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Needs Assessment Report

This report has been used to summarisethe information which was collected about <name> during a statutory assessmentof <his/her>special educational needs and disabilities.

The Local Authority will consider the information in this report along with the supporting evidence to determine if an Education Health and Care plan is required using the criteria as set out in the SEND Code of Practice 2015.

Completed by
Role
Date
Child
Name: / <name> <lastname / Home Address:
Date of Birth: / <dob>
First language:
UPN
NHS number (if known)
Child’s parent or person responsible
Name: / Home Address:
Relationship to Child:
Telephone No:

(Insert a One Page Profile or a more appropriate person-centred alternative)

(This must capture what interests and what matters to the child and reflect his or her voice, hopes dreams and aspirations)

-does it truly capture what interests and what matters to the child and reflect his or her voice, hopes dreams and aspirations

-ensure that the One Page Profile you use reflects good practice

Add the date the One Page profile or its equivalent was written.

(Insert optional child page such as a drawing or photographs)

Section A:The views, interests, and aspirations of <name> and his/her parent(s)

Please ensure that the starting point of the needs report describes the YP as a person, capturing their personality rather than the first thing presented being their diagnosis or something less positive.

This is a very important factor to hold in mind. Often we forget when we write reports that the document needs to be accessible to both parents and children/young people as they grow older. When writing remember to keep language and sentence construction simple and transparent.

Please do not start this section with a negative, for instance it is not a pleasant start to have the diagnosis as the first piece of information.

All about <name>

How have <name> and his/her family participated in the development of this report?

This reflects the process and how the information collated was gathered. It could be a bullet list of ways the child and parents have been included in the process such as:

-attended outcomes meeting (date);

-reports sent in advance of the meeting ( name the professional and date of report);

-discussion with professionals such as EP (name and date);

-One planning (date).

name’s story so far

This section should include any background information on the child and family e.g. historical medical needs, family background. It could be split into paragraphs covering different aspects but needs to include the following. You can only complete if you have the information do not worry if you do not have answers to all elements listed below. They are intended as prompts for things to include as appropriate.

  1. Family information:
  2. siblings (but not naming them as it is not their documentation);
  3. changes in family circumstances that affect the child;
  4. large moves such as between authorities.
  1. Educational history:
  2. outline where the child is currently educated;
  3. where they were educated previously;
  4. pay particular attention to those moving between key stages such as young children moving from nursery, those moving into or from a PRU;
  5. include any involvement from Specialist Teacher or EP services;
  6. home education if appropriate;
  7. any information on difficulties they may have had such as exclusions.
  1. Medical background:
  2. including any diagnoses and a brief overview of any diagnosis (along with the date of diagnosis mm/yyy);
  3. naming services that have been accessed or may be ongoing such as EWMHS etc.;
  4. outline any referrals such as Section 23’s, and if so who from?
  1. Social care involvement:
  2. include if appropriate though this will be covered in more depth in terms of professionals in the relevant section;
  3. can be particularly important if the child has a foster carer and subject to a care order. It might outline any changes of placement historically.

name’s views, interests and aspirations

(Including, as appropriate: leisure activities, health, education, independence, relationships and future plans including preparing for adulthood.)

Include, as appropriate: leisure activities, health, education, independence, relationships and future plans including preparing for adulthood.

Only use the 1st person if the views are a direct quote from the child. If the child’s views are given from someone else please state how they were collected.

This section needs to accurately reflect the child’s views, interests and aspirations.

Please use the most up to date information you have for this. Please indicate how the views were gathered. If not through a conversation between an adult and child note how such as using video, talking mats, choice boards, notes made during meetings, work experience diaries, topic work reflecting choices and preferences. Please remember that being a non-verbal child is not a reason to leave this section blank.

The views of <name>’s parents or carers

(Including, as appropriate: leisure activities, health, education, independence, relationships and future plans including preparing for adulthood.)

Include, as appropriate: leisure activities, health, education, independence, relationships and future plans including preparing for adulthood.

Parents’ aspirations and hopes need to be reflected accurately. How the views were obtained should also be reported.

Schools should try to support parents and carers to think about the future for the child or young person and whilst parents may express a preference for a named school at this point their hopes and aspirations about what the child/young person might achieve at any educational setting should be drawn-out.

