SeeSaw Pre-School

Prior to your child starting at See-saw’s your child’s key person will arrange a Home visit with you, providing Coronavirus restrictions enable us to do so and it is deemed safe. During the home visit your child’s key person will ask you a series of questions about your child. We ask you about your child’s interests at home so that this can inform our planning. This is a valuable time for everyone to get to know each other and for us to observe your child in their home setting. It also provides an opportunity for you to discuss any concerns you may have. 

Your child’s key person will also ask you to complete an ‘All about me’ section in our on-line Learning Journal, which gives us a chance to get to know your child and their particular strengths or areas where they may need extra support. When your child first starts we assess their starting points in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Your child’s key person will complete a Progress Check at 2. This is a statutory assessment and this may be a time when any delay in your child’s development can be discussed and appropriate next steps identified. The next step may involve your child’s key person targeting a specific area of development, such as social skills. This will help to plan additional opportunities for your child so they can gain further experience in this area. This would be written and shared with you through a targeted plan.

Our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator or SENCO is Hannah Adcock . She ensures that you and your family have the best support and resources to help with the development of your child. Being a SENCO includes working in partnership with parents, attending relevant training, supporting your child’s key person to review your child’s progress regularly, completing observations and relevant paperwork, making referrals to appropriate professionals with your consent, attending the Local Inclusion Forum Team (LIFT) meetings to gain advice and make referrals to the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service. The SENCO has received relevant training for her role and attends updates as and when they are required.

Your 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.

• Informal daily conversations.
• Detailed learning journeys which set out photos and observations of how your child is developing through their time at See-Saw.
• An invitation to an open morning three times a year when we let you know about your child’s progress and any additional support they may need (by telephone if a face-to-face meeting is not possible)
• Collaboration with you on any extra planning we put into place e.g. targeted plan.

Since September 2019 we have been using a digital system to record your child’s observations and progress. The on-line system is called Tapestry. Tapestry enables you to see observations of your child as they happen and allows you to add your own observations of your child.

The Early Years Foundation Stage is an educational framework which we use as guidance to help us plan for and assess all the children who attend our setting. Our planning system enables us to plan for each child as an individual.  We put in place extra support for individuals or groups, adapting the areas of framework to meet their needs.  There are 3 prime areas and 4 specific areas in the framework, here are some ways we support children and families with the three prime areas:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• Linking with health and voluntary sector providers for advice and support.
• Targeted small group or individual activities to promote well-being and resilience.

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 for parents to use at home.
• Working in line with speech and language therapy advice.

Physical Development

• Offering an accessible environment and lay-out to meet families’ current needs.
• Demonstrating awareness of environmental factors that have a sensory impact on children such as noise, colour, lighting etc.
• Frequent and regular access to outdoor spaces
• Providing for a range of dietary requirements.

Environment

Our teaching starts with planning for the environment to improve the conditions that will enable children to listen and give full involvement to their learning. The hall benefits from natural lights as well as ceiling and wall lighting. The walls are painted in a neutral colour to promote a sense of calm; this is further enhanced with soft furnishings and rugs to minimise noise and encourage a sense of well-being. All our furniture is movable. We have screens to facilitate small group activities and quiet areas. Our storage is clearly labelled with text and pictures.

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. For example we have recently purchased a range of technological resources e.g. remote control cars, a child’s camera, metal detectors.

Teaching strategies

The majority of our staff are trained in early years practice. We use the Best Practice Guidance document to support our teaching. This document which was written by the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service sets out a wide 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

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 personalised plan.

If required, your consent would be obtained to refer to the 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. They would also support your child’s transition to school. At all stages you would be consulted.  

All staff are regularly encouraged to complete training. 

In the past, where we have received children with a condition we are unfamiliar with our SENC0 or Key person of the children has researched information and have shared with staff during our termly staff meetings. We have also had health professionals attend our staff meetings to give everyone an overview.

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.

We will invite you to regular open mornings where your child’s progress will be discussed.  This also provides an opportunity to talk about any concerns you may have. Individual meetings can also be made and you can always request a meeting at any reasonable time.

