Post 16: Best practice walkthrough

Whole Setting Approaches Education communities that are THRIVING for all staff and young person and young people (CYP) tend to be more effective at meeting SEND needs. In the context of a setting with Quality First teaching and a broad, balanced and stimulating curriculum offer, the graduated response to SEND approach will work best.

In settings where SEND is a key focus for the Leadership Team when analysing attendance and exclusions data, this analysis effectively informs developments in the setting in relation to SEND. The most experienced Post 16 SEND Lead and Inclusion Leads have a good overview of the skill sets of teaching and support staff in relation to SEND.

They will ensure there is access to training for all staff on SEND and vulnerable groups on a needs led basis. This will lead to teachers having ownership of the progress of all young people within their classes.

All CYP will thrive in settings that are nurturing and inclusive; that have good systems for supporting individuals and monitoring issues pertinent to groups, for example, use of student council systems and regular opportunities for feedback from young people and staff. Inclusive and differentiated behaviour policies embed reasonable adjustments into the setting’s response to behaviour. Examples include:

• Emotionally friendly settings
• British Dyslexia Association
• Inclusion Quality Mark | IQM Inclusive School Award

The spirit of the changes to SEND legislation in 2014 encourages professionals to identify how they are part of a wider system whereby collaboration with partners is a key duty. It’s important that Post 16 SEND Leads and setting leaders are actively engaged in the local vision and priorities for SEND young person and families.

They will have a good understanding of their setting’s data and how that compares to local and national trends. Settings that work in collaboration with the LA on identifying and addressing strategic issues will drive standards across the network of SEND professionals and ultimately have positive outcomes for the SEND population. You can find the current strategic priorities on the Local Offer.

Salford appreciates the time commitment Post 16 SEND Leads give to decision making panels. The feedback we get from participants is that it is mutually beneficial. Get involved!

Our Post 16 SEND Lead practitioners and Inclusion Leads have a good grasp of the legal duties and entitlements of SEND young people. They should have an overarching understanding of budgets for SEND CYP. We are working together to enable Post 16 SEND Leads and Inclusion Leads to collate and analyse their SEND data and share their findings with services in order to maximise the impact of resources. Post 16 SEND Leads and Inclusion Leads need to be able to be creative when planning group support to ensure young people access timely and appropriate intervention to address their areas of need.

Just as a subject lead in a setting will champion the importance and quality of the teaching of their subject the Inclusion Lead maintains an overview of the quality of the teaching of SEND CYP. The Inclusion Lead can do this through their SEND and inclusion polices. Post 16 SEND Leads tell us that they feel they need a good knowledge of legal frameworks around exclusion to inform senior leadership regarding decisions around exclusion. Leadership teams have a lot to think about and they expect their Post 16 SEND Lead/Inclusion Lead to be advocating for the rights of SEND young people across all aspects of their education experience.

The Department for Education for Further Education settings states that under the Equality Act (2010):

Colleges must not discriminate against, harass, or victimise disabled young person and young people and must make reasonable adjustments to prevent them being placed at a substantial disadvantage. This duty is anticipatory – it requires thought to be given in advance to what disabled young people might require and what adjustments might need to be made to prevent disadvantage. (Further education: guide to the 0 to 25 SEND Code of Practice, 2014, pg. 9). For disabled young people, this included the duty to make reasonable adjustments to policies and practices and the provision of auxiliary aids.

Settings must ensure that their policies and practices do not discriminate against young people by unfairly increasing their risk of exclusion. Experienced Inclusion Leads will support and challenge teachers about the adjustments they are making for young people with SEND who have behaviours that challenge. Behaviour policies should be reviewed by the Inclusion Lead to ensure that practice doesn’t discriminate against any particular type of need.

Our SENDO’s and data tell us that often a young person is excluded prior to the identification of SEND.

Early intervention to address underlying causes of disruptive behaviour should include an assessment of whether appropriate provision is in place to support any SEN or disability that a pupil may have. The head teacher should also consider the use of a multi-agency assessment for a pupil who demonstrates persistent disruptive behaviour. Such assessments may pick up unidentified SEND but the scope of the assessment could go further, for example, by seeking to identify mental health or family problems.

