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SEND Assessment Tools Carefully Crafted by Experienced Educators

All children are entitled to child-centred assessment, not just those who are developing typically

Whether you are a SENCO in a mainstream setting or school, or a special school educator, your role is central to the lives and learning of children with SEND, and you need robust SEND assessment tools that support you.

Tapestry gives you flexible tools designed to celebrate the progress of children with learning differences and disabilities. You can respond to each child’s needs, clearly show their progress and engagement, and stay connected with families and the professionals supporting their development.

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Laptop screen showing the Cherry Garden framework being used as part of an observation on Tapestry.

A unique approach to monitoring and supporting your children

No more one-size-fits-all curriculums and assessment frameworks – because development doesn’t look the same for all children.

Cherry Garden Branch Maps

Exclusive to Tapestry, this unique, child-centred SEND assessment tool was designed for children with learning differences and disabilities.

Developed at the Outstanding specialist school, Cherry Garden, it supports children working within 0–5 developmental stages, with a bridging framework into National Curriculum expectations. Track small steps of progress, grow each child’s interactive ‘orchard’, and engage families in celebrating learning.

Discover the Cherry Garden Branch Maps

Your children – your curriculum

Whatever framework you follow, Tapestry adapts to you.

Design, upload and integrate your own curriculum, monitor progress against your tailored goals, and create reports that reflect your setting’s ethos. Capture learning and reflect on development in a way that works for your children and your team.

Explore Bespoke Frameworks

The Department for Education SEND Assessment Guidance

A child-focused, strengths-based approach to assessing children’s needs, supporting practitioners to create provision that is truly fit for purpose.

Developed by the Department for Education in collaboration with Dingley’s Promise, and built around the four broad areas of need in the SEND Code of Practice. You can also integrate this SEND assessment guidance directly within your Tapestry account.

Dingley's Promise for Tapestry

Need help?

Stephen Kilgour, Tapestry’s SEND Advisor and Outreach Teacher, helped develop the successful SEND assessment framework Cherry Garden Branch Maps. Stephen now provides free support to mainstream and specialist settings and schools wanting to develop their SEND provision.

You can contact him at stephen@tapestry.net.

Photograph of Tapestry's SEND Advisor, Stephen Kilgour

Build strong partnerships with parents and carers

There isn’t a bigger champion to children’s learning and development than families at home. Connection and engagement with them is crucial to the provision you offer their children, and to the support you offer parents themselves.

Keeping parents close

Help families feel reassured, confident and informed while their child is with you.

Share the children’s online journals with parents and carers instantly.

Say goodbye to lost letters and hello to digital memos, accessible whenever, wherever.
In-app secure and instant messaging – support transitions and everyday discussions.
Keep families up to date with daily care logs, accidents, incidents and medication, with digital sign-off so parents can approve forms from their own device, and dedicated reports to help you spot patterns and support safeguarding.
Mobile phone showing a conversation between a teacher and a parent using Tapestry Messaging.
Mobile showing an observation about a child baking at home with their parent, overlayed by an illustration of that parent and their child.

Supporting parents at home

Extend your provision from classroom to living room and keep supporting parents and children even after home time.

Design and enable fun learning at home.
Encourage parents to create their own observations to share what children can do in the comfort and security of their home environment.
Create a fuller picture of each child’s personality, interests and development.

Reflect on your provision

Empower yourself and your staff with the ability to reflect on their provision and ensure you are delivering the highest quality teaching and learning with our purpose-built reflective practice area.

Record and organise reflections on your practice.

Link insights to individual children or areas for development.

Build a timeline by linking observations and activities, supported by reflections.

Collaborate with colleagues and evaluate your impact over time.

Illustration of a child sitting with their parents, looking at the Cherry Garden orchard on Tapestry
Corey's Farm case study

Tapestry at Corey's Farm

See how Corey’s Farm uses Tapestry to keep families close, streamline communication, and connect the wider team of professionals supporting each child.

Read their story

Have you heard about Tapestry’s printed journals?

Parents and carers of children at your school or setting can have their children’s Tapestry journals professionally printed! We’ve teamed up with publisher Group Hugs to create these beautiful keepsakes.

Discover Printed Journals
One of Tapestry's printed journals

The most child-centred SEND assessment tools for mainstream and special provision

Whether you are working one-to-one with one child or with a whole class, we’re here to help you deliver high-quality, child-centred SEND provision that celebrates individual learning and development. All features. One subscription.

