Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) Audit - Best Endeavours and Reasonable Adjustments

Leicester City SEND Support Services

The BERA Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) Audit, is to be completed on an annual basis by each school, detailing the support provision for each individual child or young person who has or is felt to have SEMH needs.
The BERA SEMH Audit and the Best Endeavours and Reasonable Adjustments Framework provide details of what schools must do in order to meet SEND needs and comply with their legal responsibilities under the SEND Code of Practice 2014, the children and Families Act 2014 and the Equality Act 2010.
Where a child or young person with a diagnosed or suspected SEND need has other diagnosed or suspected SEND needs an audit will be completed for each need with which the child or young person presents.
Schools must also submit a Whole School Audit covering whole school SEND practice and an All-Needs Audit – covering action required to support all those with a SEND need, irrespective of type.
Schools will benefit from the accurate and detailed completion of these audits which provide a clear picture of where school is meeting needs and help identify areas where further work is required to fully meet the BERA requirements.
The BERA Audit is therefore very much part of the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycle, that is an excellent way to plan SEND support in schools. It can also help identify progress, support staff allocations and training needs and support schools’ applications for Element 3 top-up funding. It has also already been used to support schools in successful OFSTED inspections.

No.	Requirement	Fulfilled	Evidence /Comment	Action
This is the requirement number	This is the audit item.	This is the check box to confirm the requirement has been fulfilled.	Give the name and source of any documents that demonstrate this requirement has been fulfilled. Enter any extra information here relating to the fulfilment of this requirement.	Define any actions that need to be taken to fulfil this requirement or to ensure it continues to be fulfilled.

Name of Child or Young Person:	Enter name of child or young person here.
School:	Enter name of school here.
Name of Auditor:	Enter the name of the auditor here.
Date of Audit:	Click or tap to enter the audit date here.

No.	Requirement	Fulfilled	Evidence / Comment	Action
Staff have received training on SEMH needs and behaviours.
attachment friendly practices	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
trauma informed practices	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
restorative approaches	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
awareness and use the whole school systems and expectations in place to support SEMH needs	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
awareness of and review of children’s individual support plans/passports	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
understand different SEMH needs such as self-harming, withdrawn	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Other: Click or tap here to enter text.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Staff have received updates to training on SEMH needs and behaviours including those mentioned above.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Clear systems are in place to identify and refer to relevant sources of support when the family of the child or young person with SEMH needs requires it.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Strategies are being used that may be outside of day-to-day practice. E.g., collecting a child from home to support them attending school.	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The following positive practices to support the needs of the child or young person have been embedded across the school day:
Restorative language	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Attachment friendly scripts	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Trauma informed practices	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Routines are in place that encourage a positive welcome to school. This includes access to provisions such as breakfast clubs and the teacher welcomes the child or young person on arrival.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has or has had access to these appropriate and purposeful nurturing opportunities:
Meet and greet	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Key adult allocated	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Key adult time to develop the relationship	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Emotional check in	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Time in approach (as opposed to time out)	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Time to work with key adults	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Focused classroom activities	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Other: Click or tap here to enter text.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The adults that work with the child or young person get to know, understand, and notice the child or young person.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person is warmly welcomed on arrival to each activity throughout the school day.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has opportunity to participate in RSE / circle time / restorative circles weekly.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has opportunities to celebrate positive behaviour, relationships, and wellbeing with other members of the school community.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Rewards and sanctions are meaningful, adapted and tailored to meet the individual needs of the child or young person and may need to differ from whole school policies. All staff and the child or young people understand and accept why these have been issued.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Staff are in tune with the children or young person’s emotional state and have strategies to facilitate co-regulation. Strategies used include:
Modelling	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Prompting / helping	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Self-talk	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Relaxation	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Following the child’s lead	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Redirection of attention	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Active ignoring	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Reassurance	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Emotional following	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Physical comfort	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Vocal comfort	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Clear boundaries, structure and consequences enforced in a calm manner	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Time and space given to calm	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has access to an adult they have identified, for emotional support.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Teaching approaches used are flexible to meet the child or young person’s SEMH needs and have regard to expectations, planning, task length, emotional state, processing time, settling and movement breaks.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Adults working with the child or young person use scripted language, which connect before correcting.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has participated in the following group or individual SEMH interventions:	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
positive people	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
managing feelings group	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
friendship / social interaction groups	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
relaxation	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
understanding and managing anxiety	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
regulating techniques	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Positive links with parents have been established:	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Parents are always warmly welcomed	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Communication and support of parents is non-judgemental	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
parents’ voices are heard	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
parent sessions encouraged	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
parents are fed back positives about their child	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
parents are invited to celebrations	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
postcards and phone calls home to parents	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
parents are encouraged to share concerns	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Family Support Workers are involved to support concerns at home where appropriate	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
curriculum support for parents is in place	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
frequent (e.g., 6 weekly) reviews available	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
Where the child or young person is accessing other educational settings and/or alternative provision:
due diligence checks have been completed regarding, registration where necessary, safeguarding, health and safety, quality of accommodation, quality of education, ability to meet the child or young person’s needs.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
ensure full-time provision is received in total across all settings	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
a personalised plan for the intervention is in place, is linked to SEND Support Plan or EHCP and includes clear objectives for improvement and attainment, timeframes, arrangements for assessments and monitoring progress and a base line assessment against which to measure progress.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
communication between settings is frequent	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
communication between settings is positive and informs practice	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
relationships between settings are maintained and encouraged for the child/young person	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
All adults working with the child or young person are aware of and use the de-escalation strategies identified for the child or young person.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has opportunity to reflect and participate in mediation following behaviours of concern, allowing them to reconnect and restore relationships.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has access to calmer areas during unstructured times, when needed, for example, when eating lunch.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has access to changing and washing facilities.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The child or young person has access to calm reflective spaces both indoors and outdoors.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.
The school has provided safety walks to support the child or young person's needs and transitions.	o	Click or tap here to enter text.	Click or tap here to enter text.