Ordinarily Available Provision and SEND Support Plans

The Graduated Response supports schools with SEND support and intervention. This helps to ensure that all steps taken are reasonable.

Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) and the Graduated Response

Overview Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) outlines the support and interventions that should be routinely available in all mainstream schools and colleges to meet the needs of young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). This ensures that steps taken are reasonable and inclusive, supporting a graduated approach to meeting need.

Early Years Ordinarily Available Provision guidance [External Link]

The Graduated Response

The Graduated Response remains the framework through which educational settings identify, assess, and respond to SEND. It emphasises the importance of multi-agency collaboration to meet the social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) needs of young people and promotes inclusive practices across all settings. For more information, visit the Cognus Graduated Response page [External Link].

Aims and Principles

• High-Quality Teaching First: High-quality, inclusive teaching is the first step for any young person not making expected progress. Most pupils' needs should be met through this universal offer.

• Targeted Support for Some: A small number of pupils may require targeted, time-limited interventions alongside high-quality teaching.

• Responsibility of Educational Settings: Schools and colleges must identify, address, and monitor SEND needs, making effective use of their own budgets and ordinarily available resources.

• Graduated and Structured Support: Support should be organised through a structured graduated response, scaling up interventions as needed based on ongoing assessment and review.

• Evidence-Based Practice: All interventions should be based on evidence, research, and robust assessment of individual needs.

• Consistency Across Settings: Young people should have access to a consistent level of ordinarily available provision across mainstream schools and colleges, ensuring fairness and equity.

• Provision Informed by Need: Provision should reflect the needs of pupils currently in the setting, with decisions informed by research, professional judgment, and local data.

Levels of Support within the Graduated Response

Universal Support (Ordinarily Available Provision)

• Universal support is the baseline entitlement for all young people.

• It includes differentiated teaching, reasonable adjustments, adapted resources, flexible grouping, and access to staff with appropriate training and knowledge.

• Staff development is essential and should include SEND-focused whole-school and individual training.

• Targets are set and monitored as part of ongoing quality-first teaching.

Targeted Support

• Targeted support is additional to ordinarily available provision and is designed for young people whose needs require short-term, small-group or 1:1 interventions.

• These interventions are evidence-based and focused on specific areas of need identified through assessment.

• Progress should be reviewed regularly, and interventions adapted accordingly.

Specialist Support

• Specialist support is for pupils whose needs are more complex and persistent, and who may already have or require an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP).

• This often involves input from external agencies and specialist services.

• Some specialist provision should still be accessible within mainstream settings through reasonable adjustments and creative use of resources.

SEND Code of Practice and Provision Expectations

The SEND Code of Practice sets out that:

• Mainstream settings must provide support for young people with SEND through their delegated budgets, including the Notional SEND Budget.

• Settings are responsible for making ordinarily available provision using their existing resources.

• In Early Years, provision is supplemented through mechanisms such as Early Years Inclusion Funding (EY SENDIF) where needed.

• High-quality ordinarily available provision reduces the need for more specialist, external interventions.

Expectations for Schools and Colleges

Settings are expected to:

• Use their budgets to make effective provision for young people with SEND.

• Be transparent with families and professionals about what ordinarily available provision looks like in their setting.

• Plan strategically to use resources like pupil premium alongside SEND budgets to support inclusive practice.

• Continually develop their staff knowledge and skills to meet a range of needs within the classroom environment.