Skip to content
  1. Do it online
  2. Login
  3. Have your say
  4. My Durham

Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Durham was last inspected in June 2024. As part of the inspection process, inspectors received feedback and views from 1,500 children, young people, families and partners. You can read more about the feedback from the inspectors on our Strategies, plans, policies and inspections page.

Supporting Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) as part of the graduated approach


On this page you will find useful documents, guidance and templates to use as part of the graduated approach to supporting children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Some of the documents on this page are not be accessible. They have been created for print purposes to be used by practitioners and are not for use by the general public. If, for any reason, you cannot access the documents and need an alternative format, please contact us.

Early Years SEND provision and funding guidance

Mainstream school provision descriptors and funding bands

Quality First Teaching (QFT)

QFT aims to engage and support the learning of all children and young people. It places a strong focus on pupil participation in learning.

Pupil profiles

Outlines information about a child/young person's needs that can be shared with staff.

Short note

Early identification is the key to supporting a pupil's needs. A 'short note' of early discussions with parents/carers should be added to the pupil's record and monitored on a regular basis in partnership with parents/carers. These templates can be adapted by settings.

Mainstream banding descriptors documents coming soon.

Planning tools

These tools describe the type of support that early years providers, schools and colleges should be making for pupils.

Early years planning tools

Practical approaches to support inclusion

Further education and post 16 planning tools

My Story

This can be used by a child/young person and parent/carers to record background information, so that they do not have to repeat this information to different professionals.

SEND support

Within this section you will find documentation, guidance and templates to help support a child/young person with special educational needs and disabilities:



Share this page

Share this page on Facebook Share this page on Facebook Share this page on Twitter Share this page on Twitter