Welcome to Tameside’s Graduated Approach

This is a resource for anyone who supports children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). It includes information related to best practice and known evidence-based interventions for children from the early years to post 16. The hope of this resource is to support practitioners to raise the standards of education and support for children and young people with SEND.

What is the Graduated Approach?

To ensure all needs are identified and supported, schools must use a graduated approach. It is called a graduated approach because there may be many different cycles of intervention and strategies before support needs are understood and met.

‘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 child’s needs and what works to support them.

This means our understanding of the child’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 when considering longer term planning and the provision needed to make a successful transition to a setting/school or between schools. A good SENCO will support a family through cycles of Assess-Plan-Do-Review and will try to understand any differences in opinion or experiences a child has across different environments and make sense of them to understand the child’s needs and inform the support plan.

Tameside’s Graduated Approach for Inclusion in Education

Education is about supporting children to achieve their full potential.

The graduated approach is initially split by age (Early Years / Key Stage 1 / Key Stage 2 / Key Stage 4 / Post 16) and then by area of need (Cognition and Learning; Communication and Interaction; Social Emotional and Mental Health; and Sensory and Physical).

It is then split into 3 tiers of support:

Tier 1

WHAT TO DO FIRST– Identifying and supporting need

Tier 2

ASKING FOR HELP– Making a referral for specialist advice

Tier 3

WHEN MORE HELP IS NEEDED – Integrating specialist advice

The ‘What To Do First’ section also includes support in relation to:

  • Whole School/Whole Class Level
  • Group Level
  • Individual Lavel

 

Children might move up and down the Graduated Response continuum at different stages of their lives depending on how factors such as time, environment and their personal characteristics interact with what happens in classrooms and settings.

What is a Special Educational Need?

In Tameside we advocate for a broad definition of SEND. If a child/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 and how being responsive to individual needs early can have positive impacts on children/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 children/young people with special educational needs. It tells us in relation to identification:

A child 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.

The Code of Practice (2015) and Children and Families Act (2014) make it clear that settings have to meet the needs of all children/young people with SEND, including those who do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). All schools are required to use their SEN Notional Funding as part of a graduated response to meeting children/young people’s needs.

Parent/Carer Support

Although this website is aimed at educational practitioners, parents/carers may still find the sections above helpful when looking for strategies to use at home for their child/children.

More support?