Principle 6: Identifying need and monitoring impact

A person holding a smartphone with 5 icons of faces ranging from very unhappy with 5 stars underneath to very unhappy with 1 star underneath.

Principle 6: Identifying need and monitoring impact

How to identify needs early and assess the impact of support and interventions.

Relationships play a key role in learning. Relational approaches help children and young people learn by helping them feel safe, valued and connected (see: Relational Approaches).

Many schools now support more pupils with mental health difficulties. Emotional Based School Avoidance (EBSA) behaviours continue to increase (DfE, 2022/2023). Schools need to look beyond the child or young person and consider the systems around them. Schools also need to identify changes they can make within those systems to improve outcomes (see Can't, not won't: Rethinking school avoidance | BPS).

Bronfenbrenner's ecosystemic model helps schools understand how different parts of a child's life affect their experiences and outcomes. This section explains how to understand need and check whether support makes a difference.

Identifying need

Pupils need different types of support. Before you choose support, you need to understand the pupil's needs.

Dunnett and Jones (2020), in Devon's relational policy guidance, highlight the importance of identifying pupils who may face a higher risk of exclusion. They refer to research (see Timpson Review of School Exclusion) that identifies groups who experience higher rates of exclusion or who face challenges that increase their risk of exclusion.

These groups include pupils who:

  • have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
  • come from some ethnic groups
  • are in local authority care (children we care for)
  • receive free school meals
  • are male
  • have language or literacy needs
  • have experienced trauma or adverse childhood experiences

Choosing support

After you identify a pupil's needs, you can put the right support in place.

Use the tools below to:

  • establish a starting point
  • track progress over time
  • measure the impact of changes or support
  • assess whether an approach works

Tools to identify need and monitor impact

Whole school

These tools can help you:

  • assess whole-school practice
  • identify vulnerable groups
  • review attendance and engagement
  • identify emotional distress and risk of Emotional Based School Avoidance (EBSA)
  • prepare for key transition points
  • consider whether pupils, including neurodivergent pupils, need different approaches

Whole school resources

The West Sussex relational approaches to inclusion audit and planning tool helps schools review practice against the 8 principles of the whole-school approach and includes a planning tool.

View our relational audit and planning tool

The Herefordshire audit tool. helps schools consider what relational practice looks like at different levels of the organisation, from whole-school systems to individual interactions.

Herefordshire relational practice information (external link)

The Bristol City Council audit tool (page 12) helps schools consider wider factors, including attachment and trauma awareness. Relationship and Belonging Approach found in Bristol Local Offer.

Bristol's relationship and belonging approach (external link)

East Midlands Education Support Service audit tool (pages 31 to 35) focuses on learning standards and maintaining high expectations for all pupils, including those with SEND.

East Midlands' understanding behaviour in schools toolkit (external link)

Most relational guidance does not include separate advice on adapting policies for neurodivergent pupils. Use resources such as Neurodiversity in Education to inform audits and any changes you make afterwards.

[Needs the correct link to Neurodiversity in Education resource]

Boing Boing school audit on wellbeing and resilience gives surveys and guidance to conduct pupil focus groups.

Boing Boing whole school audit (external link)

Group or class

Few tools focus on identifying needs or monitoring relational approaches at small-group level. Schools may need to develop their own whole-class observation schedules.

When observing a class, review:

Individual

This section focuses on tools that help schools assess and monitor relational approaches for individual pupils.

Assessment is only one part of the process. Schools should also use a graduated approach. Find more information on our assess, plan, do, review cycle pages.

Some children need support that matches their individual needs.

Use these resources from the Child Outcomes Research Consortium to decide what to measure:

You can use the following assessment tools with individual pupils:

Other reading and resources

Helpful LA polices to refer to

The following policies may help:

Relate to Educate: Relational Guidance
Guidance for Developing Relational Practice and Policy - Support for Schools and Settings
Developing an Attachment Aware Behaviour Regulation Policy
Relationship and Belonging Approach guidance in Guide to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Support for Education Settings
Understanding Behaviour in Schools | The East Midlands Education Support Service

Support for parents

The following resources may help you connect with parents and carers:

The National Children's Bureau published a literature review on school belonging.

The review explores:

  • how researchers define belonging
  • how schools measure belonging
  • the impact of belonging on pupil outcomes
  • effective approaches for building belonging in schools
  • policy implications and recommendations

You can read the review on the : National Children's Bureau website.