Supply cover changes the adult, but it should not remove the support a pupil relies on. A good SEND supply brief gives the cover teacher enough current information to run the lesson safely and calmly. It should take no more than five minutes to read.
Key points
A useful SEND supply brief covers five things: what is different today, which pupils need specific adjustments, what the adult should do, who to contact, and what to hand back. It should come from the current record, contain only necessary information, and never replace safeguarding induction or an individual healthcare plan.
The test is simple: can a cover teacher read the brief at the classroom door and make the right decision in the next lesson?
What must a SEND supply brief do?
The brief has one job. It turns the school's current knowledge into action for today.
It should let the cover teacher answer five questions quickly:
- What is different about today's timetable, room or routine?
- Which pupils need a specific adjustment or response?
- What should I do, and what should I avoid?
- Who is the first person to contact if support is needed?
- What should I record or hand back before I leave?
This is narrower than a pupil passport or SEN Support Plan. Those records explain the pupil's wider needs, outcomes and support. The supply brief selects the parts that change what the adult does now.
That distinction matters. Copying a full plan into the cover pack can hide the two lines the teacher needs most. Writing a fresh note from memory creates a different problem: the information may be incomplete or out of date.
What does official guidance require schools to share?
The SEND Code of Practice says all teachers and support staff who work with a pupil should know the pupil's needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided, and the teaching strategies or approaches required. It also says this information should be recorded on the school's information system.
The Code keeps responsibility with the class or subject teacher, even when other staff deliver support. It also expects provision records to be accurate and up to date. A supply brief is not named as a statutory form, but it is a sensible way to make those expectations usable when the usual teacher is absent.
The brief should therefore come from an approved, current record. It should not become a parallel version of the pupil's support information.
What belongs on the one-page brief?
Use five short sections. If a section does not change the cover teacher's next decision, leave it in the full record.
1. Today
Record only the changes that affect the day:
- room, seating or staffing changes
- altered break, lunch or transition arrangements
- a cancelled intervention or change of support adult
- a known event that may affect regulation or attendance
Avoid copying the whole timetable. Mark the point where today's routine differs from the expected one.
2. The pupil and the action
Name the pupil and write the adjustment as an instruction. "Needs support" is too vague. "Give one instruction at a time and check the first step before moving on" tells the adult what to do.
Useful entries might include:
- greet at the door and show the visual timetable before registration
- use the agreed seating place without making it a public discussion
- give a five-minute warning before a room change
- offer the agreed movement break after the first task
- check understanding privately rather than asking the pupil to repeat instructions to the class
Keep the wording respectful and practical. The brief should describe support, not reduce a pupil to a diagnosis or behaviour label.
3. What to avoid
Include a short warning only when it changes the adult's response. Examples might be public correction, unexpected physical contact, open-ended instructions, removing a familiar support without warning, or treating dysregulation as deliberate refusal.
Do not add a long list of historic incidents. The adult needs the current response, not the whole chronology.
4. Escalation and safety
Name the first contact and the backup. Use roles as well as names because staffing changes quickly: class TA, phase lead, SENCO, pastoral lead, first aider or designated safeguarding lead.
If a pupil has an individual healthcare plan, the supply brief may flag the immediate action and where the plan is held. The Department for Education's statutory guidance on supporting pupils with medical conditions says school policies should include cover arrangements for staff absence and briefing for supply teachers. The one-page SEND brief does not replace the healthcare plan, staff training or emergency procedure.
Safeguarding information belongs within the school's safeguarding process. Keeping children safe in education 2026 requires staff who work directly with children to read at least Part one and receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training at induction. A SEND brief can point to the DSL and the reporting route, but it must not be treated as the whole induction.
5. Handback
Tell the cover teacher what to leave behind. Keep it small enough that it gets done:
- any adjustment that was needed but unavailable
- a material change in the pupil's response
- a missed intervention or support session
- a concern passed to the named lead
- one useful observation for the returning teacher
This is not a request for a second plan. It is a short operational handback so the school can decide whether the live record needs updating.
What should stay in the full SEND record?
A cover teacher should not receive every piece of information the school holds. The ICO's data minimisation guidance says personal data should be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose.
That means the supply brief should usually exclude:
- copied professional reports
- a full diagnostic history
- old interventions that no longer apply
- family information that does not change today's support
- several versions of the same plan
- speculative labels or unverified explanations
- information the recipient cannot act on
The decision is not "is this information important?" Much of it will be important in the full record. The better question is "does this person need it for this role today?"
Schools should agree the access route with their data protection lead. Avoid loose printed sheets, open email chains or shared links that remain available after the cover assignment ends.
Who owns the brief and keeps it current?
One person should own the process, even though several people contribute. In a primary school that may be the class teacher with SENCO oversight. In a secondary school it may be a form tutor, subject lead, pastoral lead or SEND administrator working from the approved pupil record.
Set three update triggers:
- after a review changes an adjustment or response
- when a medical, safeguarding or access arrangement changes
- before a planned absence or known block of cover
Also show the last reviewed date and the named owner. If staff cannot tell whether the sheet is current, they will either ignore it or use it cautiously. Both outcomes weaken the handover.
MeritDocs helps schools keep pupil passports, plans, support and document versions connected to the same Student Record. Staff can build the supply brief from the current approved information instead of reconstructing it from memory or an old attachment.
What does a good brief look like in practice?
A useful entry is short enough to scan but specific enough to act on:
Sam starts best when greeted quietly at the door. Show the visual timetable before registration. Give one instruction at a time and check the first step privately. If the room changes, give five minutes' warning. If Sam becomes distressed, contact Ms Patel in SEND before using the behaviour escalation route. Record any missed support in the class handback.
This example does not explain Sam's history, diagnosis or every adjustment. It gives the adult the current response and a named route for help.
The one-page pupil profile remains the wider staff-facing summary. The supply brief is today's extract from that live picture. Schools should also keep their reasonable adjustments record current so cover staff are not handed a workaround that was retired last term.
MeritDocs provides controlled access, version history and audit logs around SEND records. That makes it easier to give cover staff the current approved information while keeping the full record governed and available to the right staff.
Frequently asked questions
Should every pupil on the SEN register appear on the supply brief?
No. Include a pupil when the cover adult needs a specific adjustment, response, contact or safety instruction for that lesson or day. The SEND register is not a cover list.
Can the brief include diagnoses?
Only when the diagnosis changes what the adult needs to do and the school has a proper basis for sharing it. In many cases, the useful information is the adjustment or response rather than the diagnostic label.
Is a pupil passport enough for supply cover?
It may contain most of the source information, but the school still needs to point out what is different today, who is available and what the cover teacher must hand back.
Should supply teachers edit the pupil's live record?
Usually, no. Give them a clear handback route. A named member of staff can decide whether the observation changes the approved record, support plan or review evidence.
How long should the brief be kept?
Follow the school's retention and access rules. A disposable daily copy should not become an unofficial pupil file. Keep any material handback in the governed record and securely dispose of temporary copies.
The practical test
Run the process once with a trusted cover teacher or colleague who has not taught the class. Give them five minutes with the brief, then ask what they would do at the start of the lesson, during a difficult transition and when a concern arises.
If they cannot answer, the brief is either missing a decision or carrying too much background. Fix the source record first, then issue one current version.
MeritDocs keeps the approved pupil information, support and document history together, so schools can prepare that handover without creating another disconnected file.