Effortless teacher reporting
After a short familiarisation period, trained staff can complete most routine reports in less than 15 seconds, with rarer longer reports keeping the average below 30 seconds.
UKRI / Innovate UK Contracts for Innovation
EII Sentinel — seeking one UK design partner
The Education Improvement Institute is preparing an application to the programme Earlier identification of UK children with SEN. We are looking for one school, nursery, kindergarten, or early years setting to co-design and pilot EII Sentinel — with staff time paid through UKRI funding if the application is successful.
In a nutshell
Earlier SEN spotting starts with reporting that teachers can actually do in the moment.
Early identification of SEN is crucial, yet schools and early age settings still miss too many early signals because reporting is slow, fragmented, or left until later. EII Sentinel is designed to make every small concern easier to capture, inspect, and connect.
Our usability target is that proficient, trained staff complete routine reports in less than 15 seconds, with rarer longer reports keeping the average below 30 seconds per report.
Human-led SENCO triage
A clear queue, audit trail, and professional judgement at every step. Nothing auto-labels a child as having SEN.
Better picture of each pupil
More consistent reporting gives staff a clearer, earlier picture of pupils' needs, strengths, patterns, and possible signals that deserve further inspection.
High-volume efficiency
When several students need to be reported on a similar matter, reusable reporting patterns make the time saving especially large.
Parallel to existing systems
No existing OS, MIS, forms, or statutory reporting route is replaced. Sentinel adapts to the school's setting, database, and storage locations for each report type.
Interface preview
What the workflow looks like
Representative preview from the EII Sentinel prototype — teacher reporting, SENCO triage, and the growing strengths and needs record.
Report a concern
Target: most reports under 15 seconds once familiar
BehaviourLiteracyWellbeing
Submit concern
Triage queue
- Year 4 · reading gapNew
- Year 7 · attendanceReview
- Year 9 · SEMH noteLogged
Strengths & needs record
Teacher concern logged — literacy support discussed with parent.
SENCO triage: classroom strategies agreed; no label applied.
Review checkpoint — progress noted; next steps assigned.
Partner materials
Review the partnership offer
The deck and one-page summary explain the proposed UKRI-funded collaboration, the reporting workflow, and the safeguards around data, AI, governance, and school control.
Presentation deck
Designed for headteacher, SENCO, inclusion lead, governor, and early years leadership review. The preview below embeds the current presentation slides directly on this page.
One-page summary
- We are looking for a partner for the UKRI / Innovate UK Contracts for Innovation programme Earlier identification of UK children with SEN.
- If funded, the design partner's work is paid by UKRI through the project budget rather than treated as volunteer research participation.
- EII Sentinel runs in parallel with the school's existing systems and adapts to current reporting routes, databases, and storage locations.
- Swift, hassle-free reporting should increase reporting during lessons and across school premises, giving staff earlier signals to inspect further.
- Human-led triage, GDPR alignment, EU AI Act awareness, Ofsted / ILACS expectations, and voluntary voice-to-text calibration are built into the pilot design.
Paid
Staff time
SENCO, teacher, and relevant early years staff time through the UKRI-funded project if awarded.
12 mo
R&D pilot
Co-design and term-time pilot with milestone reviews through the Contracts for Innovation challenge.
1
UK partner
One school, nursery, kindergarten, or early years setting with engaged leadership.
Who should get in touch
Maintained, academy, or independent schools in the UK, plus nurseries, kindergartens, and early years settings with leadership support for a focused pilot cohort. MAT central teams are welcome to nominate a lead school.
- SENCO or inclusion lead willing to co-design triage workflows.
- Teachers open to building fast, consistent reporting habits across the school day.
- Leadership interested in using stronger reporting habits to improve student discipline, spot SEN needs earlier, and surface other alarming matters before they escalate.
- Safeguarding and data protection processes ready for a structured pilot.
Partnerships and programmes
Collaborative projects for future-ready learning
EII works with educators, NGOs, schools and public partners to design programmes that combine learning impact with responsible implementation.
ESA Astro-Pi and Mission Space Lab
International STEM learning connected to coding, data analysis and space science.
LIBRE curriculum ThinkTank
Collaborative curriculum discussion and education improvement activity across multiple years.
Educators for Educators
Active teacher collaboration, professional exchange and peer-led education development.
AI readiness pilots
Emerging work with schools and education leaders on responsible AI adoption and governance.
Built for review, partnership and scale
Project work is structured around learner outcomes, educator capability, governance and transparent evidence.
- Clear programme logic and delivery responsibilities.
- Evidence packs suitable for partners, funders and boards.
- Safeguarding and privacy posture considered from the start.
Next step
Interested in becoming our design partner?
Contact Sean McDonnell, Chief Operating Officer, for a confidential conversation about scope, timelines, and the paid design partner role.