Supporting children at SEN Support – The Graduated Pathway

Where concerns are raised that a child may not be making expected progress in their learning, schools are expected to intervene early to implement appropriate and effective support to overcome the barriers to learning. This SEN Support should take the form of a 4-part cycle; Assess Plan Do Review (APDR), to develop a growing understanding of the pupils’ needs, and identify what support is required to ensure the pupil secures good outcomes and makes good progress. This is known as the ‘Graduated Approach’.

The SEND Code of Practice specifies that it's for schools to provide high quality appropriate support from the resources they have available to them, including the amount identified in the notional SEN budget. If a child at SEN Support requires additional targeted intervention that exceeds this amount, Shropshire schools can request additional funding through the graduated support pathway. 

GSP funding provides schools with the opportunity to be more flexible in how pupil support is best delivered and a range of interventions can be considered. GSP funding should usually be seen as a short term measure to target a particular area of need or support a child or young person with higher level needs prior to an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment. Parents and Carers must be fully involved and agree the GSP plan in partnership with schools.

Prior to submitting a request for GSP funding, schools should demonstrate that they have implemented the expectations for SEN Support as detailed in Chapter 6 of the SEND Code of Practice. This will be evidenced through the completion of successive cycles of the graduated approach (APDR). Schools will be recording this through their Person Centred Plans (may be known by another name, ILP, IEP etc).

What documents do I need to send with my GSP request?

• GSP request form (Mandatory)
• APDR template (Mandatory - Must be in word format) This replaces the previous GSP plan template for any new requests received after September 2020. The ADPR includes at least two detailed cycles of the Graduated Approach (Person Centred Plan), outlining what interventions have been implemented, and evaluated to demonstrate what impact they have had. A proposed Person Centred Plan detailing what interventions the school would like to implement if the request for GSP funding is successful
• A costed provision map (Mandatory) This identifies the specific support and provision to be implemented (including duration and frequency), the cost of this provision
• Individual Behaviour Support Plan (If applicable)
• Additional documents (If applicable) Any other information you would like panel to consider
• Early Help Assessment (If applicable - only if SEMH is recorded as the child's main area of need)

More detailed information is available in the 'GSP Guidance' document.

Where do I send my GSP request?

Please email your documents to senrequestsforassessments@shropshire.gov.uk
The email must be sent using the encrypted service. If you are unsure how to send an email encrypted to SEN Team please contact us.

Who should I contact if I have a query?

Please email senrequestsforassessments@shropshire.gov.uk.