How to communicate with <name> and engage <him/her> in decision making

This section should the preferred methods of communicating with the child or parents as indicated by them. The preferred method of communication could include choice boards, what type of visual resources help them communicate, Makaton, BSL for example.The S&LT might have recommendations about communication with the child such as PECS.

Include any specific preferences for communicating with the family as a whole and who the main person to contact might be. Older young people may have a preference in how they are communicated with such as via email or text.

name’s support network

List the people supporting the child and the family.

This could be a picture such as a circle of support if one has been created.

Section B:<name>’s special educational needs

It has been agreed through the Person Centred Planning process that <name>'s current special educational needs include:

  1. Insert Primary area of need here
  2. Area of need
  3. Area of need

Number 1 above indicates the primary area of need. The remaining needs are not listed in any particular order. Include more or fewer areas of need as required. Headings should be worded to fit the child or young person and his or her current situation; standard headings should not be used.

The primary area of need is a requirement of from the DfE and should be evidenced in the paperwork.They can usually be taken from professional reports. The EP report often reports on a number of different areas of need but the S&LT or Specialist Teacher also contribute to this and may have other areas more aligned with their specialism which need to be included.

If an area of need looks like it is becoming huge and involving a lot of different aspects, look for way the area could be naturally split into two or three sections as it is more manageable.

Do not overwhelm with numbers. 4 well defined areas of need are better than 6-8 poorly defined areas that overlap.

Please match the sequence of areas of need in section B and E-H

  1. (as 1 above)
/ Evidence
Insert everything you have found out here (see guidance)
Strengths and difficulties added
Insert everything you have found out here
Strengths and difficulties
This section can be arranged as a whole or split into strengths and difficulties. Please try to ensure that there are at least 3 strengths in each area of need.Identify strengths first please.
Remember to reflect skills positively
Please ensure that this section describes the CYPs needs accurately and does not include anything that could be considered provision. i.e. what the school currently provide is not needs it is provision.
It is important that it also reflects the child or young person’s level of functioning (where appropriate) through focussed statements followed by information grounded in strong evidence.
Evidence should include (if available):
  • any assessment information (including percentiles and where they have been taken from e.g. School assessments or EP report (12/01/13);
  • school based assessments to give an idea of current levels of learning;
  • EYFS developmental stages clearly defined for EY children;
Avoid emotive phrases such as ‘meltdown’ This could be better described by outlining what could be seen through asking and answering the question ‘What would that look like’ rather than using the phrase ‘meltdown’
Independence skills can include those that they can do independently within an area of identified need. So for instance if they are able to dress themselves for PE this needs to also have information showing where in the area of need they have difficulties.
You could use the following format.
Xx can:
  • do this;
  • say that;
  • carry out this task.
Xx find it difficult ::
  • to do this
  • say that
  • carry out this task
Bullets are not obligatory, you can just use paragraphing in a piece of writing with a gap between relevant sections as below. / List the evidence here in the form of meetings (dd/mm/yy)
Meeting 1 (22/09/16)
List relevant and referenced information sources from professionals e.g. reports/letters
Speech Therapy report from Mrs S (11/09/16)
2. (as 2 above) / Evidence
Insert everything you have found out here (see guidance)

(delete or add sections as necessary)

Section C: <name>’s health needs which relate to his/her SEN as identified by Health

Health Needs / Evidence
Insert health information
This should include any non-educational health strengths and difficulties such as physical needs that are being monitored over a long term by a doctor or paediatrician, glasses; etc. It should be available in health professionals’ reports.
Anything that has been defined by health should be included here such as
S&L – when outlining something specific related to speech
OT – physical needs
Optometrist– glasses etc.
Hearing aids.

Section D: <first name>’s social care needs which relate to his/her SEN or to a disability as identified by Social Care

Evidence
Insert social care information (see guidance)

SectionsE and F and G and H…The outcomes and provision sought for <name>

The following section should include outcomes which support planning for adult life.

