Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) outlines the support and interventions that should be routinely available in all mainstream schools and colleges to meet the needs of young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). This ensures that steps taken are reasonable and inclusive, supporting a graduated approach to meeting need.

OAP guides

Early Years – EY SEND Resources – Cognus

Primary schools – OAP Guidance – Primary

Primary classroom checklist – OAP – Primary checklist – A4

Secondary schools – OAP Guidance – Secondary

Secondary classroom checklist – OAP – Secondary checklist

Targeted support and intervention checklist – OAP – Targeted and interventions checklist

Graduated response

The Graduated Response remains the framework through which educational settings identify, assess, and respond to SEND. It emphasises the importance of multi-agency collaboration to meet the social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) needs of young people and promotes inclusive practices across all settings. 

Sutton’s Graduated Response provides a multi-agency framework, that supports working together to meet social, emotional, and mental health needs of a child or young person to prevent exclusion and to promote inclusion.

Aims Include:

  • To have a consistent approach and common language across all Sutton Schools and the local area to meet social, emotional, and mental health needs and to prevent exclusions
  • To enable every child and young person to benefit from high-quality education that supports them to fulfil their potential
  • To enable the learning of all children who are disengaged

The Graduated Response supports schools to ensure that all reasonable steps are being taken to provide support and intervention.Sutton-Schools-Graduated-Response-doc.-Aug-2025.docx