Enhanced Assess, Plan, Do, Review FAQs
The following questions are taken from the many engagement sessions, including the Core and 8 district training sessions in November and December 2023. The Core and District training sessions were attended by over 900 individuals from a range of educational settings and professions. The EAPDR (Enhanced Assess, Plan, Do, Review) team will update these FAQ as we progress in to 2024 and address the many challenges we will experience together as we implement EAPDR.
General
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- This EAPDR Pathway is available to all Staffordshire schools / educational settings who may require additional support and resources in order to support children and young people with special educational needs.
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The pathway sets out a clear methodology to ensure schools and educational settings are supported to access additional advice, support, and resources.
To access the EAPDR Pathway, schools and educational settings will be asked to evidence their existing efforts of APDR and their graduated approach. This should include evidence of implementing quality APDR cycles that has advice from the SEND & Inclusion HUB and other relevant specialist support services.
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The EAPDR Pathway is designed to be a multidisciplinary process between the school / educational setting, parents, and professionals, and any agreed Enhanced APDR Cycle will identify appropriate support in addition to existing APDR.
This can include enhanced provisions from:
- Educational Psychology Service (EPS)
- Specialist Teaching Support Service (STSS)
- Staffordshire Enhanced District Inclusion Support (SEDIS) Teams
- Staffordshire Children and Young People’s Flexible Framework
- Enhanced Adult Support for delivery of intervention, e.g TA
Support for EAPDR cycles is identified through the One Form and commissioned/funded via the SEND Commissioning Team.
Further details of the commissioning process and direct link can be found at section G12 of the EAPDR Request from Guidance (outcome of the assess and plan meeting), and information about funding EAPDR provision can be found is explained later in these FAQs.
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- The decision to request to access the EAPDR pathway is made by the school or educational setting in consultation with parent, carers and other professionals who may be involved at the review stage of their current APDR cycle. If EAPDR is considered appropriate at this stage, the school or setting may make a request to the District SEND & Inclusion Hub. The Hub will consider the request and refer to the Locality Management Group who will determine whether the request will be agreed. This level of scrutiny will ensure equity of decision making and ensure that all schools and settings have implemented the requirements of the graduated approach before seeking the EAPDR Pathway. Schools and parents/carers will receive specific feedback and signposting if a request for EAPDR is not agreed.
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The EAPDR Pathway can provide 50% funding contribution for identified Enhanced provision that is an agreed outcome of the EAPDR Assess/Plan meeting.
This Enhanced provision will be recorded at Section G12 of the One Form, and sent to the SEND Commissioning Team (see email address as detailed on the One Form) for review and funding approval.
Requests for Enhanced Provisions will normally support an EAPDR cycle for up to 12 weeks; Support cost for any single cycle of EAPDR will be up to £3,000 (subject to evidenced provision costs and duration as recorded on the One Form), with 50% contribution from the Local Authority.
Further details of the Finance and Commissioning process to support EAPDR can be viewed on our website.
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- The EAPDR will be available from January 2024. It will replace the Additional Educational Needs (AEN) and Individual Needs Funding (INF) arrangements.
Process and governance
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A lot of planning has gone in to the EAPDR pathway. This includes a lot of capacity planning with key partners such as the Educational Psychology Service, Specialist Teaching Teams, and colleagues in the district hubs. EAPDR goes live with a sense of the possible demand and commensurate capacity in place. We will monitor the demand and capacity to deliver and respond accordingly across the first cycles of EAPDR in Spring 2024.
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In most cases, schools should be using their usual SEND (Special Educational Needs or Disabilities) graduated response and working with SEND support agencies such as Educational Psychology and Specialist Teaching. However, in some cases, with straightforward evidence, a school may request an Educational Health Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) in the usual way.
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Yes, this a fundamental north star of the EAPDR process. The Team Around the Child as part of the EAPDR process will be responsible for ensuring that the child and the family are fully included in decision making.
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Yes. This is the same as the current method within the district model.
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No. Where EPDR is not agreed, the panel will give the requesting school full and clear feedback on next steps.
