For many schools, the Easter holidays provide a rare and valuable pause in the academic year.

While it’s often seen as a time to rest and reset, it is also one of the most strategic opportunities to reflect on SEND provision, identify gaps, and put the right support in place ahead of the summer term. With increasing demand on schools, rising EHCP numbers, and pressure to evidence impact, taking time now to plan can make a significant difference to both pupil outcomes and staff confidence.

Why Easter is the Ideal Time to Review SEND Provision.

During term time, SEND support is often reactive — responding to immediate needs, staffing pressures, and day-to-day challenges.

The Easter break offers something different:

• Space to reflect on what is and isn’t working
• Time to review pupils who are not making expected progress
• Opportunity to plan interventions more strategically
• Capacity to prepare staff for the summer term

This shift from reactive to proactive planning is where the biggest gains are made.

Key Areas Schools Should Review

1. Pupils Not Making Expected Progress

Identify pupils who:

• Are not progressing in speech, language or communication
• Are struggling with sentence structure or writing
• Require additional support beyond classroom differentiation

Ask:

•  Do we fully understand their needs?
•  Do we have the right level of intervention in place?

2. EHCP Provision and Evidence

With reviews and reporting ongoing, now is the time to ensure:

• Provision is being delivered as specified
• Progress is being clearly evidenced
• Targets are meaningful and measurable

Schools that are proactive here reduce pressure later in the year.

3. Staff Confidence and Consistency

Consider:

• Do staff feel confident supporting speech, language and communication needs?
• Is there consistency across classes and year groups?
• Are interventions being delivered effectively?

Often, the biggest impact comes from upskilling staff, not just increasing direct intervention.

Putting the Right Support in Place for Summer Term

Once gaps are identified, the focus should shift to targeted, practical solutions.

Targeted Assessment

Clear baseline assessments help to:

• Identify starting points
• Inform intervention planning
• Measure progress over time
• Structured Interventions

Interventions should be:

• Consistent
• Evidence-based
• Easy for staff to implement

Approaches such as Colourful Semantics provide a clear structure for developing sentence construction, supporting both spoken and written language.

Whole-Class Strategies

Not all support needs to be individual.

Whole-class approaches can:

• Raise outcomes across entire cohorts
• Support pupils with hidden needs
• Reduce pressure on targeted interventions

Staff Training and CPD

Short, focused training can:

• Increase staff confidence
• Improve consistency across the school
• Ensure interventions are delivered effectively

This is often one of the most cost-effective ways to improve outcomes.

Looking Beyond Individual Schools: A MAT Perspective

For Multi-Academy Trusts, Easter also provides an opportunity to step back and review provision across schools.

Key questions include:

• Is SEND support consistent across the trust?
• Are resources being used effectively?
• Could a more coordinated approach improve outcomes and reduce costs?

A trust-wide approach to speech and language support can bring:

• Greater consistency
• Improved staff confidence
• More efficient use of budgets
• Clearer reporting and accountability

Don’t Forget International and EAL Contexts

With increasing numbers of pupils with English as an additional language, structured language approaches are more important than ever.

Tools like Colourful Semantics can:

• Support understanding of sentence structure
• Improve expressive language
• Benefit both SEND and EAL learners

Small Changes Now, Big Impact Next Term

The summer term is often the most important for:

• Demonstrating progress
• Preparing pupils for transition
• Completing reviews and reports

By using Easter to plan effectively, schools can move into the final term with:

•  Clear priorities
•  Structured support in place
•  Confident staff
•  Improved outcomes for pupils

How We Can Support

At Integrated Treatment Services, we work with schools and Multi-Academy Trusts to provide:

• Speech and language assessments
• Targeted therapy and interventions
• Whole-school training, including Colourful Semantics
• Trust-wide SEND and communication support

If you’re using this time to review your provision, we’re happy to support you in planning the next steps.