Services
Inclusion, SEND and behaviour reviews.
Each review answers one clear question, runs to a fixed method and a fixed fee, and ends with a report and a prioritised plan. Practical help afterwards is optional and agreed up front. Each review can also serve as an independent SEND audit for governors and trustees.
Review I
Inclusion Base Review
Is our base working for pupils, and does it meet the DfE guidance and the inclusion expectations in the Ofsted toolkit?
A structured review of an existing inclusion base, drawing on founding a special school and on my Tes article on making inclusion bases work. It looks at the base itself and at how it connects with the rest of the school. Whatever your school calls it, an inclusion base, an additionally resourced provision (ARP), a resource base or a SEN unit, the review applies the same tests, for both support bases and specialist bases.
Reviewed against the DfE inclusion bases guidance, the Ofsted school inspection toolkit and the SEND Code of Practice, using the versions in force when the review takes place.
What it covers
- Purpose and needs analysis
- Admission, review and exit, so the base never becomes a sanction
- Environment, zoning and regulation spaces
- Staffing, training and supervision
- Curriculum and links with mainstream classes
- Safety, recording and impact, seen through a SEND lens
What you will have at the end
- An 8 to 12 page report with Secure, Developing or At risk judgements and the evidence behind them
- A matrix against each expectation in the DfE inclusion bases guidance
- A draft admission and exit protocol
- A 90 day action plan with owners and success measures
- A one page trust summary when several bases are reviewed
Review II
Behaviour and Restrictive Practice Review
Is our approach to behaviour consistent and in line with the law and guidance, and is it reducing restraint, removal and suspension, especially for pupils with SEND?
A review of the whole behaviour system, informed by positive behaviour support and aligned to the DfE guidance in force at the time of the review. It looks at how your school uses, records and reports reasonable force, restraint and other restrictive interventions, and how it reduces them safely.
Reviewed against the DfE guidance on restrictive interventions, on suspensions and permanent exclusions and on behaviour in schools, and the Equality Act 2010, using the versions in force when the review takes place. Informed by the PBS Academy Positive Behavioural Support Competence Framework.
What it covers
- Policy against the guidance in force
- Culture, routines and calming situations safely
- Understanding behaviour: form and function
- Quality of behaviour support plans
- Restraint recording, parent notification and seclusion
- Suspensions, removals and part time timetables
- Data and governor oversight
What you will have at the end
- A policy checklist against the DfE guidance in force at the time
- Analysis of suspensions by SEN status and pupil group, and of restraint trends
- An optional quality audit of a sample of behaviour support plans against a clear rubric
- A prioritised action plan
- Questions governors can use to oversee the data
Review III
Inclusion and Improvement Review
Where does our school really stand on inclusion and improvement, and what will make the biggest difference?
A whole school view for mainstream and special schools, tested against the inclusion evaluation area of the Ofsted school inspection toolkit and your inclusion strategy, where you have one. It works as an external whole school SEND review, or SEND audit, and can test a draft inclusion strategy before it is published or check that a published one is working. Leadership partnership days are available by arrangement.
Reviewed against the Ofsted school inspection toolkit (inclusion evaluation area) and the DfE guidance on developing an inclusion strategy.
What it covers
- Leadership, governance and the inclusion strategy
- Identification and the graduated approach, at leadership level
- Adaptive teaching and curriculum access
- Belonging, attendance and suspensions
- Partnerships with families and services
- How leaders use data and quality assurance
What you will have at the end
- A 12 to 15 page report with Secure, Developing or At risk judgements and cited evidence
- A prioritised action plan with owners, dates and success measures
- A 6 slide governor briefing
Brief IV
Provision Design Brief
What should we build, staff and specify for the pupils we expect, and what should we avoid?
For schools and trusts planning a new inclusion base or specialist provision. An educational brief your architect and leaders can work from, written by someone who has opened a school and lived with the building. Most useful at RIBA Stages 1 and 2. Whether you are setting up an inclusion base, opening an ARP or adapting a building for pupils with SEMH needs or autism, the brief turns your plans into clear requirements your architect can design to.
Brief aligned to Building Bulletin 104 area guidance and the DfE inclusion bases guidance, for your architect and specialists to verify. Educational advice only: not architectural, structural, fire or occupational therapy advice.
What it covers
- Cohort profile and needs analysis
- Purpose, model and admission approach
- Zoning, arrival, sightlines and regulation spaces
- Physical specification: doors, acoustics, lighting, intimate care
- Staffing model and curriculum links
- An avoid list of common, costly mistakes
What you will have at the end
- An educational brief: cohort profile, model, adjacencies and zoning notes, room schedule
- A specification annex: doors, fixtures, acoustics, lighting, intimate care
- An avoid list
- A staffing model
- Comments on your architect's drawings
After the review
Practical help, if you want it.
A review is complete in itself. If you would like help putting it into practice, the options are set out at the start, so there are no surprises.
| Next step | What it is |
|---|---|
| Implementation days | Working alongside leaders on the priorities |
| Policy rewrite | Redrafting a policy to reflect the findings |
| Coaching | Support for leaders on behaviour support plans or improvement |
| Board briefing | Presenting findings to governors or trustees |
| Follow up review | Checking progress after 90 days |
Let's talk
Twenty minutes is usually enough to know whether a review would help.
If it would not, I will say so, and point you to free support instead.
Book a 20 minute call