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EAPDR can be accessed where there is good evidence from the school of purposeful APDR (Assess, Plan, Do, Review) cycles and the requirement for an enhanced focus on intervention, support, and development of the school capacity to meet need.
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Informed parental consent is a north star of the EAPDR model. Without this consent, a child should not be discussed at the hub and can therefore not access EAPDR. In these instances, further work should be undertaken by the school to engage parents.
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Parents continue to have the legal right to request an EHC Needs Assessment under the Children and Families Act.
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EAPDR is a non-statutory part of the graduated response for meeting SEND and Inclusion needs. However, the Children and Families Act makes it clear that in exceptional circumstances, a request for EHC Needs Assessment can be made by settings, professional and parents at any time.
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In the first instance, the EAPDR Panel will meet as a central function with initiations extended to colleagues from the LMGs. This panel will meet weekly to consider EAPDR requests.
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No, EAPDR is a pre-statutory support method for children who do not have an EHC Plan. If a child has an EHC Plan and the setting is experiencing challenges, the setting should hold an annual review. The Annual Review is the correct place to consider requests for additional support for children with an EHC Plan.
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It is anticipated that requests for EADPR will be considered at the weekly EAPDR Panel with decisions communicated to schools that week.
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The SEND code of practice sets out the requirement for a good and purposeful APDR process. It is widely recognised that a quality APDR process requires at least 2 cycles to enable learning from the ‘review’ to be implemented and assessed. This is a guide and decision making will always be made on the individual needs of the child and the circumstances of the school.
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EAPDR goes live on 8 January 2024. From this point, EAPDR becomes part of Staffordshire’s Graduated Approach. Historic requests for EHCNA will be considered by the current Central Panel.
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EAPDR has been in the design phase since April 2022. The pilot commenced in May 2023 and concluded in December 2023. Whilst the pilot phase has been incredibly successful and enabled us to redesign the model, we are committed to reviewing and adapting the model once it goes live on 8 January 2024. True to the spirt of EAPDR, we will assess, plan, and always review the model.
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Yes. EAPDR was piloted in a number of schools with SENCos (Special Educational Needs Co Ordinator) and class teachers. EAPDR meetings are to be arranged and managed by the schools. The capacity to manage this professional time should be found within the usual remit of the SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co Ordinator) as part of their role.
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The professionals in the meetings are part of wider teams e.g., Educational Psychology and Specialist Teaching. These professional teams have robust quality assurance processes and a commitment to Continuing Professional Development and supervision. As we progress in to 2024-2025, the new SEDIS (Staffordshire Enhanced District Inclusion Support) teams will also be providing support to schools at the ‘Do Phase’. SEDIS teams will be commissioned by the Local Authority. This commissioning arrangement includes clear expectations around quality assurance. This will be monitored by the Local Authority SEND Commissioners.
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In most cases, EAPDR can be accessed for no more than 2 cycles. Should further support be required beyond these 2 cycles, then the Team Around the Child should consider whether it is appropriate to make a request for an EHC Needs Assessment.
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Yes. The One Form builds on the current SEND and Inclusion form that schools use. We have developed it to capture the child’s journey through the graduated approach. The One Form will capture the learning from the EAPDR cycle(s) and should provide the Local Authority with all the assessment evidence it requires to determine whether an EHCNA is required and if required, all the evidence to write an EHC Plan.
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The Children and Families Act sets out the legal requirement to complete the EHCNA process. It is envisaged that EAPDR will enable the Local Authority to use the statutory 20 weeks to finalise a draft EHC Plan more efficiently and ensure that we meet our statutory timescales more frequently.
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EAPDR is part of Staffordshire’s Graduated Approach. It is expected that when children who are supported through EAPDR transition from a key stage, that the EAPDR support transitions with them. This is good practice and should form the basis of the conversation between the child’s current school and their new setting.
Early years and post 16 settings
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The EAPDR model is designed to support children and young people from 0-25. From 8 January 2024, EAPDR will be available to school aged children (Reception to Year 11). Work is currently underway to extend the EAPDR model to the Early Years and Post 16 settings. Early Years settings should continue to access support via the Early Years Forum.
Funding, accessing funding and capacity
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No. The Local Authority has commissioned EP support at the ‘Plan’ and ‘Review’ phases of EAPDR.
