The ‘we do’ problem
Most SEFs I read are not short of effort. They are short of evaluation.
Page after page tells the reader what the school does: we have a well-established SEND offer, teachers use a range of adaptive strategies, robust systems are in place. Every sentence is true. However, none of them tells a governor or a trust leader how good any of it is, or what difference it makes to a child.
That is the gap between a descriptive SEF and an evaluative one. Description says what exists. Evaluation says how well it works, how you know, and what has changed for pupils as a result.
Statement, evidence, impact
An evaluative paragraph has a simple spine: a statement of judgement, the evidence behind it, and the impact on pupils. I’d add one more step, the honest limitation. Each step has its own test.
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1. Make a judgement.
Not what exists, but how good it is. Universal provision is the strongest element of our SEND offer. The test: could a reasonable colleague disagree with this sentence? If not, you have stated a fact, not made a judgement. -
2. Say how you know.
This is the step most often lost. Whatever follows "because" must contain a verb of checking (found, showed, revealed, confirmed, sampled), never a verb of teaching (delivered, embedded, implemented, ensures). One source is an anecdote; two that agree is a finding. -
3.Say what is different for pupils.
The paragraph is not finished until a pupil has appeared in it. Is a pupil the subject of the sentence, and is the verb something they know, do or achieve? Words like access, engage with and benefit from sound like impact but still describe provision. -
4. Say what is not secure yet.
A section with no limitation reads as advocacy, and the reader starts hunting for what you left out. Naming your ceiling makes everything above it more credible, and ties the SEF to your improvement plan.
What it looks like on the page
Take adaptive teaching. Here is the kind of paragraph that turns up in a lot of SEFs:
Adaptive teaching is embedded across the school. Teachers use a range of strategies, including scaffolding and questioning, to ensure all pupils, including those with SEND, can access learning. All staff have received high-quality CPD on adaptive teaching.
Here is the same section written evaluatively.
Adaptive teaching is strong in English and maths, but not yet across the curriculum. Teachers know the barriers their pupils face. Every class has a one-page pupil profile, reviewed with the SENCo each term, and in Years 4 and 5 lesson plans name the likely sticking point before the lesson starts. On autumn learning walks, adaptations matched those barriers in 22 of the 30 lessons we saw. One pupil with weak working memory, for example, had the steps of the method on a card rather than a shorter task, so he was still doing the same maths as his class. As a result, pupils with SEND finished the main task on their own in eight books out of ten, up from five last spring. Teachers checked the whole class part-way through and again at the end. In 18 of the 22 lessons, that final check showed the adaptation had worked, and where it hadn’t, the pupil was picked up the next morning. In history and geography, adaptations are more often generic, such as the same worksheet with fewer questions, and are rarely checked at the end. That is the focus of our spring coaching.
Yes, it’s longer, but look at what each part does. It opens with a judgement a colleague could disagree with. The evidence comes from monitoring, such as learning walks and book looks, not from a list of what teachers do. Pupils become
the subject of the sentence when it says what they finished on their own. And it ends by naming where the school isn’t there yet, and what leaders are doing about it.
Two quick checks for your next draft
Watch your conjunctions. Each one makes a promise the next words must keep:
- because → a monitoring activity and what it found
- so / so that → a change in what pupils know, do or achieve
- therefore → a decision or action you have taken
- however, / although → an honest limitation
- which means → a consequence you can evidence, not one you assume
Hunt for red-flag words. Well-established, embedded, robust, a range of, in place, we ensure, high-quality, bespoke, ongoing. If a sentence contains one of these and no figure, it is descriptive.
Where to start
You don’t need to rewrite the whole SEF this week. Pick one section, read each paragraph aloud, and ask four questions: what’s the judgement, how do we know, where are the pupils, and what isn’ secure yet? Gaps in your answers are usually gaps in your monitoring, not just your writing, and that is worth knowing too.
A SEF written this way does more than impress a reader. It shows leaders who know their school, and it tells everyone exactly where the next improvement will come from.
Emma Adcock, VNET Principal Teaching and Learning Consultant.