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Checklist for annual reviews

Information for parents and carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities

This leaflet explains what will happen before, during and after an annual review meeting so that you can help the school meet the needs of your child.

Why an annual review?

Your child’s progress will be reviewed each year to:

check your child has made progress and that any support has been successful in meeting their needs over the last year;
see if there has been any change in your child’s circumstances;
think about and plan for the next year, to set new aims and targets; and
see if the statement is still right for your child’s needs.

When?

If it is a year since your child’s statement was written or the last annual review – then it’s time for another. This can be any time in the school calendar. It will be different for each child.

Where?

The meeting will usually be held in school during the school day so that more of the professionals who need to be there can come. There will probably be a time limit to this meeting – usually an hour.

Who will be there?

The head teacher will invite all the people involved with your child to come to the meeting.

The head must invite:

you – the parents or carers;
someone from the local education authority – this may be your child’s educational psychologist who may send a report if they cannot be at the meeting; and
your child’s teachers

There are other people who you or the school could invite such as:

your child, if he or she wants to go, along with a friend or supporter;
an independent parental support or friend of yours; or
health professionals involved with your child such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists or speech and language therapists.

You can discuss who could be at the meeting when the school contacts you to arrange it.

Year-9 reviews – the one after your child’s 14th birthday

This will involve more people including:

social services
the Connexions Service; and
health services – if involved.

A ‘transition plan’ will be written which brings together information from everyone so that plans can be made for your child’s move into adult life.

Before all review meetings

About two weeks before the meeting you will get:

a letter from the head teacher inviting you to the meeting; and
copies of reports about your child’s progress.

You will be asked to write about how you feel about your child’s progress.

Your child may be asked to write about or tell how they feel about their school work.

At the meeting

In some schools your child may be invited to the meeting to talk about how they feel the year has gone.

At some point the school will ask for your views. Don’t be nervous, have a list if you need it.
The professionals for the school (teachers, teaching assistants and special needs co-ordinator) will talk about the year, successes, difficulties and the way forward.
Professionals from outside the school will be invited to contribute. This could be an educational psychologist, or sometimes someone from another service like a speech and language therapist.
Please ask any questions you want or ask for anything to be explained again if necessary.
At the end of the meeting everyone will be asked to look at the front page of the review document and complete the yes and no questions. This will lead to any new plans or strategies for the future.

If there is anything you are not sure about, ask. Everyone has come together to help meet the needs of your child.

What next?

After the meeting, the head teacher or the special educational needs co-ordinator will prepare a report about the review to include the ways forward, decided by all of you at the end of the meeting.

All the people who come to the meeting will get a copy of the report and a copy will be sent to the local education authority.

Some recommendations from the annual review may need the approval of a local education authority officer.

Very occasionally something in a child’s statement may need changing. Normally the annual review report will be added to your child’s statement as a record of progress.

We are based in the voluntary sector and are supported by the Family Welfare Association and funded by Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council.

Parent Partnership Service
Suite 5 Clarendon Chambers
32 Clarendon Street
Nottingham NG1 5LN

Unit C
International Clothing Centre
Annesley Road
Hucknall
NG15 8AY

Phone, fax or minicom: 0115 948 2888
This number is for City and County parents

Email: enquiries@ppsnotts.org.uk
Website: www.ppsnotts.org.uk