Easton PreSchool

Experience of including people with special educational needs and disabilities

Easton Pre-School SEND Statement 2014^[1]

Who can parents contact about SEND

We have Nicole Harris who has Special Educational Needs experience and training. 

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 SEN

• advising and supporting colleagues

• ensuring parents are closely involved throughout and that their insights inform action taken by the setting, and

• liaising with professionals or agencies beyond the setting

Our ethos around SEND

We have regard to the SEND Code of Practice relating to Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and associated regulations.

We have arrangements in place that include a clear approach to assessing SEN. This is part of our overall approach to monitoring the progress and development of all children.In assessing progress of children in the early years, we use the non- statutory Early Years Outcomes guidance as a tool to assess the extent to which a young child is developing at expected levels for their age. The guidance sets out what most children do at each stage of their learning and development. These include typical behaviours across the seven areas of learning:

• communication and language

• physical development

• personal, social and emotional development

• literacy

• mathematics

• understanding of the world

• expressive arts and design

The EYFS framework includes two specific points for providing written assessments for parents and other professionals –when the child is aged two and when the child turns five.

 

Assessment

When a child is aged between two and three, we review progress and provide parents with a short written summary of their child’s development, focusing in particular on communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development. This progress check must identify the child’s strengths and any areas where the child’s progress is slower than expected. If there are significant emerging concerns (or identified SEN or disability) we develop a targeted plan to support the child this is done by our SENCO. The summary highlights areas where:

• good progress is being made

• some additional support might be needed

• there is a concern that a child may have a developmental delay (which may indicate SEN or disability)

It describes the activities and strategies we intend to adopt to address any issues or concerns. (If a child moves settings between the ages of two and three it is expected that the progress check will be undertaken in the setting where the child has spent most time).

The EYFS profile provides parents, practitioners and teachers with a well-rounded picture of a child’s knowledge, understanding and abilities. A profile is usually completed for children in the final term of the year in which they turn five. It is particularly helpful for children with SEN and should inform plans for future learning and identify any additional needs for support.

A delay in learning and development in the early years may or may not indicate that a child has SEN, that is, that they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision. Equally, difficult or withdrawn behaviour does not necessarily mean that a child has SEN. However, where there are concerns, there should be an assessment to determine whether there are any causal factors such as an underlying learning or communication difficulty. If it is thought housing, family or other domestic circumstances may be contributing to the presenting behaviour, a multi-agency approach, supported by the use of approaches such as the Early Help Assessment, should be adopted.

Identifying and assessing SEN for young children whose first language is not English requires particular care. Early years practitioners should look carefully at all aspects of a child’s learning and development to establish whether any delay is related to learning English as an additional language or if it arises from SEN or disability. Difficulties related solely to learning English as an additional language are not SEN.

Special educational provision will be matched to the child’s identified SEN. Children’s SEN are generally thought of in the following four broad areas of need and support

• communication and interaction

• cognition and learning

• social, emotional and mental health

• sensory and/or physical needs

These areas give an overview of the range of needs that providers should plan for. However, individual children often have needs that cut across all these areas and their needs may change over time. For instance speech, language and communication needs can also be a feature of a number of other areas of SEN, and children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder may have needs across all areas. The special educational provision made for a child will always be based on an understanding of their particular strengths and needs and should seek to address them all, using well-evidenced interventions targeted at areas of difficulty and, where necessary, specialist equipment or software. This will help to overcome barriers to learning and participation. Support will be family centred and should consider the individual family’s needs and the best ways to support them.

 

Timing & Parental Involvement

It is particularly important in the early years that there is no delay in making any necessary special educational provision.Where we identify a child as having SEN we work in partnership with parents to establish the support the child needs. Where we make special educational provision for a child with SEN we will always involve and inform the parents. We adopt a graduated approach with four stages of action

Assess

In identifying a child as needing SEN support we assess the child’s needs. This initial assessment will be reviewed regularly to ensure that support is matched to need. Where there is little or no improvement in the child’s progress, more specialist assessment may be called for from specialist teachers or from health, social services or other agencies beyond our setting. Where professionals are not already working with the setting, the SENCO will contact them, with the parents’ agreement.

Plan

Where it is decided to provide SEN support, and having formally notified the parents, the practitioner and the SENCO will agree, in consultation with the parent:

•    the outcomes they are seeking
•    the interventions and support to be put in place
•    the expected impact on progress
•    development or behaviour
•    and a clear date for review.

Plans will take into account the views of the child. The support and intervention provided will be selected to meet the outcomes identified for the child, based on reliable evidence of effectiveness, and provided by practitioners with relevant skills and knowledge. Any related staff development needs will also be identified and addressed. Parents are asked to be involved in planning support and, where appropriate, in reinforcing the provision or contributing to progress at home.

Do

The child’s key person remains responsible for working with the child on a daily basis. With support from the SENCO, they will oversee the implementation of the interventions or programmes agreed as part of SEN support. The SENCO will assess the child’s response to the action taken, in problem solving and advising on the effective implementation of support.

Review

The effectiveness of the support and its impact on the child’s progress will  be reviewed in line with the agreed date. The impact and quality of the support will be evaluated by the SENCO working with the child’s parents and taking into account the child’s views. They will agree any changes to the outcomes and support for the child in light of the child’s progress and development. Parents will be given clear information about the impact of the support provided and be involved in planning next steps.

This cycle of action will be revisited in increasing detail and with increasing frequency, to identify the best way of securing good progress. At each stage parents are asked to be engaged with the setting, contributing their insights to assessment and planning. Intended outcomes will be shared with parents and reviewed with them, along with action taken by the setting, at agreed times.

The graduated approach is led and co-ordinated by the setting SENCO working with and supporting individual practitioners in the setting and informed by EYFS materials, the Early Years Outcomes guidance and Early Support resources.

Education and Health Care Plan

Where a child continues to make less than expected progress, despite evidence- based support and interventions that are matched to the child’s area of need, practitioners should consider involving appropriate specialists, for example, health visitors, speech and language therapists, Portage workers, educational psychologists or specialist teachers, who may be able to identify effective strategies, equipment, programmes or other interventions to enable the child to make progress towards the desired learning and development outcomes. The decision to involve specialists will be taken with the child’s parents. More complex support may lead to an Education and Health Care Plan.

 

 

March 2024

 

 

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^[1] A more detailed policy and procedure document has been drawn up and is available on request via contact details on our website.

Contact

Jackie Wall

Telephone

01728 746935

Email

eastonpreschool@yahoo.co.uk

Conditions Supported

Autistic spectrum conditions
Communication difficulties
Learning difficulties
Physical disabilities
Sensory impairments

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