Information for educational settings, preparing for Year 9 Annual Reviews (AR) (DRAFT)

Information for educational settings, preparing for Year 9 Annual Reviews (AR) (DRAFT)

How to support best practice in schools

Start conversations with parent or carers early and invite them to all events, for example, Life Beyond School. 

Professionally honest conversations about pathways into employment or daily living activities will need to be started from Year 9, and this can be supported through the impartial careers advice and guidance process.

Ensure careers advisors have local SEND knowledge. Legislation states there should be one Careers Advice and Guidance meeting before year 11 and one during sixth form. To help pupils prepare for this, they should meet the careers advisor in Year 7 and 8 and have a 1 to 1 interview prior to the Year 9 annual review. Careers advisor to contact parent/carer prior to the review (in some cases, careers advisor may be present at the review). Careers advisor to create transition plan, and make sure this is shared for the annual review meeting. If they are able to attend the meeting this is also considered best practice. 

Career guidance for those with SEND, SEMH, and EHCP (Education and Health Care Plan)

Careers advice (SEND)

Parent or carer invitation to the annual review should include PfA information and links to appropriate resources.  

This can also include access to the Life Beyond School booklet, which outlines Post 16 options: CHOICE - Life Beyond School (PDF).   
As well as details on our Local Offer: EHCP Annual Reviews and Preparing for Adulthood outcomes and national information at: Annual reviews in Year 9 and beyond | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice.

Ensure invitations are sent to all stakeholders in plenty of time, at least 14 days, to enable them to either attend or provide updates where appropriate

Ensure staff who are running the annual reviews have knowledge of the SEND Careers and holistic events.  Information can be found at: Support for education to meet the Gatsby Benchmarks.

Where possible, schools should ensure that pupils are prepared, through the curriculum, to start thinking about adulthood.  

Pupils should attend their annual reviews or consider alternative ways for them to contribute (presentations or videos or attend for 15mins etc). Staff will need to plan for this prior to the review, and build support for learners to express their views into the planning process.  

Young people who have attended their annual reviews told us:

  • ‘I feel listened to when I want to change something’
  • ‘I like to choose what goes on the plan’
  • ‘It makes me think about who I am and what I want when I get older’
  • ‘It helps new teachers or LSPs (Learning Support Practitioners), know about me and why I’m different’   

 Some young  people also told us about when they do not feel involved:  

  • ‘Sometimes I feel ignored. Like, they talk about me but not with me’
  • ‘I feel listened to. Not much changes in my plan’
  • ‘I don’t know much about it. I just know that it is looked at each year to see if I need anything else’
  • ‘My mum does it for me’
  • ‘I am not sure if I have one’ 

Young people told us:

  • ‘I want to be asked more about what I want’
  • ‘I know what an ECHP is, but I want to be more involved’  

Settings can use the resources from  the NDTI website to support the gathering of authentic CYP voice. Preparing for Adulthood: All Tools & Resources - NDTi  there is also a section  in this document about how to gather voice through a range of techniques.

Schools should consider whether their careers programme meets the needs of SEND pupils, in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks.

Support for schools from other professionals

All professionals involved in the young person’s life should contribute to the review. To enable that to happen, the co-ordinator of the annual review should give sufficient notice of the meeting to professionals; this should be at least one term, but ideally mapping out your views over the year to allow for professionals to attend or provide updates as needed.

Example of good practice when running ARs for Year 9 +

Know your students very well – including gathering their views and invite them to their review, allowing them to stay for as long as they feel comfortable, and use a range of mediums to allow their views to be shared (e.g. photos).  If they are not able to attend, ensure that a spokesperson is identified to feedback their views at appropriate points in the meeting.

Give clear timescales about next steps from Year 9 onwards, what is expected to happen in Year 10, what other decisions will need to be made.  Also be aware that if the local college is able to meet their needs then travel is covered, however, if they wish to do a course further away they will have to cover travel themselves.

Have knowledge of what happens much later, e.g. at the end of Year 11 or end of Year 13 / 14; provide families with signposting to further study options, employment or social care.

Share information about the Life Beyond School County wide event, as well as any events your setting is putting on for transition planning.

Be honest about the option of not being in education from age 19, to enable choice for the YP.  Be clear about what this means for the YP and if Social Care need to be involved at an earlier age to start planning.

Don’t be afraid to have an honest conversation about realistic outcomes, for example when full time employment is not realistic based on complexity of needs. This enables other services to be considered in a timely way.

Involve key professionals at AR, e.g. social care if attending a respite provision.

Plan annual review meetings in advance (at least one term) to allow professionals to contribute/ attend and also for views of YP to be gathered over time where needed.  This requires co-ordination across the setting.

Careers advice and guidance sought prior to AR meeting, and used as basis for forward planning in line with YP aspirations.

PfA areas covered through the conversation, such as discussions around what the YP does outside of school which links to community inclusion.

Discuss attendance and share updated figures in a way that makes sense to families.

Tailor the conversation based on age, e.g. Year 9, give broader overview of what post 16 looks like, and then focus on Key Stage 4 provision and support to meet aspirations.

Focus on progress towards the outcomes to allow for these to be updated in PfA language and framework.  This needs to be underpinned by the individual plans which are reviewed at least termly.  

PfA Outcomes Framework (pdf)

What children and young people tell us they like for their annual reviews

What children and young people like from there annual reviews are:

  • having favourite snacks and drinks at the meeting
  • being able to talk about what is important to me
  • using colourful markers on the pieces of paper, ‘not just black pen’
  • less ‘busy’ walls in the room where the meeting is held
  • being able to choose background music for the review meeting
  • cards to communicate, for example, red or green to indicate like or not like, or other visual supports
  • time to process information
  • understanding by adults of signs of stress
  • fidget toys
  • not to be interrupted when talking
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