Progress with SEN and SEMH young people rarely looks like a steady upward line. It tends to come in jumps, with plateaux and occasional reversals. The way we measure and report needs to show what is actually happening — not impose an idealised curve onto a real young person.
What we measure
For most placements we track three things in parallel.
Academic progress. What the young person has worked on, how they have responded, and where they are against curriculum or EHCP-specified outcomes. Where IXL is being used, the underlying data gives us topic-level evidence of engagement and progression.
Engagement. Attendance, length of session tolerated, willingness to attempt new material, and the quality of the working relationship. For many young people this is the leading indicator — academic progress follows engagement, not the other way round.
SEMH and self-perception. Confidence, willingness to make mistakes, tolerance for difficulty, and how the young person talks about themselves as a learner. These are harder to put numbers on but visible across sessions and worth recording.
How we report
Written reports are structured around the audience.
Families get plain-English updates focused on what is happening in sessions, what is working, and what to expect next. Tone is informal where helpful, jargon-light, and honest about both progress and difficulty.
Schools and SENCOs get reports formatted for pupil progress meetings — clear baseline, period covered, work delivered, observable progress, and recommendations. Suitable for inclusion in SEN Support reviews and pastoral records.
Local authorities get structured commissioning reports — outcomes against agreed specification, attendance and engagement data, EHCP target alignment where applicable, and any escalation considerations. Designed to fit commissioning records and annual review evidence.
EHCP-aligned reporting
For every placement where an EHCP is in place, we provide structured reports aligned to the child's specific outcomes and targets. The format is designed to be used directly as annual review evidence — section-by-section commentary against EHCP outcomes, with supporting evidence drawn from session work.
Where the EHCP is being reviewed or updated, we can attend the annual review meeting on request, or provide additional written evidence to inform the review process.
The role of IXL data
Many of our placements use IXL to support structured learning and generate measurable evidence. IXL gives us session-by-session data on topics worked, accuracy, time on task and progression — useful for evidencing pupil premium impact, EHCP outcomes, and the kind of granular progress data commissioners often ask for. The narrative report sits alongside the data rather than replacing it.
What good progress actually looks like
For an academically-able child who is just out of school, good progress in the first half-term might be attending five sessions in a row without distress. Grades come later. For a child two years behind in maths, good progress might be re-engaging with the subject after a year of refusal. For an EHCP-listed outcome around emotional regulation, good progress might be naming a feeling for the first time.
We are explicit about what we are measuring and why. Where progress looks slow in one dimension but is real in another, we say so. Where genuine progress is not happening, we say so too — and we discuss what should change.
Frequency
Reporting frequency varies by placement context. Most school and LA-commissioned placements report half-termly, with shorter interim updates available where useful. Direct family placements typically report monthly or at agreed milestones. Where a placement is short-term or in transition, more frequent updates are arranged.