With Lisa McDonald, Head of SEND Education, Participation and Skills, SEND, Plymouth City Council
Late last year, we ran a two-part article on “Ordinarily Available Provision” (OAP) from SEND expert, Philippa Stobbs. You can find part one here and part two here.
OAP is the universal provision that children with any additional needs should be able to access at school, without the need for an Education, Health and Care Plan. It’s usually used as part of the SEN Support “Assess, Plan, Do, Review” cycle, also known as the SEND Graduated Response. It is funded by the school, presumably via the ”notional” SEND budget, which isn’t ring-fenced.
Philippa’s post focused on the principles of Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP)—what it is and, just as importantly, what it is not. However, there is still not a Department for Education “official” definition for OAP or national guidance about what it should include. How it is to be used is still being tested by the SEND Change Programme. Nevertheless, many local authorities are developing their own OAP policies. There are concerns that, without guidance, LAs may ask schools to provide more than they can afford, or that they may use OAP as a barrier to Education, Health, and Care needs Assessments.
So how does it work in practice? And, in the absence of national guidance, what does good look like? We recently watched an Ordinarily Available Provision presentation from one local authority, Plymouth, which has done a lot of work co-producing its OAP document. For Plymouth, this work was part of its improvement plan after Ofsted/CQC found “widespread or systemic failings” in its 2023 area SEND inspection.
We like to bring you good ideas and practice wherever we find it, so we thought you’d be interested in reading more about OAP in action. You may even want to compare it to your own LA (if it has an OAP document— just search your LA’s name and “Ordinarily Available Provision” and let us know what you find.)
Plymouth’s documents also include links to national resources, so you may find it interesting to look through, wherever you are based.
Plymouth’s Head of SEND, Lisa McDonald, who gave that recent presentation, has kindly written about how they went about it.
How Plymouth developed its Ordinarily Available Provision by Lisa McDonald, Plymouth City Council
Our ordinarily available provision (Inclusive Good Practice Guidance) is the resource and support we expect to be available for children and young people with SEND in our mainstream education settings. The information is for early years settings, schools, parents and carers of children with SEND, and the practitioners who work with them.
The Plymouth project to develop and launch a co-produced document started in January 2024 with the target to launch in June 2024, in preparation for the new academic year 2024-2025. The project included input from over 80 partners including young people, parents and carers, settings and schools, health representation from all sectors, Educational Psychologists, specialist teachers and early help services. The project was a genuine example of co-production and a team pulling together to ensure the very best information and guidance for our colleagues in and around education provision.
Support from the Research & Improvement for SEND Excellence (RISE) partnership, funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), enhanced our local area partnership and facilitated excellent workshops to develop our understanding and the resource.
Showcasing Plymouth’s best practice
As an area, we wanted the resource to be interactive and engaging. We also wanted to feature our settings and their best practice. We have integrated videos of school leaders, teachers, Family Hubs, Local Authority leaders and health representation throughout the guidance. We have also ensured there are links to the universal offers locally, and nationally with the opportunity to download tools.
Section C in both the early years and school resource features case studies directly from practitioners – it was a great start to our sharing of best practice and encouraging our colleagues to share what is working, and what can be ordinarily available.
In addition, 18 young people contributed their thoughts and experiences within mainstream provisions to allow their voice to be featured as a golden thread throughout the resource. It is great to see young people’s voices featured so strongly, to share what happens when things go wrong and how teachers or staff can support.
The digital resource can be found online:
- Plymouth Council – Ordinarily Available Provision for Schools by The Education People hosted on Issuu
- Plymouth Council – Ordinarily Available Provision for Early Years by The Education People, hosted on Issuu
You can download the resource, which also features a ‘how to’ page to support use by settings, schools and families.
The Plymouth resource was launched with introductory sessions in June 2024 to all partners, including families and young people. Across the 16 sessions, there was a huge range of attendees, including families, senior school leaders, governors, SENCos and teachers. Since the launch, there has been growing interest in the resource with posters, QR codes and sharing of resources in place.
