How to write an EHCP annual review report

Every Education, Health and Care Plan must be reviewed at least once a year. For a pupil in a mainstream primary school, the school usually runs the review meeting and writes the report that goes to the local authority. That report shapes what happens next: whether the plan is kept, changed or ended.

This guide covers the report itself. For the meeting, see how to run an EHCP review meeting.

What the annual review has to decide

The review considers the pupil's progress towards the outcomes in their plan and whether those outcomes and the provision are still right. The report then recommends to the local authority one of three things:

• keep the plan as it is,
• amend the plan, or
• stop maintaining the plan.

Everything in the report should lead to that recommendation.

The timescales

When the school runs the review, the SEND Code of Practice sets out the steps:

• Ask for advice and information from everyone involved (parents, professionals, the local authority) at least two weeks before the meeting.
• Send that information to everyone invited at least two weeks before the meeting.
• After the meeting, send the report to the local authority, and everyone invited, within two weeks.

The local authority then has four weeks from the meeting to tell parents whether it will keep, amend or cease the plan. Check your own local authority's paperwork too, as many use their own report form.

What to include

Progress towards each outcome

Go through the outcomes in Section E of the plan one by one. For each, say what progress has been made, with evidence: assessment results, work samples, observations, and the records from termly target reviews. Be specific. “Good progress” means nothing to someone who has never met the child.

Current attainment

Where the pupil is now, in reading, writing, maths and any other area named in the plan, compared with where they were at the last review.

The provision in place

What support has actually been delivered this year, and how well it has worked. If provision named in the plan has not been delivered, say so, and why.

The pupil's views

The Code of Practice puts the child at the centre of the process. Record what the pupil said about school, what helps them and what they find hard, in their own words where possible.

The parents' or carers' views

Include what the family has said about progress, concerns and hopes, including anything they see at home that school does not.

Professionals' advice

Summarise advice from educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, health and social care, quoting reports where useful.

Recommendations

Set out clearly whether the school recommends keeping, amending or ceasing the plan, and, if amending, exactly which outcomes or provision should change and why. New outcomes should be specific and achievable within the next year.

Writing tips

• Write for a reader who has never met the child. The local authority officer making the decision often has not.
• Lead with strengths. The review is about a whole person, and parents read every word.
• Use evidence, not adjectives. Numbers, dates and examples carry more weight than “excellent” or “significant”.
• Keep each section in the plan's language. Matching the headings and outcomes of the existing plan makes amendments easier to process.

Build the evidence across the year

The hardest annual review reports are the ones written from memory in a single evening. If you record progress against targets every term, the report almost writes itself: the evidence is already there.