Setting up and using the SEND framework

[Helen]

Tapestry includes a SEND assessment framework which you may find more appropriate to use with children who have been identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities. The framework is based on the old Development Matters document (2012), but we have removed the age bands (calling them stages instead) and also added many other statements which could help in identifying those smaller steps of progress that children with SEND might demonstrate.

To enable this on your account you just need to go to your Control Panel, which you can access by clicking on your name in the top right-hand corner (1) and then selecting 'Control Panel' from the drop-down menu (2). 

Once you are on the Control Panel you just need to click on the 'Settings' option on the left-hand side menu (3) and then select 'Assessments' from that drop-down (4). You then just need to look for the 'SEND' option and once you find it, click on the 'Configure' button (5). 

 

 

You will then get a pop-up box where you just need to tick the box to enable it (1). If you also choose to display the framework to relatives they will be able to see the assessments in SEND that you've made as part of published observations (2). They won't be able to make assessments themselves though!

It's also possible to download a copy of all the SEND statements from here (3).

Remember to press 'submit' if you make any changes (4)! 

 

Once that's done you can get started with making observations! To do this you just need to go to the Observations tab at the top of the page (1) and then click on the '+Add Observation' button (2). 

 

 

If you have more than two frameworks enabled on your account, then you will just need to select the SEND framework from the list of them. If you only have two or just the SEND framework enabled, you won't need to do this and it will show already. 

 

 

The seven areas of learning are the same as for the older EYFS 2017-2020 Development Matters assessment framework (1). If you select an area you will see that the aspects are the same as well (2). 

At the top there is also an option to download a document with all the SEND statements in (3). 

 

 

Once you select an aspect and click on the drop-down arrow, you'll see there are a number of stages to choose from. These equate to the age-bands from the old Development Matters. For example stage 1 is 0-11 months, stage 2 is 8-20 months etc.

In this example, we are going to choose stage 2 in Making Relationships:

 

 

You'll see there are two sets of statements- the first set being in italics. These are the additional SEND statements. The remaining statements (not in italics) are the original Development Matters (2017-2020) statements .

Although the advice on every page of the Development Matters document advises against using the statements as a tick-list, many settings supporting children with learning differences and disabilities find that they are better able to demonstrate small steps of progress by refining each statement. This is how you can perform your assessments within this SEND framework.

Select the required statement by ticking the box (1) and click the drop down arrow (2) to choose the refinement of emerging, developing and secure. Make sure you click 'save' at the bottom of your screen.

The child's journal will now have this entry:

 

 

We hope you find this helpful!

 

Go back to Main Tutorials Page

 

[Judy_Holliday]

Hi there

I have enabled the SEND framework, but now having used these there isn't a summative assessment generated for the child. How do we over come this? We are a pre-school and therefore the child does not have a unique number yet. Will there be a page to generate SEND stage assessments as well as EYFS statements please?

thanks

[Helen]

Yes, new screens coming very soon!