We make continuous assessments throughout the year through observations. There are also two statutory assessments; the Progress Check at age two and the Early Years Profile. Most children will have started school before the EYFS Profile is required but the Progress Check at Two is very important. The Progress Check will be completed ideally in advance of your child’s health visitor health development check at the age of two.  The check gives us the opportunity to discuss with you your child’s starting points and the progress they have made since starting. If your child is delayed in any area of development, we will discuss this with you and you can also discuss this with your health visitor.

We pride ourselves on our partnership with parents.

Your child’s 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 very small groups and use lots of repetition and pictures to help their understanding and attention. Also giving children something to hold can help.

We regularly go for a walk within our community. When walking in large groups we use our walking rope, each child is encouraged to hold onto a coloured ring. A member of staff carries a bag with our Pre-school mobile phone, a first aid kit, home contact cards and medical consent forms inside. We regularly review where we plan to walk, taking into account the current needs of the children.

We have a yearly trip where parents are encouraged to join us with their children. Our health and safety officer completes a risk assessment and makes a visit to any new places, ahead of our visit.

Our setting is within the Village Hall. The car park has 2 designated disabled parking spaces outside the building. The hall is on one floor and has wheelchair access. There is an accessible toilet within the front entrance. We have a paved outdoor area which can be accessed by a wheelchair.

Wherever possible we will make any reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of the children, parents or staff. Please let us know if you have any difficulties with accessibility.

All relevant paperwork will be passed on with your consent.

During Term 6 we arrange to go over to Wingham school and play in their adventure playground. In the past we have arranged a visit where the reception teacher, the classroom assistant and the reception class has met with us.

In the past, our SENCO visited a school where a child with additional needs or SEND was transitioning to. With permission from the school, our SENCO took photos and made a book featuring relevant areas and adults the child was likely to meet when attending their new setting.

In our setting we provide activities such as dressing-up in local school uniforms. We set up our role play area as a school classroom.

In the past reception teachers have visited the children sometime during year 6. This provides an opportunity for the teachers to have an informal chat about your child and for the teachers to see your child in a familiar setting. If this is not possible then the class teacher will have a telephone conversation with your child's key person to talk about your child's interests, friendship groups and any special needs they may have.

Each year, in December we watch the reception class at Wingham school perform their nativity play. 

We review our Policies and Procedures annually. The Policies and Procedures are made available to all parents. A copy is kept in our setting and is available upon request. A summary of our Policies with our Prospectus are available for parents to download on our on-line learning journal (Tapestry), before your child starts at our setting, also all the key policies are available to download in full on here too. Some are sent out by e-mail throughout the year, as a reminder to parents. For example snow closure and sun cream policy.

Staff meet Tuesday afternoons for a staff meeting. This is an opportunity for staff to discuss our SEN provision and plan for the coming week.

Our setting is part of a collaboration which provides an opportunity to meet with staff from other local settings. We are able to access training and evaluate our provision.

Our collaboration SENCO’s met regularly. This provided an opportunity to discuss the new changes to funding, the EYFS and new SENCO training. 

Visit our website  http://winghampreschool.co.uk/ to complete or download our Application/Waiting list form.

If you are considering sending your child to our setting and would like to come and look around before filling in an Application/Waiting list form, please contact us at: 

Please email or call or to speak to our Supervisor or Deputy Supervisor during opening hours to arrange a mutually convenient time for you to visit.

We offer a home visit to all our new children prior to them starting. If a second visit is needed with our SENCO, then it can be arranged to make sure everything is in place before the child starts with us.

Our SEND Policy provides the context for supporting children through the graduated approach.

Our Complaints Procedure is displayed on our notice board and can be found on our on-line learning journal too.

Key Policies are posted on our web-site and on our on-line learning journal. All other Policies are available to view in the setting. We will endeavour to provide a translated version of any policy on request.

We welcome feedback via parent questionnaires and by providing a suggestions box for parents/carers.