Proving impact to governors and the local authority
Evidencing provision should not mean a week of spreadsheets. What a clear impact picture looks like, and how to build one.
Every trust is asked to show that its SEND provision works. Governors want assurance, the local authority wants evidence, and parents want to know their child is making progress. Too often, answering takes a week of stitching spreadsheets together.
The question behind the question
When a governor asks whether support is working, they are really asking three things: is support reaching the pupils who need it, is it good quality, and is it connected to progress. A clear impact picture answers all three from the same source, rather than three separate exports that never quite agree.
What good evidence looks like
Strong evidence tends to share a few features:
- It starts from need, not from spend
- It shows change over time, not a single snapshot
- It connects support to outcomes without claiming more than it can
- It is the same picture leaders use day to day, not a version made for the meeting
Build it once
The most useful thing a trust can do is stop rebuilding the evidence each time it is asked. When the working view and the reporting view are the same view, assurance stops being a project and becomes a by-product of doing the work.