What counts as evidence

Keeping records is only half the job. The other half is keeping the right records, because not all evidence carries the same weight. Strong evidence is what turns a worry into a point that a SENCO, a panel, or a tribunal has to take seriously. The good news is that good evidence is mostly a habit, not a talent.

Three things make evidence strong. First, it is dated. A note written the same day carries far more weight than memory, because it was recorded before anyone had reason to remember it a particular way. Second, it is specific. “He was distressed after school three times this week, on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, for around an hour each time” beats “he’s been struggling lately”. Third, it comes from the right people: you, the school, and qualified professionals, each describing what they actually saw or did.

This is why a daily record is so valuable. You cannot recreate six months of specific, dated examples the night before a meeting. But if you have jotted down a line whenever something happened, what went well, what went wrong, where support was missed, any new difficulty, you arrive with a body of evidence that simply did not exist before. Pair that with the after-meeting emails from the last lesson, and you have a timeline that is hard to argue with.

When you re-read your child’s plan, use the same lens. For each piece of provision in Section F, ask: is this actually happening as written? If the plan says a set number of sessions and your child is getting fewer, your dated notes turn that into a concrete, evidenced point, not just a feeling that something is off.

This is exactly the kind of record-keeping Jotla is built for: a quick, dated note at the moment something happens, kept on your own device, ready to become evidence when you need it. It is free to start, with no ads, ever.

This guide covers the law in England; the principles of good evidence apply wherever you are, but check your nation’s process if you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.