Supporting children with SEN Policy - CleverClogs Nursery, Norwich Longwater and Cringleford

CleverClogs Nursery and Pre-school

Supporting children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) Policy

Policy Statement

Definition of Special Educational Needs (SEN) – “Children have a Special Educational Need if they have a learning difficulty which calls for Special Educational provision to be made for them”. (SEN CoP 2001)

At Cleverclogs we provide an inclusive environment for all children and families. We strive to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all children. The Early Years Foundation Stage is our starting point for planning that meets the specific needs of individuals and groups of children. When planning, staff set suitable learning challenges and respond to children’s diverse learning needs. Some children require ‘additional’ or ‘different’ learning techniques to enable them to access the curriculum. Staff take account of these requirements and make provision, where necessary, to support individuals or groups of children and thus enable them to participate effectively in curriculum and assessment activities.

Children may have Special Educational Needs either throughout or at any time during their nursery development. This policy ensures that curriculum planning and assessment for children with Special Educational Needs takes account of the type and extent of the difficulty experienced by the child.

There are 4 areas of special education needs that children can have:

Procedures

As a setting we have arrangements in place to support children with SEN or disabilities and we follow the COP 2014 to ensure that we do this.
We designate a member of staff to be the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO). Our SENCOs are Ayla Copland and Charlotte Goddard.
We ensure that the provision for children with special educational needs is the responsibility of all members of the setting.
We ensure that our inclusive admissions practice ensures equality of access and opportunity.
We work closely with both parents and children who have special educational needs to create and maintain a positive partnership.
We ensure that parents are informed at all stages of the assessment, planning, provision and review of their children’s education.
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 transfer arrangements to other settings and schools.
We provide a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum for all children with special educational needs.
We work within our equal opportunities policy to ensure that all children are included and valued with the setting and that no one is discriminated against.

Setting Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) Roles and Responsibilities

To ensure liaison between parents and others professionals in respect of children with special education needs.
To keep up to date with current legislation and agencies that are available for parents and children to access in relation to Special Educational Needs.
Advising and supporting other practitioners in the setting with regards to Special Education Needs.
Ensuring that appropriate Individual Education Plans are in place.
Ensure that are relevant background information and the child/ren are collected recorded and updated.
To oversee and ensure that the records are recorded correctly and up to date for Early Years Action, Early Years Action Plus and Statement process.

Monitoring and Assessing Children

At Cleverclogs we follow the EYFS which requires us to monitor and review children’s progress and share our summaries with the families, this is done continuously throughout all children’s time at nursery and 2 main points with the setting, the progress check at 2 and the report for school. This allows practitioners to identify any area of need that may present itself.
Children are assessed against the 7 areas of learning, physical development, communication and language, personal social and emotional development, literacy, mathematics, expressive arts and design and understanding the world. Within their Tapestry account.
When a child appears to be behind expected levels, or where there is cause for concern with regards to their progress the practitioners consider all information gathered from the setting and outside in order to gain a more detailed assessment of the child’s needs.
All this information is then brought together with the families and shared and a decision is made together.
Some delays in learning or development can have an underlying level of needs such as family circumstances, be it housing or domestic and a early help approach would be adopted through the use of a family support plan-see safeguarding section for this.

SEN support

If we make provisions for a child with SEN then we work closely with the families throughout the child’s time at nursery. In the first instant there will be an assessment where the SENCO and parents assess the child’s needs and a support will be put into place.
After this a plan is adopted tailored to the individual needs of the child with clear targets and intervention and a timeline for review.
The plan is then put into action and after the timeline is up the plan is then reviewed by the SENCO and 1-1 worker along with the families and a new update plan is then adopted. This process is known as the GRADUATED APPROACH.
If the plan has been in place as the progress made is less than expected then we may decide to involve specialists to assist with plan.
Where despite our approaches and the assessment of specialists, the child is still making less than expected progress then a Education Health and Care need assessment will be taken.