You can use the SEND Audit Tool to:
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Upload evidence to support practitioner judgement.
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Print off progress reports for governors and senior leadership teams.
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Provide evidence for the schools SEF.
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Prepare for Ofsted.
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Produce targets and objectives for your development plan.
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Compare provision across a group of schools and multi-academy trusts.
It has long been recognised that the most effective schools for pupils with SEND are those that undertake regular and systematic self-review and self-evaluation. This process is strengthened when the wider school community participates. There is often a tendency for leaders of SEND to get sucked into reacting to events and external accountabilities. Whilst these are important, taking the opportunity to step back and see the bigger strategic picture across the school will lead to greater success.
The SEND audit tool promotes extended discussion among school staff, aimed at enhancing the academic and social attainment of all pupils, and especially those with SEND. It supports school leaders to establish a clear vision for the future of provision of the school by providing a series of questions for reflection, with practical recommendations on how the school can develop its provision further.
“Peterborough City Council / Local Authority has been using the SEND audit tool to support a Local Authority wide peer support programme. The programme is made up of groups of SEND Coordinators across over 50 schools and education settings discussing their SEND audits, which are reviewed termly. The discussions they have around their audit data help recognise their strengths, achievements, areas for improvement and to be ‘critical friends’ to work out how to keep building robust effective SEND support in each other's settings.
The dashboard option of the tool has been an invaluable source of information for the local authority Area SENDCO and team to recognise the self-identified strengths and weaknesses across the local area, which informs the training and ongoing support provided by the local authority.
We’ve also been able to use this data to help try and network schools that have a strength/area for development in the same aspect.
We believe our SEND Peer Review Project would not have been as effective without the online audit tool as the backbone. The School Improvement Tracker team supporting us have been personable, friendly, effective and really helpful whenever we’ve contacted them.”
Peterborough City Council
