Who is this template for?
This template is specifically designed for ALNCos (Additional Learning Needs Coordinators), Senior Leadership Teams (SLT), and Headteachers across Wales. It is an essential resource for those responsible for delivering the statutory requirements of the ALN Act 2018. Whether you are leading a mainstream school, a special school, or a specialist resource base, this template provides the professional structure needed to evaluate how effectively your setting supports learners with Additional Learning Needs (ALN) from ages 0 to 25.
Why use this template?
This toolkit ensures your self-evaluation is robust, person-centred, and fully aligned with the expectations set out in the Estyn Autumn 2024 supplementary guidance.
- Direct Inspection Alignment: Mirrors the specific questions and lines of enquiry used by Estyn inspectors to evaluate ALN outcomes, provision, and leadership.
- "Ready Already" (Barod yn Barod) Confidence: Maintain a live, evidence-based narrative of your inclusion journey, ensuring you are prepared for inspection dialogue without the need for a last-minute scramble.
- Evidence-Rich Auditing: Move beyond description to evaluation by attaching Individual Development Plans (IDPs), specialist reports, and progress data directly to your judgements to create a robust audit trail.
- Focus on Independence: Prompts leaders to evaluate not just the presence of support, but its effectiveness in fostering learner independence and social inclusion.
- Seamless IDP Monitoring: Supports the systematic review of statutory objectives, ensuring that targets are relevant, challenging, and delivering tangible outcomes for children and young people.
- Identify "Helps and Hinders": Use the built-in force-field analysis to diagnose systemic barriers—such as multi-agency collaboration or staff training needs—and plan strategic actions to overcome them.
How does it work?
This template follows the intuitive, research-backed iAbacus process of sliding beads to represent progress. It uses a defined performance spectrum—Red, Amber, and Green—to evaluate the following core areas derived from the 2024 Estyn supplementary guidance:
- Learner Progress: Evaluating progress from individual starting points and the achievement of specific IDP objectives.
- Attitudes to Learning: Assessing resilience, participation, and the extent to which learners feel their views are heard and valued.
- Curriculum: Reviewing how well-adapted teaching and Additional Learning Provision (ALP) meet the unique needs of every learner across the learning continuum.
- Teaching & Intervention: Evaluating the effective deployment of support staff, the quality of individual/group sessions, and the impact of specialist strategies.
- Assessment: Auditing ALN tracking systems, the use of assessment data to plan support, and the quality of reporting to parents and carers.
Gaining Strategic Insight
For regional leads or those overseeing a network of settings, iAbacus provides powerful comparative oversight that goes deeper than raw data. A Local Authority ALNCo Lead can use the Stack feature to layer the 'ALN Review' abacuses from every school in the authority. This creates a high-level visual dashboard that illuminates regional trends, identifies schools that have developed exceptional inclusive practices, and highlights common professional learning needs. This insight allows the authority to identify which interventions are having the biggest impact and to direct resources strategically to improve outcomes for children with additional needs across the local authority.
Clear, Professional Reporting
When communicating with stakeholders or preparing for external scrutiny, iAbacus simplifies the reporting process. This evaluation can be exported as a polished, visually compelling PDF report with a single click. It is designed to be presented to an inspector as a summary of the school's ALN provision, demonstrating a robust and transparent approach to improvement planning. Because all judgements are backed by clear evidence and detailed action plans, it provides Governors and external agencies with the transparency needed to support and challenge the school's inclusion strategy effectively.
References / Source Material
How to Get Started
New to iAbacus? Discover how this template can support your improvement strategy. Book a personalised demo or start a free trial to explore the full platform. Visit www.iAbacus.com to learn more.
Already a subscriber? You can find this template in the template library within your iAbacus account. Simply log in, create a new abacus, and select it from the list to get started.
