A reliable SEN information report tells families what a school provides, how support is identified and reviewed, who to contact, and what to do when provision is not working.
It should cover every statutory heading while describing the school that exists now, not the one described in a template inherited from several headteachers ago.
This guide is for maintained schools, maintained nursery schools and academy schools in England covered by section 69 of the Children and Families Act 2014.
The legislation calls it an SEN information report, although people often search for a SEND information report. This article is current to 10 August 2026 and is not legal advice.
Why review the report now?
Section 69 requires the governing body or proprietor to prepare the report. Regulation 52 requires publication on the school website.
The SEND Code of Practice says the information should be updated annually and that changes during the year should be updated as soon as possible.
An annual review should therefore test current arrangements, not merely replace 2025 with 2026. Dates are helpful, but they are not known for their powers of quality assurance.
Ofsted has published a school inspection toolkit for use from 7 September 2026. That future toolkit does not replace the statutory content list or turn this public report into an inspection brochure.
Audit the 13 Schedule 1 requirements first
Schedule 1 to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 contains 13 numbered requirements. Use the table as a coverage check, then read the legislation itself.
| Area | The report needs to explain | helpful evidence for the annual check |
|---|---|---|
| Need and identification | The kinds of SEN provided for, plus identification and assessment policies. | Current cohort picture, referral routes and assessment practice. |
| Provision and review | Provision with or without an EHC plan, effectiveness, progress review, teaching, curriculum and environment adaptations, additional support, participation, and emotional, mental and social development. | Provision records, review dates, delivery evidence, outcomes and pupil experience. |
| People and resources | The SENCo contact, staff expertise and training, specialist expertise, equipment and facilities. | Named roles, current training, service routes, equipment access and ownership. |
| Voice and partnership | How parents and young people are consulted, other bodies are involved, and parent support services can be contacted. | Accessible consultation routes, feedback, communication and agency arrangements. |
| Transition, complaints and Local Offer | Support for transitions and preparation for adulthood, SEND complaints arrangements, and where the local authority Local Offer is published. | Transition practice, working links, complaint route tests and a live Local Offer link. |
The Code also says the report should include arrangements for looked-after children with SEN and should use clear, straightforward language that young people and parents can access.
Add the section 69 disability information
The report must also explain admission arrangements for disabled pupils, steps taken to prevent less favourable treatment, and facilities that help disabled pupils access the school.
Include the accessibility plan prepared under Schedule 10 to the Equality Act 2010. Check that the linked plan is live, available and consistent with the report.
Do not merge these headings into a vague sentence about inclusion. A parent should be able to find the route, facility, adjustment or identified contact that the sentence describes.
Make the report helpful, not merely complete
Coverage is the first test. Usefulness comes from turning each heading into an answer that a family or young person can act on.
- Name the person or role responsible and give a working contact route.
- Describe how support is requested, agreed, delivered and reviewed in this school.
- Separate universal provision, SEN Support and EHC plan duties without implying a diagnosis is required.
- Explain how parents and pupils influence plans and reviews, including accessible alternatives.
- State how effectiveness is evaluated and what the school does when evidence is incomplete.
- Link the complaints procedure and distinguish school complaints from local authority decisions.
Keep public language specific but proportionate. The report should not include names of pupils, case details, sensitive operational information or small figures that make a child identifiable.
Compare the published promise with actual delivery
Run a second audit after the legal coverage check. Sample what the report says against live policies, provision records, review evidence, communications and the school website.
- Choose a representative sample across SEN Support, EHC plans, phases and types of need.
- Check whether the described identification and support routes are being used.
- Compare planned provision with delivery, attendance and dated review records.
- Ask whether pupil and parent voice changed a plan, adjustment or review decision.
- Review non-identifying complaint themes for gaps between published routes and experience.
- Record discrepancies, an owner, a correction date and whether the report must change now.
Complaint themes are an improvement signal; it is not content for a public case history. Avoid naming families, quoting correspondence or publishing unstable small-number comparisons.
Test the pattern against its context
Consider a synthetic example. A school report says SEN Support is reviewed with families each term, but the first signal is a cluster of parent queries about unclear review dates.
Aggregate plan records show several overdue dates. Provision logs show support was often delivered, while communication records show that review decisions were not consistently shared.
The professional question is no longer simply whether provision happened. It is whether the review and communication route described publicly is reliable enough for families to use.
The SENCo samples records, speaks with pupils, parents and staff, corrects live cases, assigns an owner for the workflow and updates the report if the published description is no longer true.
The combined evidence does not prove why a review was late, that every family had the same experience, or that support caused an outcome. It identifies a question for human review.
What the report and data cannot prove
A polished report cannot prove that provision is delivered consistently. An aggregate cannot show whether one pupil can access support, and a complaint count cannot explain cause or quality.
Data cannot diagnose need, determine reasonable adjustments, decide an EHC plan outcome or replace consultation. Missing records may mean missing delivery, missing recording or both.
Keep a route for parents, pupils and staff to question or correct the published information. Where law or individual duties are disputed, use the appropriate professional or legal route.
Using Student Radar for the review
Where a school has access, Student Radar's SEND Reports surface can generate an audited, aggregate SEN Information Report from live SEND data.
The live export deliberately leaves narrative policy sections for the SENCo to complete. The SEND workspace can keep plans, provision and review evidence connected, while the SEND Knowledge Base provides a searchable reference surface.
These tools support evidence gathering. They do not write school policy, verify every published statement or turn an export into proof of compliance.
A short route into action
- Audit all 13 Schedule 1 headings and the section 69 disability information.
- Check the SENCo contact, Local Offer, complaints route and accessibility-plan links.
- Sample live provision, review, outcome, pupil voice and parent communication evidence.
- Test the report with a parent, pupil and colleague for clarity and accessibility.
- Record every mismatch with an owner and correction date.
- Publish material in accessible HTML where possible and provide a free paper copy on request.
- Update changed information promptly rather than waiting for the next annual date.
Use the SEND provision impact guide for the separate internal leadership view, and the summer SEND guidance reading list to check related source material. To review the workflow in Student Radar, request a SEND-focused walkthrough.
Sources and further reading
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 69, UK Parliament, Royal Assent 13 March 2014.
- Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, Schedule 1, UK Parliament, made 30 June 2014.
- SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, Department for Education and Department of Health, January 2015 edition; page updated 12 September 2024.
- What maintained schools must or should publish online, Department for Education, published 18 September 2014; updated 24 October 2024.
- What academies and further education colleges must or should publish online, Department for Education, published 30 June 2016; updated 24 October 2024.
- School inspection: toolkit, operating guides and information, Ofsted, published 9 September 2025; updated 12 June 2026.