The framework behind the numbers.
SEND.school puts the HEARTS SEND Deployment Framework into software. It was developed by
HEARTS Academy Trust
by CEO Don Wry, from field work in their own schools: support staff timetables, RAG
ratings, hours of need, and progress data, gathered across real settings and reviewed over
successive terms.
Schools spend on support without knowing if it lands.
SEND provision is chronically underfunded relative to statutory expectation. Schools respond by deploying classroom support staff extensively, but usually without a consistent way to measure whether that deployment is efficient or impactful.
The core problem is that schools spend significant sums on support staff without a coherent way to know whether those hours reach the right pupils, in the right amounts, at the right time. The result is often support drift: hours gradually absorbed by lower-need pupils, cover, administrative tasks, or reactive one-to-one support for a single complex pupil, leaving the broader SEND cohort underserved.
Five signals, one composite score.
Each signal looks at one dimension of how support is used. They combine into a single score, so strength in one area, such as strong pupil progress, can offset a weaker reading elsewhere, rather than any one measure deciding the SEND Efficiency Index on its own.
- Finance
Finance KPI
The cost and scale of classroom support relative to the size of the school.
- ASH
Average Support Hours
How many hours of support are actually delivered for each hour paid for.
- %Need
% of SEND need met
Whether the support delivered matches the need set out in pupils' plans (One Plans, EHCPs or ISPs).
- DQF
Deployment Quality Factor
Whether the highest-need pupils receive a proportionate share of the hours.
- PIF
Progress Integration Factor
Whether support is translating into measurable progress for pupils.
Rating need, not labels.
As part of the deployment matrix, each pupil is rated red, amber or green based on their current level of need, not their diagnosis or category. It is a live, practical tool to guide staffing and support, not a judgement or a fixed label. A pupil with an EHCP may be green if they are currently working independently, while a pupil with no diagnosis may be red if they require significant adult support to access learning at that point in time.
The core question: how essential is adult support for this pupil to access learning, remain regulated, and make appropriate progress at the present time? Each pupil is rated across eight assessment questions, and their RAG is the majority of those answers.
- Red Highest need; cannot access learning without one-to-one adult support.
- Amber Medium need; benefits from small group or focused adult support.
- Green Lower need; meets need through quality-first teaching with light-touch support.
A repeatable six-step cycle.
The framework is applied through the same cycle during school visits and termly reviews.
- 01
Collect data
Gather support staff timetables, split SEND from non-SEND tasks, quality-assure RAG ratings, and pull hours of need and progress from pupils' plans (One Plans, EHCPs or ISPs).
- 02
Calculate core metrics
Compute the Finance KPI, ASH, % Need Met, DQF, and PIF from the gathered data.
- 03
Compute the SEI
Apply the composite formula across all five metrics.
- 04
Interpret results
Use the interpretation bands and the cross-reference guide to read the pattern.
- 05
Act on findings
Map findings to a diagnostic pattern and identify specific, proportionate actions.
- 06
Embed in the review cycle
Include the SEI and PIF in termly SEND reviews, link to budget and deployment, and retest in later cycles.
What the SEI is built to expose.
Two patterns the framework is designed to catch and to read correctly.
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Support drift
The gradual misalignment between where staff hours are nominally deployed and where they are actually used: SEND-contracted staff absorbed into cover or pastoral roles, one-to-one support continuing past need, and historic assumptions persisting beyond their evidence. The SEI is designed to expose it.
-
Small school distortion
Schools with a low number on roll face a structural problem: the Finance KPI reads artificially high because of fixed staffing minimums, % Need Met reads low because invisible teacher time meets much of the need, and the SEI is depressed even when outcomes are strong.
Evidence for who you hire, not just how you deploy.
The same picture that shows whether support is landing also shows where it is missing. SEND.school gives leaders the evidence to make recruitment and staffing decisions with confidence, before the money is committed.
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Hire on need, not habit
See where another adult is genuinely required, and where existing hours can be redeployed before you recruit at all.
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Brief the role precisely
Define what a new post must deliver, for which pupils, against documented need and progress, not a vague sense of pressure.
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Defend the decision
Take the same evidence to governors, trustees and finance leads, so every appointment is strategic and accountable.
