SEN Evidence Checklist: What Parents Need to Include for School Support Requests

Many parents searching for an SEN evidence checklist are not trying to build a legal case. They are trying to get their child the support they need in school.

Yet one of the most common reasons support requests stall is not lack of need. It is lack of clear evidence. Schools and local authorities make decisions based on the information in front of them. If the evidence is scattered, incomplete or unclear, the request can be delayed or declined, regardless of how significant the underlying need is.

This guide explains what evidence schools and local authorities typically expect, how to organise it properly, what the law says about your rights, and how to present everything clearly so your child's needs are easier to act on. A decision tree is included to help you identify where to start.

What Is an SEN Evidence Checklist and Why Does It Matter?

An SEN evidence checklist is a structured list of documents and information that help demonstrate your child's needs clearly and in a format that decision-makers can work with quickly.

Schools and local authorities rely on evidence when deciding whether additional SEN support should be provided, whether external professionals should be involved, or whether an Education, Health and Care needs assessment should be considered. The legal framework for SEND support is set out in the SEND Code of Practice 2015, which provides statutory guidance on how schools and councils must identify and support children with special educational needs.

Under Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014, a local authority must carry out an EHC needs assessment if it is of the opinion that a child may have special educational needs and it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made via an EHC plan. The evidence you provide shapes that opinion. A well-organised evidence base makes that assessment significantly easier to arrive at in your child’s favour.

For families in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, the BCP Council SEND Local Offer sets out the support and services available locally for children aged 0 to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities. The BCP SEND Forms page also provides documents for requesting an EHC needs assessment and managing the EHCP process.

What Types of Evidence Are Most Useful for School Support Requests?

Parents sometimes assume only medical diagnoses or professional reports carry weight. In reality, schools and local authorities consider a wide range of evidence sources, and a combination of different types is often more persuasive than a single report alone.

Useful evidence can include school reports, SENCO observations and assessments, educational psychologist reports, speech and language therapy assessments, occupational therapy reports, medical letters or paediatrician notes, attendance records, behaviour logs, and samples of schoolwork that illustrate the difficulty. Parent observations are also legitimate evidence and should not be overlooked.

Each piece of evidence tells part of the story. Together they create a fuller picture of your child's needs across different settings and over time. That breadth is often what moves a support request from being considered to being acted on.

SEN Evidence Checklist for School-Based Support Requests

The checklist below summarises the types of evidence that most commonly strengthen requests for SEN support. You do not need every category. The goal is to gather what is available and present it clearly.

1. School Evidence

Schools often rely most heavily on their own records when considering whether additional support is needed. If this documentation exists, it carries significant weight precisely because it comes from the institution making the decision.

Useful school evidence includes teacher reports describing observed learning difficulties, SENCO assessments or notes from SEN reviews, progress tracking data showing performance below expected levels, behaviour logs, records of any interventions already tried and their outcomes, and notes from previous meetings with parents about the child's progress. If your child has already received targeted interventions that have not produced the expected progress, those intervention records are particularly important. They demonstrate that the school has already responded and that the need goes beyond what standard classroom support can address.

2. Professional Assessments

Professional reports provide specialist insight that school staff are often not qualified to offer. Under SEND Regulation 6, a local authority carrying out an EHC needs assessment must seek advice from professionals that a parent reasonably requests. This means that if you have access to a speech and language therapist, occupational therapist or educational psychologist, their reports should be included. Useful professional assessments include educational psychologist reports, speech and language therapy assessments, occupational therapy reports, paediatrician letters confirming diagnosis or developmental concerns, and CAMHS reports where the difficulty has a mental health or emotional wellbeing component.

Professional recommendations often carry significant weight in SEND decisions. IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) notes that refusal to assess appeals are among the most common appeals made to the SEND Tribunal and have a high success rate in favour of parents, particularly where professional evidence supports the need.

3. Parent Observations

Parents know their child better than anyone else. Your observations are legitimate evidence and should be written down formally rather than simply raised verbally in meetings.

A written parent observation might describe how learning difficulties present at home, the impact of homework challenges on the child's confidence or wellbeing, emotional or sensory difficulties that affect daily life, sleep or fatigue issues that affect concentration and engagement at school, or the gap between what the child can do independently and what is expected of them at their age. Written observations help professionals understand the daily reality of the difficulty, including aspects that school staff may not see. They also demonstrate that the concern is sustained and serious rather than a passing worry.

4. Work Samples

Examples of actual schoolwork can illustrate learning difficulties more clearly than any written description. A writing sample showing persistent letter reversal or significant spelling difficulty, a reading record showing slow or inconsistent progress, or maths work demonstrating a recurring misunderstanding of concepts all show the need directly rather than describing it.

Where possible, include dated examples from different points in the school year to show whether the difficulty is consistent or whether it is worsening over time. Progress, or lack of it, is a central consideration in SEND decisions.

5. Communication Records

A record of communication between you and the school shows the history of concerns raised and how the school has responded. This documentation becomes particularly important if the school has been slow to act or has told you the child is making expected progress despite evidence to the contrary.

Useful communication records include emails to class teachers or the SENCO, notes from meetings, SEN review summaries, and any written responses from the school about support discussed or provided. If a concern was raised verbally, follow it up in writing afterwards so there is a record. A short email confirming what was discussed in a meeting is sufficient.

Decision Tree: What Evidence Should You Gather First?

Use this structure to identify where to start before you compile your evidence pack.

STEP 1: Does the school already recognise the difficulty?