The more experienced Inclusion Leads are also ensuring that SEND young people and their families are well informed about provision and approaches used across the setting. Through robust communication systems that provide regular sharing of information between the young person, the setting and the family (in line with the young person’s wishes).

They are also gathering the views of SEND young people and their families about what they would find helpful more broadly and feeding these views into the wider planning of support across the setting. For example, through the use of questionnaires and multi-agency coffee mornings alongside sharing information about other SEND support services. They are able to support young people and their parents/carers to understand the whole of the SEND pathway and where their needs are currently met on a continuum.

SEND young people’s voices are also regularly and authentically gathered and used to inform development work and practice across the setting.

Parents of SEND young person are used as experts to inform the approaches being used and the young person’s support package.

In Salford we advocate for a broad definition of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). If a young person needs adjustments to be made in order to be included or make progress, then consideration should be given to them having a Special Educational Need. We also recognise the benefits of identifying SEND early, as being responsive to individual needs early can have positive impacts on young person and young people’s outcomes in the longer term.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice (Department for Education [DfE] & Department of Health [DoH], 2015) sets out guidance and expectations in relation to identifying, assessing, and providing for young person with special educational needs. It tells us in relation to identification:

A young person or young person has a special educational need if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision, namely provision that is different from or additional to that normally available. A young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

• ‘has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age’; or
• ‘has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions’. (SEND Code of Practice, 2015, pg. 15)

The Code of Practice (2015) and Young person and Families Act (2014) make it clear that settings have to meet the needs of all CYP with SEND, including those who do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). All settings are required to use their funding as part of a graduated approach to meeting young people’s needs.

Most education settings choose to hold a SEND register or equivalent to support them with the identification of need.  It is important that this identification of need is based on careful assessment over time and the primary need categorised accurately.

Many Post 16 SEND Leads embark on a cycle of plan-do-review in order to explore the nature of the young persons SEND prior to recording the primary need in order to ensure an accurate classification is recorded. This data should then inform local strategic developments and commissions.

The graduated approach encourages practitioners to revisit, refine and revise decisions and actions that have been made, in order to grow their understanding of the young person’s needs and support requirements. The SEND Code of Practice (DfE, 2015, pg. 100) encourages us to provide the right support at the right time. It is graduated in that for some young person they will require small adjustments within the setting to be successful, whereas for others they will require a highly personalised plan of support and intervention in order to make progress and be included. The code highlights:

• Where a young person is identified as having SEND, the setting should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place.
• Once a young person is identified as having SEND their family must be informed. The setting must work with parents/carers, listening to their views and involving them in any decision making and planning.
• The provision in place must be reviewed termly and involve the young person and their family.

There are a wide range of teams available across Salford who can support settings to meet the needs of CYP with a wide range of SEND. It may also be decided that specialist advice from professionals is required to meet the needs of CYP for example Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), EMERGE, Educational Psychologist Service (EPS), Occupational Therapy (OT) and/or Physiotherapy Service.

Local Offer

Any recommendations provided by professionals should be clearly incorporated and referenced in planning for the young person. This SEND support should take the form of Assess-Plan-Do-Review Cycles, through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined, and revised with a growing understanding of the young person’s needs, alongside what supports the young person requires to make good progress and secure good outcomes (SEND Code of Practice, 2015, pg. 100, 6.44).

The Assess-Plan-Do-Review Cycle is the foundation of the graduated approach and key to meeting the needs of all young person identified as having any form of SEND.

The best practitioners reflect on their interaction style and approach to working with young person and revise this based on what works well for them and the individual young person they are working with.

This is a crucial aspect of working with our SEND population as they are all individuals; what works for one young person may not work for another even with a similar SEND profile or diagnosis.

