Evidencing Provision Above Ordinary Available Provision for EHCP Applications

When schools, parents and professionals are considering whether a child may need an Education, Health and Care Plan, one of the most important questions is:

Is the child’s need being met through the school’s Ordinary Available Provision, or are they requiring provision that is additional to and different from what is normally available?

This distinction matters because many children with SEND can and should have their needs met through high-quality inclusive teaching, reasonable adjustments and the school’s graduated approach. However, some children need support that goes beyond this. When this happens, it is important that the evidence clearly shows what has already been provided, what impact it has had, and why further statutory assessment may now be necessary.

What is Ordinary Available Provision?

Ordinary Available Provision, often called OAP, is the support that should be routinely available in a mainstream school for all children, including those with SEND. It is not “extra” or “specialist” provision. It is part of everyday inclusive practice.

This may include:

• high-quality teaching

• adaptive teaching and reasonable adjustments

• visual supports and clear routines

• chunked instructions

• flexible grouping

• access to practical resources

• scaffolded learning

• behaviour for learning strategies

• pastoral support

• school-based interventions that are routinely available

• regular communication with parents

• use of the assess, plan, do, review cycle

For many pupils, this level of support will be enough. However, for some children, despite strong OAP being in place, they continue to experience significant barriers to learning, communication, regulation, independence, attendance, social interaction or emotional wellbeing.

This is where schools need to evidence provision that is above OAP.

What does “above OAP” mean?

Provision above OAP is support that is additional, targeted, personalised or specialist. It is not simply “good teaching”. It is provision that goes beyond what the school would ordinarily make available to all children.

This might include:

• frequent 1:1 adult support

• a highly personalised timetable

• specialist teaching approaches

• individualised intervention programmes

• regular support from external professionals

• specialist equipment or resources

• individual risk assessments

• personalised sensory regulation plans

• intensive emotional regulation support

• alternative curriculum access

• a high level of adult mediation for communication, safety or learning

• support that requires significant staffing, funding or specialist expertise

The key issue is not just whether the child receives support. It is whether the support is additional to or different from what is normally available and whether the child continues to need this level of provision in order to access education.

Why evidence matters in EHCP applications

When requesting an EHC needs assessment, evidence needs to show more than a diagnosis or a description of need. A diagnosis can help explain a child’s presentation, but the application must clearly demonstrate the educational impact and the provision required.

Strong evidence should answer four key questions:

1. What are the child’s needs?

   
   

   For example: cognition and learning, communication and interaction, social, emotional and mental health, sensory and physical needs.

2. What has already been put in place through OAP and SEN Support?

   
   

   This should include classroom strategies, interventions, reasonable adjustments and pastoral support.

3. What impact has this had?

   
   

   Evidence should show whether the child has made progress, remained stuck, regressed, become more dysregulated, avoided school, required increased adult support, or continued to struggle despite intervention.

4. Why may an EHCP now be necessary?

   
   

   This is where schools need to show that the child’s needs may require provision that cannot reasonably be secured through the school’s normally available resources alone.

What evidence should schools gather?

The strongest EHCP applications are not based on opinion alone. They are built from a clear pattern of evidence over time.

Useful evidence may include:

1. Assess, Plan, Do, Review records

These should show what was identified, what was planned, what was delivered, and what happened as a result.

A strong review does not simply say “intervention completed”. It should say:

• what the child could do before the support

• what support was provided

• how often it happened

• who delivered it

• what progress was made

• what barriers remained

• what needs to happen next

For example:

“Despite 12 weeks of small group phonics intervention delivered four times weekly, X continues to retain fewer than 10 taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences and requires daily overlearning and 1:1 adult support to access reading activities.”

This is stronger than:

“X has had phonics intervention but is still behind.”

2. Provision maps

A provision map can be powerful if it clearly separates ordinary provision from additional provision.

It should show:

• the intervention or support

• frequency

• duration

• staffing level

• cost or resource implication if relevant

• intended outcome

• review date

• impact

For EHCP evidence, it is helpful to highlight which provision is above OAP. For example, if a child needs daily 1:1 adult support to transition safely into school, this should be recorded clearly rather than absorbed into general classroom support.

3. Pupil progress data

Progress data should be used carefully. A child may be making some progress, but still require provision above OAP. The question is not only “has the child made progress?” but also “what level of support is required for that progress to happen?”

Useful evidence may include:

• attainment compared with age-related expectations

• standardised scores

• reading, writing or maths assessments

• Boxall Profile

• sensory profiles

• language assessments

• attendance data

• behaviour logs

• exclusion or suspension data

• emotional regulation records

• progress towards SEN Support Plan outcomes

It is particularly helpful to show whether progress is only being made because of intensive adult support or specialist intervention.

4. Observation evidence

Observations should describe what the child needs in real situations across the school day.

For example:

• Does the child understand whole-class instructions?

• Can they begin tasks independently?

• Do they need adult support to remain regulated?

• Can they manage transitions?

• Do they interact safely with peers?

• Can they access unstructured times?

• Are they masking in class but dysregulating later?

• Do they require repeated reassurance?

• Are sensory needs affecting access to learning?

Observation evidence should avoid vague phrases such as “struggles with attention”. Instead, describe what this looks like and what support is needed.

For example:

“During a 20-minute carpet input, X required nine adult prompts to remain seated, two sensory breaks and repeated individual explanation. Without adult support, X left the carpet area and was unable to follow the learning sequence.”

This gives a much clearer picture of need.

5. Parent and child voice

Parents often hold essential evidence about the impact of school demands at home. A child may appear to manage in school but experience distress, exhaustion, shutdowns, meltdowns, sleep difficulties or school avoidance outside the classroom.

Parent evidence may include:

• anxiety before school

• emotional distress after school

• refusal or avoidance

• masking

• toileting issues

• sleep difficulties

• sensory distress

• difficulty with homework

• social isolation

• impact on family life

Child voice is also important. This might include drawings, simple scaling activities, wishes and feelings, or supported conversations.

Questions might include:

• What helps you in school?

• What feels difficult?

• When do you feel safe?

• What do adults do that helps?

• What would make school better?

6. External professional advice

Advice from professionals can strengthen an application, especially where it identifies specialist provision or confirms that needs are significant and ongoing.

This may include reports or advice from:

• educational psychologists

• speech and language therapists

• occupational therapists

• physiotherapists

• paediatricians

• CAMHS

• specialist teachers

• autism or sensory teams

• behaviour support teams

• early years or inclusion services

Where possible, professional advice should be specific. For example, “access to support” is less useful than “daily adult-supported sensory regulation programme, reviewed every six weeks by a trained member of staff.”