You can read Suffolk County Council's statement on our website.
![Councillor Peter Gould](/image-library/peter-gould-ws-hr-1.xb6cb8b20.jpg?width=470&height=256&fit=crop&quality=75&format=webp)
You can read Suffolk County Council's statement on our website.
The AANT allows colleagues from all kinds of educational settings to take part in a rapid, evidence-based, video consultation process with an educational psychologist (EP). The aim is to help educational professionals understand their learners’ needs and find new ways of supporting them, based on what is already known about them. Consultees receive a concise, solution-focused report containing the practical next steps and ideas that were discussed. The AANT works for learners aged 0-25.
Feedback shows that educational professionals from a wide range of settings value the rich, focused discussion that this framework allows. The AANT is a person-centred, efficient, and supports both early intervention and identification of needs, and unpicking of more complex situations.
To find out more, choose the drop-down menu below that matches your role.
An AANT is an opportunity to work collaboratively with an educational and child psychologist (EP) to explore and discuss a learner’s strengths and needs. There are several stages to the process.
1. You (and/or colleagues who know the learner well) fill in a comprehensive online questionnaire, which asks about:
2. The learner’s parent/carer gives permission for the AANT to take place and are invited to add their views. This is all done digitally, so no paper forms or meetings are needed.
3. An EP contacts you quickly to arrange an online video consultation. This meeting is a professionals meeting attended by yourselves and the EP only. The consultation lasts around 45 minutes, and involves in-depth discussion of the learner’s needs, and possible next steps for supporting them, based on the information you have provided.
4. After the consultation, there is a report for you to download, containing a concise summary of your discussion, and links to resources.
Settings in Suffolk (including information on current costs) - Email: aantsupport@suffolk.gov.uk
Settings in other local authorities – contact your Educational Psychology service.
Watch this video about AANT feedback
"The consultations have been informative, professional, with really good two-way discussion, and extremely helpful. Would I use it again? Absolutely. I would highly recommend it to anyone." – primary school SENDCo
"It may be a concern that the child isn't actually observed during the process, however we found that a positive. It means that the parents would worry less, and we get a better idea of a child’s behaviour because it is not based around one observation, it’s based around a selection of observations." – Early Years setting key worker
"The consultations have been informative, professional, with really good two-way discussion, and extremely helpful. Would I use it again? Absolutely. I would highly recommend it to anyone." – secondary school SENDCo
Unsure if an AANT is what you need for a particular learner? This information may help you decide.
For an accessible version of the presentation, please view our PDF (624KB).
If you are an early years setting requesting an AANT, please visit the early years AANT page on Suffolk Learning.
EPs are introduced to the AANT platform and practise AANT consultations using a fully functional training site.
They are then assigned individual AANTs, via automated email, by their Lead EPs.
Each AANT contains a wealth of information from the consultee across:
The EP can begin hypothesising and formulating questions immediately, making notes on the website to use during the consultation.
Within agreed timescales, EPs arrange a 45-minute, online video consultation with the consultee. The EP can screen-share parts of the AANT and other useful resources/websites during the consultation.
Immediately following consultation, the EP completes a concise summary report on the website, listing points of discussion and the next steps their consultee has agreed. When complete, this is available for the consultee to view and download.
Local authorities can purchase a licence granting:
To discuss bringing AANT to your service, contact Claire.Darwin@suffolk.gov.uk
"I really like the opportunity for pure consultation. The fact that the consultee has filled in detailed information about the young person means that they have had time to think about them in detail which makes for a more focused consultation."
"You are in the advantageous position of having a richness of details about a child’s strengths and needs, parental and school concerns, allowing you to form hypotheses prior to the consultation and focus on key topics from the very beginning."
"I was surprised at just how productive these consultations can be. In a short amount of time, there is space for reflection, hypothesising, thinking about next steps and planning."
"It is a very satisfying process. Simple, discrete, and nice to have a piece of work that can be turned around so quickly."
"It has helped reconnect with the importance of consultation, with other parts of the process (referral, forms, report writing, diary management) being less of a distracting factor."
An AANT allows a member of staff from your child/young person’s education setting to talk to an educational psychologist (EP) about your child. The EP meets with the member of staff online. They write a short report afterwards to help the setting plan next steps to support your child/young person.
No, an EP does not visit the setting or work with your child/young person during an AANT. Instead, they work with an adult from the setting who knows them well.
An AANT can:
Click here for more information about the AANT (PDF, 130KB).
Feedback from commissioners and settings in Suffolk suggests that the AANT has been effective in stabilising school placements for pupils where alternative or specialist provision is being considered. For vulnerable pupils such as looked after children, the AANT has been part of supporting the maintenance of both school and care placements.
The AANT highlights analytical patterns and recurring themes in the broader pupil population. This allows for resources to be directed more efficiently towards areas of greater need. For example, AANTs in Suffolk frequently highlighted sleep as an area of difficulty for children and young people - impacting across development. In response, training and resources were developed to directly support settings and families with sleep.
When an individual setting uses the AANT repeatedly for different learners, it becomes possible to establish themes at a whole school level. This again allows for more effective targeting of resources, as well as the opportunity to make connections between settings which appear to have similar themes within their pupil population.
Claire Darwin (Principal Educational Psychologist, Suffolk Psychology and Therapeutic Services) has created the presentation video below, to provide a through overview of the AANT for potential commissioners.
View the AANT - online consultations between EPs and educational settings, supporting inclusion.
Find out more about how Suffolk County Council and IJYI worked together to help promote inclusive support for children and young people.
The AANT operates on a full cost recovery model, meaning that it is not-for-profit and income generated from licensing to other organisations is re-invested.