
main school I wouldn’t have known
what to do but coming into the Centre
has made me more confi dent.
SECONDARY NURTURE
GROUPS AT GUISELEY
SCHOOL
‘ We respond to the
needs of each child’

www.nasen.org.uk|31
A HELPING HAND AT FINHAM
PARK SCHOOL
Ros Morris, autism advisory teacher
The staff are able to communicate effectively. Everyone – parents,
outside agencies – feels that they are being listened to and heard.
Pauline Parkes, inclusion manager and SENCO
A frustration for many parents and children is that they feel that their
voice isn’t heard. But we are prepared to listen and after we have
listened, we are prepared to support them.
Wilf, Year 12 pupil
The whole school is there for
you. I can go to anyone with
any problems, any queries I
have, and they’ll talk to me. It
is just brilliant.
Mark Bailie,
headteacher
We inspire children and
make them believe that
they can achieve things
beyond their expectations.
COMMUNICATION
AT FREDERICK BIRD
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Lisa Sabotig, educational
psychologist
We bring an understanding of
psychology to everyday situations
and this helps the school to look at
things in a very creative way.
Natalie Franklin-Hackett, assistant
headteacher for inclusion
We have opened up the lines of communication
and staff feel that they are able to talk about the
children very openly with me that some action
will then be taken, drawing on expertise either
within or outside the school
Kelly Watts, Year 1 class
teacher
We have dedicated teachers
willing to share strategies
so that everyone can deliver
more effective teaching and all
children can make progress.
Cameron, Year 8 pupil
They never turn you away,
they just help you.
Key issues to emerge
Although these comments come from a wide
range of stakeholders, there are several key
themes that have emerged during the project.
Many of those who responded highlighted
the need to ensure that there was a strong
relationship built on mutual trust between all
stakeholders.
There is clearly a whole-school approach to
developing relationships with children, parents,
carers and their families, which provides a solid
foundation for children and young adults to feel
that they are being listened to and their needs
are being met. Where external support is brought
in it is very much integrated into the school’s
wider provision so that interventions are part of a
longer-term strategy.
Finally, the pathfi nders’ projects trialling
education, health and care plans have talked
about the co-production of provision between all
stakeholders, and the settings that we interviewed
were already using this approach to improve the
effectiveness of their interventions.
If you’d like to see some of the videos to
accompany these comments, visit the nasen
YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/
nasenonline/
Nasen would like to thank all the participants
who contributed to the interviews, which were
conducted by Annie Grant, a freelance consultant,
producer, writer and editor.

32|www.nasen.org.uk
Early years settings, schools, academies,
colleges and other learning providers are
focused on supporting all children and young
people to achieve quality learning outcomes.
The teacher or tutor will be focused on helping
every member of their class or tutor group to
achieve well.
Some children and young people will need
additional support to achieve their learning
outcomes. We call this targeted support.
Early years settings, schools, academies and
colleges have funding for this. The targeted
support might include, for example, focused
literary support or a behaviour management
programme.
A small number of children and young
people will require additional and individual
support over and above the targeted support so
that they can participate in learning activities,
enjoy the learning experience and achieve
well. At the moment, most of these children
and young people have a statement of special
educational needs; in the future they will have
an education, health and care (EHC) plan,
which may be supported by a personal budget.
Where some or all of this budget is to enable
the child or young person to participate, enjoy
and achieve their learning outcomes, this
element is called the personal SEN budget.
A child or young person may also have an
element of their personal budget from social
care (for example, short breaks) or health.
While the personal SEN budget is focused on
learning outcomes, a personal care budget is
focused on outcomes around family and home
life, being safe when out and about in the local
community and being able to take part in life
outside school. Personal health budgets are
focused on health outcomes. Together these
elements form the child or young person’s
overall personal budget.
A simple way to explain personal SEN budgets
Child and family
In use since April 2013, the new school
funding arrangements divide funding for
children and young people into three parts
(elements 1, 2 and 3). Using the diagram above
we can see how this works for mainstream
settings, schools, academies and colleges.
1 Universal services and the mainstream:
funding per pupil at a school – each school
receives an amount to fund a place at school.
This is called element 1.
2 Targeted services and support: additional
learning support funding – each setting, school,
academy or college is expected to provide
Personal budgets
Explaining
personal
SEN budgets
Universal services and
the mainstream
Social capital and
community wealth
Targeted services and
support
Choice and control/
self-directed support
As funding for special educational needs provision
underwent major reform last year, we take a closer look
at the new arrangements

A common basic framework for assessment and planning
www.nasen.org.uk|33
support up to the equivalent of £6,000 to meet
the additional support needs of children and
young people who require this. This is called
element 2.
3 Choice and control/self-directed support:
‘top-up’ funding, retained by the local authority.
This is called element 3. This funding is
allocated through a resource allocation system
as indicative personal SEN budgets. It provides
the additional individual support the child or
young person needs in order to achieve their
learning outcomes as set out in their EHC plan
or statement of SEN. Parts of the personal SEN
budget may be taken as a direct payment and
used by parents on behalf of the child or by
the young person themselves to purchase the
additional and individual support set out in the
EHC plan (for example, any assessed support
which is not already provided by the school).
How do personal budgets fi t in with
assessment and planning?
Bexley Local Authority has developed a regional
framework for assessment and planning, as
shown in the diagram (below right).
An indicative personal budget, whether
from education, health and/or social care, is
allocated where it says ‘Agree and allocate’.
‘Agree’ means that decisions made about
the identifi ed outcomes and how best to meet
them are agreed, and ‘allocate’ means that if
the child or young person needs support over
and above that available through universal
and targeted support due to the level or
complexity of their additional and individual
support needs, an indicative personal budget is
allocated in the early stages of drawing up of
the EHC plan.
How will I know if a child or young
person can have a personal SEN
budget, and how will I know how
much it will be?
Following the single assessment process, a
decision will be made about how to meet
Personal budgets
the identifi ed learning, health and/or care
outcomes together with the child or young
person and their family. The decision will
include whether there is a need for a personal
budget from one or more of the available
budgets: education, health or social care (or
in some cases from a single pooled ‘support’
budget).
If it is agreed that a personal budget is
needed to achieve particular outcomes, a
resource allocation will be completed with
the family or young person, resulting in an
indicative budget being allocated to help draw
up the EHC plan. The indicative budget will
be known in the early stages of the EHC plan.
Children, young people and families will be
supported to create the plan. It is only once
the planning process has been completed that
it will be clear what the fi nal personal budget
should be in order to fund the additional
support required to achieve the identifi ed
outcomes.
How do personal SEN budgets fi t
with other sources of support,
access and opportunity at school,
college or in training?
A personal SEN budget does not include
funding for the school place, and it does not
include targeted support managed by the
‘The personal
SEN
budget
is focused
on learning
outcomes
u
u
Listen and
understand Agree and
u
u
u
Entry first contact Child and family
centred. The family-led
principles will describe
the child and family’s
experience
allocate
Review and Plan
learn