Practitioners with good self-awareness and a willingness to adjust to the young person they are supporting experience the greatest success. ‘Reflective Practice is learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and practice.’ (Finlay, 2008) Reflective Practice is to critically evaluate experience from both the past and present and to use that information to inform and plan teaching and learning.

Reflective Practice is:

• about learning from others
• a shared activity
• about improving your objectivity
• a key factor in improving learner experience

Reflective Practice supports identification of and provision for SEND young person and fits well with the Assess-Plan-Do-Review Cycle.

‘Where a pupil is identified as having SEND, early years’ settings, schools and colleges should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place’ (DfE, SEND Code of Practice, 2015, p.100).

The SEND Code of Practice promotes the use of the ‘Assess-Plan-Do-Review’ Cycle to support this process. This works by revisiting, refining and revising our understanding of a young person’s needs and what works to support them. This means our understanding of the young person’s needs should become clearer over time and build a better picture of the provision they need to make progress. Building a picture over time is especially helpful in the early years when considering longer term planning and the provision needed to make a successful transition to school.

A good Post 16 SEND Lead will support a family through cycles of Assess-Plan-Do-Review and will try to understand any differences in opinion or experiences a young person has across different environments and make sense of them to inform the young person’s needs and support plan. Our experienced Post 16 SEND Leads have created one-page versions of the Assess-Plan-Do-Review Cycle to support parental understanding.

Parent explanation (Adobe PDF format, 107kb)

Review

Following the plan phase, key professionals, Post 16 SEND Lead, parent/carer should meet to review the plan. The review should include:

• Evidence of the impact of the plan, both in terms of the desired outcomes and success criteria
• Everyone’s views on progress and impact, including the pupil themselves
• A plan for next steps. Does there need to be another cycle of ‘assess-plan-do-review’ or can the CYP’s needs now be met through the Ordinarily Available Provision? Does a referral need to be made to another service?
• A written record

If it is agreed that the CYP would benefit from further support, then a second round of ‘assess-plan-do-review’ should begin.

Assess

Clear and comprehensive assessment of the pupils needs by key educational professionals, Post 16 SEND Lead, parents/carer and CYP, based on a combination of:

• Discussions to gather the views and aspirations of the CYP and their family
• Universal and targeted in-house assessments and observations carried out by a range of staff
• CYP’s current attainment and progress
• CYP’s previous attainment and progress
• Tracking of data and comparisons with national data
• Any relevant assessment information provided by external agencies eg Health, Educational Psychology (EP), and Social Care

Plan

Following the assessment phase, key educational professionals, Post 16 SEND Lead, parent/carer and pupil, meet and agree a plan of action. This plan should be outcome focussed (eg, improve, develop and achieve) and should include:

• SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based) targets
• Details of the adjustments, equipment, support and interventions that need to be put in place to fulfil the plan
• Details of who will be running the programme and when
• Details of success criteria, including how progress will be measured, when and by whom
• A date of review, typically 6-8 weeks

This plan should be recorded and circulated to all relevant parties before it begins. Any training needs should be identified and addressed prior to the start of the ‘do’ phase.

Do

In this phase the plan is put into action.

The SEND Code of Practise makes it clear that it is the responsibility of the setting adults to implement the plan on a day-to-day basis. This should be supported by the Post 16 SEND Lead. The ‘do’ phase should involve the teacher/tutor.

• Delivering the ‘Ordinarily Available Provision’ to all CYP.
• Implementing any adjustments, specific strategies, interventions, or approaches to teaching that have been identified as adult led within the plan phase.
• Managing any adults who are supporting CYP within the setting.
• Continually assessing and monitoring the CYP’s progress and making any necessary adjustments.
• Communicating with adults who are providing interventions to CYP and making plans for them to generalise their skills during learning.
• Communicating how things are going with the CYP, their family and the Post 16 SEND Lead.

Robust information should be gathered during this phase so that the following can be discussed at review:

• How the intervention/adjustment has been implemented eg whether there have been any absences or delays.

