1.12 Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs

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1.12 Supporting children with special educational needs

Policy statement

At Play2Learn we offer an environment in which all children, including those with special educational needs, are supported to reach their full potential. We ensure our provision is inclusive to all children with special educational needs.

§  We have regard for the Dfe and DoH Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 0-25 years 2014.

§  We also have regard to the DfE Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundations Stage (2017) (EYFS) and the Equality Act 2010.

§  We offer an education service to all children including those with SEN and/or disabilities through our inclusive admissions practice that ensures equality of access and opportunity. (see our admissions policy)

§  We are committed to working closely with parents/carers who are fully involved in all decisions that affect their child’s education.

§  We work in partnership with parents and other agencies in meeting individual children's needs.

§  We monitor and review our policy, practice and provision and, if necessary, make adjustments.

Curriculum:

·  All children have a right of full access to early year’s education through the Early Years Foundation Stage.

·  All children have the right to expect to learn in a caring and considerate environment where staff and the children are valued for their contributions.

·  We provide a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum for all children with special educational needs and disabilities.

·  We identify the specific needs of children with special educational needs and meet those needs through a range of SEN strategies.

EYFS key themes and commitments

Procedures

§  We designate a member of staff to be the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) and give her name to parents. Our setting based SENCO is:

Aisha Ghadialy

They have completed specific SENCO training and also attend relevant training to keep up to date on issues relating to inclusion and SEND.

Our SENCO:

·  Works closely with our Manger and other colleagues and has responsibility for the day to day operation of the SEN policy.

·  Coordinates provision for children with special educational needs within our setting.

·  Offers support for parents/carers

·  Supports staff development

·  Liaises with other agencies

·  Ensures records are kept

·  Assists staff in making observations and assessments

·  Assists staff in planning for children with SEN

·  Contacts the Early Intervention Team (EIT) at an early stage for informal advice and support

·  Our EIT teacher is Ranjeet Gidda and play specialist Melanie Parsons

§  We ensure that the provision for children with special educational needs is the responsibility of all members of the setting.

§  We ensure that our inclusive admissions practice embraces equality of access and opportunity.

§  Our admission form contains detailed questions specifically on special educational needs and disabilities so that additional need/support is identified as early as possible.

§  We encourage parents/carers of children with particular needs to approach our SENCO for more information and discuss how their child’s needs can be met.

§  For a child with complex needs (physical and/or medical) a risk assessment/care plan, additional training for staff and/or specialist equipment may be required before a start date at the nursery can be agrees (this can be read in conjunction with our Administering Medication Policy and Children with Allergies Procedures)

§  Inclusion funding is a means of enabling settings to provide early intervention and promote inclusion by offering additional funding to provide additional adult support for children identified with SEN and/or disabilities.

§  Application is discusses with parent/carers and made by the EIT advisor.

§  A SAU5 form will be completed with parental permission for a child who has additional needs that will require the support of more than one practitioner or agency. The SAU5 is used to identify early support needs for children who are at risk of under achieving in one or more areas outlined in the Every Child Matter (ECM) five outcomes. The key principle of the SAU5 is to empower families and so agreement must be obtained from parents/families.

§  The Manager/SENCO at the setting has attended SAU5 training.

Facilities:

·  The premises are easily accessible as the Nursery is all on one level with no stairs

·  There is a disabled toilet with handrail and alarm

·  Tables that can be raised or lowered

·  Outdoor area at one level.

·  Separate changing area for nappies or clothes

·  Shower room on one level

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Adaptions

·  Reasonable adjustments/adaptions will be made where appropriate in accordance with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010

Partnership with Parents

·  Parental knowledge is valued at the setting and information is exchanged from the moment and enquiry is made and then throughout the child’s time at the setting.

·  Information is shared in a variety of ways; written (registration forms, ISP targets, Meeting minutes and parental views), verbal (at regular intervals throughout the week by the key person/inclusion support worker and SENCO, over the telephone the parents can discuss matters on a daily basis informally), and records are shared at formal meetings and the EYlog system where observations and next steps are emailed regularly. Parents also have the opportunity to reply on EYlog with their observations and photographs.

·  Meetings take place in a quiet area where privacy can be respected either in the manager’s office or the quiet room.

·  Parents who have English as and additional language can be supported by members of the team who speak these languages or by friends who they are comfortable with sharing their child’s information with. If this is not possible then we will contact EIT to see if we can arrange a translator. Displays use many of the community languages and staff translate parent letters and information for parents.

·  Parents are contacted in a variety of ways both formal e.g. ISP meetings, transition meetings and parent meetings and informally on a daily basis to update on how their child is progressing. The Eylog system emails observations and planning to parents on a regular basis and children with additional adult support have a separate file for the ISP targets which are also shared regularly by email with the parents. In these emails suggestions can be made of how the parents/cares can help at home as well as allowing parents/cares to add their comments and observations.

·  We work closely with parents/carers of children with special educational needs to create and maintain a positive partnership.

·  We ensure that parents/carers are informed at all stages of the assessment, planning, provision and review of their child’s education.

·  We work in partnership with parents/carers and other agencies in meeting individual children’s needs.

·  We consult with parents/carers at every level of intervention.

·  We will explain procedures to parents/carers in order to develop a close working relationship.

