The sense from schools as we await the SEND White Paper is a familiar one: need is outpacing capacity within existing systems. Demand for EHCPs is escalating and it’s a widely held assumption that almost one in five pupils now have an identified SEND. The majority of the children we see in our classrooms are presenting with unmet or unidentified needs. Diagnostic waits are long, external services are overstretched, and schools are, in many cases, absorbing levels of complexity well beyond the scope and resource models for which they were originally designed.

The outcomes for pupils are playing out in front of our eyes. Greater anxiety, emotionally based school avoidance, distressed behaviour and, for some pupils, complete disengagement from the education process. These are not the consequences of schools failing to act, but of a national infrastructure which has been under increasing pressure for some time. I see the evidence of this on a daily basis in my role as Clinical Director at Momenta Connect. Pupils on waiting lists for years, families stuck in a sea of uncertainty, school and college staff doing everything they can to support in the here and now while systems play catch up.

Yet despite significant system-wide constraints, schools and colleges are innovating and finding ways to act with both creativity and rigour. The approaches below are a reflection of what we’re seeing in practice across the country. Schools building capacity to support stabilisation and reduction of escalation in order to create space for learning to re-emerge.

1. Embed trauma-informed, relationship-centred culture

A significant number of pupils with unmet needs will present with chronic stress responses. Trauma-informed approaches and the ‘shared clinical lens’ they provide can help school staff interpret dysregulation more accurately and to de-escalate more effectively. Predictable routines, sensory regulation ‘stations’ (maps), consistent language, low stimuli sensory check-in spaces and similar, have been shown to make a huge difference to the frequency of crisis moments and the baseline readiness to learn in many schools.

2. Use the right-to-choose pathway to accelerate assessment

Schools are supporting families to navigate right-to-choose routes more often, which can provide access to accredited diagnostic and therapeutic services with shorter wait times. Schools who continue to provide proactive support during this period tend to view diagnoses as refinement tools, not starting points. 

3. Prioritise formulation over ‘label-first’ thinking

SEN teams can act without waiting for long assessments by taking a formulation-led approach. Mapping developmental, sensory, environmental and emotional factors allow staff to design interventions that are led by the needs, not the diagnosis. This is something many SENCOs do intuitively already, but a formulation process formalises and makes explicit this understanding for the wider school and for multi-agency partners.

4. Build integrated partnership models

Therapeutic and attendance interventions take time. When the wait for these is prolonged or unhelpfully complex, integrated external support from clinical, educational and pastoral specialists can help reduce school staff workload and multi-agency tensions. Joined up pathways for EBSA, behaviour, attendance and transition support ensure that schools are not holding risk by themselves and create more sustainable routes for pupils on the cusp of disengagement.

5. Practical actions that strengthen school capacity

• Provide transparent assessment timelines and waiting lists
• Create a rapid-response support menu for pupils awaiting diagnosis
• Hold monthly multidisciplinary triage discussions
• Train staff in co-regulation, and trauma-informed responses
• Offer reflective supervision for teams supporting high-need cohorts
• Support families to explore right-to-choose pathways
• Track engagement and attendance to evidence impact

Waiting times for assessments are not going to resolve quickly but schools can do much to protect staff capacity and support pupils with needs they cannot afford to wait for. With a trauma-informed culture, alternative assessment routes, formulation-led planning and integrated clinical partnerships, schools can improve escalation and support pupils to stabilise and engage.