The seven SEND guidance documents worth rereading this summer are the SEND Code of Practice, its school guide, the Equality Act advice for schools, attendance guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education, medical conditions guidance and the new inclusive estates guidance.
Do not try to memorise them. Read each with one question: what should be visible in our plans, provision, attendance, safeguarding, health and review records by September?
This reading list is for schools in England and is accurate on 19 July 2026. It is a practical guide, not legal advice.
Why this summer reading list is timely
Several documents now sit in different time states. The 2025 edition of Keeping Children Safe in Education remains in force until 31 August 2026, while the 2026 edition is available for preparation and takes effect on 1 September.
The statutory attendance guidance was updated on 9 July 2026 with technical clarifications. The Department for Education also published new inclusive education estates guidance on 25 June 2026.
Meanwhile, current SEND reform consultations are proposals. They matter, but they do not replace today's duties. A consultation document can be urgent and still not be the rulebook, a distinction that saves a surprising number of meeting papers.
Use a three-pass reading method
- Mark the status: statutory guidance, departmental advice or practical guidance, plus the date it applies.
- Find the school action: identify the responsible role, required decision, record and review point.
- Test the evidence: sample a few anonymised records and ask whether practice, not just policy wording, matches the document.
Keep a short change log with the source URL, version checked, owner and September action. Otherwise, guidance reading can become a highly literate form of postponement.
The seven SEND guidance documents
| Read | Use it to check | Evidence to sample |
|---|---|---|
| 1. SEND Code of Practice | Identification, SEN support, participation, provision and review | Plans, pupil and parent views, provision records and review decisions |
| 2. School guide to the Code | Who owns SEND responsibilities across the school | Policy, staff roles, governor oversight and classroom records |
| 3. Equality Act advice | Disability duties and anticipatory reasonable adjustments | Adjustment decisions, access plans and review evidence |
| 4. Attendance guidance | Support, barriers, recording and multi-agency working | Attendance patterns, support plans, contact and agreed actions |
| 5. KCSIE | Current safeguarding practice and September 2026 preparation | Training, reporting routes, risk context and DSL decisions |
| 6. Medical conditions guidance | Support arrangements, individual healthcare plans and training | Healthcare plans, medicines records, staff competence and reviews |
| 7. Inclusive estates guidance | Environmental access and practical building adaptations | Walkthrough findings, pupil experience, access actions and owners |
1. SEND Code of Practice: return to chapter 6
The SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years is statutory guidance for England. For a school SENCo, chapter 6 is the useful summer reread: SEN support, the graduated approach, staff responsibilities and information that schools publish.
Compare the Code with a small sample of current plans. Can you see the assessed need, agreed outcome, provision, responsible adult, pupil and parent participation, and the evidence used at review? The Code should change the record, not simply occupy a browser tab beside it.
2. The school guide: use the shorter route to shared ownership
The Department for Education's guide for schools and alternative provision settings summarises duties and responsibilities for governing bodies, leaders, teachers and SENCos. Read it alongside the Code, not instead of it.
Use it to check whether SEND is still described as something the SENCo delivers alone. Name what class teachers, leaders and governors should know, do and review. Then make sure September induction and reporting reflect those responsibilities.
3. Equality Act advice: separate disability from SEN status
The Equality Act 2010 advice for schools helps staff understand disability discrimination and reasonable adjustments. A pupil can be disabled without having SEN, and recording SEN support is not the same as considering the school's disability duties.
Sample adjustment records across lessons, clubs, trips, sanctions and physical access. Check what barrier was identified, what was considered, what was agreed, who will act and when the effect will be reviewed.
4. Attendance guidance: read support before enforcement
The statutory Working together to improve school attendance guidance covers responsibilities, support for pupils at risk of persistent or severe absence, legal intervention and register recording. The current page was updated on 9 July 2026.
For pupils with SEND, connect attendance patterns to barriers, adjustments, provision access, health information and family communication. Absence data tells you when a pupil was not present. It does not, by itself, explain why.