Personal budgets
DEFINITIONS AND TERMINOLOGY
Direct payments – as with a personal budget for social
care or a personal health budget, it will be possible for the
family/parents to ask to have the personal SEN budget as a
direct payment. In so doing, the parents will be responsible
for the management and use of the money in the same way
as they are if they choose to manage a personal social care
budget or a personal health budget.
Education, health and care plan (EHC plan) – the
single plan which will set out how the health, care and
learning outcomes of the child or young person with SEND
are going to be supported. This may include the use of a
personal budget (or budgets) if it is agreed that the child
or young person has support needs which cannot be met
through mainstream services or targeted support.
Indicative personal SEN budget – an allocation of
funding made prior to the drawing up of the EHC plan. It
is called an indicative allocation or personal budget as it is
an estimate of the funding available set against the level of
support the child or young person needs; it will only become
a full personal SEN budget when the EHC plan is finalised
and agreed.
Mainstream services – with the focus being on education
settings, this means: early years services, schools, academies,
colleges and other education/training providers which
co-ordinate and/or deliver learning opportunities/activities
with identified learning outcomes. This can include work
experience, work-based learning and participating in
learning activities in a variety of environments and settings.
Personal budget – an amount of funding allocated to meet
the additional and individual support needs of the child or
young person. The personal budget is allocated in recognition
34|www.nasen.org.uk
that the child or young person’s support needs cannot be met
in full by mainstream/universal or targeted services without
an additional individual investment being made. Personal
budgets may be provided from one, two or all three different
funding streams: education, health and social care, or from
a single pooled fund. Whichever is the case, the personal
budget will be holistic and used to support the achievement
of the identified outcomes in the education, health and care
plan.
Personalised funding, activities, support and/or
resources – this may include a personal budget; however,
there are other resources, activities and funding which can
be used in a personalised way within a school or other
education or training setting to support a child or young
person in achieving their learning outcomes. These are
personalised to the needs of the child and young person and
their views must have been central to all decisions.
Resource allocation system (RAS) – a simple set of
rules which explain what budget is available, which children
or young people will be supported by this budget and what
outcomes are set against the use of the budget. An RAS may
include a simple set of questions that will be completed by the
family and linked professional; this set of questions will result
in an indicative allocation of a personal budget.
Targeted support – services and support targeted on
a group of children and young people due to a particular
common learning support need. At a school level, targeted
support will mean support focused on one or more children
and young people in a class or in a group, where there is a
shared offer of support. This may include funding of support
staff. This support will be funded through the budgets of early
years settings, schools and colleges.
A personal SEN budget could:
u add to existing learning support, providing a
more consistent offer of support to the child
or young person
u fund time to bring all key parties together to
bridge the gap between home and school/
other learning provision and to build a team
of dedicated support people (including family)
u fund some specialist input
u fund work experience or a work-based
learning opportunity
u add to the technology available to promote a
student’s individual style of learning.
This information has been adapted from the
Explaining Personal SEN Budgets leaflet
provided by the London Borough of Bexley
(www.bexley.gov.uk).
school or other learning providers to offer
additional learning support to individuals,
classes or groups of pupils and students. A
personal SEN budget enables the support
offered to the child or young person to be
further personalised to meet individual learning
support needs.
What sorts of support could a
personal SEN budget fund?
An important aspect to consider is how the
funding can be used alongside all the other
sources of support, learning activities and
opportunities to help the child or young person
achieve their learning outcomes. The learning
outcomes that the child or young person hopes
to achieve will be set out in their EHC plan and
setting/school/college education plans.
‘A personal
SEN
budget
could fund
some specialist
input

What’s in a
local offer?
The local offer is a response from government
to the desire of parents and carers to find out
about all services, opportunities and access
for children and young people with special
educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in
their area. In 2009, parents told the Lamb
Inquiry that they wanted information to be
accessible, transparent and in one place.
This has led to a duty within the new
Children and Families Act (clause 30)
to ensure that local authorities take
responsibility for the local offer and
publish it in one place.
The local offer should encompass all
of the universal elements of services
offered in localities – all schools,
settings and colleges within the local
authority border; and all of the services
offered by health – from therapies
and how to access them, to services
for children with complex health care
needs. The local offer should build
on universal services and illustrate
to families how to access additional,
targeted and specialist services.
As outlined in the new Code of
Practice, ‘Local authorities must publish
a local offer, setting out in one place
information about provision they expect
to be available for children and young
people in their area who have SEN,
including those who do not have EHC
plans.’
The Special Educational Needs (Local offer)
Regulations provide a common framework for
the local offer. They specify the requirements
that all local authorities must meet in
developing, publishing and reviewing their
local offer.
The purpose of the local offer
The key purpose of the local offer is to make
provision more responsive to local needs and
aspirations by directly involving children and
The local offer
www.nasen.org.uk|35
You’ve probably heard about the ‘local offer’ within
the special educational needs reforms and the new
Children and Families Act 2014, but what does it
really mean? Pat Bullen provides some details

young people with SEND, parents and carers
and service providers in its development and
review. It should also help local authorities to
improve provision – it should not simply be
a directory of existing services but should be
responsive and ever developing.
The SE7 Pathfinder comprises seven local
authority areas, which have worked together
on their Pathfinder programme. Central to their
approach is co-production with parents and
young people in developing the local offer.
They have agreed a set of principles, depicted
in diagrammatic form (below left).
Key actions for settings, schools
and colleges
u Engage with the local authority in developing
the local offer and agreeing the amount of
funding delegated to schools for SEND.
u Review and revise your systems for
understanding the needs of pupils. How does
your approach to school improvement affect
the quality of teaching for SEND and the
approach to planning and managing SEND
support? How strong are your relationships
with parents?
u Make use of the experience of other schools
and the free information and training
materials available through the SEND
Gateway (www.nasen.org.uk).
Pathfinder experience of the local
offer
The pathfinder website (www.sendpathfinder.
co.uk) is an excellent resource for further
information, and these key elements are
particularly notable:
u Some pathfinders have conducted research
looking at the ‘parental journey’ to
understand how parents find information
at different stages of their child’s life and
development (for example, diagnosis, starting
school, transition), what works well and what
The local offer
The information in the local offer must include:
u how the local offer is to be published – a web presence is
important, but not the only approach which local authorities
should utilise
u who is to be consulted
u how to involve children, young people and parents –
including their essential role in giving feedback and being
engaged in the annual review of the local offer
u how to seek an education, health and care assessment –
local authorities must publish both eligibility and how families
can seek an assessment. Within the new legislation, young
people can also advocate for themselves and request an
assessment, hence the local authority description of access
and entitlement to an education, health and care (EHC) plan
is new
u where to get advice and support – related to current
arrangements for support – which is impartial and informed,
usually offered by Parent Partnership Services (PPS). New
duties for advice, information and support are refined within
the new SEND Code of Practice
u the publication of comments and the local authority’s
response – if local authorities use a ‘TripAdvisor’ style of
feedback for parents, carers and young people, they must
publish such feedback and also their response. If a service
is being constantly praised but noted as insufficient, or if a
service is regarded by parents as ‘useless’, then it would
be expected that the local authority would address the
insufficiency or the inadequacy of that service.
The SE7 principles for their local offer
‘It should
not simply
be a
directory
of existing
services Holistic
36|www.nasen.org.uk
Accessible
Starting with
what is widely
available
framework
Empowering
for parents,
carers, young
people and
professionals
Transparent
Factual
Sustainable and
sustained
Co-produced
by parents,
carers, young
people and
professionals
KEY ELEMENTS

www.nasen.org.uk|37
information is particularly hard to find. This
information is then used to inform local offer
work to aid navigation and accessibility and
reduce unnecessary stress for families.
u Some pathfinders are now focusing their
efforts on looking at innovative ways to
present information to improve accessibility,
for example interactive maps to help young
people, parents and staff to choose and filter
the services available in their area.
u A user-led approach helps to ensure that the
local offer is designed in a way that those
using it can easily understand and use it to
meet their needs.
u It’s a good idea to develop a
communications strategy to promote
awareness and ensure effective wider
consultation of the local offer at the
beginning. Some pathfinders have used a
variety of channels to target stakeholders,
including the use of social media, face-to-face
contact, publications and forums, to
encourage the provision of feedback to
inform next steps.
u Making use of and building on existing
resources, including your Family Information
Service, Parent Partnership Services and
local parent carer forum, has been seen
as a more sustainable approach by some
pathfinders.
u Engagement with service providers early in
the process has been invaluable, not only
regarding the local offer but in relation to
personalisation, personal budgets and a
commissioning framework.
u The scope of the local offer is large, so
it helps to break it down and develop it
over time, using sub-groups to focus on
specific areas. Iterative consultation and
co-production at each development stage are
key to ensuring that the local offer continues
to remain responsive to stakeholders’ needs
without the need to backtrack or redesign.
The local offer
u Don’t focus solely on the internet – areas
need to think about other ways for families
to access the local offer. One solution to
this is having local offer ‘tourist guides’ or
‘information brokers’ within libraries, schools,
colleges and other appropriate communal
facilities. This meets the requirements of
those families who do not have a home
computer/device or the desire to access the
local offer online. Having someone to help
them navigate the local offer and find the
information they need, coupled with printable
extracts, is also effective.
Getting started
Information from the Pathfinder programme has
indicated how important it is for local authorities
to engage the right stakeholders from the outset,
in order to find out what families want, how
they would like to see the local offer presented
to them, and how they can give ongoing
feedback to shape and develop the local
services within their area.
Most pathfinders have begun with work with
their local parent and carer forum and with the
Parent Partnership Services in their area. The
National Network of Parent Carer Forums is
hosted by the Council for Disabled Children
(CDC) and can be found at www.nnpcf.org.uk/
The Hampshire parent/carer network has
also written a document for SE7 called
WHO
SHOULD BE
INVOLVED?
The following list is a starting
point for those essential
parties to be engaged in
developing the local offer:
u Children, young people
and families
u All schools and colleges
u Pupil referral units
u Early years providers and
children’s centres
u Health – both children
and adult services
u Social care
u People involved with
preparing for adulthood
u Youth offending teams
u Appropriate others – for
example, voluntary and
community sector services
in an area.