Learn

At the end of each cycle there should be an explicit pause built into the process with which, professionals, the family and the CYP reflect on what has been learnt (eg, regarding their learning preferences, motivation, approach, strategies that support and those which do not). This learning should be explicitly incorporated into any subsequent cycles of ‘assess-plan-do-review’ and into all ‘Ordinarily Available Provision’ that the CYP receives.

In this way there should be a clear thread linking subsequent plans and approaches.

SEND young people have the same rights as non-disabled young person and young people to participate in decisions and issues that affect them. The importance of the participation of SEND CYP is reflected in both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Young person and in duties placed on the local authorities to support and involve young people in decision-making. Sadly, research suggests that despite this SEND young people in practice remain inactive in decisions about their education and future.

Why gather the views of young people with SEND?

Research suggests that listening to the views of young people with SEND is beneficial for several reasons. There are clear advantages including increased motivation, independence, perception of personal control and progress. Todd (2003) notes that if young people are part of decision-making processes they can provide appropriate information about their skills and abilities and offer their views about possible interventions; enhancing the likelihood of successful outcomes.

The SEND Code of Practice makes it very clear that throughout the process of assessment the young person’s views should be sought. Every cycle is an opportunity to enable the CYP to be involved in decision making. It is important to have regard to the views, wishes and feelings of the young person and for these views to be clearly incorporated into Assess-Plan-Do-Review Cycles.

‘Planning should start with the individual and local authorities must have regard to the views, wishes and feelings of the young person, young person’s parent and their aspirations, the outcomes they wish to seek and the support they need to achieve them.’ (SEND Code of Practice, 2015, pg. 147).

‘After compulsory school age (the end of the academic year in which they turn 16) the right to make requests and decisions under the Young person and Families Act 2014 applies to young people directly, rather than to their parents. Parents, or other families members can continue to support young people in making decisions, or acting on their behalf, provided that the young person is happy for them to do so, and it is likely that parents will remain closely involved in the great majority of cases.’ (Further education: guide to the 0 to 25 SEND Code of Practice, 2014, pg. 12)

Throughout the assessment/planning process staff should:

• Focus on the young person as an individual
• Enable the young person to express their views wishes and feelings
• Enable the young person to be part of the process
• Ensure what is being discussed is easy for the young person to understand
• Highlight the young person’s strengths and capabilities
• Elicit what they have done, what they are interested in and what outcomes they are seeking in the future

Using a person-centred approach, involving young person and their families, is key.

1.Things to consider

• The developmental stage of the young person.
• How they like to communicate and their level of understanding, eg, are they able to share their views verbally or would they be best supported with a visual activity, such as picture sorting, or multiple-choice questions?
• Whom they like to communicate with – is there a member of staff with whom they feel most comfortable being honest? Are parents/carers better placed to gather views at home?

2.What views to gather?

* Likes and dislikes (What subjects do they like / like less? What do they like to do outside of education?)

• What support they value (What helps them to learn? What helps them less?)
• Who supports them to make progress and develop (Who can they go to that can help them? Who helps them feel safe or manage their feelings, who helps with their learning?)
• Long-term goals and aspirations in relation to preparing for adulthood (What would they like to be better at? What job would they like when they are older? What college courses / qualifications might they like to do?)
• Young people’s views should be sought across the four Preparing for Adulthood outcomes; paid employment, independent living, good health and friends, relationship and community (community inclusion/participation).

3.How can we do it?

A variety of methods can be used to gather CYP’s views. Some young people will be happy to talk and complete questionnaires whereas others will need the practitioner to be more creative (eg young people with speech and language difficulties or young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties). All young people should be encouraged to give a view, to gain a realistic view of how they perceive their educational experiences. This will then help highlight actions that will support adaptations to teaching and other more targeted interventions.

