ADHD

The SEND Code of Practice is clear that provision follows identified need. With ADHD assessment waits long in most areas, a school that waits for a diagnosis before acting has effectively decided to do nothing for a year or more. The 2026 Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group report — recommendations to DfE, not statutory duty — pushes in the same direction: timely identification of strengths and needs, in the setting, rather than a queue for a label.

• Describe the barrier in terms of what happens, when, and in which conditions.
• Gather across settings and across the day, including unstructured time.
• Include what the child is good at and what they are interested in — these are provision material, not decoration.
• Record pupil voice directly, in the child's words.
• Ask the family what they see, and what they have already tried.
• Rule in the ordinary: hearing, vision, language, reading fluency, sleep, and whether the work is pitched right.

A useful profile answers: what does this child do well, what specifically breaks down, in which situations, what have we changed, and what happened. That document is worth ten times a diagnosis letter on its own — and it is also what a health assessment will ask you for.

Assess, plan, do, review — with the emphasis on the last one. The failure mode in most schools is not the absence of provision but provision that is issued and never evaluated: a set of adjustments listed on a plan that nobody has checked in two terms.

• Wave 1 first. Most of what helps here is teaching quality and task design, not a separate intervention.
• Adjustments should be specific and observable: not "movement breaks", but what, when, triggered by what, and who decides.
• Name who is responsible for each element and what success would look like.
• Review at a set date with evidence, and be prepared to stop things that are not working.
• Avoid stacking adult support around a child by default — over-reliance on adult proximity is a well-documented risk in the EEF SEND guidance.
• Consider access arrangements for assessment where appropriate, and make sure day-to-day practice matches them.

• Difficulties are significant, persistent, present in more than one setting, and unchanged after a period of well-implemented adjustment.
• There is a clear impact on learning, participation, relationships or wellbeing.
• Emerging mental health concerns — anxiety, low mood, or a child talking about themselves in worrying terms.
• Safeguarding or risk considerations.
• The family wants to pursue assessment and needs the school's contribution.

Routes vary locally. Referral for ADHD assessment is typically through the GP or a local paediatric or CAMHS pathway; educational psychology, specialist teaching services and school nursing may be available through your local offer. NICE NG87 sets out the clinical pathway. Be clear with families about what you can and cannot do: a school cannot diagnose, and should not imply otherwise.

• Track participation, not just attainment — how much of the lesson the child is actually in.
• Watch attendance, lateness and lunchtime patterns as early indicators.
• Sample work over time rather than reading a single book.
• Re-ask the child each term; their view changes and is often more accurate than ours.
• Look at behaviour records for pattern by time of day, subject and adult.
• Record what you stopped doing and why. It is as useful as what you started.

1. National Institute for Health and Care ExcellenceProfessional guidance
   Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87) (2018, last updated 2019)

   The NHS reference point for recognition, referral, diagnosis and management. Diagnosis requires a specialist assessment; NICE also sets out when environmental adjustments should be tried first.

2. NHSProfessional guidance
   ADHD in children and young people

   Plain-English NHS information for families on characteristics, assessment routes and what support looks like. The right first link to give a parent.

3. Department for EducationResearch summary
   Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group: report — recommendations for mainstream education (February 2026)

   Independent report to DfE. Recommendations, not statutory duties. Its four priorities — timely identification of strengths and needs, workforce development, learning environments and curriculum, and funding and accountability — describe the direction of travel.

4. Department for Education / University College LondonResearch summary
   Identifying and supporting the needs of children with SEND in mainstream settings — rapid evidence assessments (September 2025)

   A series of DfE-commissioned reviews. Explicitly not government policy. Useful for what the evidence does and does not support in mainstream identification and provision.

5. Department for EducationStatutory guidance
   SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (2015)

   Current statutory guidance. Sets out the graduated approach and makes clear that support follows identified need — a diagnosis is not a prerequisite for provision.

6. Education Endowment FoundationResearch summary
   Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools — guidance report (2020, updated 2021)

   The five-a-day principles and the argument that high-quality teaching, not a separate strategy for each label, is the strongest lever available to schools.

7. Education Endowment FoundationResearch summary
   Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning — guidance report (2018, updated 2021)

   Explicit teaching of planning, monitoring and evaluating. Relevant to organisation and task management, though the evidence is about teaching approaches generally rather than about ADHD specifically.

8. Department for EducationProfessional guidance
   Behaviour in schools: advice for headteachers and school staff (2024)

   Expects schools to consider whether behaviour is linked to SEND and to make reasonable adjustments, alongside clear and consistently applied expectations.