When should a teacher read a child’s EHCP?

[endoftether89]

I am particularly interested to hear from teachers on this, or other parents of SEN children.

I have a 4 year old with significant SEN who’s started reception at a mainstream school this September. The EHCP was in place from early 2026. The reception class is very small.

When is it realistic to expect the teacher to have read an EHCP?

This is my eldest child, so I have no idea what’s normal for schools. I’m trying to gauge how I feel about my child’s school and the experience we’ve had so far, and it’s tricky without a frame of reference. We are currently on a reduced timetable. There have been two instances where she’s admitted she’s not read the EHCP, the latest one was about four weeks in.

My assumption is that she should ideally have read it before term started - however I am conscious that real life isn’t always ideal. So therefore, I’m curious what other people, especially teachers, would regard as being normal in practice.

thanks in advance! X

As a parent of a child with complex needs and has had an EHCP for about 8 years, I find it fascinating and very disappointing that teachers may not read a child's EHCP. When my child was in mainstream, and to an extent at their special school, I found that there was a "disconnect" between the interventions outside of the classroom (for example sensory circuits or fizzy hands) and what happened in class - where my child's needs were not met. And this contributed, in my opinion, to my child's emotional based school absence and the eventual breakdown of the placement.

You read the echp as soon as you have access to it and accommodate accordingly. From a teacher!

Thanks for all your replies. To answer a few questions, @LottieMary @Seashor and others who’ve suggested about individual learning plans being read instead - so the original conversation actually was that she said she hadn’t read his IEP yet. I had no idea what that was, so just stared at her blankly and then asked whether that was his EHCP and she just sort of said “umm yes yes that’s it”. So I assumed she’d just used a different terminology, I didn’t realise he may have an EHCP AND an IEP. When she said it a second time, she also used “IEP” but I didn’t question it that time. So, perhaps she’d read neither 😅 I imagine she has by now, but I was just wondering how normal it is to expect it to be read by 4 weeks into the term.

@Bloau I don’t know if I’d describe his needs as complex, but I can see why it sounds that way - I’m trying to be vague about him on the off chance someone from his school reads this and recognises it’s my son. (I suppose it may already be fairly obvious, but whatever). I really, really like the school staff as people and so would to cause ill feeling, but it’s just going so much worse than I expected, and there are lots of little things like this EHCP issue that I’m wondering are signs that he’s not at the right place. Whilst I don’t know that he’s complex he is most definitely “hard work”! To answer your question about the TA, he’s out of the classroom most the time with her now but that only started about 3 and a half weeks in when it became clear that he wasn’t coping in the classroom. I can’t help but wonder if everything from the EHCP had been in put place then it might have gone better. So at the time he started, the reception teacher would have been spending all day with him.

I am sure the senco has read it, and every time I speak with her she seems to totally agree with me about what we should do next and she’s very reassuring. But she doesn’t have any contact with my son day to day, and the things she says that are going to be put in place are often not quite happening.

@roaringdragon section F wording is very vague, I did mediation and have a tribunal date but it’s a while away yet. But the school have agreed with me verbally that his EHCP funding covers a 1:1 and that the TA is to be treated as his 1:1. At the start of term I was hearing a few things that made me think the TA was being pulled in different directions, but since he’s been out of the classroom I would say it’s been better. MS was my preference, but now I’m really not so sure.

I would be very concerned if a child's teacher hasn't read their ECHP. How can they support them without knowing the relevant support? Its not like in a class of 30 all kids have an echp it would be just the odd few.

@OhMyGodSusan in our case there’s less than 10 children in the class as well

Then theres no excuse I would be making a meeting with the head and expressing your concerns.

Secondary teacher here. Some EHCPs reach us late from primary so we read them when we can. Many are out -of -date so I tend to focus on the pupil passport summary sheet which is more useful in a secondary setting.

Reception teacher here. The teacher absolutely should have read the EHCP before your child started. Any school I’ve worked in, it would be an expectation, not to mention necessary to support the child.
A child with an EHCP at reception age most likely has significant needs and we would want every piece of information we could get!

@endoftether89
Im a retired secondary sendco. I used to read the Ehcps and summerise and brief staff. I would repeat and reinforce constantly what I thought would help. I didnt forbid teachers from reading them but I also didn't trust them to do it. There is a lot of jargon and some are very badly written so I saw it as my role to translate.
My TAs generally didn't read the Ehcps but to be fair they knew the kids far better than the person who wrote the ehcp. I never had problems with TAs misunderstanding the children's needs. I did have to ask them a few times to promote more independence as they hated to see the kids not finish classwork.
I think both your child's teacher and any TAs in that small group have now spent a massive amount of time with your child. Unless there is something on the ehcp that is for an outside professional like a salt, I doubt the provisions in F would be helpful, so knowing them may not matter.
Also not everything in section F is possible. I have read some that are literally impossible but would be very harmful to any child if tried. For example one I read detailed a number of withdrawal sessions from class which actually added up to more time than existed in a week.
If you and your child are happy with the school thats enough I think. I would say it is easier to move from specialist provision into mainstream than the other way round so if you find yourself not sure which is best go for specialist. If you do it the other way round you may get stuck in mainstream.
And many school staff including some sendcos are surprisingly poor at communicating with parents. So if you feel like this it is probably them not you.
Best wishes

An IEP and an EHCP are not the same thing. Extremely worrying that the teacher said “umm yes yes that’s it”.