For young people who may not communicate verbally or prefer using visual supports try non-verbal methods eg:

• taking photos of all of their favourite parts of the classroom
• card sorts to pick favourite subject / least favourite
• line up photos or pictures in order from favourite to least favourite
• card sorts focused on the different elements of the Preparing for Adulthood outcomes
• projective techniques in which they might select a picture that shows how they feel eg Blob School Resources

For young people who can communicate verbally, use verbal or written methods (adults could write the answers). For example, templates included in the appendix:

• Three wishes – if you could have three wishes, what would they be?
• Perfect week – describe your perfect week/day.
• Good Day Bad Day – describe what happens on a good day (from the moment you get up).
• Relationship circle (who is important in your life?)
• Decision making profile.

Older young people can contribute planning in well-structured meetings. Here are two ways of sharing views and representing planning of actions jointly with young person in a visual and inclusive way:

• MAP – a visual way of planning for young person with SEND.
• Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope (PATH) – a visual tool for longer term planning as a group.

The importance of enabling young people to have a voice in decisions regarding their life and learning is central to SEND policy. Participation should be encouraged in all decision making processes including setting individual targets, support plans and contributing to assessments and reviews.

Schools and settings need to promote a culture of ensuring student voice across a range of issues and young people need to be taught and supported to contribute appropriately and effectively. It’s up to the adults to ensure young people see the impact of their contribution, as many become frustrated when their voice appears to be ignored.

4.Young people’s views within Annual Reviews

Annual Reviews can be an intimidating experience for some young people as they are sometimes asked to express their views in a room full of adults. It can be helpful to ensure that their views are gathered well in advance of the meeting, perhaps over several weeks. The young person may prefer to be supported by a key adult or trusted member of staff, in articulating their ideas. They may also wish to be supported by their key adult in the review meeting, for moral support.

Alternatively, the young person may wish to prepare a video or PowerPoint to share their views, or to ask a trusted adult to share their views on their behalf without the need to attend the review meeting in person.

It may be helpful following the Annual Review for the young person to talk through the meeting with a supportive adult to answer queries or highlight the actions of the review and the next steps.

Schools and settings have a duty to meet the needs of all their learners and to follow a graduated response to identification and meeting SEND. For a small number of low incidence-high need young person’s settings may need further guidance and resource from the local authority in order to meet their specific individual needs. In these cases, the setting has a duty of care to apply for an Education, Health, Care (EHC) assessment and the local authority has a duty to respond within legal timeframes.

The Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legal document which sets out a description of a young person’s special educational, health and care needs and what provision (what will be done) to meet their needs in to enable the young person to make progress. It is crucial that the family and young person are fully informed of the Education, Health, Care assessment process and supported through it. Parents routinely report that they feel set up for a battle and that they have multiple professionals and panels contradicting each other, which causes understandable frustration.

It is the duty of all SEND professionals to have a robust and working knowledge of processes locally and nationally so that parents can be supported through the process amicably.

There are several resources available to explain the EHCP process to parents – see below

Generally, only a very small number of CYP with complex and severe needs, who require very high levels of individualised support, are issued with an EHCP. All schools and settings have a budget that is available to support CYP with SEND. Most CYP will access help in their educational placement through the level known as SEN Support or as we describe it within the Main THRIVE tool ‘Getting Help’ and ‘Getting More Help’.

Where provision cannot reasonably be provided through services and resources that are normally available, it may be necessary to request an EHC assessment. Schools and settings typically request EHC assessments, but parents and professionals can do too. Young people aged 16 and over have the right to request an EHC assessment independently. Schools, colleges and other bodies can also request assessments but they can only do this with the knowledge and agreement of the young person and/or person with parental responsibility. The young person has to have a special educational need that is severe and/or complex and which has persisted in spite of the setting following the graduated response; including taking all expected steps and using the highest level of its resources to identify, assess and meet the need.

The Local Authority (LA) SEND panel also considers whether or not the difficulties are having an effect on the young person’s emotional wellbeing. The Local Offer in Salford will enable families and practitioners to find out what is available locally and further afield and should help everyone to make the most of many services and opportunities that are available, without the need to have an EHCP.

The referral

This is the first part of the process in making a request for an EHC assessment and is a key document that the local authority will consider when making decisions. It is important for the referral to identify outcomes for the young person and any reports should highlight these outcomes.