·  We provide parents/carers with information on sources of independent advice and support e.g. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS)

Confidentiality

·  Children’s records are kept in named individual files in a locked filing cabinet in the office. The Individual Support folders are also kept in the office which is locked which congtain reports and ISP targets. The records sent on EYlog are only accessible to parents/carers with a password. (please refer to Information sharing and record keeping policy)

·  Staff have signed a confidentiality policy and are aware what they are able to share and when to share.

·  We will respect parent/carers rights to confidentiality when supporting children with special educational needs.

·  We will always discuss any possible referrals to other services with parents/carers to seek their agreement before we make such referrals.

·  All meetings with parents/carers other than normal parent staff contact with take place in private

·  All our staff are aware of any Individual Support Plan targets agreed for their child as they are likely to be involved in supporting that child. However, all staff are also aware that their knowledge of these targets is privileged information which should not be shared with anyone without the permission of either the nursery Manager, SENCO or parent/carer.

Staffing and Training

·  We are committed to training all the staff at the nursery to support children with SEN this is achieved by identifying training needs through observations and supervisions as well as appraisals. Once training is identified then staff are able to access the training provided by the London Borough of Hounslow, also internal training is provided by our SENCO which is also share with parents to support ISP targets. We are also supported by Melanie Parsons the borough play specialist who comes in to support strategies in the ISP targets for children with inclusion funding.

·  We also video (with parental consent) these strategies such as bucket time to support internal training for new staff or to upskill staff.

·  The setting SENCO has attended specific training on children with social communication difficulties, behaviour management, listening and attention and Makaton signing as well as singing hands.

·  The SEN team at the playgroup have many skills which include, bucket time, intensive interactions, social stories, special time, eye contact activities, early language development activities and listening and attention activities. The setting also follows positive interactions training to support children’s language development and uses Multi-Sensory Group Time (MSGT) to support children’s learning on a daily basis.

·  All new staff are inducted using the SEN Policy and Flow chart and all attend positive interactions training provided by Hounslow and receive internal training on MSGT. The SENCO supports them in understanding how to support children on the SEN register during the session and their individual targets which are displayed in the main play area.

·  We raise awareness of our specialisms on our profile on the Family Information Service website and also in our prospectus.

Curriculum, Resources and Learning Environment

·  We follow the EYFS (2017) for all children who attend the nursery and make adaptions or differentiate activities so all children are able to take part. We use cohort monitoring to divide children into groups for MSGT and Social Communication Groups using the ECAT screening form (Let’s talk together). Activities during the day have adaptions such as using tools to take part in messy activities for those children who do not like to get dirty, the language that is used to support each child and the amount of adult support required. For threading activities we have different types of threading from vary large pieces to small pieces of string with pasta.

·  We have a quiet room where we have specialist resources to meet children’s needs such as, Box full of Feelings, Playing and Learning to Socialise (PALS), bucket time resources of motivating toys, sensory toys, light up toys, large gym balls for gross motor movement, balance chairs and seats, fine motor skills development (peg toys, Velcro), sensory tactile books, posting activities, speech and language screening box. Story sacks and rhyme time bags with props and resources. We also have board maker to print out own signs for visual timetables and PECS.

·  We provide resources (human and financial) to implement our SEN Policy.

Identification and Assessment

The graduated response:

This approach to identifying and supporting children with SEN is known as the graduated response and consists of:

Assess:

Using the initial observations and information provided by parents and other professionals to track children’s progress using development matters and early years outcomes.

Plan:

Using the Individual Support Plans as described below and state whether the child is at SEN Support, Statutory Assessment Request or Education and Health Care Plan.

Do:

Working with the child to achieve the targets on a daily basis with the SENCO overseeing progress.

Review:

SENCO organises meetings with parents and other professionals to review progress as described below.

How we identify children:

It is vital that we identify children who may need additional support as early as possible so we can put strategies in place to support them and their families. We have a clear approach to identify and meet the needs of children with SEN (See flow chart) which allows us to respond at the earliest point. These are the procedures we have in place.

·  Registration forms that ask questions about the child’s development so we can identify and support the child before they start at the nursery (if the parent is aware). This will enable us to make reasonable adjustments before they start including training.

·  We receive referral from other agencies e.g. the hearing impairment team, portage and health again this enables us to be prepared before the child starts

·  Initial observations when the child starts and tracking against the EYFS using the EYlog. Speaking to parents and gaining additional information e.g. is it speech and language delay or English as an additional language. These conversations are recorded in the child’s learning journal.

·  After speaking to parents targeted actions are put in place (Individual Support Plans) e.g. eye contact games, sharing and turn taking activities, lotto and posting games. (see SEN folder of activities). These are set up with the parents so they can help to support at home.

·  This is recorded and progress tracked and shared with parents.

·  Also have the two year old checks over the three prime areas highlight the child’s strengths and areas for development also any more serious concerns that may be SEN. There is a meeting with parents to discuss and develop appropriate actions and this report is shared with the health visitor.

·  If targeted actions are still not helping the child to make progress then permission is gained from the parents to ask for outside support.

Links with Support Services and other Agencies

·  With parental permission we contact the Early Intervention teacher Sian Benedict Owen and ask he to come in and observe and advice.

·  This support is given through the SAU5 referral form which the SENCO and key person fill in this is then shared with parents who then sign consent.

·  The SENCO and Manager have attended training on filling out SAU5 forms.