→  YES — Request school reports, SENCO assessments and any intervention records in writing

→  NO  — Begin documenting examples yourself and request that the teacher puts observations in writing

STEP 2: Has your child been assessed by any external professionals?

→  YES — Collect all existing reports and ensure they are included in any submission to the school or council

→  NO  — Speak to your GP or the school SENCO about whether a referral to a specialist is appropriate

STEP 3: Can you show how the difficulty affects daily learning and life at home?

→  YES — Write this up as a formal parent observation and attach dated work samples

→  NO  — Start keeping a diary of specific incidents, difficulties and impacts over the coming weeks

STEP 4: Do you have a record of what you have already raised with the school and how they responded?

→  YES — Include this communication record in your evidence pack

→  NO  — Follow up previous verbal conversations by email so there is a written record going forward

This structure prevents the most common problem: approaching the school or local authority with concerns that are real but not yet evidenced in a way that can be acted on.

Why Evidence Matters Before Requesting an EHC Needs Assessment

Many parents assume an Education, Health and Care Plan is the obvious next step when school support is not working. However, the SEND Code of Practice expects schools to provide SEN Support through a graduated approach before an EHC needs assessment is considered. That graduated approach involves a cycle of assessing the child’s needs, planning support, delivering it and reviewing the outcome. Evidence of this cycle having been completed without sufficient progress is often what local authorities need to agree to carry out an assessment.

Under Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014, the legal threshold for agreeing to carry out an EHC needs assessment is relatively low. The authority must assess if it is of the opinion that the child may have SEN and it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made via an EHC plan. It does not need to be certain. Evidence does not need to be definitive. But it does need to be clear, organised and sufficient to form that opinion. A parent’s own documented evidence, when well presented, can and does meet this threshold.

Worked Example: Organising Evidence for an SEN Support Request

A parent is concerned that their child is struggling significantly with reading and writing in Year 3. They raise the concern verbally with the class teacher, who says the child is making expected progress. The parent is not satisfied with this and decides to gather clearer evidence before approaching the school again.

Over the following four weeks they compile two recent school reports that both mention literacy difficulty in passing, a set of written work samples showing persistent spelling errors and short, unstructured sentences compared with peers, a short parent observation note describing how homework takes three times as long as it should and often ends in tears, and reading records showing the child is reading two book bands below the expected level for their age.

They send a short, structured email to the SENCO attaching all four items and asking for a review meeting to discuss whether additional SEN support should be put in place. This approach is far more likely to produce a substantive response than a second verbal conversation. If you want to see how families typically structure these kinds of requests and correspondence, the LetterLab's areas we help with page covers a wide range of school and council disputes.

What Happens If the School Still Does Not Act?

If the school continues to say no additional support is needed despite clear evidence, you have several options. You can request that the school provide a written explanation of its reasoning, which creates a record. You can ask for a meeting with the SENCO and headteacher together, again following up with a written summary. You can contact IPSEA or your local SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service) for free, impartial advice on your child’s rights.

You can also make a direct request for an EHC needs assessment to the local authority yourself, without going through the school. Parents have the right to do this under Section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014. The local authority must consider the request and respond within six weeks. If they refuse, you have the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

From experience: a first refusal is not always final. Local authorities and schools sometimes say no to SEN support requests at the first stage, particularly where the evidence is not yet well organised or the request has not been framed in terms of the legal threshold. In a number of cases where families have pushed back with additional evidence, a written request to the local authority or a direct EHC needs assessment request, the outcome has changed. If you believe the need is real and the evidence supports it, do not accept the first no without examining the reason given and considering whether there is more you can add.

Decision-Maker Perspective: How Schools Assess Support Requests

When schools and local authorities review requests for SEN support, they consider a specific set of factors. Understanding these helps you make sure your evidence addresses each one directly.

They will look for evidence of a learning difficulty or developmental difference that is persistent rather than temporary. They will compare the child's progress against expected levels for their age. They will consider whether interventions have already been tried and what the outcome was. They will weigh any professional recommendations. And they will assess the impact of the difficulty on classroom learning and wider participation.

Clear, organised evidence that addresses each of these factors is easier to act on than a general expression of concern. If your submission is unfocused, the school or council must decide what to prioritise and what to request further information about, which adds delay.

The opening of your letter or email request sets the tone for how seriously the submission is treated. If you want to ensure the opening clearly signals what you are asking for and why, the team at LetterLab can help you get the wording right before you send it.

Self-Check: Do You Have Enough Evidence?

Before submitting a request for SEN support or an EHC needs assessment, work through these six questions.

1. Do school reports mention the difficulty, even briefly?

2. Have teachers or the SENCO documented concerns or provided intervention records?

3. Are there examples of schoolwork that show the difficulty clearly?

4. Have you written up your own observations of how the difficulty affects your child at home and in school?

5. Are any professional reports available, or have you explored whether a referral is appropriate?

6. Is everything organised clearly enough that someone unfamiliar with your child could understand the situation within five minutes of reading it?

If the evidence is scattered or incomplete, the request is harder to assess and easier to delay or decline. Addressing the gaps before submitting is almost always worth the time.

The Key Takeaway: Evidence Makes the Difference

An SEN evidence checklist is not about overwhelming schools with paperwork. It is about helping them understand your child's needs clearly enough to act on them.

Useful evidence includes school records, professional assessments, parent observations, work samples and communication records. When this evidence is organised and presented in a format that decision-makers can work through quickly, the review process is more likely to result in the support your child needs.

If the first response is no, read the reason carefully. In many cases a refusal is not a final decision. It is a signal about what evidence is still needed. Gathering that evidence and resubmitting, or making a direct request to the local authority, often produces a different outcome.