The decision to draw up an EHCP will depend on the severity of a young person’s needs and if any resources are identified that need adding to those already available.

The referral should be accompanied by evidence of provision made for an individual CYP from the SEN funding within the educational placement. This must take the form of a costed provision map completed on the referral template (please only provide the individual young person’s provision map rather than the whole setting provision map). If a young person has support in small groups, please ensure that you divide the cost between the number of young people accessing the group.

The My Story documents completed by parents and CYP should be included. It should be evident that the setting have been working on the aspirations highlighted by parents and CYP.

Settings should make every effort to identify strengths in all areas as well as difficulties. It is also helpful to detail what has worked in the last two/ three cycles of Assess-Plan-Do-Review and what additionality is needed to maintain or enhance the young person’s rate of progress

The timescales

Overview

The Annual Review is the statutory process by which a young person’s progress against the outcomes set out in the EHC Plan are reviewed in order to ensure that the provision and targets are up to date and relevant. The review also helps to consider whether the EHC Plan is still necessary to support the young person’s needs in the future, and to plan the outcomes for the coming year, setting new outcomes if necessary.

Statutory requirements

• An Annual Review must be undertaken in partnership with the young person and their family and must take account of their views, wishes and feelings, including their right to request a Personal Budget.
• A Personal Budget is the amount of money identified by the LA to deliver aspects of provision set out in an EHC Plan where the parent or young person (over 16 years of age) is involved in securing that provision. The funds may be held and managed either by the LA, setting, school or college; the family; a third-party arrangement; or a combination of the aforementioned.
• The Annual Review process must be completed on or before the anniversary of when the EHC Plan was first issued or the anniversary of the last review.

The Annual Review meeting

Before the meeting

• The host (usually the Post 16 SEND Lead in the educational setting) will contact relevant professionals to gather up-to-date reports and must contact the family to invite them to contribute their views, wishes and feelings (this is a helpful guide for young people to support them in sharing their views).
• The host must send an invitation to attendees at least 2 weeks prior to the meeting date and circulate copies of the gathered reports and views.
• The host should arrange a suitable meeting place, where confidential conversations can be held without disruption.

During the meeting

• The aim of the process is to review the young person’s progress towards achieving outcomes and must cover the following:
• Are the outcomes and objectives still appropriate?
• Agree new outcomes or short term objectives if required.
• Is the educational provision (including any health and social care provision) and the arrangements for delivering still appropriate?
• Is a Personal Budget required?
• Have the aspirations of the young person changed?
• From Year 9 onwards, Annual Reviews must include an explicit focus on the young person’s aspirations for the future in relation to preparing for adulthood outcomes (paid employment, good health, independent living and community inclusion/participation).

Following the meeting

• The host must prepare a report including any recommendations for amendments to the EHC Plan, documenting differences of opinion if necessary, rather than a general consensus. This must be circulated to those invited and the LA within 2 weeks of the meeting.
• The LA will consider the review documentation and decide whether the EHC Plan should either remain unchanged, be amended or be ceased. The LA must inform the parent or young person of this decision within 4 weeks from the review date and should be no later than the anniversary of either when the EHC Plan was first issued or the previous Annual Review.

Special review meetings

In some cases, it may be appropriate to call an Annual Review ahead of the usual timeframe. This would typically be when there has been a significant change in circumstances, where a significant change is anticipated, or where it is felt that the support outlined in the EHC Plan may no longer be needed.

