Flying Gulls Nursery
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Policy
Our SENCO Jane Whaley undertakes a three year SENCO refresher course or sooner. Jane Has started a level 3 SENCO qualification which she is attending each week. She attends training in relation to specific needs i.e. autism training or speech and language and attends regular cluster meetings to share approaches and ideas. She assists the key person of SEND children to access training to support any children they are caring for.
Aims and objectives:
At Flying Gulls Nursery we aim to identify any difficulties a child may have and work with parents/carers to address those difficulties. When a parent/carer first makes contact with the Nursery, we will try to ascertain if a child has any SEND, we will then work with them and any outside agencies they may have contact with to ensure that the child has a smooth transition in to nursery, this may include staff making home visits and/or the child attending a taster session to get to know the staff and the environment. In certain circumstances children may require additional resources or additional support, if this is the case the designated SENCO should be able to help with this.
We recognise the importance of early identification of any difficulties a child may have.
We aim to provide a learning environment where all children have their needs catered for and children with special educational needs are able to participate fully within the group. We will offer differentiated activities to ensure that all are stimulated and inspired during the session.
We will provide High quality provision to meet the needs of children and young people with SEN.
All staff will liaise with the SENCO Lead Jane Whaley and the child’s parents or carers on setting appropriate targets for individual children.
We believe that working in partnership with parents will enable us to provide the best environment for the child to feel valued, happy and secure. We will learn from and build upon the specific knowledge and expertise of the parents/carers regarding any special care for their child.
All children within the group are observed and monitored as they take part in activities. If a member of staff feels that a child may have a specific need they will liaise with the child’s key worker and the nursery SENCO lead will discuss this with the child’s parents/carers or a member of staff in the first instance.
We will ask parent/carers for their permission to seek support from other education and other health care professionals to ensure that we offer effective provision for children with needs.
Our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator is Jane Whaley and her support is Michelle Hickey.
The role of the SENCO involves ensuring all practitioners in the setting understand their responsibilities to children with SEN and the setting's approach to identifying and meeting SEND Code of practice. The role also includes: Advising and supporting colleagues.
The SENCO lead will:
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Be familiar with the Special Educational Needs – Code of Practice
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Ensure that the objectives of the SEN policy are reflected in our group’s day to day practice.
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Ensuring that relevant background information about children with special needs is collected, recorded and updated.
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To ensure that all staff understand and are familiar with the SEN practice as laid out in the following policy.
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Ensuring staff all receive appropriate SEN training.
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Monitoring the SEN policy and setting dates for its evaluation and review.
Admission Arrangements for Children with SEN
Our admissions policy is that all children are welcome into our Nursery if there are spaces available. If there are no spaces children would be placed on our waiting list until a space becomes available.
If we are aware that a child has a special need before they join the group, we will arrange for our
SENCO Lead to discuss the child’s needs with their parents/carers. This will help the Nursery to provide the most effective early years education. We liaise with the parents to ensure that, where possible, any additional equipment, staff or alterations to the premises can be organised before the child attends Nursery.
Our premises have wheelchair access to the main playgroup via the back garden.
Specialist facilities and staffing
Our SENCO has gained a lot of experience in working with children with a range of disabilities and Special needs. All Staff at Flying Gulls Nursery will have some form of SEN training which will be keep up to date. They have attended many courses on a variety of disorders and will continue to access training as it becomes available. We have wheelchair access to the Nursery and with the room being all on one level, which provides accessibility to all areas and a range of equipment and resources that will enable children to develop to their full potential.
”The setting will have due regard for the disability discrimination act and will look into seeking funding to make reasonable adjustments as appropriate.”
Resources we provide for children with SEN
Our staff will work together with our SENCO to involve children with SEN in the range of activities we provide. Our group session plans include differentiated resources to enable children aged between 1-5 and 5 years to work towards the Early years foundation stage statutory framework. These activities can be adapted to suit individual children as appropriate. If we need specific pieces of equipment, discussions will take place with parents to help us meet individual needs.
Identification Assessment and Review of Children with SEN
We have regard for the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 0-25 (January 2015).
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Graduated Response
If a member of staff or parent is concerned about a child’s progress generally, or in a specific aspect of learning we would discuss different approaches to his/her learning with our SENCO/and key worker.
We will monitor the child’s progress and discuss any concerns we have with the child’s parents/carers. These observations will decide on the best way to address and monitor the concern. We will plan ways in which parents and carers can also support their child’s progress at home.