Feedback from partners
In feedback after the sessions, 83% of our partners agreed that the resource would have a positive impact on their inclusive approaches, while the remaining 18% agreed with “maybe”, after some time to digest the information available and plan the next steps.
We recived positive feedback when we asked for initial thoughts about the resource. Here are some examples below:
“I love that we have been able to help and show schools what works for us – we want it to be shared with everyone” (Young person – Youth Ascends Group – Plymouth SEND young group)
“I think it is a great resource and really hope it does become embedded into a cultural shift in schools and settings. I particularly like the fact that it has been a collaborative piece of work to put it together and will continue to be collaborative as we move forward into using it with settings. I have been scribbling lots of notes about what we could add to it in terms of specific ‘How to …’ video shorts or guides, e.g. VI friendly teaching approaches.” (School curriculum leader)
“It is good to have it all in one area. Working links at fingertips will be handy. A much-needed resource!” (Secondary School Teacher)
“I like the idea of everything in one place. Hyperlinks to best practice research-based information is truly useful. This looks like a resource that has very much been needed for a long time. For too long new SENCos have ‘re-invented the wheel’. (Primary SENCo)
“It sounds like it’ll be a great resource for practitioners so support inclusivity and consistency of messages between health, schools, and families.” (Social Worker)
Next steps for Plymouth
We want to continue to support our settings and schools so that all staff feel confident, knowledgeable and skilled in supporting our children and young people.
We have committed to auditing the success of the Ordinary Available Provision with the support of our SENCos. We currently have a SENCo secondment working with the local authority to finalise the upcoming Graduated Approach resource directory website for Plymouth. This will be a ‘one-stop shop’ for all staff with a range of resources including training, local provision, sound bites and interactive guides.
Our aim is to ensure we can effectively enhance our mainstream offer and share what is possible to secure the best pathways for our children and young people.
Watch a webinar by Lisa on OAP on the Plymouth Parent Carer Voice website
Lisa McDonald, Head of SEND Plymouth
Further resources on OAP
- Ordinarily Available Provision for SEND: Friend or Foe? Part 1 from Philippa Stobbs OBE
- Ordinarily Available Provision Part 2: What does it look like and what difference does it make? by Philippa Stobbs OBE
- EYSEND National Seminar – Ordinarily Available Provision in the Early Years (CDC)
- CDC OAP webinar
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Also read:
- Download our SEN Support flow chart
- How will Ofsted’s inspection overhaul affect children with SEND? And why you need to respond to the consultation
- SENCO basics: My research defining the role of the modern SENCO
- Language matters: Why the definition of SEND is shifting, and why we should be worried
- Disabled children are not widgets. Removing rights isn’t the answer to the SEND crisis
- Successful Additionally-Resourced Schools: A 13-step strategy and a 7-point “purpose”
- PAC SEND report: Slightly pointless when decision-makers don’t know what they value more—money or children’s futures?
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
- The Unacceptable Truth: 20 SEND legal rights at risk from the Government’s SEND reforms
- How health and family support systems are failing children starting school
- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals
- When things go right: Shining a light on SEND Practitioners making a positive impact [Giveaway!]
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children
- Have your say on the future of transport for disabled children and young people
- Unison voices major concerns over SEND reform health plans for sick and disabled children out of school in the EOTAS consultation
- Top Tips for the EOTAS & EHCP consultation: Protect your child’s rights to statutory SEND support
- Navigating constraints: Why a former PCF chair thinks the current model is missing the mark for families
- Dear Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell: an Open Letter from Special Needs Jungle and SEND legal charity SOS!SEN
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them”
What kind of government is “bold” enough to scrap statutory EHCPs from vulnerable children?May 16, 2025
The SEND reforms in the Schools White Paper reveal rights given, and rights stripped awayFebruary 24, 2026
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- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals - September 3, 2026
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children - August 28, 2026
- Have your say on the future of transport for disabled children and young people - August 25, 2026
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