How do we write a SEN support plan or pupil passport?

Start with the cycle, not a template

Build the plan around the statutory assess-plan-do-review cycle: record the child’s needs, the agreed outcomes, the support and who delivers it, and a review date, agreed with the parent and, where possible, the pupil. The SEND Code of Practice does not prescribe a format, so “SEN support plan”, “pupil passport” and “one-page profile” are all acceptable names for the same job. The school must use the graduated approach of four actions, assess, plan, do and review, revisited in cycles SEND Code of Practice, para 6.44. Get those four things on the page and you have a Code-compliant plan, whatever you call it.

What the plan should contain

A usable plan is one a supply teacher could pick up and act on in a lesson. Keep it to a single page and cover these fields:

• The child’s strengths and needs, with a short baseline so progress is measurable.
• The agreed outcomes, written as what the child will be able to do by the review date, not as activities.
• The support and interventions, including how often, for how long, and the resources used.
• Who delivers each part, by role, so cover staff know who does what.
• What helps and what to avoid, the practical strategies that work for this child in the classroom.
• The review date and how progress will be judged.

Agree it, record it, review it

Once a pupil is identified as needing SEN support, the school must tell the parents, and should agree with them, and with the pupil where possible, the outcomes sought, the support to be put in place and a date for review. The decision to make special educational provision has to be recorded in the school’s records, and you should meet the parents at least three times a year SEN support: the four-part cycle. A plan that has not been shared and agreed with the parent is not Code-compliant, however good the content is.

The reform on the horizon

Watch the proposed statutory Individual Support Plan (ISP). The 2026 Schools White Paper proposes a legal duty on every school to create a digital ISP for any child with identified SEND, with no diagnosis needed to trigger it DfE, May 2026. It would be legislated through the Education for All Bill and is not yet law, so today the format remains your choice. Designing your plan around the four fields above will carry across cleanly if the ISP duty comes in.

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