Supporting children at SEN Support – The Graduated Pathway

Where concerns are raised that a child may not be making expected progress in their learning, schools are expected to intervene early to implement appropriate and effective support to overcome the barriers to learning. This SEN Support should take the form of a 4-part cycle; Assess Plan Do Review (APDR), to develop a growing understanding of the pupils’ needs, and identify what support is required to ensure the pupil secures good outcomes and makes good progress. This is known as the ‘Graduated Approach’.

The SEND Code of Practice specifies that it's for schools to provide high quality appropriate support from the resources they have available to them, including the amount identified in the notional SEN budget. If a child at SEN Support requires additional targeted intervention that exceeds this amount, Shropshire schools can request additional funding through the graduated support pathway.

Prior to submitting a request for GSP funding, schools should demonstrate that they have implemented the expectations for SEN Support as detailed in Chapter 6 of the SEND Code of Practice. This will be evidenced through the completion of successive cycles of the graduated approach (APDR). Schools will be recording this through their Person Centred Plans (may be known by another name, ILP, IEP etc).