Selection of devices showing Tapestry, and a photo of a Nursery practitioner with two children.

Try Tapestry for free

Start your Tapestry free trial now to discover how all our award-winning features can reduce your workload, deliver tailored provision for each and every one of your children and effectively engage families in the process.

Get started with Tapestry
The Department for Education SEND Assessment Guidance

SEND assessment guidance and resources have been released by the Department for Education (DfE) to support those working in the EYFS. The guidance has been written in collaboration with the well-respected Dingley’s Promise and aims to support ‘a strengths based approach to assessing children’s needs’.

We have created a CSV that can be uploaded to Tapestry via our Bespoke Frameworks feature, so that you can easily integrate the SEND assessment guidance in your Tapestry account:

Download the CSV file
Guide to uploading the CSV file to Tapestry
Learn more about the DfE SEND Guidance on Tapestry
D of E Logo (SEND Guidance)

Using the Care Diary

Give parents a clear picture of their child’s day, from feeding and napping to accidents, incidents and medication. Log everything in one place, let parents sign off forms digitally from their own device, and use dedicated reports to spot patterns and support safeguarding.
Device showing the Care Diary modal for a child on Tapestry

Tapestry CPD

Tapestry CPD offers high-quality, flexible professional development for your team. Created in-house in collaboration with sector experts, courses cover a variety of topics from child development, to getting the most from Tapestry.

Certificates are available on completion, and everything is included as part of a Tapestry subscription.

Screenshot of Tapestry's CPD homepage, with an illustration of an educator at a laptop.

An example Reflection

The Early Years manager at Tapestry Primary School, Gabriel, has noticed issues with storing objects for loose parts play. He adds his thoughts to Tapestry as a reflection, and outlines what he hopes to achieve.

An illustration of an Early Years manager, Gabriel, adding a reflection to Tapestry.

His co-manager, Jules, thinks it would be great to get the children’s families involved, and comments on the reflection to say she’ll speak to the Head about sending out a letter to parents.

Comments from staff members on a Tapestry reflection.

Staff member Katie reports that after the letter is sent out, several parents have brought in some excellent repurposed items to use for Gabriel’s idea.

Tapestry Reflections are designed to be returned to as many times as needed – Gabriel, Katie and Jules can keep adding comments, and report on the impact once everything has come together!

Tapestry Reflections

The Reflections area of Tapestry is a structured, staff-only space for understanding the impact of your provision. You can add individual reflections to record thoughts about specific children, your practice, or even procedures within your setting. Capture notes individually or collaborate as a team to share insights, highlight strengths, and plan meaningful next steps for children and your school or setting.

Reflection talking about purchasing diverse and inclusive books for a setting, with comments from staff members agreeing and making suggestions.

Using Documents

Tapestry’s Documents feature gives you a secure, central space to store and share important files with families and staff. Whether it’s policies, forms, or helpful resources, everything is easy to organise and access when needed.

You can control who sees each document, with built-in virus scanning for added peace of mind.

Screenshot of Tapestry's Documents feature, showing the files and folders that can be used to organise documents.

Unlimited Media

Tapestry allows you to upload unlimited photos, videos, documents, and audio, making it easy to capture and share children’s learning in ways that feel natural and meaningful. Visual media helps bring observations to life, supporting understanding for all families, regardless of language or confidence with written communication.

With no limits, you can focus on what matters most – the moments themselves.

Device showing the media picker on Tapestry, showcasing the different media types you can add to Tapestry via the app.

By encouraging Family Observations

Tapestry allows relatives to add their own observations from home, helping you build a fuller picture of each child’s development. These moments offer valuable insight into a child’s interests, experiences, and achievements beyond the setting.

By involving families, you can create a more connected and meaningful view of each child’s learning.

Device showing an observation being uploaded by a family member on Tapestry.

Using Reports

With Tapestry’s Reports feature, you can choose from a range of ready-made templates or design your own using a flexible editor. This makes it easy to create reports that reflect your approach and your school or setting’s needs.

Reports can be shared with families, helping you communicate each child’s progress, development, and next steps clearly.

Screenshots of a report written on Tapestry, about a child's transition between age groups.

Using Messaging

Tapestry’s Messaging feature makes it easy to communicate directly with relatives in a secure, familiar environment. Whether it’s a quick update before the day begins or a follow-up afterwards, conversations stay clear, private, and easy to manage.

Device showing a messaging conversation with a parent on Tapestry.

