Setting Up Internal Alternative Provision
More and more schools are setting up their own internal alternative provision, keeping vulnerable pupils on site rather than sending them away.…
ExploreSEND & Alternative Provision
The children who most need a strong education are too often the ones the system serves least well. Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and those whose needs are met through alternative provision (AP), deserve curriculum, teaching, and support of the same ambition and quality as every other learner. Independent expert input helps you to test, sharpen, and improve that provision so every child genuinely gets what they need.
Our SEND and AP work supports schools, academies, trusts, and providers to meet their duties under the SEND Code of Practice and the renewed 2026 Ofsted framework.
What Is Independent SEND and Alternative Provision Support?
Our SEND and AP support brings an experienced specialist into your setting to review provision, audit systems, evaluate quality, and challenge practice. We benchmark your work against the SEND Code of Practice 0–25, statutory guidance for AP, and the renewed 2026 Ofsted framework, and we identify exactly where the offer is strong and where it must improve.
We cover whole-school SEND reviews, EHCP quality assurance, SENDCo and SEND team support, AP commissioning and quality assurance, and improvement work in registered and unregistered alternative provisions.
Who Is This Service For?
It is designed for mainstream maintained schools, academies, multi-academy trusts, special schools, SEND units and hubs, and alternative provisions — registered and unregistered. SENDCos, headteachers, AP leaders, commissioners, governors, and trustees use our work to be confident that SEND and AP provision is ambitious, compliant, and genuinely effective.
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What Does Our SEND and AP Service Cover?
We offer a full range of work, including:
- Whole-school SEND reviews aligned to the Code of Practice
- EHCP quality assurance and annual review process audits
- SENDCo coaching, mentoring and professional support
- Adaptive teaching reviews, including in-class scaffolding and the PETAL framework in action
- Provision mapping and impact evaluation
- Alternative provision reviews, including unregistered settings
- Quality assurance of commissioned AP placements
- Support for schools opening or registering new SEND or AP provision
- Governance support for the SEND and AP responsibilities of governors and trustees
- Training for SENDCos, AP leaders, teaching assistants and wider staff
How Does Our SEND and AP Support Help Your School, Trust or Provision?
1
Improve outcomes for children with SEND
When SEND provision is well-led, well-taught, and well-evidenced, children make stronger progress, behaviour improves, and exclusions fall. Our work focuses relentlessly on that impact.
2
Meet your statutory duties under the Code of Practice
The Code is detailed and demanding. We audit your work against every relevant duty, including EHCPs, annual reviews, the local offer, and the graduated approach.
3
Strengthen the quality of EHCPs and annual reviews
Weak EHCPs lead to weak provision. We review the quality of plans, outcomes, and reviews, and help your team raise the bar across the cycle.
4
Sharpen adaptive teaching in every classroom
Adaptive teaching is now central to inspection and to children’s experience. We review how it works in practice and help leaders coach teachers towards genuine impact.
5
Get assurance on alternative provision
Commissioning AP carries serious risk. We quality assure placements, check registration and safeguarding, and ensure every placement is safe, suitable, and effective.
6
Support your SENDCo
The SENDCo role is demanding and often isolating. We provide professional coaching, supervision, and practical support that strengthens performance and protects wellbeing.
7
Give governors and trustees evidence-based assurance
Governance of SEND and AP carries statutory weight. Our reports give boards the clear, independent information they need to fulfil that responsibility.
Book a quick, friendly callTwenty minutes with Shaun, our Founder and CEO, to explore how we can help you.
How Our SEND and AP Work Works
- 1We agree the focus, whether whole-school review, EHCP audit, AP quality assurance, or targeted support.
- 2We review key documentation including EHCPs, provision maps, SEND information reports, and AP records.
- 3We visit the setting, observe practice, and speak with leaders, staff, pupils and parents as appropriate.
- 4We triangulate evidence to test whether intent, implementation, and impact match.
- 5We produce a clear written report with findings and prioritised actions.
- 6We support implementation and remain available for ongoing professional advice.
What You Get at the End
After the work, you receive:
- A clear written report against the Code of Practice and inspection expectations
- Honest evaluation of strengths and areas for improvement
- Prioritised, practical recommendations with timescales
- Evidence and assurance for inspectors, governors, trustees and commissioners
- Strengthened systems for EHCPs, annual reviews, and provision mapping
- A SEND and AP offer your community can be proud of
Arrange a chatTell us your timescale and we'll tell you honestly whether we can meet it.
Key Features of Our Service
Anchored in the Code and the framework
— Every review is benchmarked against current statutory guidance and inspection expectations.
Specialist, experienced advisors
— Our team includes former SENDCos, AP leaders, special school heads and inspectors.
Child-centred, impact-focused
— We measure success by what changes for children, not just what is written in policy.
Why Choose Jarvis Education?
SEND and AP demand specialist expertise. Our advisors have led inclusive schools, run alternative provisions, and inspected provision across every phase. We bring deep technical knowledge, real classroom credibility, and unwavering belief in the right of every child to a strong education.
Next Steps & How to Get Started
- Speak to one of our experts. We will listen to your priorities, explain how our SEND and AP work could support you, and match you with the right specialist.
- Once we agree the scope, we confirm everything in writing and plan the work around the needs of your setting.
- Contact us today to discuss how we can strengthen SEND and Alternative Provision in your school, academy, trust, or provider.
- We are ready to help every child get what they need.
Who We Work With
We support settings of every type across England and internationally.
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