1. Insert headings from Section B (in same order)
Outcome
name will be able to…
name will be able to……so that….
Information to assist with creating outcomes is available on the Local Offer.
Remember that Outcomes are not objectives and should not start with:
‘to develop’
‘to use’
An Outcome should be educationally based for this section and cannot include things that a school or educational establishment could not be expected to measure or provide for. (i.e. something that would be expected to happen at home…there is a section later for this)
Questions to consider:
•does the outcome reflect the young persons’ aspirations, as opposed to a service perspective?;
•does the young person have influence or control over the outcome?;
•is the outcome free of professional jargon and will it be understood by the parent/child?;
•ways to ensure / facilitate these important points is through the use of person centred tools;
•to ensure pupil voice and pupil aspiration;
•identifying pupil aspiration.
The Outcome should be aimed to cover the child’s development over a key stage for example:
‘By the end of Key Stage 2 X will develop their social skills so that they can:
-talk to their friends in the playground;
-communicate their needs to adults around them.
Confine it to 1 outcome per area of need. In Essex we qualify the outcome with steps which are usually what can be achieved within the next 12 months.
Outcomes and steps should be SMART:
Specific – Is the Step specific to the area of need and does it directly come from the outcomes for this area?
Measurable – Can you measure progress? Can you say what the child will be able to do that is measurable?
Attainable – is it within the child’s reach within the time frame?
Realistic – Can the young person be expected to do this given their needs in this area?
Timely – within a short time frame i.e. no longer than a year
Next steps
  • name will be able to…
  • namewill be able to…
  • namewill be able to…
The steps need to state what the child will be seen achieving within the coming year. Steps need to be phrased so that they can be measurable, for instance something that we would clearly expect to be able to see the child doing if the step was met.
When there are progressive steps only the first/next attainable step OR the ultimate step within the 12 months, needs to be recorded.
There should be no more than about 4-5 measurable steps per area of need.
SEN Provision required
Consider that this section should be able to be handed to any teacher to be put into place in the setting and put in place without a huge amount of research or bringing in a professional (unless named of course)
This needs to be more than a list of provision and needs to be widened to include the following.
-What the provision is for (to help X develop sharing skills …)
-What it looks like (…he/she needs to be included in a small group)
-How it can be implemented (daily/weekly/etc. by whom?)
-Give any provision mentioned in outcomes meeting as an example.
When writing up the Provision ensure the following.
  1. The provision is described first to give an outline of what it would cover/support then give an example e.g. X should be offered opportunities to develop their listening skills in small groups.
  2. Only include provision with a sound evidence base and recommended by a professional involved with the child.
  3. Provision should not start with phrases such as ‘Adults to support’. What is it the adult will be doing?
  4. Provision should give specific direction about the timing of provisionwhere possible. For example reading daily for 10-15 minutes.
  5. Include monitoring arrangement for provision.
  6. When outlining provision it is important that for each step there is matching provision outlining what needs to be done or provided for the child to enable them to make progress towards their outcome in this area. If there is nothing present in the reports to define the provision in a specific step but it is felt to be important this can be discussed further at the outcomes meeting

Section G: The Health provision required for <first name>
If there isn’t anything relevant to this area of need write ‘not applicable’
If related to an area of need for example Speech Therapy for Communication, then include it with the same degree of specificity as above section. Name the relevant professional.
This needs to have a note on how often the provision will be reviewed by the professional and will be found on health professionals’ reports.
Section H: Any social care provision reasonably requires by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child/young person having SEN
If there isn’t anything relevant to this area of need write ‘not applicable’
This section should be able to be lifted directly from the social care report
Include if known:
  • Whether the child has a support plan and the name of it e.g. CIN, CPP, LAC
  • E.g. X is subject to a Child in Need plan under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989
  • precisely what has been agreed
  • Social care provide 12 nights per year overnight respite
  • what the intended use of it is
  • to provide parents respite from their caring responsibilities
  • when it was agreed at any social care panel e.g. NERP, LAP, JAP etc.
  • this was agreed on <date> and will be reviewed again on <date2>

2. Insert heading…….
Outcome
name> will be able to….so that..
Next steps
  • <name> will …
  • <name> will…
  • <name> will …

SEN Provision required
Section G: The Health provision required for <name>
Section H: Any social care provision reasonably requires by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN

And continue with the headings from Section B

Family and Community Support

Informal Support
This section outlines any informal (family and community) support that can complement any formal support from statutory agencies and the school as detailed above to help achieve the agreed outcomes.
For example Brownies, Scouts, mum listening to them read each day, swimming once a week with grandparents. Any other support that the child needs or receives.
Reference to LO if applicable

Advice and information gathered during needs assessment

Source / Name / Date
Child or young person
Parents/carers
Education
Health
Social Care
Psychological
Information, advice and guidance
Outcome Meeting Notes
Other

Needs Assessment Report <name> <lastname> <dob> 1