Assess Plan Do Review Cycle
Assess Plan Do Review Cycle
Assess Plan Do Review Cycle
‘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 pupil’s needs and what works to support them.
This means that our understanding of children’s and young people’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 and young people transition between teachers, year groups, or schools; this is frustrating for parents/carers and children and young people who experience a disconnect across the system. The SENCO has a key role in identifying and understanding differences of opinion or experiences and making sense of them to inform the children and young people’s needs and provision.
Assess
School or college staff, supported by the SENCO, gather information from a range of sources to understand the needs of children and young people.
Plan
Based on the information that has been gathered, a plan is put together with the children and young people and parents/carers (depending on the age of the children and young people). This is an agreement about what intervention or support will be put in place, for how long and who will be responsible for providing the agreed support. Expected outcomes of this support should be agreed upon, based on shared aspirations for the child or young person These outcomes should be specific, measurable and achievable within the time frame.
Do
The plan is put in place for an agreed timescale.
Review
The plan is reviewed and the impact of any intervention or support is considered based on the views of staff, parents/carers and the children and young people. It is helpful for everyone to think about what has been learned – did the children and young people enjoy the intervention? Did they respond well to a particular approach or strategy? This information can be used to guide the next steps.
Any recommendations provided by professionals should be clearly incorporated and referenced in planning for children and young people as part of this cycle.
A one-page summary of the APDR cycle can be accessed in the 'related files' section.
Examples of these cycles for different types of need can also be found in the 'related files' section.