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Early Years Action
If we are still concerned about a child’s progress after implementing these measures we will set specific targets for the child in a written Individual Educational Plan (IEP). This IEP would be drawn up with the SENCO Lead, Key worker of the child and the child’s parents/carers to ensure that parents/carers contribute their knowledge and understanding of their child and raise any concerns they may have about their child’s needs and the provision that is being made for them. We will also arrange for the provision of additional resources and equipment to help a child work towards the targets set out in the IEP. We will arrange a review date to discuss the child’s progress on the IEP with the parents. If we still feel that the child is not making adequate progress we would decide with the parents/carers the next stage of action.
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Early Years Action next step
Our SENCO will seek written permission from parents/carers to involve outside professionals to help us write a revised IEP. We will then follow the same procedures as Early Years Action.
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Statutory Assessment
If the help we provide through Early Years Action nest step is not effective in enabling the child to progress satisfactorily we will discuss the possibility of the child having a Statement of Special Educational Needs with the child’s parents/carers and Education professionals. We will look at the information we have recorded with professionals and decides whether to assess the child. We will continue to carry out IEP’S and reviews with the relevant professionals.
For example be may involve one or more of the following: Early years support workers, educational psychologists, specialist health visitors and speech and language therapists.
The SENCO will liaise with outside agencies to draw up strategies during an EY inclusion/review meeting.
The SENCO will organise review meetings with any involved outside agencies, parents/carers and key persons to monitor and evaluate progress.
If a child has not made expected progress after initial support has been put in place, the nursery will consider requesting an Education, Health and Care needs assessment.
We plan our Early Years Curriculum (with access to the foundation stage).
To include children with SEN as follows:
Our long, medium and short term planning takes account of a range of special educational needs. We note any alternative approaches or strategies used for learning. We plan, assess, Do, Review.
Individual progress in relation to the curriculum by use of my learning journey booklet on Tapestry and will kept a file on each child with SEN.
These are reviewed regularly and individual targets are set for all children. As a result of these reviews all staff are made aware of children’s targets and are partners in recording progress through the EYFS (Early years foundation stage statutory framework).
To ensure that our practice reflects and supports each child’s needs we monitor and evaluate our curriculum as part of our planning for each half term. We welcome feedback from parents/carers and professionals and try to incorporate improvements in future plans. We also review curriculum with the children to ensure we are delivering High quality learning in the most appropriate way.
We endeavour to provide an inclusive environment by:
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Making sure that our medium and short term planning and continuous provision also contain approaches and activities for ensuring the progress of these children who have SEND.
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Differentiate our activities so they are achievable by all children and that all children experience success and gain confidence.
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Adapting our materials and teaching styles to deliver our learning including drawing up risk assessments for individual children if necessary.
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Monitoring how each child with SEND learns, through the key person approach.
Transition of children with SEND
SEN support should include planning and preparing for a child’s transition to another school or setting. This may be a review of the support given to a child at the nursery or an EHC plan. To support the transition, the pre-school will share information with the reception class teacher of the chosen school, with parents’ permission being sought before this will happen.
Being next to the school we find that transition has been a smooth and successful transition so far.
Complaints procedure
Any complaints about SEND provision should be made to the SENCO initially, who will then report back within a week. If the matter has not been resolved a next point of contact will be given to the parent who will be OFSTED.
How we support Looked after Children
Our named co-coordinators for “Children in Care” ARE Jane Whaley and Michelle Hickey and they will liaise with the relevant authorities as required.
Our learning environment provides the following opportunities for all children to be included in the setting as a whole:
Our Nursery area is built on one level. We have 2 toilets suitable for young children. We have a range of equipment and resources that can be used to promote learning for children with SEN. We will purchase additional items as necessary to meet individual. If a child has a different communication system we will try to provide appropriate training for staff. We play activities inside and out, and are planned to include all children.
We monitor and evaluate our SEN policy as follows:
Our SENCO will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating our SEN policy. We will review the policy on an annual basis and the next date for review will be 16/09/2020
We will monitor and evaluate the way in which we identify children with SEN, and how we use our observation and assessment process. We will monitor the efficiency of our record keeping and how well children are working towards their individual goals. We will monitor the delivery of the curriculum and provide High quality learning and ensure access to a broad range of experiences and learning activities. We keep parents informed and involved in the provisions we make for their children, and we welcome their views on its effectiveness. Our staffs have regular meetings to discuss children’s progress, assessment and planning and the early identification of a child who may have an SEN.
This policy was adopted by Flying Gulls Nursery
Signed on behalf of the nursery:
Name ………………………….........................Role……………….........................................
Guidance and publications:
Early years: Guide to the 0 to 25 Send code of practice (DfE 2014)
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of practice 0 – 25 years (DfE 2014)
Equality Act 2010
Children and Families Act 2014