The purpose of a review is to make sure that at least once a year the parents, the pupil, the Local Authority, the school and all the professionals involved monitor and evaluate the continued effectiveness and relevance of the provision set out in the Statement.
The meeting should:
Consider progress by the pupil towards statement objectives.
Consider if the Statement needs amending, and if so, how?
Discuss and set new targets.
Ensure that 14-19 transition requirements are considered and followed.
At the start of each month, the Local Authority sends each school a list of all pupils who will require an Annual Review four months in advance of that date.
The Headteacher, or Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO), seeks written advice from parents and professionals, seeks the pupil’s views and convenes a meeting.
The school must invite:
- the parent(s) or carer(s)
- a relevant teacher
- a representative of the Local Authority – particularly if the Statement is likely to need amending
and can also invite:
- the pupil
- representatives of the health services
- representatives of social services
- other relevant professionals
- a representative from a receiving school in the year of transfer.
Written advice received should be circulated to everybody involved in the Annual Review at least two weeks before the meeting. If schools have major issues to discuss, the SEN Team should be contacted and informed that it is essential for an Officer to attend.
The Headteacher (or SENCO) chairs the meeting and should write and send a Review report within 2 weeks of the date of the meeting to the Local Authority which:
- summarizes recommendations
- sets educational targets
- is circulated to all concerned
The Local Authority considers the summary of recommendations and may:
- issue an amendment to the Statement
- decide that a full re-assessment of the child’s needs be initiated
- decide not to change the Statement or
- cease the Statement.
A step by step guide to the normal Annual Review process can be found in the Tool Kit:
www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/sen/sentoolkit
- To consider progress by the child towards the objectives of the Statement.
- To reach a decision as to whether the child’s needs remain the same.
- To reach a decision about whether the Statement needs to be amended and if so what the proposed Amendments should be.
- To discuss the next set of targets that the pupil ought to be working towards.
- If the pupil is year 5 discussions around transfer at year 6 should start.
- If the pupil is year 9 or above a transition review should be completed.
A school needs to hold an Annual Review for each child with a statement of SEN who is on the roll of a school. The Local Authority is responsible for holding reviews for children who are excluded from school or educated otherwise than at school.
An Annual Review of a child’s Statement of Special Educational Needs must take place:
- within 12 months of the LA making the first (Final) statement.
- within 12 months of the previous Annual Review.
- where a school identifies a pupil at serious risk of disaffection or exclusion.
- when a child has special needs that change significantly or rapidly.
- if the statement specifies an earlier date than 12 months.
- if a previous annual review recommended an earlier date than 12 months.
A Review can also be arranged to take place at the same time as a Social Services review of a ‘looked after child’ or ‘child in need’ where a child is in Local Authority care.
The school needs to decide an appropriate day for the review. If it is important for a particular person to be present, such as an Officer of the Local Authority or an Educational Psychologist, you should contact that person first to arrange a date (or dates) on which they can attend, (this should include all agencies e.g. Special Educational Needs (SEN), Educational Psychology, SEN Officer, Children and Schools Social Work Service, Department of Child Health or the Specialist Educational and Development Team).
Invitations should be sent at least four weeks before the meeting, to allow for advice to be written, received, copied and sent out before the review (all reports should be distributed prior to the meeting being held, to all those invited to attend). Invitations should be sent out to the child’s parents/carers, a relevant teacher, the Local Authority and, for a review before a child transfers to another school, a representative from the receiving school. You can also invite the child, representatives of the health and/or Children and Schools Social Work Service, and any other professionals whose advice will be relevant. Parents/carers should be told that it might not be possible for every professional invited to attend the review.
It is useful for a child to attend just the beginning of a review to give his or her views. Older pupils may well attend the whole review. Schools should consider alternative and/or innovative approaches of involving the child. The Code of Practice says that the child should always be involved.
The only people who should be present at a review are people who can make a direct contribution to reviewing a statement – the child, the parents/carers, professionals who can comment on their assessments of a child, a Local Authority Officer who can comment on the wording of a statement and the LA’s provision, and a person supporting the parent/carer (e.g. Parent Partnership).
The only person who could be invited, but who would not be able to contribute to reviewing the statement, is a person who acts as a translator of a spoken or signed language.
The invitations will have requested written advice and the Code of Practice states that advice is sent to all who are invited to attend the review. (Only one copy needs to be sent to the child and his/her family). Advice should be circulated two weeks prior to the meeting.
Meetings should generally follow the pattern:
- Welcome and introductions, including roles and responsibilities.