38|www.nasen.org.uk
Local Offer – Not a Directory. This aims to
provide guidance as to what is meant when
the phrase ‘the local offer is not a directory’ is
used. This, too, can be found on the pathfinders'
website at www.sendpathfinder.co.uk/
Implications for schools, settings
and colleges
All schools, settings and colleges will have
a duty to model the local offer, setting out
their arrangements for access to services and
arrangements in their institution. Schools should
expect to engage with children and parents/
carers in reviewing their graduated response,
in considering access arrangements and in
developing their service offer through enabling
regular feedback and showing that they have
responded to views from service users.
Trafford has sought to build its local offer onto
a newly launched Family Service Directory,
using the existing infrastructure of this service.
As a result, Trafford’s local offer has been
published online (principally) and can be found
at http://trafford.childrensservicedirectory.org.
uk/kb5/trafford/fsd/home.page/ Trafford has
sought to develop its local offer incrementally,
ie to publish and improve sections of the offer
when possible, and to build it over time. Such
an approach would be beneficial to both local
authorities and individual schools and settings.
In summary
The local offer could be a great resource for
families, giving them much more comprehensive
information in one place and the opportunity
to shape services over time, provided that they
give feedback to their local authority. It could
provide information to families in a user-friendly
way – see the Nottinghamshire Pathfinder
animation of the EHC assessment journey at
https://klikin.eu/page/view/id/47860/ It
could give information in short video clips,
made by families for families.
When local offers are launched, from
September 2014, it is likely that they will be
a summary of services at that time, but will
develop into more accessible and interesting
formats over time. Schools, settings and
colleges have an important part to play both
in providing information to the local offer, and
in providing their own information on their
website, or (in the case of early years settings)
in a leaflet format or similar.
What is certain is that the local offer is here
to stay and could constitute a revolution in
clarifying for parents and families what services
they can find in their area, and how they can
demonstrate what services are missing or in hot
demand in their locality.
Pat Bullen is the SEND Pathfinder Lead at
Leicester City.
The local offer
CHALLENGES
u Keeping the local offer up to date – services change and resources
to develop a website and other communications for parents and
young people may be limited.
u Making sure that families without internet access are not
disadvantaged and can still access information about services.
u Ensuring that ongoing feedback is considered from the outset by
local authorities and settings, schools and colleges, so that all
arrangements are set up to gather feedback.
u Getting the right comprehensive information on the site from all
parties – especially health partners – even if using an incremental
approach to gathering the right information.
u Using templates, such as the Leicester City templates, for gathering
the same information from all providers to ensure fairness, equity
and consistency of information provided.
u Making sure that families for whom English is an additional
language can access materials – similarly, considering the access
arrangements for those with visual needs/dyslexia and so on.
u Working out who will monitor the local offer and who will ensure that
local authorities are meeting their new statutory duties – this is surely
not the responsibility of busy parents/carers of children with SEND.

Decision making
www.nasen.org.uk|39
Participating in
decision making
Across a range of public services, user
involvement has become an increasingly
significant factor in the development of services.
In the field of social care for disabled children,
parental ‘involvement’ has developed into
their ‘participation’ in the design of services.
The government programme Aiming High for
Disabled Children promoted new levels of user
involvement and there are positive outcomes
from this approach: services that are better
designed to meet the needs of users, and
parents who are more active agents rather than
passive recipients in caring for their children
and who feel they have some control over their
lives and their children’s lives. This in turn can
lead to lower levels of stress and better use of
services.
The SEN and disability reforms build on the
experiences of the Aiming High programme,
and new principles enshrine the approach
in the legislation. Section 19 of the Children
and Families Act 2014 sets out core principles
by which the legislation should operate. A
key principle is that parents of children with
SEN, and young people with SEN, should
‘participate in decision making’. This is not
about ‘consulting’ parents – that suggests a
decision has been made, at least in principle,
if not quite finalised – nor is it about ‘involving’
parents, which still suggests parents are at
some distance from the core point where
decisions are taken. ‘Participating in decision
making’ locates parents as key participants,
along with schools, local authorities and other
agencies, at the main point where decisions
are made. A related principle, sitting alongside
this, recognises the importance of ensuring
that parents have accurate and impartial
information and support in order to participate
effectively in this decision making.
Better communication and
engagement with parents
Improvements in parent participation need
to be based on better communication with
parents. The Lamb Inquiry highlighted the
importance of good communication as the
basis for the development of trust:
‘This is
not about
‘consulting’
parents’
Philippa Stobbs examines the new relationships that schools are building
with parents in the light of SEN and disability reforms

40|www.nasen.org.uk
some parents were previously very reluctant
to approach schools, this new way of working
has provided something of a paradigm
shift.... Many parents now view the school
as collaborating with them in their child’s
progress, listening to their views, and working
in their best interests.’
Developing higher levels of trust provides an
important springboard for the more thorough-going
‘participation in decision making’ that
is heralded by the Green Paper and the SEND
reforms.
The SEND reforms
The Green Paper, Support and aspiration: A
new approach to SEN and disability, set the
direction of travel for the development of the
relationship between parents and services:
‘To give parents confidence by giving them
more control over the support their family
receives, we will introduce more transparency
in the provision of services for children and
young people who are disabled or who have
SEN. Parents will have real choice over their
child’s education and the opportunity for direct
control over support for their family.’
The draft SEN Code of Practice, published
for consultation in October 2013, made it clear
that participation applied both to the individual
and strategic engagement of parents:
‘Local authorities must ensure that parents,
children and young people are involved in
discussions and decisions about every aspect
of their SEN, planning outcomes and making
provision to meet those outcomes, and in:
u planning and reviewing the local offer;
u reviewing special educational provision
and social care provision; and
u drawing up individual EHC plans, reviews
and reassessments.’
The experience of pathfinders
The pathfinder local authorities were
commissioned by the Department for Education
(DfE) to explore how to put into effect the vision
that had been set out in the Green Paper. The
pathfinders started work in September 2011.
The experience of the Aiming High programme
had been that engaging with parents made
for a slower start but a better and more
sustainable result in the longer term. So it
proved with the pathfinder activity in relation
to the SEND reforms: while the early work of
the pathfinders was slow, the evaluation has
shown consistently that parental engagement
in the reforms is the best developed aspect of
pathfinder activity.
This degree of parental engagement in
the development of the design of the reforms
at a local level is matched by the degree of
involvement in developing the new assessment
‘Good, honest and open communication is
key to the development of positive working
relationships and requires practitioners who
listen to parents and are trusted by them.…
The quality of communication both affects and
is a reflection of the working relationships
between professionals and parents. The worst
communication generates significant levels of
hostility.… The best communication engenders
impressive levels of confidence and a sense of
partnership.’
Better communication and greater
parental engagement are key to a number of
developments that seek to put the child and the
family at the centre of the planning process.
The Team Around the Child (TAC) involves a
collaborative approach to assessment and
planning, and one that is more responsive
to the needs of the child and the family. The
approach has been successful in the early years
and widely welcomed by parents. Early Support
has promoted and developed the approach.
It operates in partnership with parents, with a
TAC and a keyworker co-ordinating services
and working with the child’s family. The reforms
in special educational needs and disabilities
(SEND) have seen the approach extended up
the age range and to children in schools.
For young people moving towards
adulthood, the promotion of person-centred
approaches has been a key element in
improvements in transition planning promoted
through the Preparing for Adulthood
programme (PfA) (see the article on page 42).
A wide range of person-centred approaches
are now being adopted by schools, including
MAPs and PATHs, developed by Marsha
Forest and Jack Pearpoint. There is a
growing understanding of the benefit of these
approaches and of the core principle of the
child and the family being at the heart of the
assessment process.
One of the key elements of the Achievement
for All pilot programme was training for
professionals in a structured conversation
with parents. While the requirements for this
structured conversation were quite precise, in
practice what it was designed to do was to
establish a wider school culture of listening
to the thoughts and aspirations of parents of
young people with SEND. Hearing the views of
parents and carers and of children and young
people themselves, then planning on the basis
of those views, are key elements in securing
parental confidence and involvement in the
approaches adopted.
The national evaluation of the Achievement
for All pilot identified the benefits thus:
'Schools have also reported a change in
the general culture of parental engagement
through the structured conversations. Whilst
Decision making
‘The
DfE has
supported
parent
participation
in every aspect
of the
reforms’