5. KCSIE: keep the current and future versions separate
Schools must use KCSIE 2025 until 31 August 2026. KCSIE 2026 is available now for preparation and comes into force on 1 September. Annex C summarises changes, and the new overview for all staff complements rather than replaces part one.
Plan the version change with the DSL. Check training, reporting routes and how staff recognise that children with SEND may face additional safeguarding barriers. Keep sensitive detail in controlled records and share it only through the correct route.
6. Medical conditions guidance: test the arrangement, not the form
The statutory Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school guidance applies to governing bodies of maintained schools, academy proprietors and PRU management committees. It includes templates for healthcare plans, medicines and staff training.
Check that the people expected to act can find the current plan, understand their role and have suitable training. Medical needs and SEND can overlap, but one label should not be used as a substitute for the other record or duty.
7. Inclusive education estates: walk the pupil's day
The Department for Education's June 2026 inclusive education estates guidance covers assessment of mainstream estates, ten core elements of inclusive design and practical adaptations to buildings and outdoor spaces.
Walk arrival, circulation, classroom, dining, toilet and outdoor routes with relevant pupils and staff. Link barriers to a named estates or teaching action, while keeping individual adjustments available. A calmer corridor cannot be filed into existence.
The connected-data view: one pattern, several possible questions
Consider a fictional composite pupil whose attendance falls on days with a particular lesson. Behaviour records show incidents before that lesson, while the pupil's plan identifies sensory barriers and provision records show that a planned check-in was sometimes missed.
Read separately, each record invites a different conclusion. Together, they prompt a better professional question: is the environment, transition into the lesson or inconsistent delivery creating an avoidable access barrier?
The SENCo can review the adjustment with the pupil, teacher, attendance lead and family, restore the planned check-in, test an environmental change and set a dated review. The records guide the enquiry; they do not prove cause or determine the response.
What connected records cannot prove
A pattern cannot diagnose a need, establish motive, prove that provision caused an outcome or decide that an adjustment is reasonable. Missing notes may mean missing delivery, missing recording or both. Ask, observe, check source quality and review with the pupil and relevant professionals.
How Student Radar can support the reading-to-action workflow
Student Radar's SEND Knowledge Base gives authorised staff a searchable reference surface for guidance and playbooks. Its SEND Reports surface currently generates a live-data SEN Information Report and SEND Governor Pack, with narrative sections kept distinct from calculated figures.
The useful workflow is to move from guidance, to the relevant pupil or cohort evidence, to a named action and review. Student Radar does not interpret statutory guidance for the school, provide legal advice or turn a report into proof of compliance.
Seven actions for the first week back
- Confirm which guidance versions apply on 1 September.
- Assign one owner for each policy, practice and record change.
- Sample records across SEND, attendance, safeguarding, health and provision.
- Ask pupils whether recorded adjustments match their experience.
- Separate missing provision from missing recording.
- Brief staff on the few changes that alter their daily decisions.
- Set a review date and evidence question for every action.
Start with the SEND Code of Practice guide, then use the reasonable adjustments resource and the year-end SEND register audit to turn reading into checks. To see a connected SEND workflow, request a focused walkthrough.
Sources and further reading
- SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care, published 11 June 2014; updated 12 September 2024.
- SEND: guide for schools and alternative provision settings, Department for Education, 1 September 2014.
- Equality Act 2010: advice for schools, Department for Education, published 6 February 2013; updated 28 June 2018.
- Working together to improve school attendance, Department for Education, published 6 May 2022; updated 9 July 2026.
- Keeping children safe in education, Department for Education, page updated 7 July 2026.
- Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school, Department for Education, published 1 September 2014; updated 16 August 2017.
- Inclusive education estates, Department for Education, 25 June 2026.
- SEND reform: education otherwise than at school consultation, Department for Education, published 10 July 2026; updated 14 July 2026.