- The Chair welcomes and introduces everyone, or invites people to introduce themselves.
- The Chair should explain the purpose of the meeting (to review the statement) and make sure that all contributors explain how they interact with the child so that parents/carers understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to their child and the review process.
- The Chair should also make sure that parents/carers know who was invited and unable to attend.
Review of the pupil’s progress:
- The chair should confirm that reports have been received and read.
- The meeting should review the pupil’s progress.
(Ensure that everyone has a copy of the statement for reference.) If the pupil is present they should be encouraged to tell the meeting how they think they have progressed and how they feel. (The pupil should have the format of the meeting explained beforehand.)
The meeting should consider:
- the pupil’s views
- the parents’ views
- a pupil’s progress over the past year, in relation to each special educational need
- a pupil’s progress towards meeting the objectives set out in the statement
- the successes the pupil has achieved in meeting the targets in the IEP and the objectives set out in the statement
- National Curriculum levels and key stage assessments, particularly in literacy and mathematics
- comments upon any continuing difficulties, noting successful strategies
- significant changes in a pupil’s circumstances
- changes in a pupil’s special educational needs
- any changes to requirements for equipment, aids and access
The meeting should decide what its recommendations would be. An Annual Review cannot make decisions – it can make recommendations to the Local Authority, which then decides what changes to make to the Statement. For example, if an Annual Review considers that a different type of provision would better meet a child’s needs, the meeting cannot name another school or provision – it can recommend that the Local Authority consider a type of provision, such as “special school for children with severe learning difficulties” or “school with a resourced unit for pupils with Hearing Impairment”, rather than “X School” or “Y School”.
The meeting may make recommendations concerning the following issues:
A report of the meeting and a summary of the recommendations is completed by the school. The report must be sent to the Local Authority no later than two weeks after the meeting or by the end of that term, whichever is earlier. Copies of the report must be sent to parents/carers and all other appropriate people (normally those people originally invited to the meeting).
1. Should the Local Authority consider changes to the statement?
If the meeting has suggested any changes to the statement, answer, “yes” to this question. Only answer “no” if the meeting has agreed that no change at all is needed to the Statement.
2. Should the Local Authority cease to maintain the Statement?
Every review should consider if there is a need for a child to continue to have a statement. Most of the financial support for SEN has now been devolved to schools (e.g. for pupils with specific and general learning difficulties). Some older children have statements, which were originally written before devolution of funding. There may be little point in a statement continuing if it no longer provides any specific benefit.
3. Are the pupil, parent/carer and school details correct?
During the Annual Review, school should check with the parents/carers that the details of Part 1 of the Statement are correct and also that telephone numbers are current, especially if the contact number is a mobile phone.
4. Have the pupil’s special educational needs changed?
Changes to Part 2 of the Statement can be considered, if recommended by the review meeting. As well as adding new information, it is important to remove anything in the Statement, which is out of date or no longer correct.
5. In Part 3 of the statement, should the Local Authority consider changing the Objectives?
If “yes”, write in the new Objectives.
6. Should the Local Authority consider changing the Provision to meet the Objectives?
If “yes”, write in the recommended provision.
7. Is the pupil currently in Year 5?
If the answer is “Yes”, the type of provision which would appear suitable for the pupil’s secondary phase of education (e.g. mainstream or special) should be considered. If a child is in a mainstream setting, there should be a significant reason for the provision to be changed.
8. Is the pupil working towards independence?
This should be considered in relation to any additional LSA support provided and if a reduction in support help to develop independence skills?
Similarly, if transport is provided as part of the Statement, is it still required? If it is, please provide reasons. A brief answer is sufficient unless specially modified transport is specified on the statement, in which case more detail may be needed.
9. Were all those at the meeting in agreement with the above recommendations?
This can be answered, “Yes” or give details of disagreements indicating majority and the minority views.
When a child is in Year 9, their annual review has an important additional function – it must draw up a Future Needs Plan, which is a document drawing together information from a range of individuals within and beyond the school to provide a coherent plan for the young person’s transition to adult life.
The organisation and conduct of a Year 9 review is the same as any other review, but in addition the Headteacher must invite the Connexions Service to provide written advice. Other agencies (e.g. health authority, Children and Schools Social Work Service), which will be relevant to post-school years, are also invited to the review, where appropriate. A Future Needs plan is drawn up, in consultation with the Connexions Service.
The Future Needs Plan is first drawn up in Year 9 and must be reviewed and updated at every subsequent Annual Review.