and planning arrangements for individual
children. This is reflected in higher levels of
parental satisfaction with plans compared with
statements. There is a cost attached in terms
of the time needed to develop an education,
health and care (EHC) plan: a recent
evaluation estimated that the time normally
taken to write a statement is in the region of 30
hours; the time taken to develop an EHC plan
is in the region of 42 hours, with much more
of this time spent face to face with parents.
This presents a challenge for local authorities,
which will be expected to complete the
assessment and planning process in a shorter
timescale than before – 20 weeks as opposed
to 26 weeks.
Support for parent participation
Throughout the pathfinder period and the
subsequent developments, the DfE has
supported parent participation in every aspect
of the reforms. It has provided support through
funding for local parent carer forums, and for
the National Network of Parent Carer Forums,
which supports the local forums. This has
enabled parents and carers to be involved in
the development of all aspects of the SEND
reforms, from the development of EHC plans
and the local offer, in pathfinder areas, to
influencing strategy at a national level. This
has proved an important signal of the DfE’s
intentions to change the way we engage
parents in the SEND system.
The reforms also recognise the importance
of the information and advice that parents
need in order to participate fully. The Children
and Families Act builds on and extends Parent
Partnership Services to provide information
and advice to children and young people
as well as their parents. The local impartial
information, advice and support (IAS) service
will be an important source of that support
for parents that will better enable them to
participate in decision making regarding their
child.
Education, health and care plans
Reflecting the more personalised approach,
implementation guidance issued by the DfE
in April 2014, Implementing a new 0 to 25
special needs system: LAs and partners: Further
Government advice for local authorities and
health partners, confirmed the DfE’s intentions
to include as a key requirement in an EHC
plan, the ‘aspirations, views and interests
of the child and their parents, or the young
person themselves’. This and the outcomes
sought for the child or young person head the
list of items that must be included in an EHC
plan. This feels quite different from the starting
point for a statement.
Decision making
FURTHER
READING
Parent Participation:
improving services for
disabled children, Contact
a Family and Council for
Disabled Children (2004)
The PATHs MAPs
Handbook: Person-
Centered Ways to Build
Community by John
O’Brien, Jack Pearpoint
and Lynda Khan (2010).
Examples can be seen in:
Implementing the DDA in
schools and early years
settings, DfES (2006)
Achievement for All: the
structured conversation.
Handbook to support
training, National
Strategies and DCSF
(2009)
Achievement for All:
National evaluation.
Research Report DFE-RR123
by Neil Humphrey
and Garry Squires (2011)
www.nasen.org.uk|41
A further element in the reforms, heralded
in the Green Paper and in the new Code
of Practice, is the use of personal budgets.
A personal budget is an amount of money
allocated through an EHC plan with a view
to involving the parent, or the young person
themselves, in securing the provision set out
in the plan. This gives parents a new level
of control over the resources in their child’s
plan. This approach has been tested in social
care and in health care but the approach in
education is new. The evaluation suggests it
is one of the least well-developed aspects of
pathfinder activity but it marks a step-change in
the participation of parents in decision making.
What do new levels of parent
participation mean for schools?
The new Code of Practice sets out a vision for
engagement with parents of children with SEND
that is more personal and more face to face,
with schools expected to meet parents at least
three times a year. This should lead to a more
collaborative and creative problem-solving
approach between schools and parents.
When it comes to an EHC assessment,
schools will need to be able to inform the
local authority’s decisions about assessment
and planning. Such information will be
based on the school’s understanding of
children’s progress, attainment and their
wider achievements, but also on a closer
understanding of the views, wishes and
feelings of the children and their parents.
It is these aspects of the new arrangements
that will require schools to consider how they
engage with parents. Schools should review
their skills in listening to parents and check
that these are at least as well developed as
skills in talking to parents. This is not just about
a friendlier, more personal approach for the
benefit of parents and teachers because it
feels better; crucially, the evidence is clear
that the effective engagement of parents has a
beneficial impact on children’s progress.
Philippa Stobbs is Assistant Director (Education)
at the Council for Disabled Children.

Transition
protocol
As a member of the Preparing for Adulthood team,
Caroline Bennett shares best practice in enabling a
smooth transition to adulthood for young disabled people
42|www.nasen.org.uk
Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) is the strand
of the SEND reforms which aims to support
disabled young people to move into adulthood
with fulfilling lives. It focuses on young people
aged 14–25, the pivotal age at which they
start to work out what they want to do with
their lives. However, it also requires a shift
in thinking for those working with younger
children too. Raising aspirations for disabled
children and young people, and planning
services to help them reach their goals, needs
to start in a child’s early years, or as soon as
their additional needs come to light. This could
include support to develop independence and
decision-making skills and to build social skills
in order to develop and maintain friendships
and relationships.
Some local authorities have been piloting
aspects of the SEND reforms as pathfinders and
regional champions. The PfA team has worked
with them to support the implementation of the
SEND reforms. The learning from the pathfinders
is shared in the publication Delivering Support
and Aspiration for disabled young people,
which you can download from the PfA website.
The pathfinders identified five elements that
are essential to improving the life chances
of disabled young people and ensuring that
they move into adulthood with employment,
good health, independent living, and friends,
relationships and community participation.
The illustration opposite shows the five key
elements that support the progress to good life
outcomes for disabled young people.
What is the Preparing for
Adulthood programme?
In the last five years there has been a huge
focus on improving transitions for children and
young people and a lot of learning has been
developed in this area. The PfA programme, a
partnership between the National Development
Team for Inclusion and the Council for Disabled
Children, is funded by the Department for
Education (DfE) to build on the learning from
previous transition programmes and to support
local areas in using best practice in transition
to adulthood when implementing the SEND
reforms.
Preparing for adulthood cuts across all
the elements of the SEND reforms; however,
the themes that are of particular relevance
include the engagement and participation of
young people and parents, the local offer,
education, health and care (EHC) plans, joint
commissioning, personalisation and personal
budgets and clearly defined outcomes.
Developing a shared vision
The PfA programme and work in the pathfinder
areas have identified the vital importance of
schools, colleges and other post-16 providers
engaging in the development of a shared
vision of improving life chances for disabled
young people and those with SEN. The vision
should be developed in partnership with young
people, families, professionals working across
education, health and care, commissioners and
a range of providers, including employment
and housing.
Schools and colleges should be working
with the local authority to develop the local
offer for young people. The local offer should
identify the gaps in provision and be used to
identify the priorities for commissioners who
will be planning and purchasing services in
line with these priorities. This should all inform
the development of the local authority transition
protocol, which should set out the policies and
procedures that enable young people to have
a planned, co-ordinated and positive transition
to adulthood.
Transition
‘Preparation
for adulthood
needs to
begin at
birth

Transition
www.nasen.org.uk|43
A key element in person-centred approaches
is the development of personal budgets. A
personal budget is an allocation of funding that
may be held by the local authority or someone
else or taken as cash as a direct payment for
the direct purchase of the provision in the EHC
plan. This gives young people a greater level of
choice and control over their support.
In practice, person-centred transition planning
and reviews can be used to benefit all disabled
children and young people and those with
SEN, whether or not they have an EHC plan.
Some local areas are using one-page profiles
for all children in the school. These have been
particularly useful in supporting children and
young people as they move from primary to
secondary school, or secondary school to
college. The person-centred approach needs
cultural change and workforce development but
fulfils what is at the heart of the reforms.
Joint commissioning and
developing practice
The Children and Families Act 2014 creates a
new duty on local authorities and health bodies
jointly to commission services across education,
health and care, including adult social care.
It is vital that commissioning is influenced by
the aspirations and experiences of disabled
children, young people and their families. This
could be done by basing the commissioning
strategy on the shared vision and ensuring that
information from EHC plans feeds into this.
PfA has worked with pathfinders to help them
develop greater choice and a range of post-16
provision and support that leads to the five PfA
outcomes.
PfA will continue to share the good practice
from the programme over the coming months,
so make sure that you return to the website
regularly and sign up for the monthly e-bulletin
that contains updates from the PfA programme,
details about the wider SEND programme and
information from work in pathfinders and other
local areas – www.preparingforadulthood.org.
uk/what-we-do/best-practice-and-information/
Caroline Bennett is the Preparing for Adulthood
Best Practice and Information Lead.
Raising aspirations for young
people and their families
Preparation for adulthood needs to begin at
birth and be built into early years provision,
play opportunities and primary-age support.
This could include employing disabled people
in children’s centres or other family settings and
ensuring that diverse and positive role models
are available from an early age.
It is essential that everyone working with
children, young people and their families knows
what helps all young people to have more
choice and control over their lives and to have
good life chances. Schools have a key role to
play in using the curriculum and extra-curricular
activities to encourage children and young
people to develop social skills, friendships
and independence and to think about their
aspirations for the future. Schools need to
underpin this with evidence-based support
that leads to the PfA outcomes: employment,
good health, independent living, and friends,
relationships and community inclusion.
It is important for parents to meet other
parents whose sons and daughters are working,
having fun and making their own decisions, so
that their horizons are not restricted.
Personalising your approach
The PfA team has promoted person-centred
practice, where support and services are
planned and provided by listening to what
children and young people want and including
them in decision making when developing EHC
plans. The critical ingredient is to collect person-centred
information such as what is important to
the young person now and for the future, what
is important for them in order to keep them
healthy and safe, and what is working well
and not so well. This information helps to set
outcomes that are based on the young person’s
aspirations, taking account of what is important
for them, building on what is working and
reducing what is not working. Once there are
clear outcomes we can identify what support
a young person needs to be written into their
EHC plan. The plan should set out how to
achieve the outcomes, what this will look like in
practice and what additional resources will be
allocated.
The key principles of person-centred
approaches include:
u Focus on the child or young person, not their
diagnostic label.
u Use ordinary language and images rather
than professional jargon.
u Actively highlight a child or young person’s
strengths.
u Enable the child or young person, and
those who know them best, to express their
interests and aspirations for the future.
u Tailor support and personal budgets.
KEY
RESOURCES
For examples from
pathfinders and learning
from the programme so far,
download Delivering Support
and Aspiration for disabled
young people. You can also
read about the experiences of
young people and parents at
www.preparingforadulthood.
org.uk/resources/
You can also sign up to the
PfA forum and download the
FAQs on the local offer, the
engagement of young people
and families, EHC plans
and personal budgets and
personalisation and person-centred
practice at www.
preparingforadulthood.org.
uk/forum/
More information on
person-centred approaches
can be found at www.
personalisingeducation.org
and on the Personalising
Education YouTube page at
www.youtube.com/user/
PersonalisingEduc/videos/
Early Support produced
some films of young
people talking about their
aspirations. You can view
these at www.youtube.com/
EarlySupportEngland/
There are also films and
resources on the Aspirations
for Life website:
www.aspirationsforlife.org/

