SEND & Inclusion Diagnostic Review | Early Years Consultancy

Why Early Years Settings Need Full Setting Inspections

The gap between a written Individual Support Plan (ISP) and the lived experience of a child is where most settings fail their most vulnerable learners. A standard SENCo check often stops at the folder; our SEND & Inclusion Diagnostic Review goes deeper. By auditing the "Impact" of your provision—from the speed of your identification pipeline to the direct application of DAF and EYPP funding—we ensure your setting isn't just compliant, but transformative. In a landscape of rising high-needs cases, this audit provides the strategic roadmap your staff needs to move from feeling overwhelmed to being empowered.

What is the Inspection Process?

We deep-dive into your SENCo files and "Records of Concern" to analyse the speed and accuracy of your Identification Pipeline. By mapping the timeline from the initial concern to the first Individual Support Plan (ISP), we ensure your targets are SMART, and your "Assess & Plan" phases are legally and operationally robust. We look for evidence that your 2-Year-Old Progress Checks are being used as a genuine diagnostic tool rather than a tick-box exercise.

This is a 90-minute immersion in your rooms to verify that your "Adapted Practices" are happening in real-time, not just on paper. Using a 10-minute Interaction Tally, we observe the active use of Makaton, visual aids, and sensory adjustments. This pillar ensures that the "Do" phase of the Graduated Approach is alive in your setting and that staff are effectively engaging children with speech delays or high sensory needs.

We conduct an audit on your Disability Access Funding (DAF) and Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP). We verify that investments (such as sensory equipment or specialist resources) are being used by the specific children for whom they were purchased. Furthermore, we audit the integration of external agency advice (SALT, Physio) to ensure specialist recommendations are embedded into daily room planning.

Strategic 1-on-1 interviews with your Manager, SENCo, and Room Leaders assess the "anticipatory" nature of your setting regarding the Equality Act. We evaluate how leadership mentors staff who feel overwhelmed by high-needs cases and test the "Floor-Level Knowledge" of your team. This pillar ensures that room staff can explain a child’s targets and interventions with confidence, without needing to refer to a physical folder.

Every diagnostic concludes with a collaborative session to score your setting against the four stages. This provides your leadership team with a clear, actionable diagnostic report that identifies precisely where the gap is—whether in training, environment, or process—to ensure no child is left behind. The written report will be emailed within 72 hours of the audit.

Why the "Paperwork Trap" is Your Biggest Inspection Risk

Most SEND provisions fail not because of a lack of care, but because of the "Impact Gap." Managers often have folders full of Individual Support Plans (ISPs), yet on the nursery floor, the child’s experience hasn't changed. This diagnostic identifies why your plans aren't becoming practice. Whether it is a delay in your Identification Pipeline or a lack of staff confidence in using Adapted Practices, we find the friction points before they become inspection "areas for improvement."

Auditing the Graduated Approach (Assess, Plan, Do, Review)

We don't just "look" at SEND; we audit the effectiveness of the SEND Code of Practice within your setting. Our diagnostic follows the four-stage cycle to ensure total compliance:

Assess: We check the speed of your "Record of Concern" process and the diagnostic quality of your 2-Year-Old Progress Checks.
Plan: We review your ISPs to ensure targets are truly SMART and developmentally ambitious.
Do: We verify that Makaton, visual aids, and sensory adjustments are actively used by room staff.
Review: We audit parent involvement and the integration of external agency advice (SALT/Physio).

Tracing the Impact of DAF & EYPP Funding

Nursery Managers need to know that their funding is working. We conduct a forensic "trace" of your high-needs income to ensure every pound manifests in child-level progress.

Resource Audit: We ensure that equipment bought with Disability Access Funding (DAF) is actually in the hands of the child it was intended for.
External Integration: We check that specialist reports from external professionals are translated into daily, actionable room plans.
Impact Evidence: We help you build the "Impact Statement" required to prove to local authorities and regulators that your funding is improving outcomes.

What You Will Gain From This Diagnostic

A "Stop, Start, Continue" Roadmap: A streamlined, actionable report that identifies exactly where to focus your resources next.

The Interaction Tally Data: Hard evidence of how often your staff are successfully using SEND strategies on the floor.

The Timeline Map: A visual audit of your identification speed, helping you identify and remove bottlenecks in your support system.

Equality Act Compliance: Confidence that your setting is meeting its "anticipatory duties" for children with disabilities.

Frequently asked questions

Our SEND and Inclusion Audits usually take 5 hours. However, dependent on the setting's needs, it can be shorter or longer.

While you can use this audit for one child, we usually recommend using our consultancy hours for specific cases. This gives you more value for money as it usually takes less time than a full audit. It also gives you more freedom over what is included and what you need support with rather than a structured audit.

We provide our expert audits all across England. While we are centrally based in Tiverton, Devon—serving our local community within a 1-hour radius (including Exeter, Taunton, and surrounding areas)—our consultancy team travels nationwide to ensure every setting has access to high-level expertise. For settings outside our immediate Devon/Somerset hub, a small travel fee applies to cover logistics, ensuring you receive the same gold-standard service regardless of your location. (We are very transparent about our fees, so please message us through the booking form with your location, and we can send you a clear travel price.)

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SEND AND INCLUSION AUDIT

£550