Question 1

What is Early Signals?

Accepted Answer

Early Signals helps schools turn early SEND concerns into evidence that SENDCos and other professionals can actually use. Early Signals gives people a simple way to record what they've noticed, brings those contributions together and prepares the evidence for human review. The system prepares the evidence. The human decides what it means.

Question 2

Who's Early Signals for?

Accepted Answer

Anyone who notices something important about a young person, and anyone responsible for making sense of that information. We've designed the approach around a simple principle: you shouldn't need specialist SEND knowledge to explain what you've noticed. And the SENDCo shouldn't have to spend hours chasing everybody for the information afterwards.

Question 3

How does it actually work?

Accepted Answer

It starts with someone noticing something. They speak or type what they have noticed. IRIS clarifies the context. The information is then organised into a consistent format, with the contributor checking that it accurately reflects what they said. From there, reviewed contributions can be brought together into a Current Evidence Picture, giving the SENDCo a clearer view of what's been noticed and the tools to use the information.

Question 4

Isn't this what schools already use SEND systems for?

Accepted Answer

Not quite. And this is where I think the difference really matters. Most SEND systems are useful once you've got the information. They help schools manage provision, plans, reviews and the paperwork that comes with them. But what about everything that happens before that? Early Signals focuses on that earlier stage. It's about making the evidence-gathering process easier, more consistent and more useful for the people making decisions.

Question 5

Will it actually save SENDCos and teachers time?

Accepted Answer

That's certainly what we're aiming for. And importantly, we want to look at the workload of everyone involved, not just the SENDCo. The idea is to make contributing information simple, reduce the need to ask the same questions repeatedly and give SENDCos something meaningful to work with from the outset. We're building workload measurement into our proposed evaluation work because we want to understand what happens in actual school practice. If we've made the process more complicated or more time-consuming, we've missed the point.

Question 6

Can parents and carers contribute?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. In fact, I think their involvement is crucial. What happens at home, and what parents and carers notice, can provide context that school staff simply wouldn't have otherwise. Early Signals is designed to bring those perspectives together without losing who said what. Different people might notice different things, and they won't always agree. That's fine. We're not trying to decide whose account is right. We're trying to give the professional a more complete picture.

Question 7

Does Early Signals make SEND decisions or diagnoses?

Accepted Answer

No. Those decisions belong to professionals. People. That's something we're absolutely committed to protecting. Early Signals doesn't diagnose, score pupils, decide whether someone has SEND or automatically make referrals. Its job is to help people record useful observations, ask sensible questions and organise evidence so the SENDCo or another appropriate professional can decide what it means. It's there to support professional judgement, not replace it.

Question 8

What about safeguarding and pupil information?

Accepted Answer

Safeguarding remains the school's responsibility, with concerns handled through its existing safeguarding procedures. Early Signals isn't a safeguarding record or a replacement for the school's designated safeguarding lead.

Question 9

Can we see Early Signals, and how much will it cost?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We'd be delighted to show you what we've been building. There's already a working demonstrator of the core evidence pathway, and our developers are building the production platform alongside our school and specialist collaborators. We're offering controlled previews so schools, Trusts and other interested organisations can see the approach, ask questions and discuss how it might work in their setting. Our current school pricing and purchasing information is available on the Pilot & Pricing page.