Effective
provision
mapping
Planning interventions and tracking pupil progress are so much easier with a system of provision
mapping, as Annie Grant explains
44|www.nasen.org.uk
The new SEND Code of Practice will bring
renewed focus on how schools organise their
provision and account for the money they spend
on pupils with special educational needs and/or
disabilities (SEND). Provision mapping is a way
of evaluating the impact on pupils’ progress of
provision that is additional to and different from
the school’s differentiated curriculum. Provision
maps can help schools manage this provision to
ensure that it is, and continues to be, effective in
helping pupils to make progress.
The provision mapping and evaluation cycle
should run in parallel with the school’s system
for tracking and evaluating pupils’ academic
progress and it should feed into pupil progress
review meetings.
Provision mapping should be carried out by
class/subject teachers and/or within subject
departments/faculties. When teachers write
and update provision maps, it encourages them
to assume responsibility and to be accountable
for all pupils in their class, including those with
SEND. Ofsted expects teachers to demonstrate
that they have an understanding of the
impact of intervention on progress. It is not
the SENCO’s job to write provision maps for
teachers, although the SENCO will be able to
support teachers in this process. The teacher,
supported by the SENCO, is responsible for:
u determining provision – teachers are best
placed to know the kind of differentiation
that pupils require and whether additional
intervention is needed to sustain or improve
their progress
u evaluating the impact of provision on pupils’
progress.
The process of constructing a provision map
can be broken down into four stages.
1 Auditing provision
u Make a list of any provision (and for each
intervention) that is additional to and
different from the school’s differentiated
curriculum.
u Add other relevant information, such as
staff-to-pupil ratio, staff delivering the
intervention, frequency and duration, and
pupils involved. Schools can customise their
provision maps to include information that is
important to their own context (for example,
some may include the cost of provision to
determine whether interventions deliver
value for money) or to identify initiatives
funded through the pupil premium.
Like data analysis sheets, provision maps need
to be easy to understand by everyone who
might use them: teachers, support staff, the
senior leadership team, supply teachers and
parents/carers. On the left is an example from
a primary class.
Provision mapping
‘It is
not the
SENCO’s
job to
write
provision
maps’
Intervention Group
size
Frequency/
duration
Staff
Pupils
Comprehension
group
1:6 3 x 15 mins
x 6 weeks
HLTA
Amy
Joe
Dan
Fred
Bob
Max
Numeracy 1:6 4 x 20 mins
x 6 weeks
(early am)
HLTA
Dan
Fred
Carl
Amy
Jane
Sara
Paired reading 1:6 Daily x 10
mins
HLTA
Joe
Social skills 1:6 3 x 15 mins
TA
Carl
Jack
Tim

Provision mapping
www.nasen.org.uk|45
at later progress points. When used well,
provision maps become working documents
which are continually updated, for example
following pupil progress review meetings. It
is important that while the SENCO can offer
advice, guidance and support on the creation
of provision maps, this is done in a way that
supports the role of the class teacher, who
is ultimately responsible for the quality of
provision in their class.
Annie Grant is a freelance consultant,
producer, writer and editor. This information
is adapted from the nasen quick guide called
Tracking Progress and Managing Provision. The
tables have been adapted from Anne Massey's
book, Provision Mapping: Improving outcomes
in primary schools (Routledge, 2013).
2 Collecting baseline data and
setting targets
The process for collecting data associated with
particular initiatives is no different from that
for collecting data to track pupils’ academic
progress. There must be a baseline measure, ie
at the beginning of an intervention, from which
progress can be tracked, and a reliable and
valid measure of ongoing progress towards
identified targets. Targets should be SMART
(specific, measurable, attainable, relevant
and time-limited) and have associated success
criteria so that teachers will know when they
have been achieved. Baseline measures for
interventions could be, for example:
u a National Curriculum level, where this is
appropriate
u some other measure (quantitative or
qualitative) that identifies clearly where a
pupil is on entering an intervention and
against which progress can be measured at
school assessment points.
In the table (top right), entry data and targets
have been added to the earlier provision map.
3 Measuring progress
Schools will need to decide on a suitable
means of assessing pupils’ progress in each
intervention. Some interventions come with
their own assessment tools but for others,
a qualitative or quantitative measure of the
impact of what has been taught will need to be
devised. It will also be important to consider
how far pupils’ progress in interventions has
affected their progress back in class.
4 Evaluating outcomes
Outcomes can be evaluated by:
u comparing baseline data with the data
collected at the assessment point
u reviewing pupils’ progress in relation to the
targets set
u taking account of other factors that may
have affected progress.
In the table (bottom right) an outcomes column
has now been added.
In her book, Provision Mapping: Improving
outcomes in primary schools, Anne Massey
suggests that as a reminder to teachers and
a prompt to others using the provision map,
a section should be added at the top of
the provision map, listing the differentiated
provision that the teacher has made in the
classroom to meet the needs of those at risk
of underachievement, for example teaching
strategies such as visual timetables, peer
mentoring, grouping for support, writing frames.
In summary
Provision maps can be extended to include
further interventions and differentiated
provision and to incorporate assessment
Intervention Group
size
Frequency/
duration
Staff
Pupils Entry
data
Intervention target
Comprehension
group
1:6 3 x 15 mins
x 6 weeks
HLTA
Amy
Joe
Dan
Fred
Bob
Max
2c
2b
2c
2c
2b
2c
Plus one sub-level
To use expression in
reading.
To demonstrate
understanding of text
in conversation.
x 6 weeks
(early am)
HLTA
Dan
Fred
Carl
Amy
Jane
Sara
3c
3c
3b
3c
3c
3c
Plus one sub-level.
To be able to use
multiplication facts (2,
5, 10) confidently.
To use the 24-hour
clock.
mins
HLTA
Joe 2b To re-engage with
text. To read with
expression.
TA
Carl
Jack
Tim
Leuven
targets
1 2
4 2
3 2
To work on:
independent targets,
organisational skills,
working with others.
Intervention Group
size
Frequency/
duration
Staff
Pupils Entry
data
Intervention target Exit
data
Outcomes
Comprehension
group
1:6 3 x 15 mins
x 6 weeks
HLTA
Amy
Joe
Dan
Fred
Bob
Max
2c
2b
2c
2c
2b
2c
Plus one sub-level.
To use expression in
reading.
To demonstrate
understanding
of text in
conversation.
2b
2b
2a
2a
2a
2b
Positive
outcomes for
all except
Joe.
Behaviour is
an issue
x 6 weeks
(early am)
HLTA
Dan
Fred
Carl
Amy
Jane
Sara
3c
3c
3b
3c
3c
3c
Plus one sub-level.
To be able to use
multiplication
facts (2, 5, 10)
confidently.
To use the 24-hour
clock.
3b
3b
3b
3c
3a
3a
4/6 plus one
sub-level or
more. Positive
outcomes.
Amy –
attendance
poor.
mins
HLTA
Joe 2b To re-engage with
text. To read with
expression.
2a Good
progress.
TA
Carl
Jack
Tim
Leuven
targets
1 2
4 2
3 2
To work on:
independent
targets,
organisational
skills,
working with
others.
3 3
4 4
4 4
Leuven
well-being and
involvement
improved.

