East Stour Primary School (Maintained Nursery)

On admission, we ask you to complete an ‘All about me’ form which gives us a chance to get to know your child and their particular strengths or areas where they may need extra support.  We ask about your child’s interests at home so that this can inform our planning.  When your child first starts we assess their starting points in line with a document called Development Matters.

Our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator or SENCo is Mrs Charlesworth she ensures that families have the best support and resources to help with the development of your child and this includes managing behaviour.

The key person approach is a cornerstone of the Early Years Foundation Stage and of our practice.
Yours child’s key person will be involved right from the start so that strong and positive relationships are built with your child and with you. There are lots of ways that you can feel involved in how your child is being supported:
• Daily informal contact
• Opportunities for meetings at your request throughout the year
• Detailed learning journeys which set out photos and observations of how your child is developing through the year
• An invitation to a parent meeting twice a year when we let you know about your child’s progress and any additional support they might need
• Collaboration with you on any extra planning we put in place e.g. a targeted plan

The EYFS is an educational framework which allows key persons to plan for your ‘unique child’.  We observe, assess and plan for your child in three prime areas and four specific areas.

Communication and Language

• Providing a ‘language rich’ environment tailored to the needs of current children
• Using targeted small group activities such as those recommended in the ‘Every Child a Talker’ (ECAT) programme
• Using a language intervention such as the I CAN Early Talk Boost programme
• Providing ideas and resources for parents to use at home
• Working in line with speech and language therapy advice

Personal, social and emotional development

• Linking with local specialist provision, advisers and health and voluntary sector providers for advice and support
• Attending specialist information sessions-in-house or ‘An evening with…’ sessions
• Targeted small group or individual activities to promote well-being and resilience

Communication and Language

• Building links with specialist therapists, like occupational therapists
• Offering an accessible environment and lay-out to meet families’ current needs
• Demonstrating awareness of environmental factors that have sensory impact on children such as noise, colour, lighting etc.
• Frequent and regular access to outdoor spaces

Environment

Our teaching starts with planning for the environment to improve the conditions that will enable children to listen and attend and give full involvement to their learning.  We have a large, enclosed conservatory where the children can play in all weathers. This in turn leads out to a large playground where there is a large ‘beach’ area along with shaded tree areas and outdoor play equipment.

Resources

Effective teaching and learning requires a wide range of resources appropriate to support children’s development at all levels; our SENCo will work with key persons to make sure specialist equipment is obtained if necessary.  Where children are receiving support from outside agencies, it may be possible to claim extra funding to buy additional resources, staff training or support additional staff cover.

Teaching strategies

All our staff are trained in early years’ practice and we use the Best Practice Guidance to support our teaching.  This document, which was written by the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service sets out a range of teaching strategies which can be used to support children e.g. the use of visual resources and Makaton signing.  The book is divided into universal, targeted and personalised levels to enable us to support children in the four broad areas of need. The areas of need are identified in the SEND Code of Practice and comprise:

• communication and interaction
• cognition and learning
• social, emotional and mental health
• physical, sensory difficulties

Our SEND policy sets out the graduated approach we use to support children (see Question 4).

If your child is making insufficient progress through a targeted plan, the SENCo or key person may discuss with you the need to refer to other services, such as speech and language therapy.  If your child begins to receive support from outside agencies, the targeted plan would be changed to a personalized plan.

If required, your consent would be obtained to refer to Specialist Teaching and Learning Service through the Local Inclusion Team Forum(LIFT) meeting which is held six times a year.  If the referral is accepted, a specialist teacher would then visit your child to provide additional advice and guidance and may make further referrals to other services, such as health and would support your child’s transition to school.  At all stages, you would be consulted.

All our staff are regularly encouraged to complete training both externally and ‘in-house’.

An effective key person approach is essential for all children. The key person is responsible for guiding, monitoring and supporting the physical and emotional development of children in our care and this is especially important when children have special or additional educational needs.

Your child’s key person will invite you to see your child’s learning journey and hear about his/her progress; this also provides an opportunity to talk about any concerns. Individual appointments can also be made if you cannot make the dates and you can always request a meeting at any reasonable time.

We make an overall assessment of your child’s progress three time a year.  There are two statutory assessments; the Progress Check at Age Two and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. 

A commitment to inclusive practice that enables all children is at the heart of our work.  At staff meetings, your key person will ensure that any planned activities are suitable or adapted to meet your child’s needs – this is called differentiation.  For example, where children need more support to be able to listen to a story, we place children in small groups and use lots of repetition and picture to help their understanding and attention.

We take trips to the library in the town centre and whenever we have new children we revise our health and safety risk assessment to take account of any new conditions that may cause children to be at risk.  We always take a first aid box, children’s emergency details. We make a ‘research’ trip whenever we plan to go somewhere new and we would welcome any parents who can accompany us.

The setting is built on one floor with wheelchair access to the outdoor environment and to the rest of the school.

Whenever possible we will make any reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of the children, parents and staff. There is an accessible toilet in the setting and changing facilities.

Please let us know if there are any difficulties with accessibility.

When a child is transferring to a new setting or school, a ‘record of transfer’ document is completed and shared with both parents and receiving setting.

We will liaise with the SENCo of the new setting to ensure continuity of support

In the first instance contact the main school office who will inform you of up-to-date session availability.

A setting visit and a home visit is offered prior to your child starting.

Admissions are staggered to ensure that each child’s unique needs are met and in collaboration with Parents/Carers, establish a setting phase where time spent in the setting is increased to full entitlement.

If a child is entitled to SEN Inclusion Fund (*SENIF), the SENCo will apply through the County.

If you receive disability living allowance (DLA), we will apply for Disability Access Fund (DAF) to enable us to continue to provide the care your child needs at our setting.

Initially the school office who will be able to direct you to the approriate person.

Our SEND policy provides the context for supporting children through the graduated approach and our complaints procedure can be seen on our website, along with copies of all policies.

The setting has an ‘open door’ policy and encourage Parents to provide feedback. Our Parents’ Evenings also provide opportunities for shared feedback and there are opportunities to meet with the SENCo at these times. Appointments can be made to meet with the SENCo at any point during the school year.