Provision Management Guidance

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What is Provision Management?

Provision management is a strategic management approach which provides an ‘at a glance’ way of showing all the provision that a school makes which is additional to and different from the school’s differentiated curriculum offer.

The additional to and different from provision is provided for identified groups of pupils within the school. These groups might include:

  • pupils with special educational needs and disabilities;
  • pupils for whom English as an additional language;
  • young people in public care;
  • traveller pupils;
  • refugee and asylum seeker pupils;
  • minority ethnic and faith groups;
  • pupils with medical needs;
  • young carers;
  • pupils from families under stress;
  • pupils who are at risk of disaffection and exclusion;
  • pupils from different gender groups.

Provision management is both a means of accounting for additional to and different from provision, evaluating effectiveness in terms of pupils’ outcomes and an approach, which supports inclusive practice. It enables schools to map their additional to and different from provision against individual pupils, year groups or the whole school and against different areas of need.

Provision Management allows schools to plan what provision is needed to meet pupils' identified needs and determine staffing and budget requirements. It is an appraoch that has also proved useful in meeting governors' responsibility to account for SEN budgets.

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Why do we need Provision Management?

The new statutory framework for inclusion places clear responsibilities on schools and LEAs to monitor, evaluate and plan the development of educational provision for diverse needs, increase access for disadvantaged groups, secure the entitlement of all pupils and raise achievement and standards.

The OFSTED Framework for the inspection of schools focuses more clearly upon a school’s capacity to self-evaluate in relation to both pupil-level outcomes and to the factors that contribute to these outcomes.

Within this context provision management offers a powerful strategic management approach.

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What are the Benefits of Provision Management?

Provision management will allow a school to produce an inclusive education provision map, which will enable those with defined responsibilities in schools, other settings and the LEA, to:

  • Meet the statutory reporting and accountability requirements within the Education (Special Educational Needs) (Information) (England) Regulations 1999 andthe Special Educational Needs (Provision of Information by Local Education Authorities) (England) Regulations 2001 and Section 14(2) of the SEN and Disability Act 2001.
  • Demonstrate to external evaluators (e.g.OFSTED, Audit Commission, LA Monitoring Officers) a real commitment to inclusive principles and a realistic approach to securing Best Value from available resources.
  • Balance competing demands from within the statutory inclusion and standards frameworks and ensure there is a clear rationale and evidence base for the ‘reasonable steps’ that are planned and taken by the school to improve both access to, and the quality of, educational provision for all.
  • Audit the needs of pupils and plan systematically how best to use the school’s resources to meet those needs.
  • Plan both the staffing and the skills that will be required to meet the needs of pupils.
  • Ensure a closer match between the mapped continuum of provision and the assessed continuum of needs at school/setting, local area and LEA level.
  • Facilitate the sharing of best practice between schools/other settings and develop a common language for thinking about factors that contribute to pupil level outcomes.
  • Reduce bureaucracy at all levels in the local system, as part of a strategy for reducing the need for traditional style IEPs.
  • Ensure that parents/carers and others in the local community are better informed about what is available within local educational settings and how it may be accessed.
  • Help to ensure the entitlement and improve pupil-level outcomes for all learners at risk of underachieving by ensuring that a range of effective universal strategies and targeted/special interventions is generally available and regularly evaluated.

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What SENCos have said about Provision Management:

  • Provision Management is an excellent cohesive framework
  • Provides the necessary tools to change practice and reduce bureaucracy
  • The Provision Management approach is very clear
  • I was concerned about how to manage evaluation and effectiveness - I now have a clear idea of what to do, using Provision Management

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Our Provision Management Services and Software

Provision Management Guidance

This site contains free guidance for schools wishing to implement a provision management approach. The guidance outlines a six step appraoch to Provision Management.

Provision Management Software

Provision Manager is our new software tool which has been designed to take the pain out of Provision Management and follow the provision management guidance contained on this site. You can trial Provision Manager free at no obligation for 30 days.

Provision Management Consultancy

Our lead consultant on Provision Management is Mary Hrekow. Mary has trained hundreds of SENCos in Provision Management and provided consultancy to several local authorities in this area. Mary also developed comprehnsive guidance on provision Management for schools and is a key member of our Provision Manaager software development team.

If you require training or consultancy in the area of Provision Management please contact our salisbury office.

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Page last updated 8th January 2010.