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Funding that is agreed through EAPDR is available before the provision is in place, from September 2024 all provision will be centrally commissioned and therefore no payments to schools will be made.
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Yes. EAPDR will be the primary method for schools to access pre-statutory additional support.
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It is anticipated that not all cycles of EAPDR will require additional funding. Some ‘Do’ phases may be changes to current practice or the use of existing resources in a different way. Where funding is required, this will be up to the value of £3k. The Local Authority is committed to matching 50% of these costs and expects the school to deploy their notional SEND budget (usually up to £6k) to meet this cost as it normally would.
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The pilot process and feedback from the LMGs indicated that there may be a significant demand on the district capacity to manage EAPDR requests. In response to this feedback, the Local Authority took the decision in consultation with the LMGs to centrally manage EAPDR requests with the participation of LMG representatives. This position will be under continuous review.
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EAPDR is a process where professionals and parents can collectively grapple with challenges and develop solutions. It is important to recognise that not all EAPDR cycles will require additional support or additional staffing. Often, the change to the ‘Do Phase’ may be a change in how the intervention is delivered.
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Once the EAPDR Panel agree the request for EAPDR, the school will be informed and move to call the Team Around the Child meeting. It will be important to call this TAC meeting quickly and work to find dates and times that work for everyone who need to be there. Whilst TAC meetings should usually be face-to-face, there is always the option of virtual meeting options to ensure that attendance is timely.
Health
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No. It is advised that schools should still follow their Graduated Approach (e.g., SLCN (Speech, Language and Communication Needs), movement issues, emotional health, and wellbeing – strategies from your MHSP’s etc).
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Referral to the SEND and Inclusion Hub and later access to the EAPDR pathway does not require a diagnosis or health involvement. Where a child has a health need or where there is a suspected need, the schools should detail these concerns and their current strategy to meet these.
Hubs
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Yes, the EHCP (Educational Health and Care Plan) Hub will still be used. EAPDR is a pre-statutory part of the Staffordshire Graduated Approach.
EPS (Educational Psychologists)
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EPs (Educational Psychologist) fulfil a range of important roles within the Local Authority. Part of their role is to ensure that there is psychological advice as part of the Statutory Assessment process for EHCNA. Most EP work should be in the pre-statutory phase. The Local Authority has worked with the EP team to commission their capacity to provide support at the ‘Plan’ and ‘Review’ phase of the EAPDR process. Where there is a requirement for EP consultation and support at the ‘Do’ phase, schools can use some of their traded hours to fund their 50% contribution. Where a school have not bought in EP traded hours, they can commission this support at each ‘Do’ phase of the EAPDR cycle.
Specialist Teachers: Autism Inclusion Teachers
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Yes. One of the North Stars of EAPDR is the importance of accessing support without the requirement for a diagnosis. The Local Authority is working with the AIT to commission support for children pre-diagnosis. This is currently in development and capacity will grow in 2024. This support will be called Social Communication and Social Interaction support in recognition of the importance of the need rather than the diagnosis being the route to support.
Training
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EAPDR is a key part of the Local Authority response to the Department of Education requirement for an Accelerated Action Plan (January 2022). EAPDR builds on the District Hub model that has been in place since 2018. Since April 2022, EAPDR has featured on a range of updates across the County, including the Local Offer. In September 2022, a Task and Finish Group commenced to develop the EADPR model. This group comprised of representatives from mainstream, special and early years educational settings. Progress on EAPDR was also provided to the monthly SEND and Inclusion Steering Group, a cross partnership group. EAPDR has featured as an agenda item on every SENCo Network and SEND Newsletter since January 2022. In June 2023, the proposed EAPDR model was presented for a wide public consultation. Having considered a broad and wide engagement and hundreds of responses, the model was signed off by Political Cabinet in October 2023. There will be continued opportunities to engage with the EAPDR model across 2024.
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The Core and District EAPDR training can be found on this website. Further training and support will be provided in Spring 2024 in the form of Face-to-Face Work Discussion Groups in school settings. Dates for these sessions will be circulated early in January 2024.