You aren't required to have a provision map, but the SEND Code of Practice (see paragraph 6.76) suggests them to help you keep an overview of programmes and interventions for different groups of pupils.
Why use a provision map?
Think of your special educational needs (SEN) provision map as a tool that can help you:
- Develop provision that meets the needs of your pupils
- Evaluate the impact of your provision on pupil progress
- Identify patterns of need, and areas for staff development
- Decide which interventions are worth carrying out (whether the time and resource invested are worth the outcome)
It does this by showing you, at a glance:
- What interventions are taking place in your school
- The evidence base you have for running those interventions
- The time and resource invested in an intervention
- How effective those interventions are
Your provision map should set out any provision that is additional to or different from your differentiated curriculum.
Don’t include a long list of every way you differentiate the curriculum for pupils with additional needs. A differentiated curriculum is part of your universal provision and should be available to all pupils, so you wouldn't look to record it in your SEN provision map.
Our associate expert Sally Franklin told us this.
Who should use the provision map?
SENCO
The SENCO should be using the provision map to monitor the level of interventions, and make strategic decisions about SEN provision.
In some schools, the responsibility for using and maintaining the provision map sits squarely on the shoulders of the SENCO, and other members of staff rarely engage with it. It's worth challenging this assumption in your school, so your SEN provision is as effective as possible.
Subject or year group leads
Your leads know what teaching strategies work best, and should be collaborating with the SENCO to shape the provision.
You could ask each subject or year group to maintain their own section of the provision map, so they can feed in their granular insights about what works in practice.
Teachers
Pupils do interventions to address gaps in their learning, which teachers can’t address in their universal provision. So, teachers should be using the provision map to find out how specific gaps in learning are addressed, and whether the interventions work.
Help teachers to access the provision map by keeping it concise and relevant.
Our associate expert Sally Franklin told us this.
Create your own provision map
Check if your MIS has an in-built provision mapping function
This will reduce your workload, by automatically inputting pupil data.
Download our template provision maps
Download and adapt our template provision maps to save you time. We've created 2 versions in the document - one to help you monitor provision for an individual pupil or group of children, and another for a whole class.
Use them to map provision for pupils with all kinds of additional needs, including:
- Pupils with SEN
- More able pupils
- Vulnerable pupils
- Looked after children
- Post-looked after children
Measure the impact of your interventions by reviewing your provision maps termly.
Work out how much your provision costs
Use our costed provision map to:
- Find out total SEN and additional needs expenditure for an individual child, termly or yearly
- Accurately budget termly and yearly costs
- Validate the impact of your provision
- Work out the cost of individual provision when applying for an EHC plan
Add the calculated costs to the provision map template above to help you assess value for money.
For more information about costing SEN provision, read our articles on costing whole-school SEN provision and costing SEN provision for individual pupils.
How to review and develop your provision map
You need to review your provision before developing your provision map at the start of the school year.
Our experts, Lorraine Petersen, Sally Franklin and Kate Browning, explain how.
Step 1: review your current provision by doing an 'intervention health check'
Review your current provision, including:
- Current needs of pupils
- Staff training
- Resources
- The interventions you're currently providing
Consider how effective your interventions are:
- What progress have pupils made?
- What evidence do you have that proves your interventions are effective?
- Is the intervention better than what’s happening in the classroom?
- Is the impact of each intervention what you expected?
- Do your staff know what impact to expect from an intervention?
- Which staff are providing outstanding support or provision?
- If you commissioned external support, what impact did it have?
Learn more about evaluating interventions in another article from The Key Leaders.
Step 2: plan provision for next year
- Audit and project additional needs for the next school year. Base this on current pupil needs and information about pupils joining your school
- Compare the projected need with your current provision and identify gaps
- Locate where funding is coming from
- List all new provision required
- Identifying what staff training is needed
- Set school targets (termly and yearly)
- Plan who will carry out monitoring and reviews, and how and when they will take place
Step 3: continue to review provision termly
- Measure which interventions are effective
- Identify gaps/overlaps in provision
- Work with teachers to make sure interventions are linked to what is being covered in class, and that pupils are being given a chance to consolidate their learning
- Determine whether you have adequate funding to meet needs, and whether you're making the best possible use of funding and resources
- Meet staff delivering interventions and share feedback with the senior leadership team
Examples from local authorities
Find examples of whole-school provision maps on Kirklees Council’s SEND local offer website. Its example maps have columns to record:
- Group size
- Frequency and duration of the intervention
- Method of tracking
- Entry and exit data
- Pupil progress
Bromley Council’s education website, Bromley Education Matters, provides a range of resources on provision mapping, including:
- Guidance on provision mapping
- A template provision map for a class
- A template provision map for an individual pupil
Wigan Council has created a costed template provision map for its schools to record details of interventions given to an individual pupil with an education, health and care (EHC) plan. You can download it from the section "Referring for an EHC assessment".
Schools can record information relating to:
- The time spent on the intervention
- The staff running the intervention, and this cost per child
- The total cost per provision or activity