Questions to Ask at a UK School Review

The most useful review questions are plain, specific and grouped. Ask about progress first: what has moved, and what evidence shows it. Then about provision: what support is actually happening now, how often, and delivered by whom. Then about changes: what is coming this year, including staff, classes or phases, and what needs adjusting in the plan. Finish with actions: who will do what, by when, and how everyone will know it happened. Written down beforehand and taken into the room, these questions turn a general conversation into a clear record, whether the review is a termly look at SEN support or the annual review of an EHC plan. This list is general preparation help, not advice about any individual case.

Progress questions anchor the meeting in evidence rather than impressions. Useful forms include: which outcomes or targets has my child made progress on this year, and which have stayed still? What examples of work or observation show that? How does my child present across the day, in lessons, at lunch, in transitions, and does that picture match what we see at home? Where school and home pictures differ, that difference itself is worth a question, because it often points to the times of day or settings where support matters most. Note the answers beside each question; vague answers can be gently pressed once with a request for a recent example, and that is usually enough.

Provision questions compare the plan on paper with the week as lived. Ask: what support is in place at the moment, in a normal week? Who delivers each part, and how often does it actually happen when staff are absent or the timetable changes? Which parts seem to help most, and which seem to make little difference? Is anything in the current plan not happening, and if so, why? These questions are not a challenge; schools generally welcome them, because they surface timetable problems the school may not have seen either. They connect directly to how support is planned under the graduated approach, where provision is supposed to be reviewed and adjusted rather than left running.

Reviews are the natural place to look forward. Ask what changes are coming: a new teacher or classroom, a different grouping, examinations or assessments in school, a move between phases. Ask how the plan or support will be adjusted for each change, and when any handover conversation will happen, so knowledge about your child travels with them rather than being relearnt. If a move between schools or areas is likely, ask who coordinates the paperwork, in line with moving schools or councils with an EHCP. And ask the question children care about most: what will be done to help my child understand and prepare for the change, and when will they be told?

Close the meeting by turning discussion into commitments. For each agreed change, ask: who will do this, by when, and how will I hear that it has happened? Ask when the next review or check in falls, and put the date in your calendar before you leave the building. Ask for a copy of the meeting record or report, and when it will be sent. If anything was left undecided, ask what would decide it and whose decision it is, school or local authority, so you know where the question now lives. Back home, add the answers and dates to your timeline, following keeping records through the review year, while the meeting is still fresh.

Use this page as a starter, then replace its wording with your own. The questions that matter are the ones about your child's actual week: the lesson that goes wrong on Fridays, the club they love, the corridor that worries them. A short page of real questions, asked calmly and written down, is the single most useful thing a parent can bring to any review.

A final practical point: take a second copy of your question page for the person chairing the meeting, if you are comfortable sharing it. Chairs often work through a shared page gladly, because it gives the meeting a shape and guarantees your points are covered even if time runs short. Anything not reached can be marked clearly at the end and carried into a follow up email, which is a normal outcome rather than a failure. The page, the answers written beside the questions, and that email together form the record of the review.