Introduction
This guide provides practical tools and templates to support the Assess, Plan, Do, Review (APDR) cycle within the Somerset Graduated Response Framework.
These tools help practitioners to:
- Structure assessment and planning
- Implement and monitor support
- Review impact over time
- Maintain a clear focus on outcomes and inclusion
Key principle
Templates support professional thinking and decision-making. They do not replace professional judgement.
Using the tools
Use the tools flexibly and adapt them to suit your setting and phase. If you have other templates which support the same professional thinking, you may use them.
They can support:
- Early Years settings, where assessment is often play-based and observational
- school-age learners, where support links to the curriculum and participation
- post-16 learners, where the focus includes independence and preparation for adulthood
Ensure that you:
- Include the child or young person’s views, wishes and experiences
- Capture the views of parents and carers
- Agree clear, meaningful and measurable outcomes
- Focus on strengths as well as needs
- Review progress regularly through the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle
- Use assessment evidence to inform decisions about support
Assess, Plan, Do planning template
Purpose: To support planning, implementation and review following assessment within the graduated response.
Child or young person details
- Child or young person:
- Date:
- Review date:
- Key adult(s):
Assess: what do we know?
Assessment activities and tools are described in the Identification and assessment tools guide.
The assess stage of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review (APDR) cycle brings together information from these sources, along with the child or young person’s views, family views and professional judgement.
Use this information to develop a shared understanding of strengths, needs and barriers to learning, participation and inclusion.
Record:
- Strengths and interests
- Needs and barriers
- Patterns or concerns identified through observation and monitoring using the Quick Checkers
- Assessment information from the Identification and assessment tools guide
- The child or young person’s views
- Parent and carer views
- Attendance, participation and engagement information
- What is already working well
Plan: what are we aiming for?
Record:
- Outcomes (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound where appropriate)
- Which Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice approaches will be strengthened
- Which targeted approaches will be introduced
- Whether targeted plus support is required
- Strategies and provision to be implemented – see the Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice Strategy Banks
- Who will deliver each action and when
- How success will be measured
Do: what will happen?
Record:
- How support will be delivered
- When support will take place and how often
- Any adaptations or reasonable adjustments
- How staff will monitor consistent implementation
- How the child or young person and their family will remain involved
Review: what difference has support made?
Record:
- Progress towards outcomes
- Evidence of progress and impact
- What has worked well
- Which approaches have had the greatest impact
- Any changes needed to provision or strategies
- The child or young person’s views
- Parent and carer views
- Any improvements in attendance, participation, engagement or independence
- Next steps
Preparing for adulthood outcomes
For older learners, consider outcomes linked to:
- Independence
- Self-advocacy
- Community participation
- Employment, training or meaningful activity
- Preparation for adulthood
Key principle
Use the template to guide professional thinking and decision-making. Adapt it to meet the needs of your setting, the child or young person, and the stage of the graduated response. Focus on strengths, outcomes, inclusion and participation throughout the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle.
Review template
Purpose – To evaluate the impact of support and inform next steps within the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle.
Child or young person details
- Child or young person:
- Date of review:
- Participants (staff, family, child or young person):
Review of outcomes
For each agreed outcome, record the progress made and the evidence available.
- Outcome 1: Progress:
- Outcome 2: Progress:
- Additional outcomes: progress:
Impact of provision
Review the effectiveness of the support provided.
- Which strategies were most effective?
- Which barriers remain?
- What should continue?
- What should stop?
- What should change?
Child or young person voice
Record the child or young person’s views.
- What is working well?
- What would they like to change?
- Do they feel more confident, included or independent?
Parent and carer views
Record the views of parents and carers.
- What progress have they noticed?
- What concerns remain?
- What changes would they like to see?
Attendance, participation and engagement
Consider whether there have been improvements in:
- Attendance
- Participation in learning
- Engagement in activities
- Independence
- Relationships and wellbeing
Next steps
Based on the review, decide whether to:
- Continue current support
- Adapt support
- Reduce support
- Increase support
Consider the most appropriate level of provision:
- Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice
- Targeted support
- Targeted Plus support
- Specialist involvement
Key questions
- Have the agreed outcomes been achieved?
- What evidence supports this judgement?
- What has had the greatest impact?
- What needs to happen next?
- Are the views of the child or young person and their family reflected in the decision-making process?
Provision map template
Purpose: To identify, plan and review provision at individual, group or whole-setting level.
Record:
- Area of need
- Learner(s) or group
- Level of provision:
- Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice
- Targeted
- Targeted Plus
- Specialist
- Frequency and duration
- Lead staff member
- Intended outcomes
- Review date
How to use the provision map
Use the provision map to:
- Identify the support in place across your setting.
