Give your views for an annual review or EHC needs assessment

Written for: Parents and carers.

If your child has an education, health and care plan (EHCP), the plan is reviewed at a meeting at least once a year. This is the annual review. An EHCP is a legal document from your local council that sets out your child’s special educational needs and the support they must get. If your child doesn’t have an EHCP yet, the school may ask the council to carry out an EHC needs assessment to decide whether they need one.

Your views as a parent or carer are an important part of both. Your child’s school may send you secure links so you can reply, share documents and read the meeting papers. You don’t need to sign in to use them.

Annual reviews

For an annual review, the school may send you up to three kinds of link.

Say whether you can come to the meeting

1. Open the link in the invitation email. The page is headed Annual review attendance.
2. Choose I can attend or I cannot attend.
3. If you can’t come, you can give a reason under Reason if declining.
4. Click Submit response.

You’ll see “Response recorded”. If your plans change, open the same link again and send a new response.

Send your views or documents

The school may ask you for information, such as your views on how your child is getting on, or a report from someone who works with your child.

• If the email asks you to reply, reply to the email with the information.
• If the email has an upload link, it opens Annual review document upload. It shows what the school has asked for, which child it’s for and when it’s due.

To upload documents:

1. Under Files, choose the files from your computer or phone. You can upload PDF, Word, RTF, text, JPG, PNG or HEIC files. The page tells you how many files you can send and how big they can be.
2. If you’d like to explain anything, write it under Note for the school.
3. Click Upload document.

You’ll see “Document received”. The files are added to your child’s annual review.

Read the papers before the meeting

Before the meeting, the school may send you a link to a Secure annual-review pack. It shows the meeting date and time, when the link expires, and the documents for the meeting. Click Open document to read each one.

EHC needs assessment

If the school is asking your local council for an EHC needs assessment, it may ask you to share how things are going for your child. The link opens Parent/carer voice update.

1. Read the dates at the top. They show when the request went to the council and when the council is due to respond, if the school has recorded them.
2. Under Your update for the school, write your views. It can help to include what’s going well, what feels difficult, the support that helps, and any recent changes in your child’s needs, routines, worries or strengths.
3. Click Submit update.

You’ll see “Thank you”. Your update is sent to the school and added to the needs assessment request. You need to write at least 10 characters, and the page shows how many characters you have left.

Notes

• England only: annual reviews and EHC needs assessments in Student Radar follow the system in England.
• The links are just for you. Don’t forward them to anyone else.
• Your local council makes the decisions about EHC needs assessments and EHCPs, not Student Radar. If you have questions about the process, ask the school’s SENCo (the teacher who coordinates support for children with special educational needs).

If a link has expired or doesn’t work

What you see	What to do
“Pack link unavailable”	The pack link has expired or been withdrawn. Ask the school for a new link.
“This file is no longer available. Please contact the school.”	Ask the school for a copy of that document.
“Upload link unavailable”	The upload link has expired or is no longer needed. Contact the school if you still need to send something.
“This link cannot be used”	The link for your EHC needs assessment update has expired or isn’t valid. Contact the school.
“Attendance link not found.”	Open the link straight from the invitation email, or ask the school for a new invitation.
A message that a file is larger than the limit	Remove that file, or make it smaller, and try again.
“Unable to reach the upload service. Please try again or contact the school.”	Check your internet connection and try again.
“Unable to reach the parent voice service. Please try again or contact the school.”	Check your internet connection and try again. Your text is still on the page.