Getting the
policy right
Make sure your SEN policy is up to date with our top tips
on what you need to include
46|www.nasen.org.uk
The front page of your policy should state the
name and contact details of your SENCO or the
person responsible for managing your setting’s
provision made for children and young people
with SEN (Regulation 3a for schools).
At the beginning or on the front page, name
the SENCO with contact details and add their
status regarding the National Award for SEN
Co-ordination. State clearly whether the SENCO
is a member of the senior leadership team (SLT)
or if the SENCO is not a member of SLT, name
the advocate on the SLT. See references to the
role of the SENCO in the SEND Code. State
here:
u your own school/setting's beliefs and values
around SEN
u that every teacher is a teacher of every child
or young person, including those with SEN.
You may also want to add:
u how your policy was developed, who you
consulted and how it was shared with your
stakeholders, including parents and families,
and that it reflects the SEND Code of Practice
0–25 guidance
u contextual information about your school/
setting in line with other school/setting
policies you have.
Aim (the longer view)
State the purpose of your school or setting’s
approach to SEN; what do you want for your
pupils? For example, raise the aspirations
of and expectations for all pupils with SEN.
Objective (how will you do it?)
Possible objectives:
u To identify and provide for pupils who have
special educational needs and additional
needs.
u To work within the guidance provided in the
SEND Code of Practice 2014.
u To operate a ‘whole pupil, whole school’
approach to the management and provision of
support for special educational needs.
u To provide a SENCO who will work with the
SEN Inclusion Policy.
u To provide support and advice for all staff
working with special educational needs pupils.
u To develop and maintain partnership and high
levels of engagement with parents.
u To ensure access to the curriculum for all pupils.
Identifying special educational needs
u Refer to the section of the Code of Practice that
describes the four broad categories of need.
u Acknowledge clearly that while the four
categories of need broadly identify aspects of
primary areas of need for children and young
people, at your school/setting, you identify
the needs of pupils by considering the needs
of the whole child, which will include not just
the special educational needs of the child or
young person.
Consider what is not SEN but may impact on
progress and attainment:
u Disability (the Code of Practice outlines the
‘reasonable adjustment’ duty for all settings
and schools provided under current disability
equality legislation – this alone does not
constitute SEN).
u Attendance and punctuality.
u Health and welfare.
u English as an additional language (EAL).
u Being in receipt of the pupil premium.
u Being a looked-after child.
u Being a child of serviceman/woman.
Remember that identifying behaviour as a
need will no longer be an acceptable way of
describing SEN. Any concerns relating to a child
or young person’s behaviour should be described
as an underlying response to a need which you
as a provider will be able to recognise and
identify clearly as you will know the child/young
person well.
A graduated approach to SEN
support
In this section of your SEN policy, set out the
process by which your setting/school identifies
and manages children and young people with
SEN. If you choose to record pupils on an SEN
record or register, your criteria for ‘entering’ a
pupil on this record should include:
u What work has to be done before, by whom?
(Write about quality-first teaching in your
school and the role of the class teacher or
The SEN policy
‘State the
purpose
of your
school or
setting’s
approach
to SEN

The SEN policy
‘The SEN
policy
should be
reviewed
annually
www.nasen.org.uk|47
matrix/indices to apply here which enables
you to answer some of these questions.)
u If the school/setting identifies that additional
funding and support are needed from the
local authority high needs block, describe
what this process looks like. Where do
you find your information? Who needs to
be involved? (You may have an SEN local
authority information file to access, which
could provide some of this information.)
u What referral documentation do you need to
complete? Single agency referral? Common
Assessment Framework?
u How are pupils and parents involved?
u Do you have a process for exiting the SEN
register/record in your school?
Next, set out what else your school does to
support pupils with SEN, if this has not already
been covered in your policy.
Training and resources
u How is SEN funded?
u How are the training needs of staff identified
and planned for?
Roles and responsibilities
u Define the role of the SEN governor.
u Define the role of SEN teaching assistants
– name the line manager, if this is not the
SENCO.
u Name the designated teacher for child
protection.
u Name the member of staff responsible for
managing pupil premium and looked-after
children funding.
Storing and managing information
Detail here how documents are stored. This will
probably sit in line with other school policies
on information management (how long to store
documents, when they should be destroyed,
what should be kept, where, and so on) and
confidentiality.
Dealing with complaints
Identify here any arrangements made by the
governing body or the proprietor relating to the
treatment of complaints from parents of pupils
with SEN and/or disabilities.
Reviewing the policy
The SEN policy should be reviewed annually.
How are the views of children and young
people represented in the creation of policies
in a meaningful way? Who reviews the policies
in your school? When are they ratified by
governors and when are parents involved?
What does this involvement look like and is
it born out of an intent to improve levels of
engagement with parents, carers and families?
Are there opportunities for co-production of
policy in place?
subject specialist teacher in providing for all
pupils – you may wish to put this at the start
of the previous section. The Code of Practice
suggests that pupils are only identified as
having SEN if they do not make adequate
progress once they have had all the
intervention/adjustments and good quality
personalised teaching.
u How is the decision made to place pupils on
the register? Describe the steps you take as a
school/setting in applying the Assess – Plan
– Do – Review cycle.
u How are parents, families, children and
young people involved in this process?
Managing pupils’ needs on the SEN
register
It is important here to consider the process not
the provision – this comes later. Remember
that this is now a single category of support,
SEN Support, so your school/setting needs
to decide how you are going to break down
the graduated approach into manageable
chunks understood by everyone (this is your
opportunity to be innovative in your approach
as there is unlikely to be specific guidance on
this). Your in-house arrangements will need to
be personalised to meet your cohort of need.
Here are some key considerations to include in
this section:
u What cycle/system for assessing, planning,
delivering, reviewing and recording
provision do you use? Remember, individual
education plans, provision maps and
person-centred plans are only effective if
they are living records which set out exactly
what needs have been identified, how to
remove key barriers to learning effectively,
ie what works, and the clear outcomes to
be achieved within an agreed timeframe.
The person responsible for maintaining
and updating the record or plan and the
lines of accountability must be made clear
here, including the core expectation that
the teacher has responsibility for evidencing
progress according to the outcomes
described in the plan.
u How often is it reviewed and how does it
feed into pupil progress meetings?
u How is the level of provision decided? This
may be a good place to write about your
school/setting's contribution to the local offer
– you can include this as an appendix.
u If your school/setting identifies that it is
unable fully to meet the needs of the pupil
through its own provision arrangements,
what do you need to evidence this?
u What is the process for engaging additional
support and specialist services? Who
monitors and costs this? When and how are
parents, families and children and young
people involved? (You may have a local
SUPPORTING
PUPILS AND
FAMILIES
➢
u Guide parents and
pupils towards the local
authority’s local offer.
u Consider links with other
agencies to support the
family and pupil.
u What are your
admission arrangements
and where can they be
found?
u How do you ensure that
children with SEN are
able to access exams
and other assessments
and who is responsible
for this in your school?
u How do you manage
transition – from class to
class, across key stages
and to another school,
including secondary
school?