- Check that provision matches identified needs
- Plan support at individual, group and whole-setting level
- Monitor delivery and review impact
- Support decision-making through the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle
Key principles
Include both:
- Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision strategies available to all learners
- Targeted, Targeted Plus and Specialist provision where required
Focus on:
- Outcomes rather than activities
- Evidence of impact rather than completion of tasks
- Participation, inclusion and independence
- Strengths as well as needs
Review questions
When reviewing provision, consider:
- Is the support helping the learner achieve the intended outcomes?
- What evidence shows impact?
- Are learners participating more fully in learning and setting life?
- Does provision remain appropriate to current needs?
- Should support continue, be adapted, be reduced or be increased?
Key principle
A provision map should show not only what support is provided, but also the difference that support makes.
Learner profile
Purpose: To provide a clear and accessible summary of a child or young person’s strengths, needs and support strategies.
A learner profile helps staff understand what is important to the child or young person and how best to support their participation, learning and wellbeing.
Child or young person details
- Name:
- Key information:
Strengths and interests
- What helps me learn and participate?
- What I find difficult (barriers)?
Support strategies
- Communication preferences:
- Sensory and environmental needs:
My voice
- What is important to me?
- What helps me feel safe, included and successful?
- What would I like others to know about me?
Family views
- What the family feels is working well:
- Any concerns or priorities:
- Important information about support at home:
- Aspirations for the future:
Preparation for adulthood (where appropriate)
- Independence skills
- Self-advocacy
- Community participation
- Aspirations and future goals
- Employment, training or further education
- Next steps
Key principle: Keep the learner profile concise, strengths-based and up to date. Use it to promote consistency, inclusion and a shared understanding across everyone who supports the child or young person.
Quick planning tool
Purpose – To support quick, responsive planning as part of everyday practice.
Use this record to identify a concern, try a strategy and review its impact. It can support the early stages of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review (APDR) cycle.
Record:
- What are we noticing? Use information from the Quick Checkers
- What might be the barrier? See the Identification and assessment tools
- What will we try? Select an appropriate strategy from Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice Strategy Banks
- What difference do we expect?
- When will we review?
When to use this tool
This tool is particularly useful for:
- Early Years settings
- Busy classroom practice
- Early Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycles
- Testing and reviewing small adjustments before introducing more targeted support
Adapting tools and templates for different phases
Early Years
Use:
- Observational notes
- Play-based assessment
Focus on:
- Interaction and relationships
- Communication and language development
- Participation in play and learning
- Responses to routines and transitions
Keep plans simple, practical and flexible. Review them regularly and adapt them as the child develops.
School-age
Link plans to:
- Access to curriculum
- Progress in learning
- Participation in school life
- Attendance and engagement
Use the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle consistently. Include the child or young person’s views where appropriate and use outcomes to guide planning and review.
Post-16
Focus on:
- Independence
- Employability
- Participation in education, training and community life
- Preparation for adulthood
Ensure:
- The young person’s voice is central to planning and decision-making
- Outcomes reflect real-life goals and aspirations
- Planning supports increased independence and self-advocacy
- Support prepares the young person for adult life, employment and wider participation in society
Key principle: Adapt tools and templates to suit the age, stage and needs of the child or young person. Focus on meaningful outcomes, participation and inclusion at every stage.
Ongoing review and improvement
The Assess, Plan, Do, Review (APDR) cycle is ongoing and responsive. It helps practitioners understand needs, deliver support and review impact over time.
Plans should be:
- Clear
- Focused
- Reviewed regularly
- Based on current evidence and outcomes
Outcomes should focus on:
- Participation
- Inclusion
- Attendance and engagement
- Independence
- Preparation for adulthood
Templates should support
- Consistency across the setting
- Clarity of planning and decision-making
- Collaboration between staff, families and professionals
Assessment, planning, implementation and review are shared responsibilities. Children and young people, families and professionals should work together throughout the process.
Use information from reviews to adapt support, refine outcomes and inform the next cycle of assessment, planning and provision.
Key principle: The purpose of the ADPR cycle is not to complete paperwork. It is to improve outcomes, remove barriers and support meaningful participation, inclusion and achievement for every child and young person.
How this fits together
The guidance documents work together as part of the graduated response process. They help you identify needs, understand strengths and barriers, select appropriate strategies, and plan, deliver and review support.
Use the guidance resources alongside this page on How do you plan, do and review it?, to support each stage of the process.
- Quick Checkers – What are you noticing?
- Identification and assessment Tools – How do you understand it?
- Strategies – What do you do?
Together, these resources support a consistent and evidence-based approach to assessment, planning, implementation and review within the graduated response. They promote inclusion, participation and improved outcomes for children and young people.