SEND Policy | Hunnypot Corner Day

POLICY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES (SEND)

This policy has been created with regard to:

The SEND Code Of Practice 2015
Children and Families Act 2014 (Part 3)
Equality Act 2010
Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)
EYFS

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY (SEND) CODE OF PRACTICE:

The nursery has regard to the statutory guidance set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability code of practice (DfE 2015) to identify, assess and make provision for children’s special educational needs.

At Hunnypot Corner, we use the SEND Code of Practice (2015) definition of Special Educational Needs and Disability:

A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.

A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of the kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.

STATEMENT OF INTENT:

At Hunnypot Corner, we are committed to the inclusion of all children. All children have the right to be cared for and educated to develop to their full potential alongside their peers through positive experiences, to enable them to share opportunities and experiences and develop and learn from each other. We provide a positive and welcoming environment where children are supported according to their individual needs and we work hard to ensure no children are discriminated against or put at a disadvantage as a consequence of their needs. Each child’s needs are unique, therefore any attempt to categorise children is inappropriate.

We are committed to working in partnership with parents in order to meet their child’s individual needs and develop to their full potential. We are committed to working with any child who has a specific need and/or disability and making reasonable adjustments to enable every child to make full use of the nursery’s facilities. All children have a right to a broad and well-balanced early learning environment.

The nursery will undertake a Progress Check of all children at age two in accordance with the Code of Practice. The early years provider will also undertake an assessment at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (in the final term of the year in which a child turns five) to prepare an EYFS Profile of the child, this tends to happen in reception year once the child has gone to Primary School. We do however prepare a transition report for all children who are known to have any additional needs and arrange a PCP meeting with the new setting to ensure all transition information is passed on.

Where we believe a child may have additional needs that have previously been unacknowledged, we will work closely with the child’s parents and any relevant professionals to establish if any additional action is required.

Where a child has additional needs, we feel it is vital to find out as much as possible about those needs; any way that this may affect his/her early learning or care needs, and any additional help he/she may need by:

Liaising with the child’s parents and, where appropriate, the child
Liaising with any professional agencies
Reading any reports that have been prepared
Attending any review meetings with the local authority/professionals
Observing each child’s development and monitoring such observations regularly.

All children will be given a full settling in period when joining the nursery according to their individual needs.

WE WILL:

Recognise each child’s individual needs and ensure all staff are aware of, and have regard for, the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice
Ensure that all children are treated as individuals/equals and are supported to take part in every aspect of the nursery day according to their individual needs and abilities
Include all children and their families in our provision
Identify the specific needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and meet those needs through a range of strategies
Ensure that children who learn at an accelerated pace e.g. gifted and talented children are also supported
Encourage children to value and respect others
Provide well informed and suitably trained practitioners to help support parents and children with special educational difficulties and/or disabilities
Develop and maintain a core team of staff who are experienced in the care of children with additional needs and identify a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCO) who is experienced in the care and assessment of children with additional needs. Staff will be provided with specific training relating to SEND and the SEND Code of Practice
Monitor and review our practice and provision and, if necessary, make adjustments, and seek specialist equipment and services if needed
Challenge inappropriate attitudes and practices
Promote positive images and role models during play experiences of those with additional needs wherever possible
Celebrate diversity in all aspects of play and learning.
Work in partnership with parents and other agencies in order to meet individual children's needs, including the education, health and care authorities, and seek advice, support and training where required
Share any statutory and other assessments made by the nursery with parents and support parents in seeking any help they or the child may need

Our nursery Special Education Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCO) is Vicky Beasley and our Deputy SENDCO is Louisa Kemp.

THE ROLE OF THE SENDCO IN OUR SETTING INCLUDES:

Ensuring all practitioners in the setting understand their responsibilities to children with SEN and the setting’s approach to identifying and meeting SEN.
Advising and supporting colleagues
Ensuring parents are closely involved throughout and that their insights inform action taken by the setting
Liaising with professionals or agencies beyond the setting
Taking the lead in implementing the graduated approach and supporting colleagues through each stage of the process.