48|www.nasen.org.uk
Much of the special educational needs and
disabilities (SEND) reform programme is
dependent on a new co-produced and person-centred
approach to supporting children and
young people with SEND. While person-centred
planning and approaches have been
around for almost two decades in social care
and in special school planning, this approach
is less familiar to mainstream schools.
The North Yorkshire SEND Pathfinder
has developed an implementation pack,
Personalised Learning Pathways: Information
for young people and their families, available
at www.sendpathfinder.co.uk (click on
information packs). This offers a useful insight:
‘A personalised learning pathway is a person-centred
programme which supports the young
person to develop and progress, based on a
clear understanding of how each person learns
best; strategies that will help them achieve their
goals; and the support they require within the
learning environment.’
Schools might find it helpful to look at
communication plans and one-page profiles,
which describe how a child learns best –
whether they sign/need to be near to the
whiteboard to see better and so on – but also
give the child’s own views about how they
learn best and communicate. An excellent
guide with practical examples of one-page
profiles can be found on the Helen Sanderson
website at www.helensandersonassociates.
co.uk/
For mainstream schools, this approach
incorporates the best engagement with the
learner and their family – how do they learn
best, what are the intended outcomes that
school and home aim to achieve and how
does this look on a provision map? The
‘programme’ could be a provision map with
features that include one-page profiles for
individual learners.
In order to personalise learning, professionals
need to listen to the views of children, parents,
carers and families and so over the next few
pages nasen has included two audit tools: one
for parental engagement and participation and
one for children and young people’s voice and
self-advocacy. These enable schools and other
settings to consider how they are using pupil
and parent voice when planning their SEND
provision. In addition to key questions, there is
a simple action plan framework to record the
issues raised and the appropriate actions that
need to be undertaken. You can then use these
to adjust the information you include in your
version of the third toolkit item, an action plan
to support school preparation for the SEND
reforms. Editable versions of these tools can
be found in the members' area of the nasen
website at www.nasen.org.uk/
The best SENCOs and most inclusive schools
have been offering a personalised approach
driven by stakeholder views within a graduated
approach for many years. Within outstanding
settings there is clarity across all staff and
governors as to the whole-school vision for
effective engagement and participation of
children, parents, carers and families. If this
isn’t the case in your setting then the arrival
of the new Code of Practice is the ideal
opportunity to address this issue.
Audit tools
Audit tools
and action
plans
'Professionals
need to
listen
to the views
of children,
parents,
carers
and families'
A range of practical tools to help you to improve
the quality of your provision and prepare for the
SEND reforms

Audit tools
Parental engagement and participation audit tool
for parents and carers of pupils with SEND
u Select the ‘best fit’ box and make notes within it.
u Remember to carry out this audit with parents too. How do your views differ from those of parents?
u At the point of discussing these areas of practice, ask what the possible barriers may be to promoting greater parental
engagement and participation, so you have an idea of where to go next to improve practice.
www.nasen.org.uk|49
AREA OF PRACTICE
Poor engagement and
weak participation –
information-giving only
Developing some
areas of good practice
– mainly on the level
of consultation and
participation
Strong engagement
and full co-production of
plans and joint decision
making evident
On entry (where SEND is known)
We draw on parents’ views and experience
of their child in establishing an overview
of the pupil’s strengths and needs and the
supportive strategies used
Initial identification
We draw on parents’ views and experience
of their child in establishing an overview of
pupil’s strengths and needs
Planning provision (SEN Support)
We work in partnership with parents to
develop a plan of support for their child
Planning provision
(statement/EHC plan)
We work in partnership with parents to
develop a plan to meet the objectives on a
statement/EHC plan
Learning at home
We enable parents to support their child’s
learning away from school
Day-to-day, two-way communication
We have effective systems to ensure that
parents and teachers are kept informed of
any day-to-day issues/successes
Review
We enable parents to work with us to
revise the support provided and the
related targets in the light of progress and
emerging issues

Audit tools
AREA OF PRACTICE
50|www.nasen.org.uk
Poor engagement and
weak participation –
information-giving only
Developing some areas
of good practice –
mainly on the level
of consultation and
participation
Strong engagement
making evident
Outside agency involvement
We support and fully engage with parents
when outside agencies are involved,
enabling them to understand the process
and interpret the outcomes
Annual review
We enable parents to be fully engaged
as equal partners in the annual review
process
Signposting
We actively enable parents to access
support from parent support services (eg
PPS)
Transition
We enable parents to be confident in their
child’s transition process from year group
to year group and when leaving the school,
sharing concerns and jointly planning
future provision and support
SEN policy
We enable parents of pupils with SEND
to share their views when reviewing the
SEN policy and we take account of them in
redrafting
SEN school self-evaluation
We regularly seek parents’ views when
ascertaining how effective we are in
making provision for pupils with SEND and
enabling them to achieve and be happy at
school
Staff training
Staff are confident in talking to and
working in partnership with parents of
pupils with SEND and in undertaking
difficult conversations, because they are
well trained and well supported
Ethos and values
All staff value and actively support the
full engagement and partnership with the
school of parents of pupils with SEND

Audit tools
Action plan following parental engagement and participation audit for parents
and carers of pupils with SEND
Area of practice that needs
improving
Key area for improvement
How will we know we have achieved this?
How and when will we evaluate this?
Action needed to make
improvement
Who needs to be involved? By when?
www.nasen.org.uk|51

Audit tools
Children and young people’s voice and self-advocacy
audit tool
u Select the ‘best fit’ box and make notes within it.
u Remember to carry out this audit with children and young people with identified SEND. How do your views differ from those of
children and young people?
u At the point of discussing these areas of practice, ask what the possible barriers may be to greater children and young people’s
voice and self-advocacy, so you have an idea of where to go next to improve practice.
AREA OF PRACTICE
52|www.nasen.org.uk
Poor pupil participation
and self-advocacy –
information-giving
only
mainly on the level of
participation in processes
Strong self-advocacy
making evident
On entry (where SEND is known)
We draw on children and young people’s
views and experiences in establishing an
overview of their strengths and needs and
the supportive strategies used
Initial identification
We draw on children and young people’s
views and experience of their strengths
and needs
Planning provision (SEN Support)
We fully engage children and young
people in developing a plan of support
Planning provision
(statement/EHC plan)
We fully engage children and young
people in developing a plan to meet the
objectives on a statement/EHC plan
Learning at home
We fully support children and young
people in their learning away from school
Self-advocacy skills
We actively and explicitly support the
development of children and young
people’s self-advocacy skills
Review
We engage children and young people
fully in revising the support provided and
related targets in the light of progress and
emerging issues

Audit tools
www.nasen.org.uk|53
AREA OF PRACTICE
Poor pupil participation
and self-advocacy –
information-giving
only
mainly on the level of
participation in processes
Strong self-advocacy
making evident
Annual review
We enable children and young people to
be fully engaged and their views to be
expressed in the annual review process
Transition
We enable children and young people
to be confident in the transition process
from year group to year group and when
leaving the school, sharing concerns and
contributing to future provision and support
SEN policy
We enable children and young people with
SEND to share their views when reviewing
the SEN policy and we take account of
them in redrafting
SEND school self-evaluation
We regularly seek children and young
people’s views when ascertaining how
effective we are in making provision to
meet their needs and enabling them to
achieve and be happy at school
Staff training
Staff are confident, well trained and well
supported to seek and act proactively on
the views and feelings of children and
young people with SEND
Ethos and values
All staff value pupil voice and actively
work to develop children and young
people’s self-advocacy skills
Boxes left blank for other areas that may arise in discussion with staff and parents.

Audit tools
Action plan following the children and young people’s voice and
self-advocacy audit
Area of practice that needs
improving
54|www.nasen.org.uk
Key area for improvement
How will we know we have achieved this?
How and when will we evaluate this?
Action needed to make
improvement
Who needs to be involved? By when?

