A graduated approach is the four-stage SEN support cycle - assess, plan, do, review - that early years settings repeat to identify and meet a child's special educational needs. No diagnosis is needed to start it. “SEN” means special educational needs: when a child learns differently or needs more help than their peers to take part. The cycle is what a nursery, pre-school or childminder uses to work out what is getting in the way and to put the right help in place.
The four stages
Each stage feeds the next, and the whole cycle repeats with more detail and more often as you learn what helps the child.
| Stage | What the setting does |
|---|---|
| Assess | Gather a clear picture of the child's strengths and needs, using your own observations, the parents' knowledge and any outside advice. |
| Plan | Agree, with the parents, the outcomes you are aiming for, the support you will put in place and a date to review it. |
| Do | Put the support into daily practice. The child's key person stays responsible day to day, supported by the SENCO. |
| Review | On the agreed date, judge what worked, what didn't and what to change, then start the cycle again. |
Why it is not optional, and who leads it
This is a legal expectation, not best-practice fluff. The SEND Code of Practice 2015 (paragraph 5.38) says all early years providers should adopt a graduated approach with these four stages, and the same duty runs through the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework. It is led by the setting's SENCO (the special educational needs co-ordinator), working with the child's key person and, at every stage, with the parents. The Code is clear that the cycle should be revisited in increasing detail and with increasing frequency, so the help is refined as you understand the child better.
The point most other guidance buries is the gatekeeping one: you do not wait for a diagnosis. A practitioner's concern is enough to begin. Holding off until a child has been seen by a paediatrician or speech therapist delays the very support the cycle exists to deliver.
Where it sits before an EHCP
The written record of repeated assess-plan-do-review cycles is not a side note. It is the foundation of the route to an education, health and care plan (EHCP). When a setting or parent asks the local authority for an EHC needs assessment, the documented cycles are exactly the evidence the council expects to see that everyday support has been tried and reviewed. So the graduated approach and the EHCP route are one path, not two separate things. For the schools-wide version of the same cycle, see the graduated approach (assess, plan, do, review), and for how the help is funded and delivered, what SEN Support is.
One thing to watch, not to act on yet: the Schools White Paper of February 2026 and the Education for All Bill propose a statutory Individual Support Plan (ISP) duty for every nursery, school and college. That is consultation-stage only, with no changes expected before September 2030. The graduated approach remains the law today.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.