Practical tips and things to consider:

• The Year 11 and Year 13 Annual Reviews will be held shortly before a young person leaves school or education. There will need to be a focus on the support needed by the young person in preparing for adulthood considering paid employment, independent living, good health and community inclusion/participation.
• Ensure adequate time for planning, organising and completing relevant paperwork following the Annual Review. Invite all relevant professionals who have had recent involvement (last 12 months); it may be helpful to think ahead about these arrangements at the start of the year (eg during planning meetings with outside agencies).
• Ensure the communication needs and accessibility of information (eg written text) has been considered for all attending the meeting. Ensure an interpreter is provided if required (using a professional service rather than a family member or family friend) and consider the use of visuals or other alternative communication methods where appropriate.
• Ensure all attendees can contribute to relevant parts of the review. At the start of the meeting, it can be helpful to clarify that it is a group process, and all attendees are bringing their own skills and expertise to draw upon in the meeting. Using a visual method (eg, MAP or PATH) as described in ‘Gathering and responding to young person’s views’ above can help make the process collaborative.
• It can be helpful to spend time with young person and their family ahead of the Annual Review to explain the process and ensure that all reports and information have been shared in a way that is accessible. If there have been any difficulties or issues, it is important that parents/carers are made aware of these concerns outside of and in advance of the Annual Review, and for this information to not be shared for the first time within the context of a multi-agency meeting.
• Ensure attendees are familiar with the outcomes and objectives and how the educational setting has worked with the young person and their family to make progress towards outcomes.
• Have relevant paperwork and reports from the last 12 months available; this can help to clarify a timeline of events if necessary (eg, appointments attended) and plans for future involvement (eg if a re-referral is required after a missed appointment).
• Celebrate positives and successes (eg, sharing examples of the young person’s work or achievements).
• The Annual Review is the opportunity to revisit, refine and revise the outcomes and provision within the EHCP to ensure it is effective in supporting the young person to meet their potential. This should include a detailed discussion about how the provision detailed in the plan has been implemented and the impact it has had in meeting the outcomes and objectives. If something is not working or no progress has been made, it is important to explore the reasons why (eg, are there barriers to provision being successfully implemented? Is a different approach or type of support needed?) Having these discussions during a multi-agency meeting leads to a collaborative approach to planning provision that draws on the expertise within the room to improve the support plan for the coming year.

The role of the Post 16 SEND Lead has continued to expand with each revision to the Code of Practice. The role is diverse and interesting, but the pace of change has accentuated Post 16 SEND Lead turnover. Post 16 SEND Lead roles can be emotionally laborious as they are in a position where they are supporting the wellbeing of others: young person, families, and team members. It is, therefore, essential that they get the support they need to fulfil their vital role for SEND young person.

Research (Lewis, 2017) suggests that Post 16 SEND Lead resilience is protected by access to social support from other Post 16 SEND Leads; having a position in school that enables systemic change (within the leadership/management team or clear links to); access to training and learning opportunities; and by individual coping strategies with workload and emotionally charged situations. Research has shown that peer networks can offer valuable support and development opportunities for Post 16 SEND Leads and school staff (Hayes and Stringer, 2016).

The Educational Psychology Service can facilitate group problem solving sessions and offer supervision to other professionals such as setting staff, which can provide a safe space to reflect on your role, concerns and coping; ask your Educational Psychology service for more details.

We hope this overview has given you a good understanding of the best SEND practices within Post 16 settings. The remainder of this document will support you to meet need within your setting across the Getting Advice, Getting Help, Getting More Help (Main Thrive Tool) and Getting Risk Support sections of the Thrive Framework.

Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’. Practice-based Professional Learning Paper 52, The Open University.

Hayes, M. and Stringer, P. (2016) Introducing Farouk’s process consultation group approach in Irish primary schools. Educational Psychology in Practice, 32 (2), 145-162.

Lewis, T, F. (2017). Special Educational Need Coordinator (SENDCO) wellbeing: a mixed methods exploration of workplace demands and effective coping actions. University of Birmingham.

Lyons, R. (2019). Reducing Exclusions in Salford: Identifying and Supporting Special Educational Needs (SEN), Summary Report (Part Three). Salford: Salford City Council.

Todd, L. (2003). Enabling pupil participation. Special Children. April/May, 22-25.

Appendix 1: Guidance documents for parents

EHC plan assessment pathway (Adobe PDF format, 88kb)

Appendix 2: Examples of tools to gain young person’s views

Decision Making Profile (Microsoft Word format, 14kb)