If a pupil is known to have special educational needs when they arrive at the school, the head teacher, SENCO, literacy and numeracy coordinators, departmental and pastoral colleagues should:
· use information from the pupil's primary school to provide starting points for the development of an appropriate curriculum for the pupil
· identify and focus attention on the pupil's skills and highlight areas for early action to support the pupil within the class
· ensure that ongoing observation and assessment provide regular feedback to all teachers and parents about the pupil's achievements and experiences, and that the outcomes of such assessment form the basis for planning the next steps of the pupil's learning
· ensure that appropriate informal opportunities for the pupil to show what they know, understand and can do are maximised through the pastoral programme
· involve the pupil in planning and agreeing targets to meet his or her needs
· involve parents in developing and implementing a joint learning approach at home and in school.


School Action (replaces Stages 1 and 2 of COP Lists)

The triggers for intervention through School Action could be the teacher's or others' concern, underpinned by evidence, about a child or young person who, despite receiving differentiated learning opportunities:
· makes little or no progress even when teaching approaches are targeted particularly in a pupil's identified area of weakness
· shows signs of difficulty in developing literacy or numeracy skills that result in poor attainment in some curriculum areas
· presents persistent emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, which are not ameliorated by the behaviour management techniques usually employed in the school
· has sensory or physical problems, and continues to make little or no progress despite the provision of specialist equipment
· has communication and/or interaction difficulties, and continues to make little or no progress despite the provision of a differentiated curriculum.

An important part of School Action is the collection of all known information about the pupil and seeking additional new information from the parents and others. The school SENCO should facilitate this process through either the pastoral system or the identified link workers (link SENCOs) as appropriate. In some cases outside professionals from health or social services may already be involved with the child. In such instances it is good practice for these professionals to liaise with the school and keep them informed of their input. If these professionals have not already been working with the staff, the SENCO should contact them. This information will act as a baseline on which to plan an appropriate intervention.

Coordinating the planning of the pupil's IEP, especially setting appropriate targets, should be the responsibility of the school or link SENCO. On the other hand devising strategies and identifying appropriate methods of access to the curriculum should lie within the area of expertise and responsibility of individual subject teachers. All staff should therefore be involved in providing further help to pupils through School Action. For this reason the arrangements for devising and recording individual education plans should be planned and agreed with all the staff, and endorsed by senior management.

Parents must always be consulted and kept fully informed of the action taken to help the pupil, and of the outcome of this action. Indeed parents may often be the prime source of further information about their child. The information collected can be maintained as part of the pupil's individual record that will also include previous observations on the child made as part of the assessment and recording systems in place for all pupils.

Nature of Intervention

The SENCO and the pupil's subject teachers should decide on the Action needed to help the pupil to progress in the light of their earlier assessment. There is sometimes an expectation that this help will take the form of the deployment of extra staff to enable one-to-one tuition to be given to the pupil. However this may not be the most appropriate way of helping the pupil. A more appropriate approach might be to provide different learning materials or special equipment, to introduce some group or individual support, to devote extra adult time to devising the nature of the planned intervention and to monitoring its effectiveness or to undertake staff development and training aimed at introducing more effective strategies. Speedy access to LEA support services for one-off or occasional advice on strategies or equipment or for staff training may make it possible to provide effective intervention without the need for regular or ongoing input from external agencies.

School Action Plus

Schools should always consult specialists when they take action on behalf of a pupil through School Action Plus. But the involvement of specialists need not be limited to such pupils. Outside specialists can play an important part in the very early identification of special educational needs and in advising schools on effective provision designed to prevent the development of more significant needs. They can act as consultants and be a source for in-service advice on learning and behaviour management strategies for all teachers.

At School Action Plus external support services, both those provided by the LEA and by outside agencies, should advise subject and pastoral staff on new IEPs and targets, provide more specialist assessments, give advice on the use of new or specialist strategies or materials, and in some cases provide support for particular activities. The kinds of advice and support available to schools will vary according to local policies.

The triggers for School Action Plus could be that, despite receiving an individualised programme and/or concentrated support, the pupil:
· continues to make little or no progress in specific areas over a long period
· continues working at National Curriculum levels substantially below that expected of pupils of a similar age
· continues to have difficulty in developing literacy and numeracy skills
· has emotional or behavioural difficulties which substantially and regularly interfere with their own learning or that of the class group, despite having an individualised behaviour management programme
· has sensory or physical needs, and requires additional specialist equipment or regular advice or visits, providing direct intervention to the pupil or advice to the staff, by a specialist service
· has ongoing communication or interaction difficulties that impede the development of social relationships and cause substantial barriers to learning.


The SENCO should record in the pupil's records what further advice is being sought and the support to be provided for the pupil pending receipt of the advice.


Individual Education Plans:

The guidance implies that IEP's are one of the strategies that should be employed by schools at School Action and Action Plus.

IEPs should include:
· The short term targets set for the child.
· The teaching strategies to be used.
· The provision to be put in place.
· When the plan is to be reviewed.
· The outcome of the action taken.

The IEP should only record what is different from and additional to the differentiated curriculum plan which is part of the provision for all children.

The IEP should be crisply written and focus on 3 or 4 individual targets chosen from those relating to the key areas of communication, literacy, numeracy, behaviour and social skills that match the child's needs. It should be discussed with the child and the parents.

IEPs should be reviewed at least twice a year, ideally they should be reviewed termly or more frequently for a child with particular needs.

School referral for statutory assessment

For a very few pupils the help given by schools through Action Plus may not be sufficient to enable the pupil to make adequate progress. It will then be necessary for the school, in consultation with the parents and any external agencies already involved, to consider whether to ask the LEA to initiate a statutory assessment.