If you want to add section I to the appeal, you can request that using a SEND67. Don’t forget to seek the LA’s views first. If you are thinking of doing this, I would do it sooner rather than later. If DS is not attending school full time, you could request to expedite the hearing.

If you aren't already, follow up all verbal conversations with emails so you have a paper trail as evidence.

If your EHCP is full of vague language at the moment, it isn’t so much relevant to you now., but it is not for the school to decide which of the provision in F should be provided and which to not bother with. That is not how SEN law works. Any school doing that leaves themselves and the LA open to further action.

The EHCP is a legal document, which sets out the child's needs, and then the provision that someone (who doesn't know the school) has said the school must provide to meet those needs. It sets out longer term goals. What everyone should be working towards by the following year (or 6 months if the child is under 5).

The IEP is a much more practical working document, which sets out targets the child should be meeting in 3 months time.
It stands for Individual Education Plan. The language is from the 2001 Code of Practice and, since the 2015 Code of Practice, it doesn't have to be called an IEP (some use 'Support Plan' or 'Individual Learning Plan' or some stuck with IEP). It doesn't really matter what the school are calling it, but it is the day to day working document. It should set out what provision, or what interventions the school (or others, EYs Plans will also often include what the family might do at home, and many will include what a SaLT or physio might do, for example) are putting in place to support the child's development.
Parents should have a copy of this and be involved in reviewing it each term with either the class teacher or SENCo.
I kind of understand how this doesn't always happen when there are 30 children in the class and 8, 9, or 12 of them have IEPs. There is NO excuse when there are only 10 children in the class.

I would have read it before induction sessions or before home visits if no induction sessions.

It sounds like nobody is very clear about what the barriers to education are for your DS. If 1:1 isn't sufficient, why do they think 2:1 is going to help? What is it that is causing him to be so dysregulated at school, because I bet you don't have 2:1 support for him at home! I'm not saying 2:1 isn't necessary, but simply having more people taking the wrong approach won't help.

They need to identify what they are doing, and which parts of his EHCP are being provided, which parts aren't, and why. Then they need to be filling the gaps.

Did he need such a high level of support at preschool? If not, what was different there?

First thing I do when I get my new classes. I tend to try and remember the main things (especially if I have a few students with them) then go back and read again.

Prior to the child being in their class! And again if a parent states things aren't being done (rather than telling the parent they are wrong about what's in there)

Unqualified teacher in a KS5 SEN provision - the whole setting (teachers, 1:1s and all class TAs) read all the EHCPs of our new joiners in May / June and then again on one of our September training days.

The targets are used to inform our planning for the year.

errr before the child starts or at least by the end of the first week at least.

How are they applying the support correctly or trying to meet the targets set if they haven’t actually familiarised themselves with what they are?

Behaviour support in SEN school here and parent of a child who had an EHCP.

It's a legal document, not an optional extra. FFS! Perhaps it's worth reminding the school of the fact.
They should read it in advance of teaching the child if they hadn't read my DS EHCP I would have gone ballistic.

EHCPs contain Outcomes in section E rather than targets. An often misunderstood element of EHCPs. A target is an aim. An outcome is the result of provision. A subtle but important difference.

"My" teachers 🤨😂

Its legally binding framework that must be in place so before they start. My son is now 16, before starting college in September I had 2 meetings to go through his EHCP. Another booked for review next month.

Ideally, before they walk in to the class for the first time and introduce themselves.

In real life, We've been let down consistently...this might have changed. We'd send printed copies - stored in a sleeve and available through the school year - of a 'passport' in to give to every new teacher and substitute. We had too many instances that left them distraught and in a shut down. We took matters in to our own hands....

You see how it goes, work with school and give them consistent feedback on any issues. They should solve/design them out...but step in and keep them in the loop if and when you have to make things right...because they aren't, with a bright smile and a 'we're a great team attitude and demeanor'.

When I was first teaching, I found it immensely difficult to get hold of EHCPs and Education Plans for students. It wasn't that I didn't want to read it but rather that I hadn't been given access. It may not be the teacher's fault. I then taught in a school that had all the files on an intranet so you could just look them up. I'd probably speak to the SENDCO because either way they need to be getting this teacher to understand your child's support needs.

DS's teacher asked for his dyscalculia assessment report to read, which is way bigger than the EHCP. I would expect them to have read relevant EHCP sections, and was impressed his teacher went beyond that.