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The Assess-Plan-Do-Review Cycle (Early Years)

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, 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 that our understanding of a child’s needs should become clearer over time. This does not mean starting again; current understanding and approaches should clearly be informed by what has gone before (e.g. notice, check, try). It is important to avoid a 'starting again' culture when children transition between rooms, practitioners or settings; this is frustrating for parents/carers and children who experience a disconnect across the system. The SENCO has a key role in identifying and understanding differences of opinion or experiences and to make sense of them to inform the child’s needs and provision.

We want to know that when our children go to school, … they are taken care of, looked after, kept safe - but we also want to know that they can do everything that they could possibly do to reach their full potential, whatever that potential may ultimately be. That they are thought of not as a burden, but our children are thought of as an asset.
Carrie Grant, TV Presenter & parent

SENCOs have created one-page versions of the Assess-Plan-Do-Review Cycle to support parent/carer understanding. An example can be found in the linked document below:

(The PDF below is not fully accessible and may not be suitable for users of assistive technology. See: Document accessibility).

Assess Plan Do Review cycle

Assess

Clear and comprehensive assessment of the pupil’s needs by key educational professionals, Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), parents/carer and children, 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 school staff.
  • Children’s current attainment and progress.
  • Children’s previous attainment and progress.
  • Tracking of data and comparisons with national data.
  • Any relevant assessment information provided by external agencies e.g. Health, Educational Psychology (EP), and Social Care.

Plan

Following the assessment phase, key educational professionals, SENCO, parent/carer and pupil, meet and agree a plan of action. This plan should be outcome focussed (e.g. 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 into 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 for review, typically 6-8 weeks.

The 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 Practice makes it clear that

it is the responsibility of class/subject teachers to implement the plan on a day-to-day basis. This should be supported by the SENCO.

The ‘do’ phase should involve teachers:

  • Delivering ‘Quality First Teaching’ to all pupils.
  • Implementing any adjustments, specific strategies, interventions, or approaches to teaching that have been identified as teacher-led within the ‘plan’ phase.
  • Managing any teaching assistants (TAs) who are supporting pupils with SEND within the class.
  • Continually assessing and monitoring the children’s progress and making any necessary adjustments.
  • Communicating with TAs and any other teachers providing interventions to pupils and making plans for them to generalise their skills within lessons.
  • Communicating how things are going with the pupil, their family and the SENCO.

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

  • How the intervention/adjustment has been implemented e.g. whether there have been any absences or delays.
  • How the pupil has approached the intervention/adjustment.
  • What changes have been seen and what progress towards the success criteria has occurred.

Review

Following the plan phase, key educational professionals, SENDCo, 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 the 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 ‘Quality First Teaching’? 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.

Learn

At the end of each cycle there should be an explicit pause built into the process within which, professionals, the family and the child reflect on what has been learnt (e.g. 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 ‘Quality First Teaching’ that the child receives. In this way there should be a clear thread linking subsequent plans and approaches.