What is the Graduated Approach To Inclusion (GATI)?
The Graduated Approach is the process which must be carried out to ensure a rich and inclusive offer for all children and young people.
It supports learners to overcome barriers to learning and reach their full potential.
Most children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities have support in their environment and classrooms through the universal inclusive approach.
By providing an offer that is consistently and ordinarily available, barriers can be reduced to support access to learning.
Some children and young people require further support through a targeted offer. The support might be additional or different help provided in a mainstream class for a small group or an individual child. It can include group work or individual intervention that takes place outside the classroom.
In only a small number of cases, where a child/young person is finding it difficult to access their learning environment, despite high quality provision, and is unable to make progress, a statutory assessment might be necessary.
Our Graduated Approach is part of Plymouth City Council’s Local Offer. We want to make sure that children, young people, and their families understand what the graduated approach is, and what to expect from it. This will enable all children and young people in the city to have their needs met effectively through a consistent and effective graduated approach across Plymouth’s schools and education settings.
Plymouth’s ambitious new partnership and SEND strategy will ensure partners throughout the city work together to:
- Quickly identify children and young people who are vulnerable and risk negative outcomes
- Reduce the likelihood of pupils with additional needs being excluded from school
- Ensure that children and young people with SEND who also have social care needs receive the care and support they need
- Improve the consistency of support offered to children and young people in schools and settings
- Provide all practitioners across social care, health, schools and settings, with the training they need to provide consistent education, care and support
- Plan ahead, to ensure the right services and support are in place to meet the future needs of children in Plymouth
What are the Legal Duties for SEND?
The Equality Act (2010) and The SEND Code of Practice (2015) places strong emphasis on reasonable adjustments and early intervention. Schools and education settings must not discriminate against a child because of their disability, and in some situations must also take positive steps to help them to access and participate in education and other activities that they provide.
It states that to enable the child and young person to participate, learn and make progress, we should:
- Remove barriers to learning
- Put effective special educational provision in place
- Provide high quality adaptive teaching as a first reaction to any possible special educational need
Making Reasonable Adjustments
The duty to make adjustments applies to all of the education setting’s activities and the decisions that are made by teachers and staff including: admissions, exclusions, access to trips, attendance, help and support, learning activities and materials and the application of policies.
The video above is about reasonable adjustments.
Education settings must make adjustments if:
- A child or young person is disadvantaged by a practice or rule because of their disability or the failure to provide an aid
- It’s reasonable to make the changes or provide the aid to remove the disadvantage
- Whether something is ‘reasonable’ depends on things such as:
- The child/young person’s disability and what support, if any, they receive through their SEND plans
- How practicable the changes are and the resources of the education setting
- The cost of making the change or providing the aid
- If the change requested would overcome the disadvantage the child/young person experiences
- If there are other ways of overcoming the disadvantage
- Health and safety considerations and the interests of other pupils
The duty to make reasonable adjustments in education is anticipatory. This means settings must consider in advance what they need to do to make sure all children with SEND can access and participate in the education and other benefits, facilities and services they provide for those within their settings.
You Do Not Need a Diagnosis to Access Support
Support is needs-led and not determined by any formal diagnosis. This means a child or young person can be supported through the graduated approach and its toolkits as soon as a need is identified.
These needs may be identified by anyone working or knowing your child or young person. This may be a parent or carer, a teacher, a health visitor or a support worker. Support is available at three levels: Universal, Targeted and Specialist:
Universal Provision
The support that is ordinarily available in every school/setting, for all children and young people in every learning environment by every teacher or practitioner.
- All schools, every classroom, every teacher
- All children
Targeted Provision
The support that is available for some children and young people to enhance the learning environment in a succinct and purposeful way. This is led by the SEND team in a school/setting and may be developed in collaboration with a multi-agency team or advice.
- All schools, every classroom, every teacher
- Some children
Specialist Provision
The support that is available for few children and young people to ensure a specialist approach to the learning environment. This may include an Education, Health and Care plan and a more specialist learning offer.
- All schools, every classroom, every teacher
- Very few children
The Assess, Plan, Do, Review Cycle
Once identified, needs will be supported using the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle – part of the Graduated Approach Framework.
The Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle is how the Graduated Approach is put in place.
It can be repeated as many times as needed to help the child or young person progress, revisiting and refining the actions alongside a growing understanding of the child or young person’s needs to enable them to progress and achieve good outcomes.
ASSESS If a child or young person is not making the expected progress in their school or education setting despite high quality teaching and a consistent ordinarily available offer, the first step is to collect the right information and find the right people to be able to plan support.
This will include the views of the child or young person and their family, information from their teachers, their special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) or learning support team, and the views from any other service or organisation involved in the life of the child or young person. This is the Assessment stage of the cycle.
PLAN The second step is the Plan stage of the cycle where the child or young person and their family agree, with their teachers and the SENCO, on the new interventions and support that will be put in place.
They will also agree on the expected outcomes. The agreement will be recorded on the school’s systems and explained to the involved teaching staff so that everyone can collaborate to support the plan.
DO The next stage of the cycle is when the plan is put into practice with the child or young person’s class or subject teachers being responsible for checking that the plan is working on a daily basis.
REVIEW The impact of the plan is reviewed by the child or young person and their family, teachers and the SENCO. This is the Review stage of the cycle.
At this stage, progress may have been made which means the child or young person no longer requires special educational needs support. In this case the child or young person will continue to receive Universal Provision.
If more cycles of the Graduated approach are required, these will draw on the understanding information being gathered, and will implement more specialist expertise if needed to match an individual child or young person’s needs.
Find Out More About Plymouth’s Graduated Approach
The needs of children and young people in Plymouth will be best supported by all partners working together, identifying needs and acting collaboratively (across education, health and social care) to provide the right help and support, at the right time.
Many children and young people will have needs that span more than one category, and certain conditions may need help and advice from a range of professionals. SENCOs in schools can help to coordinate the involvement of specialists, including support workers, educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and social workers in appropriate cases.
There are resources, advice and help available for all those involved in supporting our children and young people. Please click on the links below to find out more or get in touch with our team by email or telephone.
Plymouth has an Early Help and SEND advice link through which you can book a conversation with a Family Support Worker to talk about any worries or questions you may have for yourself or your child. We also support teachers, practitioners and professionals who need advice about a family or child they are working with.
