The stages of a SEND support plan

For each special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) child in mainstream education, a SEND support plan is put together. This plan identifies your child’s needs, the actions required to meet them and any planned outcomes, such as specific targets the child will hopefully reach during their school year.

The stages of a SEND support plan

Each SEND support plan should have four stages:

• assessment
• plan
• do
• review

Assessment – This is the initial stage when the class teacher and other education professionals work with you to evaluate your child’s needs and determine what kind of support they require.

Plan – You and your child agree with the school about what support will be implemented and how.

Do – The school supports your child through the school year as outlined in the plan.

Review – The school reviews how your child is progressing through the agreed plan. You and your child will have the opportunity to comment on how the process is going and discuss whether your child is getting the right support for their needs.

How often should SEND reviews be held?

Plans can run in a cycle and your child might require an assessment after the review stage. Tweaks can be made at any stage but must be agreed upon with the parent, child and teacher and written into the plan. A successful SEND support plan depends on the collaboration of all the individuals involved. You, the parent, must be involved throughout the process and kept up to date on your child’s progress.

The support plan is generally reviewed twice throughout the school year. However, this could be more frequent depending on your child’s level of need – if they are in receipt of an EHCP (education, health and care plan), for example.

In most schools, SEND children are on an internal register to track and check their progress throughout their time at school. The targets are created by the class teacher and checked by the in-house special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) to make sure that they are achievable and pitched at the right level for each child.

Finding the right SEND support for your child

By law, every state school and nursery must provide SEND support. However, it’s important to note that private schools may manage special educational needs in a very different way from state schools. In fact, some may not offer any SEND support whatsoever. Each local authority and school has its own process for supporting SEND children, which can be confusing when choosing the right school for your child. So it’s important to do your own research into each school and check its SEND support through websites like Mumsnet or The Good Schools Guide.

Looking for personalised support to help your child succeed? Our website helps you find a qualified 1-to-1 special needs tutor for your child.

Ione Inness
Ione is the Director at SEND Tutoring and has over 20 years’ experience working with children and young people. In the last 10 years she has worked with children of varying different needs, including: Autism, Pathological demand avoidance (PDA), Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Attention deficit disorder (/ADD), Social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH), Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Speech and language delays or difficulties, Cerebral palsy, Nonverbal, speech/communication delays, Challenging behaviour, Profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), Anxiety, Cognition difficulties, Learning difficulties.

If you’re looking for support for a child or young person with special educational needs or a disability, book a free call with us today and find out how we can help.