A meaningful SEND baseline is a dated, reviewable description of what a pupil can do, in which contexts, with what support and with what uncertainty. Tie it to an agreed outcome, gather evidence through ordinary teaching, and record the conditions around each observation. The baseline should help staff choose provision and test its effect at a later review. It isn't a score, a diagnosis or a permanent account of the pupil.
This six-week process is for SENCos, teachers, assessment leads and school leaders in England. It concerns school-designed SEND and classroom evidence. It doesn't replace statutory assessment, an EHC needs assessment or advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
Start with the outcome and the decision
Write the question the baseline must answer before collecting more information. For example: what can the pupil currently do independently in this reading routine, which agreed adjustment helps them access it, and what starting evidence will make the next review fair? A broad label such as "working below" gives the review very little to work with.
The statutory SEND Code of Practice says assessment for SEN support should draw on teacher assessment, progress and attainment, behaviour where relevant, parent experience, the pupil's views and specialist advice where it exists. It should be reviewed regularly. When SEN support is agreed, the teacher and SENCo should agree the support, expected impact and a clear review date with the parent and pupil. The baseline therefore belongs inside assess, plan, do, review. It isn't a free-standing test event.
The Education Endowment Foundation's Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools guidance also recommends regular, purposeful assessment that includes pupils, parents and carers, and relevant professionals. That supports a bounded evidence window with more than one source.
Baseline record: By [review date], [pupil] will be able to [observable outcome] in [relevant setting or task], with [agreed support or adjustment]. The starting evidence is [dated work, observation, pupil or family view]. We don't yet know [gap or uncertainty]. [Role] owns the provision; [role] owns the review. We will reconsider the plan if [specified evidence or delivery issue] occurs.
Build the baseline through six weeks of teaching
- Week one: define access and the starting task. Record the outcome, task, date, setting, response mode and support that was available. Include the pupil's view of the task. If an agreed adjustment was missing, record that before interpreting the response.
- Week two: check the same skill another way. Use a short explanation, observation or application task. A different response can reveal the effect of language, motor demand, confidence, unfamiliar presentation or context. It doesn't reveal the cause by itself.
- Week three: add pupil and family context. Ask what helps, what makes the task harder and whether the record matches the pupil's experience. Keep each account attributed and dated. A single blended paragraph can look impressively settled while concealing real disagreement.
- Week four: compare the plan with delivery. Check the provision that was agreed, the sessions or support actually recorded, attendance, changes of staff and access to the planned adjustment. Mark delivery evidence as missing when it is missing. Don't turn an unrecorded session into either attendance or absence.
- Week five: look for transfer and contradiction. Ask whether the skill appears in another suitable task or setting, and note examples that challenge the opening view. Moderate a small, purposeful sample with the class or subject teacher. Reduce confidence when tasks or support conditions aren't comparable.
- Week six: make a provisional review decision. Bring the pupil's starting point, functional participation, provision delivered, attendance, pupil and family views, and later evidence together. Record what will continue, change, stop or be investigated, who owns it and when the next review will happen.
Reception's statutory baseline assessment is separate. The 2026 to 2027 assessment and reporting arrangements require participating pupils in England to complete the Reception Baseline Assessment within their first six weeks, subject to its rules. The administration guidance was updated on 1 September 2026 and includes separate modified guidance for pupils with additional needs. The RBA framework must not be used to guide teaching. A school's SEND baseline neither replaces the RBA nor repurposes its materials.
Follow one baseline from signal to review
The details in this Year 7 mathematics example have been combined to illustrate the decision. They don't describe a pupil, school or customer. The intended outcome is independent comparison of fractions in class, using a familiar visual prompt when needed.
The opening worksheet suggests that the pupil cannot compare fractions. The record also shows that the class had not yet revisited equivalent fractions and the usual visual prompt was unavailable. In a short oral task with concrete materials, the pupil explains the comparison accurately. Attendance records then show a missed lesson in the taught sequence. The starting point is mixed evidence, not a low number waiting to become a label.
Staff agree three weeks of classroom practice with the visual prompt and one short supported group session each week. The teacher records later classwork and the pupil's view. The provision record shows that one group session happened, one was cancelled and one has no delivery record. Later independent work is more secure with the prompt, while written application without it remains inconsistent.
The review question is now whether to continue and gradually reduce the prompt, reteach the missing curriculum step, and repair the incomplete delivery record before judging the group provision. The teacher and SENCo agree a reversible next step with the pupil and family. The record does not show that the prompt caused the change or that a particular need has been diagnosed.
Check what changed before judging impact
Compare the later evidence with a genuinely comparable starting task. Then check the support conditions around both. If the task, setting, attendance or adjustment changed, say so. A review can still make a cautious decision, but its confidence should match the evidence.
- Starting performance: what the pupil did, where, when and under which conditions.
- Functional participation: how the pupil accessed, communicated, persisted or used the skill in the relevant setting.
- Provision and delivery: what was agreed, what was recorded as delivered, and which gaps remain unresolved.
- Review evidence: later work, pupil and family views, contrary examples, uncertainty and the next decision.
Use the assess, plan, do, review evidence guide to check the wider cycle. The SEND intervention impact guide takes the next step by examining comparability, dosage, attendance, transfer and alternative explanations after provision has run.
Keep the baseline inside its limits
A baseline cannot diagnose SEND, determine SEN support or an EHC plan, prove why performance changed, or replace teacher and SENCo judgement. It cannot reveal knowledge that has not been taught fairly. It also cannot make planned provision count as delivered provision.
Preserve missing and conflicting evidence, task versions and source attribution. Avoid publishing very small-group patterns that could identify pupils. If the evidence points to a health, safeguarding or specialist assessment question, follow the school's authorised route and relevant professional guidance.
How Student Radar supports the review
Where enabled and permitted for the staff member, the Provision Map can keep planned support, ownership and review details visible. Intervention Planner can coordinate sessions and attendance records. Outcome Tracking links targets, evidence, provision and recorded review judgements, while Assessment Reports can add wider assessment context.
These records can help a SENCo inspect the evidence behind a pattern and see where provision information is incomplete. Student Radar does not create the baseline question, infer a diagnosis, decide support or establish causation. The teacher, SENCo, pupil and family retain their roles in interpretation, correction and review.
Close with a record another person can revisit
- State the outcome, setting and decision the baseline supports.
- Record dated evidence, task versions and support conditions.
- Separate planned provision from recorded delivery.
- Include pupil and family views, disagreement and missing evidence.
- Name the owner of each action and the accountable reviewer.
- Set the review date, confidence and evidence that could change the plan.
If the question is whether a pupil should join the school's monitoring process, use the SEND monitoring-list decision record alongside this baseline. To see how the connected review works in the product, request a SEND-focused walkthrough.
Sources and further reading
- Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care, SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, published 11 June 2014 and last updated 12 September 2024; statutory guidance for England, especially paragraphs 6.45 to 6.55.
- Department for Education and Standards and Testing Agency, Commission on Assessment Without Levels: final report, published 17 September 2015; applies to England.
- Education Endowment Foundation, Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools, first edition published 20 March 2020.
- Standards and Testing Agency, 2026 reception baseline assessment: assessment and reporting arrangements, updated 24 July 2026; statutory requirements for England in 2026 to 2027.
- Standards and Testing Agency, Reception baseline assessment: administration guidance, published 2 June 2025 and updated 1 September 2026.