Supporting children with special educational needs

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirement: Equal Opportunities

St. Mark’s Pre-school implements a policy, and procedures to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care, including support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

 

9.2 Supporting children with special educational needs

POLCIY STATEMENT

We provide an environment in which all children, including those with special educational needs (SEN), are supported to reach their full potential.

  • We have regard for the Special Educational Needs and disabilities Code of Practice (2014).
  • We ensure our provision is inclusive to all children with special educational needs.
  • We support parents and children with special educational needs.
  • We identify the specific needs of children with special educational needs and meet those needs through a range of SEN strategies.
  • 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.

PROCEDURES

  • We designate a member of staff to be the Special Educational Needs and disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCO) and give his/her name to parents. Our SENDCO’s are: Jodie Edmunds and Jude French. (Jemma Tatman – SENCO trained practitioner).
  • We ensure that the provision for children with special educational needs is the responsibility or all members of Little Birds Pre-school.
  • We ensure our inclusive admissions practice ensures equality of access and opportunity.
  • We use the graduated response system for identifying, assessing and responding to children’s special educational needs.
  • We work closely with the 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 their child’s progress in relation to their special educational needs. (see appendix A) We assess this by using the ‘Assess, Plan, Do and Review’ system.
  • We provide parents with information on sources of independent advice and support.
  • We liaise with other professionals involved with children with special educational needs and their families, including in connection with transfer arrangements to other settings and schools.
  • We provide a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum for all children with special educational needs.
  • We use a system of planning, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reviewing individual plans (IPs) for children with special educational needs.
  • We ensure that children with special educational needs are appropriately involved at all stages of the graduated response, taking into account their levels of ability.
  • We have systems in place for supporting children during their special educational needs support (stage 2 on Continuum of Needs).
  • We have systems in place for working with other agencies through each stage of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and special educational needs support and E and HC plans, (education and health care plan).
  • We provide resources (human and financial) to implement our Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs Policy.
  • We provide targeted in-service training for parents, practitioners and volunteers so they can support the needs of a child with special educational needs.
  • We raise awareness of any specialism the setting has to offer, e.g. Makaton trained staff.
  • We ensure the effectiveness of our special educational needs provision by collecting information from a range of sources e.g. Individual Education Plan reviews, staff and management meetings, parental and external agency’s views, inspections and complaints. This information is collated, evaluated and reviewed annually.
  • We provide a complaints procedure.
  • We monitor and review our policy annually.
  • We follow local Early Help procedures

 

      Further publications and guidance can be found on the Early Years Alliance website

This policy and the provisions practices will be reviewed periodically and kept up-to-date in accordance with any changes in legislation.

This policy was adopted at a meeting of Little Birds Pre-school committee on: 21.01.2014 and updated on 30/06/2017                

Reviewed and Updated: 08/05/2018

Reviewed and agreed: 26/04/2021