Making the IEP accessible through SharePoint

Traditionally, IEPs are printed documents used by the class teacher to guide planning and to reflect on student progress. They are reviewed on a term by term basis, usually through a case meeting involving all relevant stakeholders.

One difficulty in a high school is successfully creating and sharing an IEP with relevant staff members. Generally, the class / core teacher has access to the IEP and distributes it to specialist class teachers. Because of its personal and individual nature, the IEP document is then stored in a safe, private place. This may result in the IEP being infrequently referred to or forgotten. 

The impetus for creating a SharePoint site at the school was the opportunity to share the valuable information in a student’s IEP with relevant staff members in a secure format that could have suggestions, comments and adaptations made to it on a daily basis.

Regular responses from specialist teachers would provide the class / core teacher with the opportunity to track progress and look for patterns in the student’s behaviour. This would create a more holistic approach to the IEP and encourage a greater collaborative team effort in catering for the student’s needs. The opportunity to share successful strategies and difficulties could be done quickly on the computer without having to contact teachers directly or organise face-to-face meetings.

The Wynyard High School (WHS) SharePoint is a protected site. It is not available to view unless individuals are added to the shared viewers list by the owner of the site. A link to the site is located on the Wynyard High School Intranet home page.