Abbey Pre-school

When your child begins at Pre-school we will ask you, together with your child's key person, to complete a 'starting points' form to give us a chance to get to know your child better, their strengths and where they need extra support. We ask about your child's interests at home so that this can inform planning and next steps and we assess their progress with the document Development Matters.

The completion of the Progress Check at 2 is a statutory assessment and this may be a time when any developmental delay may be discussed and appropriate next steps identified. Your child's key person may plan additional opportunities for your child and these will be shared with you, usually through a written targeted plan.

Our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) is Frances Horne who endeavours to ensure that all families have the best support.

Your child's key person will be involved with you and your child from the start so that strong and positive relationships are formed. there will be

•             Daily informal contact.
•             Opportunities for meetings whenever you feel these are necessary.
•             Detailed learning journeys with photographs and observations which you may view and add to whenever you wish.
•             Invitations to open weeks, stay and play sessions and parents workshops so that we may let you know about your child's progress and how we                are achieving this.
•             Collaboration with you on any extra planning we put in place.

We adhere to the EYFS which is an educational framework that allows your child's key person to plan for your 'unique child' through observation, assessment and planning in the three prime areas and four specific ones. The prime areas will be adapted to your child's needs as necessary by

Communication and Language

            Providing a language rich environment tailored to the needs of the current children

            Using targeted small group activities

            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 the speech and language therapy advice

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

            Linking with specialist provision, advisors and health and voluntary sector providers for advice and support

            Attending specialist information sessions

            Targeted small group or individual activities

Physical Development

            Building links with specialist therapists

            Offering an accessible environment and lay-out of the setting to meet families current needs

            Demonstrating awareness of environmental factors that have a sensory impact on children such as noise, colour, lighting etc

            Free flow to the outside area and frequent access to outdoor spaces

            Providing for a range of dietary requirements

Environment: Our teaching starts with planning he environment to improve the conditions that will enable children to have full involvement in their learning and high well being. The upstairs room and furniture and screens in the main hall are used to facilitate small group and quiet areas.

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 enable specialist equipment is obtained where necessary.

Teaching Strategies: Our staff are trained in Early Years practice and we use the Best Practice Guidance document to support our teaching. This document sets out a range of teaching which can be used to support the children.

Our SEND policy sets out the graduated approach we use to support children.

If your child is not making sufficient 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 personalised plan.

If required, your consent would be obtained to refer to the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service through the Local Inclusion Team (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 into school. At all stages you would be consulted. Our staff regularly completes training and seeks information to meet the individual needs of the children.

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 additional needs.

Your child's key person will invite you to see their learning journeys and hear about his/hsr progress. There is frequent opportunity to talk about any concerns that you may have but you may discuss these with her at any time.

We make an overall assessment of your child's progress three times a year. There are two statutory assessments, the Progress Check at Two, completed ideally in advance of your health visitor development check at two so that if we have noticed any developmental delays they can be discussed with you and you can then discuss them with your health visitor, and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile, however most children have started school before this is required.

We are proud of our strong partnership with parents and we are never too busy to speak to you about any concerns you may have about your child.

We are committed to inclusive practice that enables all children to be included. Your child's key person will ensure that any planned activities are suitable or adapted to meet your child's needs through staff meetings and planning meetings.

The setting is wheelchair accessible and there are accessible bathrooms next to the main doors which also includes changing facilities. Please let us know if you have difficulties with accessibility.

We will pass on to school, with your consent, the My Unique Progress/Transition report and any other relevant paperwork.

There will be opportunities for the children and pre-school staff to visit the school or setting and for the teachers or the staff to visit the children at pre-school.

Activities such as dressing up in school uniform, looking at photo books, sharing stories and discussing feelings will support the children's transition.

We continually evaluate our provision at staff meetings and are therefore grateful for the feedback especially on the overall effectiveness of it's SEN provision. Our annual questionnaire provides an opportunity for this and also the regular parent and key person discussions.

Please contact the manager, Frances Horne, through the website www.abbeypreschool.co.uk or by phone or email.

The manager and staff are always available at the beginning and end of the sessions, there is an open door policy and an out of hours number for communication. A member of the committee acts as a liaison between staff and parents if needed and her details are made known in the newsletter and on the parents' board. There is also a dedicated committee email address and the complaints procedure is well documented in the complaints policy.