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All children are special; however we appreciate and acknowledge that some children may require additional help and support. This may be due to a medical condition, speech and communication difficulties or a specific diagnosis.
Inclusion of children with special needs relies on full discussion with the child’s parents to ensure the child’s needs are fully met. We believe that all children are entitled to an education that enables them to achieve the best possible educational outcome and that they become confident young children with a growing ability to communicate their own views and are ready to make the transition to compulsory education. In order to achieve this we work in close partnership with parents and other professionals to provide an approach that meets children's needs. Detailed records are kept about each child in our care and are available to parents upon request.
We have a named Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO).
All children will be allocated a key person whose role is to:
Learn about children's individual learning styles and stages of development
Become familiar with children's preferences and choices
Identify any key issues with a child's learning, development and wellbeing
Discuss key concerns with the parents and take their views into account
Offer suitable advice and support to parents and other key staff
Implement the Assess, Plan, Do, Review process by liaising and planning appropriate action with the SENCO and other key staff
Help plan suitable interventions with other staff, SENCO and parents
Help implement support in the Pre-school, advising and supporting parents with activities at home.
The specific responsibilities of the SENCO are:
Ensure all practitioners in our setting understand their responsibilities to children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and our approach to identifying and meeting the needs of children with SEND
Advise and support colleagues
Ensure parents are closely involved throughout and that their insights inform actions taken by practitioners working with the child with SEND.
We have arrangements in place to support children with SEND following the graduated approach of assess, plan, do, review as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 and SEND code of practice 2014 (SEN Support). The Code of Practice is designed to help settings to make effective decisions in accordance with each child’s needs.
PLAN - Parents will be notified if it is felt that a child has SEND and we will work in cooperation with parents to plan interventions through a SEND action plan. The action plan will include agreed targets, desired outcomes, relevant interventions and support and will be regularly reviewed with the parents.
DO - The child's key person will implement the agreed interventions within Pre-school and, in conjunction with the SENCO, give guidance to the parents on how they could support their children at home.
REVIEW - We will review the action plans regularly with the parents in order to monitor progress and to make appropriate adjustments or set new outcomes.
Sometimes, despite the interventions implemented on the action plan, the child may not be making sufficient progress. The SENCO, in agreement with the parents, will make a referral to the Child Development Centre, Margaret Wells Furby to obtain further advice and support and refer to other agencies where appropriate to meet the needs of the child.
Our group has a commitment to special educational needs training for all our staff, as and when it is required. Additional resources will be purchased or borrowed if required.
Policy reviewed: January 2020
Next review: January 2021
