How do we run a SEND review of our school?

Start with the free guide, not a consultant

Use the free Whole School SEND Review Guide to self-evaluate provision across eight areas, from leadership to outcomes, then write a costed action plan. Lead it jointly with your SENCO, senior leaders and SEND governor. The point most schools miss is that a SEND review is a self-evaluation first. You do not need to pay anyone to begin. The SEND Review Guide is a free, structured tool (revised May 2025) that works in mainstream and specialist settings, and it gives you a framework rather than a blank page.

Rate provision across the eight areas

The second step is the honest scoring. With your SENCO, senior leaders and SEND governor in the room, rate where you are against each of the eight areas the guide sets out:

• outcomes for pupils with SEND
• leadership of SEND
• quality of teaching and learning
• working with pupils and parents or carers
• assessment and identification
• monitoring, tracking and evaluation
• efficient use of resources
• the overall quality of SEND provision

Test what you find against the document the law actually makes public: your SEN information report. Every maintained school and academy must publish one setting out how it delivers its SEN policy (Regulation 51 of the SEND Regulations 2014; SEND Code of Practice paragraph 6.79). If the report claims provision your scoring cannot evidence, that gap is your first action point.

Decide who leads it, and whether you need a peer day

The review is owned by senior leaders, not delegated to the SENCO alone. The SEND governor’s oversight is statutory, not optional: the governing board must use its best endeavours to secure the provision pupils need (Children and Families Act 2014, s.66) and should have a lead member or sub-committee with specific oversight of SEND. A companion SEND Governance Review Guide lets the board review its own role.

Keep two things distinct. The routine self-evaluation is the internal exercise your SENCO and leaders run each development-plan cycle. A full external or peer review is a focused day: an independent reviewer interviews staff, pupils and parents, scrutinises paperwork, observes lessons and writes an independent report. Do the free self-evaluation first; pay for a peer day only when you want outside challenge or independent assurance.

Reform-watch: plan for the direction of travel

The Schools White Paper published in February 2026, with change proposed through the Education for All Bill, sets out a statutory Individual Support Plan duty for every school and narrower EHCPs over the next decade. These are proposals, not law, and nothing changes before September 2030. Run your review to today’s rules, but let your action plan anticipate the shift towards school-held support plans.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.