SEN support and the graduated approach: assess, plan, do, review

What SEN support is

SEN support is the provision a school makes for a pupil with special educational needs who does not have an education, health and care (EHC) plan. In the 2025/26 school census, 1,319,780 pupils in England, 14.8% of all pupils, were on SEN support, compared with 538,547 (6.0%) with an EHC plan (DfE, June 2026). For most SENCOs (or SENDCos), SEN support is the bulk of the caseload and the part with the least statutory structure.

Chapter 6 of the SEND Code of Practice sets the expectations. Schools must use their best endeavours to make the provision a pupil’s needs call for (Children and Families Act 2014, section 66), should identify needs early, and should take a graduated approach of four actions: assess, plan, do, review (Code of Practice 6.44 to 6.56). There is no statutory form for recording it. What follows is a recording model that fits the Code and can be reused if an EHC needs assessment is ever requested.

Assess

The class or subject teacher, working with the SENCO, carries out a clear analysis of the pupil’s needs, drawing on the teacher’s assessment and experience, previous progress and attainment, comparison with peers and national data, the views of the pupil and parents and, where relevant, advice from external services (6.45). The assessment should be reviewed regularly so that support stays matched to need.

Write down: the concern in specific terms (what the pupil can and cannot yet do), the data that supports it, the pupil’s and parents’ views, and the date. Avoid labels at this stage; a description is more useful than a category, and it is what Section B of a plan would eventually need.

Plan

Where the school decides to provide SEN support, the parents must be formally notified. The teacher and SENCO then agree with the parents and the pupil the adjustments, interventions and support to be put in place, the expected impact on progress, development or behaviour, and a clear date for review (6.48). All staff who work with the pupil should know the plan and the strategies in it.

Write down: two or three targets in measurable terms, the provision for each (what, who, how often, for how long, group size), the review date, and the date the parents were told. This is the document usually called a SEN support plan or, using the term the February 2026 Schools White Paper proposes, an Individual Support Plan. The name matters less than whether a parent, a teaching assistant and a new class teacher could each pick it up and know what to do.

Do

The class or subject teacher remains responsible for working with the pupil daily, including where interventions involve group or one-to-one teaching away from the main class (6.52). The SENCO supports the teacher in assessing the pupil’s response, in problem-solving and in advising on how the support is put into practice.

Write down: what was actually delivered. The question a parent, a caseworker or an inspector will ask is whether the planned provision happened, and a plan with no delivery record cannot answer it. A short log, even sessions attended out of sessions planned, is enough, and a teaching assistant can keep it.

Review

The effectiveness of the support and its impact on the pupil’s progress should be reviewed on the agreed date, with the teacher, the SENCO, the parents and the pupil, and the result should feed back into the analysis of need and the next cycle (6.53 to 6.56). Separately, the Code says schools should meet the parents of pupils with SEN at least three times a year (6.65); aligning those meetings with the review dates covers both.

Write down: progress against each target with evidence, what worked and what did not, the parents’ and pupil’s views, and the decision: continue, adjust, step down, or consider requesting an EHC needs assessment. Date the review and set the next one. A termly cycle fits most schools.

A simple recording model

Keep each pupil’s cycles together, in date order, in one place. The SEND register is the index of who is on SEN support and when their next review is due; the cycles themselves belong on the pupil’s record.

When to consider an EHC needs assessment

The Code of Practice (6.63) says that where, despite the school having taken relevant and purposeful action to identify, assess and meet the pupil’s needs, the pupil has not made expected progress, the school or the parents should consider requesting an EHC needs assessment. There is no required number of cycles and no required spend. The legal test is whether the pupil has or may have special educational needs and whether it may be necessary for provision to be made through a plan (section 36(8) of the Act). Do not wait for certainty.

Two or three honestly recorded cycles showing limited progress despite quantified provision make a stronger request than any number of interventions listed without outcomes; see what evidence to send with an EHC needs assessment request. Once the request is sent, the EHCP timeline calculator gives the statutory dates to diarise.

Involving parents and the pupil

Parents must be told when SEN support starts (6.48) and the Code expects them to be involved in planning and reviewing it. Give them a copy of the plan in plain language, a named contact and the date of the next review. Gather the pupil’s views at each cycle in a form they can use, and keep them in the pupil’s words. Families who have been part of three termly reviews find the EHC process, if it comes, far less daunting, and the school already holds the dated views the request needs.

Making the cycle sustainable

The graduated approach fails most often for want of time, not understanding. The 2020 Bath Spa and nasen survey found 74% of SENCOs saying administration takes up most of their SENCO time, and only 15% with administrative support. Three habits reduce the load: one template for the plan, used by every teacher; a fixed termly timetable for reviews, so parents’ meetings and staff feedback are batched; and one place where each pupil’s cycles live, so a review starts from the last one rather than from scratch. Sendiphany keeps termly targets, provision, progress ratings and staff and parent contributions on the pupil’s record for that reason.