An action plan
www.nasen.org.uk|55
An action plan to support school
preparation for the SEND reforms
Area for reflection Guidance and support – questions to support reflection and key issues to consider
1 Review and refresh the
school’s processes for
the early identification
and assessment of SEND
Reflect on the following areas:
u How is the school ensuring that it is identifying and addressing pupils’ needs/SEND as early as possible?
u Can you improve your liaison with pre-school/feeder schools to prepare and deliver your best endeavours for pupils with additional needs as soon as
they arrive with you?
u Have you available a range of tools and expertise to support identification and assessment of need?
u Do class/subject teachers make enough effective use of these tools to identify pupils’ gaps in and barriers to learning, adapting their core teaching in
the light of these findings?
u Does the school need to refresh procedures around the identification and assessment of SEND?
u Do you know how to call on the support of a range of external specialists as and when needed?
u Are there areas of SEND that staff need training for, to support their ability to identify pupils’ emerging difficulties as early as possible and know how to respond?
2 Update the SEN record
and refresh the school’s
approach to record
keeping
Update the school’s SEN record and any related paperwork replacing School Action/School Action plus with SEN Support.
Consider using this time to review the children on the SEN record – are there any children who could come off the record?
Look out for changes to the Pupil Census in January 2015.
Is the school’s approach to record keeping efficient and manageable?
Does the school provide the SENCO with sufficient administrative support?
3 The graduated approach
– review the school’s
current processes around
the assess, plan, do,
review cycle
Refresh the school’s procedures and timings for undertaking termly reviews with parents of pupils with SEND. Reflect on the following areas when
considering refreshing the school’s graduated approach to meeting the needs of pupils with SEND:
u How is the school ensuring that teachers have access to all the key information about pupils with SEND whom they teach?
u Are teachers confident and appropriately skilled to be able to meet the needs of pupils with SEND whom they teach?
u Is the SENCO supporting the development of staff skills, confidence and expertise in this area?
u Are teachers at the heart of the process of planning targeted provision for pupils with SEND?
u Do teachers monitor the progress of pupils within targeted provision for whom they are accountable?
u How can you ensure that the skills being taught and practised within targeted provision are improving the outcomes of work in class and are
developing pupils’ independence?
u Are pupils and parents meaningfully engaged in the co-production and review of SEND provision?
u How is the school ensuring that the targeted provision and support in place is addressing the objectives as outlined on pupils’ statements/EHC plans?
4 Role of the SENCO Update the SENCO job description to ensure it reflects fully the expectations of the role.
Use this opportunity to ensure that all staff and key stakeholders across the school understand the nature of the SENCO role.
With the senior leadership team (SLT) and SEN governor, review the key priorities for the role over the next year. Consider:
u Is the SENCO a member of/affiliated to the school’s SLT?
u Is there sufficient administrative support and time away from teaching to enable the SENCO to fulfil their responsibilities?
u Does the SENCO need to consider completing the National Award for SEN Co-ordination?
u Is the school booked onto termly SENCO Net meetings through the Forest Way Teaching School Alliance to keep up to date with national and local
developments in SEND?
5 Update the school’s
SEN policy in light
of the new Code of
Practice and ensure that
regulations related to
SEN information are
adhered to
Consider a parent/pupil focus group to support the review process and ensure that the views, hopes and concerns raised are reflected in the rewriting.
Place the SEN policy on the school website.
6 Develop the SEND
information for inclusion
on the school website
Use local authority guidance.
Check for examples from pathfinder authorities – www.sendpathfinder.co.uk/
Where possible, consult with parents, children and young people about what information they would like to see on the school website and how they would
like it presented.
Consider a jointly devised structure/format across a family of schools.
7 Preparation for transition Consider the following areas when reflecting on the school’s practice in the area of transition:
u What has the transition process been like for children and young people with SEND and their families both in/out of the school? What can be learnt
from past successes and what are the areas for development?
u Is the school aware of the training opportunities, apprenticeships, traineeships and supported internships available to young people as outlined in the
local offer?
u Are there effective links with existing SENCO networks to support smooth transitions (into and from school) to other education providers?
u Are smooth transitions planned for well in advance with parents, children and young people?
u Are the skills and techniques of a person-centred planning approach planned for?
u Does the process of within-school transition from one class/subject teacher to another need refreshing to ensure smooth transitions?

An action plan
Area for reflection Guidance and support – questions to support reflection and key issues to consider
8 Co-ordinated 0–25 EHC
assessment and planning
process and personal
budgets
56|www.nasen.org.uk
Attend the local authority’s training/briefing on the implementation arrangements for the co-ordinated EHC assessment and planning process, personal
budgets, annual reviews and person-centred planning approaches.
Respond to any future local authority consultation on revised thresholds for an EHC plan/Element 3 funding.
Consider the following when reviewing how the school is meeting the planned outcomes of current statements:
u Are all staff involved with the child fully aware (and have read) Part 2 of the statement?
u Are all staff involved with the child fully aware of the objectives on the statement?
u Do the statement objectives drive the provision and targets (as outlined on a provision map/individual education plan)?
u Are parents co-producers of the IEP/provision?
u Are pupils co-producers of the IEP/provision?
u Is it clear how the deployment of the statement ‘hours’ are linked to a specific intended outcome?
9 Review and refresh
the school’s vision and
procedures for effective
parental engagement
Use the Parental engagement and participation audit tool to review practice in the areas outlined below. Consider reviewing these areas with an SEN
parent forum.
u On entry (where SEND is known)
u Initial identification
u Planning provision (SEN Support)
u Planning provision (statement/EHC plan)
u Learning at home
u Day-to-day, two-way communication
u Review
u Outside agency involvement
10 Review and refresh
the school’s vision and
procedures for effective
children/young people
engagement
u Annual review
u Signposting
u Transition
u SEN policy
u SEN school self-evaluation
u Staff training
u Ethos and values.
Use the Children and young people’s voice and self-advocacy audit tool to review practice in the areas outlined below:
u On entry (where SEND is known)
u Initial identification
u Planning provision (SEN Support)
u Planning provision (statement/EHC plan)
u Personal targets/termly review
u Learning at home
11 Developing the
workforce
u Annual review
u Transition
u SEN policy
u SEN school self-evaluation
u Ethos and values.
u Carry out whole-staff training on the new arrangements and consult with them on what the SLT considers are important areas for reviewing and
developing current practice, with particular focus on every teacher being a teacher of pupils with SEND and ensuring that teachers are clear as to their
responsibility and accountability for the progress and development of pupils with SEND in their class(es).
u Consider undertaking a whole-staff audit of knowledge, confidence and skills in structured approaches to engaging parents and pupils, assessment and
identification of need, tracking and measuring progress of pupils with SEND, knowledge of different types of SEND, and suitable teaching approaches
and interventions.
u Consider developing a dedicated place on the school’s virtual learning environment to place and link training and support materials about aspects of
SEND, eg areas of need.
12 Meet with the SEN
governor to ensure that
they are aware of the
new arrangements
Share this action plan.
Remind governors to attend local authority Governor Development Service updates/briefings.
Discuss where the SEN governor could provide support for the school in, for example, updating policy or undertaking a parent/pupil audit.
13 Parent awareness of
new arrangements
Make arrangements for raising parents’ awareness as to any new school and local authority SEND arrangements, in particular:
u new terminology
u the move from statements to EHC plans
u the local offer
u Parent Partnership Services.
14 Working with specialist
outside agencies
Is the school confident in knowing the range of services across education, health and social care, including the voluntary sector, to support schools,
particularly, although not exclusively, in the early identification of SEN and effective support?
Are routes and criteria for referral known (should be made clear on the local authority’s local offer)?
Are key contacts for different services known (should be made clear on the local authority’s local offer)?
15 Self-evaluation of SEND Are you confident that you know how the school’s SEN budget (Elements 1, 2 and 3) is deployed and whether it is being effectively utilised to meet the
needs of pupils with identified SEND across the school and leads to good outcomes?
16 Pupils with medical
needs
Read the Department for Education’s Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions guidance and implement the recommendations.
(NB This is not necessarily the SENC0’s remit.)
An editable version of this action plan is available to download in the members' area of the nasen website:
www.nasen.org.uk/

ORDER FORM
Title and full name
Address
Postcode
Telephone No. Email
Organisation
Professional title
Invoice address if different from above
Postcode
Yes I’d like to take advantage of your special offer!
Order nasen’s new guide for school inspection and receive 1 year’s free nasen Individual membership £99
I’m already a nasen member, I’d like nasen’s new guide for school inspection for £75 (RRP £99)
nasen membership number
No I’d just like nasen membership
Individual £70
Individual Concession (Students, Parents, Teaching Assistants, Retired, Unwaged) £40
Small organisation (School under 140 pupils/Organisation with less than 10 employees) £90
Medium organisation (School 141 – 500 pupils/Organisation with 11 – 20 employees £112
Large organisation (School over 501 pupils/Organisation with over 21 employees) £132
Optional online subscription*
nasen online journal access £25 (inc VAT)
nasen online journal access (concessionary) £15 (inc VAT)
*Online access is only available when a full membership has been selected and a valid email address has been provided.
I enclose a cheque for £ (Please make payable to nasen)
BACS payment nasen account 70878097: Sort code 08- 90- 71
Invoice Please send direct to nasen house (address below).
To pay by credit card Please call 01827 311500.
www.nasen.org.uk
THE NASEN GUIDE FOR PRIMARY
SECONDARY SENCOS PREPARING
FOR SCHOOL INSPECTION
Payment Details*
*Goods will be despatched on receipt of payment.
nasen House 4/5 Amber Business Village, Amber Close, Amington, Tamworth, Staffordshire B77 4RP
E welcome@nasen.org.uk T 01827 311500 F 01827 313005 twitter nasen_org facebook nasen
SENG1

The Nasen Guide for
Primary Secondary
SENCOs Preparing for
School Inspection
Updated in 2014, this nasen guide to school
inspection is a practical, straightforward
guide that breaks down school improvement
into easily digestible parts.
❚ Four sections, each representing the four
areas of inspection judgement and how
the SENCO role relates to each area
❚ Clear and succinct explanations of each
section – suggested evidence, nasen tips,
Ofsted focus
❚ A comprehensive list of resources
❚ Clear examples of best practice
www.nasen.org.uk/schoolinspection
ORDER NOW
SPECIAL OFFER
GET NASEN
MEMBERSHIP FREE

Everyone include- SEN/D Changes Info by NASEN

More Related Content

Viewers also liked (19)

Similar to Everyone include- SEN/D Changes Info by NASEN (20)

More from Amjad Ali (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Everyone include- SEN/D Changes Info by NASEN