EfL in Mainstream Settings
See the full story of every pupil’s learning journey.
From literacy to enrichment and science to personalised ISP and EHCP targets, EfL helps mainstream teachers, TA’s and Leaders capture, celebrate, track and analyse evidence and progress that traditional systems miss.
The picture in mainstream right now
“The numbers of learners with SEND in our mainstream settings continues to rise as does the complexity of their learning, social and medical needs. EfL supports us to capture and celebrate the unique progress they make, work more collaboratively with families and other professionals and be proactive and responsive to the changing landscape of SEND reforms and accountability measures.”
– Cheryl Gaughan, Strategic Lead for SEND and inclusion, JMAT
The profile of pupils with SEND in mainstream is becoming more complex, and their learning journeys are rarely linear.
Leaders tell us the same story:
- Needs are greater, and traditional systems don't capture the whole picture of richness of a child's progress or development.
- Evidence lives everywhere - notebooks, logs, emails, photos, professional reports - but rarely comes together in one place.
- Staff are doing brilliant work, but it isn't always easy to show impact to governors, inspectors or external professionals.
- Families often feel unsure what learning looks like day to day.
“We really needed to understand our learners. but the challenge was coming together and capturing those moments together as a team. EfL has really helped develop knowledge, expertise and the understanding of our learner profiles across our workforce. This has been the strong foundation we needed to build and develop our curriculum and provision”
– Rachel Speed, Head of Quality of Education, Dersingham & Calverton Primary School
How EfL supports mainstream settings
EfL is the shared place where teachers, TAs, SENDCos, leaders, families and external professionals evidence, understand and drive learning for every child – from typical mainstream cohorts through to learners with more complex needs and who have an ISP / EHCP
In one place, EfL lets your team:
- Capture evidence – photo, video, note, parent contribution – against any framework you use: EYFS, pre-key stage standards, engagement model, enrichment framework, national curriculum, your own curriculum, and each pupil’s EHCP/ISP outcomes, and/or individual learning plans.
- Tag the same piece of evidence to multiple frameworks at once, so nothing gets recorded twice.
- Assess using the engagement model and the five areas – exploration, realisation, anticipation, persistence, and initiation – inside the app, linked directly to evidence.
- Share selected evidence with parents and multi-agency partners, and invite uploads from home – bringing families, therapists, medical professionals and school leaders together to build a more accurate picture and turn everyone into active partners.
- Produce reports for annual reviews, EHCP applications, governors and Ofsted at the touch of a button.
Showcase the unique learning journeys of all of your learners with SEND
The Evidence for Learning app supports an inquiry-based approach to education and provision, that allows ALL stakeholders in a child, young person or adult’s learning and development to quickly and easily gather photo and video evidence, linked to the individual’s learning goals as well as any key skills frameworks. Observations can be annotated.
1. Build a clear picture and narrative of learning
Easily and quickly combine rich photos/videos with a clear and comprehensive narrative… threading through it all of the appropriate elements in a pupil’s learning. Add links, tags and text notes to your observations, show how your curriculum, pedagogy and support inputs directly align with EHCPs, ISPs, and individualised learning/support plans. Demonstrate the breadth, depth and impact of your curriculum to any stakeholders as well as Ofsted inspectors.
2. Use that picture to be more effective in real-time
As the picture and narrative of learning develops, use it in real time to support professional conversations about learning, as well as key processes such as assessment, planning and looking at how you refine and adapt your practice and curriculum over time. It can also be easily used to create opportunities for authentic CPD across your school and improve how you engage, work with and support families.
3. Improve collaboration (whole team around the child)
Share understanding and planning about each learner across the entire team including the multi disciplinary team and families - giving all stakeholders a voice (especially the learner). Enabling genuine authentic co-production and review, allowing everyone to make better-informed contributions to every learner’s journey and supporting a richer and deeper educational discourse.
4. Raise aspiration and build more inclusive practice
Use the picture of learning to raise expectations for all learners - celebrating every win and building a culture where progress is always visible and valued. As evidence accumulates, it becomes a powerful tool for workforce development: staff see what works, refine their practice in real time, and grow their understanding of how to support every child effectively. Turn your platform into a living CPD resource that raises aspiration across the team and ensures inclusive, effective practice is embedded across the setting.
EfL as a driver of inclusive provision
For mainstream leaders, EfL isn’t another system – it’s how the graduated approach is experienced on the ground. It helps teachers and TAs ground high-quality adaptive teaching as the first step in SEND support, reduce workload and over-identification by strengthening ordinarily available provision, improve the evidence quality behind EHCP applications, ensure early identification is timely, and that the impact of interventions is tracked and visible.
“EfL is a central place where our whole school community can collate evidence together. With EfL we can piece the puzzle together and see characteristics and traits as observed by the whole team, which is all held in a central place. This leads to better profiles and drives earlier conversations and interventions for our children.”
– Lando du Plooy, Headteacher, Dersingham & Calverton
EfL LearningShared Community
EfL isn’t just a platform – it’s a growing community of mainstream leaders working out what genuinely inclusive practice looks like. When your school invests in Evidence for Learning, you also join and gain access to one of the largest practitioner-led SEND and inclusion communities in the country.
Send in Mainstream
Send in Mainstream is the strand of LearningShared built specifically for mainstream schools and trusts navigating rising SEND complexity. It runs year-round as a series of in-person conferences, roundtables and regional gatherings.
It’s a place where mainstream practitioners come together to share practice, discuss what’s working, and explore solutions to shared challenges across the system.
Previous speakers have included…
(ASCL)
CBE OBE D.Litt PhD
(DfE)
(Chair of Rochford Review)
(JMAT & Whole School SEND)
In the words of Mainstream Schools
Book a demo
The best way to see how EfL can support your school is to book an online demo with the team. Complete the form below and we’ll get straight back to you.
Pricing Models
EfL LearningShared subscribers (Lite & Full Plans): FREE with a valid LearningShared ticket
If your school or setting has a subscription to the EfL LearningShared CPLD Programme, either the Lite Plan or the Full Plan, then you will have 2 (two) FREE EfL LearningShared Bootcamp tickets which can be used at any of the EfL LearningShared Bootcamp events. Either 1 person can attend 2 different events for FREE (no cost) or 2 people can attend the same event for FREE (no cost).
Additional delegates can attend any event at a substantially discounted cost of £50 (ex VAT) per delegate / attendee. The school’s EfL LearningShared subscription must be active at the time of the event and the FREE tickets must not have already been used at a previous event.
Non-LearningShared subscribers: £100 (ex VAT) per delegate / attendee per event
If your school or setting does not have a subscription to the LearningShared CPLD Programme (Lite Plan or the Full Plan) then the cost to attend any of the events is £100 (ex VAT) per delegate / attendee.
Alternatively the school / setting can subscribe and enrol to the LearningShared CPLD Programme using the form below to take advantage of the free and reduced attendee costs as well as to gain access to all the features and benefits of the LearningShared CPLD Programme.
Learn more about the Learning Shared CPLD Programme here.
** PLEASE COMPLETE THE ONLINE BOOKING FORM BELOW TO REGISTER ATTENDEES FROM YOUR SCHOOL OR SETTING **
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