Using Activities

With Tapestry’s Activities feature, staff can share ideas for learning at home, helping families stay connected to their child’s development. Activities can be simple, flexible, and easy to fit into everyday routines, making it easier for parents and carers to get involved.

Families can also respond with their own observations, supporting a more complete view of each child’s journey.

Device showing an activity linked to an observation.

Using Memos

Tapestry’s Memos feature allows staff to send messages to groups of relatives, making it easy to share announcements, reminders, and important updates in one place. Staff can even use Memos to introduce themselves to families before a child’s first day, helping everyone feel familiar and prepared ahead of the transition. Everything stays within Tapestry, helping communication remain clear, consistent, and easy to access.
Mobile device showing a Memo uploaded by a teacher, introducing himself to children and their families who are starting in his class soon.

Using Messaging

Tapestry’s Messaging feature allows you to communicate directly with individual staff members or relatives, keeping conversations private, secure, and easy to follow. It’s ideal for sharing updates, asking questions, or having more personal conversations about a child’s day.

Device showing a messaging conversation on Tapestry.

Using the Admin Toolkit

As part of Tapestry’s Admin Toolkit, you can transfer child profiles, together with their connected relatives, between Tapestry accounts. This ensures their learning journey continues smoothly, even as they move settings.

Alongside this, you can customise your account, schedule posts in advance, add unlimited staff and relatives, store unlimited data, and tailor notification settings to suit your team.

Photo of a laptop showing the modal for transferring children open.

Bring it all together

Each part of Tapestry strengthens the next. Use Memos to share reminders or keep everyone aligned for the week ahead. Follow up with Direct Messaging when a parent needs reassurance, a quick clarification, or a more personal conversation. Set Activities to extend learning beyond the classroom – whether it’s practising spellings, noticing maths in the real world, or encouraging creative thinking at home.
Laptop showing the Tapestry main login screen, surrounded by the icons for Observations, Assessments, Reflections, Care Diary, Management System, Invoicing, Activities and Memos.
Together, they keep communication clear, learning connected, and families involved in the everyday life of your classroom.

Bring it all together

Each feature on Tapestry supports the next. Observations capture the everyday moments of learning, with flags helping you highlight what matters as you go. If a child needs extra support, the Areas of Concern screen brings those flagged moments together so you can see everything in one place and from there, Reflections help you plan and record the actions you want to take.

Laptop showing the Tapestry main login screen, surrounded by the icons for Observations, Assessments, Reflections, Care Diary, Management System, Invoicing, Activities and Memos.

Together, they help you celebrate the small moments, notice emerging needs, and plan thoughtful support for every child.

Using Bespoke Frameworks

Build your own curriculum using a CSV file, ready to import into Tapestry. You can create your own areas, aspects, statements and scales, organise them into a structure that suits your setting, and assess against them in observations.

screenshot of importing a bespoke framework onto Tapestry.

Using Flags

Flags allow you to label an observation with specific points of reference, such as the EYFS areas, celebrations, or custom flags you have created. Once applied, these flags can be viewed and filtered for a specific child, or the whole setting, helping you quickly locate relevant observations.

Photo of a child with their educational practitioner, painting together in the classroom. Different Tapestry flags surround the photo, showing the areas of learning and celebrations tagged in the observation.

Using the Areas of Concern Screen

The Areas of Concern screen gives you one place to note where a child may need more support across the EYFS areas. Any observations you’ve flagged in those areas appear here automatically, making it easy to look back at what you’ve seen and what it relates to. You can also start reflections from this screen, helping you keep track of the support you’re planning, 

Screenshot of Tapestry's Areas of Concerns screen, with comments from a reflection that staff have started about a child.

Using Reflections

Use structured staff-only reflections to understand the impact of your provision. Make notes for yourself, or work as a team to share insights, highlight strengths, and plan meaningful next steps for children, or for your setting as a whole.

Reflection talking about purchasing diverse and inclusive books for a setting, with comments from staff members agreeing and making suggestions.

Using Tapestry’s Monitoring tools

Whether you’re using EYFS flags, working with specific frameworks, or building your own curriculum, Tapestry keeps everything in one place. Our monitoring screens give you a clear, holistic picture so you can celebrate strengths and plan for what comes next.

Selection of Tapestry's monitoring tools

Using Observations

Tapestry’s Observations feature allows you to capture photos, videos, notes, and audio in the moment. Add area flags and assessments, link other observations and activities, and build each child’s journal — then share updates with families with a single tap.

Device showing the observations list on Tapestry.