Getting help with your child's progress

Use this guide to find information on getting help with your child’s progress.

How nurseries/​schools/​colleges monitor children’s progress

All nursery staff, school staff and college staff must regularly check that your child is developing and progressing in a way expected for their age. When they notice that a child is falling behind, they must:

  1. respond quickly by assessing why the child is not doing as well as expected
  2. speak to the parent or carer about their concerns
  3. plan to do something different, or extra, and then check that this is helping.

In schools, we call this 'quality first teaching', but all educators in any setting need to do this.

If the child does not quickly catch up with this kind of approach, and it is thought that they need more support, then we say that they have additional needs that require SEND Support. This means that the child is now seen as having a special educational need and/or a disability (SEND).