WE WILL:

Designate a named member of staff to be the SENDCO and share their name with parents
Have high aspirations for all children and support them to achieve to their full potential
Develop respectful partnerships with parents and families
Ensure parents are involved at all stages of the assessment, planning, provision and review of their child's care and education and where possible include the thoughts and feelings voiced by the child
Signpost parents and families to our Local Offer in order to access local support and services
Undertake formal Progress Checks and Assessments of all children in accordance with the SEND Code of Practice (2015)
Provide a statement showing how we provide for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and share this with staff, parents and other professionals
Ensure that the provision for children with SEN and/or disabilities is the responsibility of all members of staff in the nursery through training and professional discussions
Set out in our inclusive admissions practice on how we meet equality of access and opportunity
Make reasonable adjustments to our physical environment to ensure it is, as far as possible suitable for children and adults with disabilities using the facilities
Provide a broad, balanced, aspirational early learning environment for all children with SEN and/or disabilities and differentiated activities to meet all individual needs and abilities
Liaise with other professionals involved with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their families, including transition arrangements to other settings and schools. (See our transitions policy).
Use the graduated response system to assess, plan, do and review to ensure early identification of any SEND
Ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their parents are consulted at all stages of the graduated response, taking into account their levels of ability
Review children’s progress and support plans once per term and work with parents to agree on further support plans
Provide privacy of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities when intimate care is being provided
Raise awareness of any specialism the setting has to offer, e.g. Makaton trained staff
Ensure the effectiveness of our SEN/disability provision by collecting information from a range of sources e.g. additional support reviews, Education and Healthcare (EHC) plans, staff and management meetings, parental and external agencies’ views, inspections and complaints. This information is collated, evaluated and reviewed annually
Provide a complaints procedure and make available to all parents in a format that meets their needs e.g. Braille, audio, large print, additional languages as required.
Monitor and review our policy and procedures annually.

EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE NEED FOR EARLY HELP

Local agencies should work together to put processes in place for the effective assessment of the needs of individual children who may benefit from early help services. Children and families may need support from a wide range of local agencies. Where a child and family would benefit from coordinated support from more than one agency (e.g. education, health, housing, police) there should be an inter-agency assessment. These assessments can help identify what help the child and family require to prevent needs escalating to a point where intervention would be needed via a statutory assessment under the Children Act 1989, we work closely with the local children’s centre to ensure we know what is available for parents at our setting. If we feel that any of our families may need some early help to both support their child’s needs and also ensure that the child and the family receive all of the help and support they need we will ensure we meet with parents to discuss this and initiate the next step in them receiving this help. Within Havering the following services are available to families we work with.

Early help assessment

The Early Help Service covers three areas; Early Years, Early Help and Targeted Intervention. This is to allow for greater focus on services in each area, for example the 2, 3 and 4 year old offer (Early Years), the Early Help offer and the creation of an Intensive Targeted approach, working jointly with our colleagues in Children Young Peoples Service. The three service areas within Early Help are broken down as follows;

Early Years

Early Years is a Universal Service for families of Havering where the focus is around school readiness and light touch parenting interventions with families. There are six Children Centres across the borough from which a range of services are delivered, such as; midwifery, sexual health, child health clinics, parenting programmes as well as a variety of child / parent groups such as Stay and Play and Music and Movement to assist with child development.

Early Help

Early Help is aimed at early intervention in order to prevent escalation of need, designed to empower families to be independent of services. The Early Help Service is now using Outcomes Star which has replaced the previous Early Help Assessment. The Outcomes Star both measures and supports progress for service users towards self-reliance. The Stars are designed to be completed collaboratively with the family to ensure that the families themselves identify areas where change is needed to best support the family as whole. Work will continue to be undertaken with the family in order to track the changes made. Family Practitioners within Early Help will be the lead professional on all Early Help interventions.

Families Together

The Families Together is a new team devised to provide intensive support to children and Families where family breakdown may occur and result in the child becoming Looked After. This will also include those children who are likely to be remanded to Local Authority Care or custody and prevent escalation in circumstances. The team will also work with those children whose plan is to return home after a period of S20 care to facilitate rehabilitation.

FOR AN EARLY HELP ASSESSMENT TO BE EFFECTIVE:

The assessment should be undertaken with the agreement of the child and their parents or carers. It should involve the child and family as well as all the professionals who are working with them;
A teacher, GP, health visitor, early years’ worker or other professional should be able to discuss concerns they may have about a child and family with a social worker in the local authority. Local authority children’s social care should set out the process for how this will happen; and
If parents and/or the child do not consent to an early help assessment, then the lead professional should make a judgement as to whether, without help, the needs of the child will escalate. If so, a referral into local authority children’s social care may be necessary.

If at any time it is considered that the child may be a child in need as defined in the Children Act 1989, or that the child has suffered significant harm, or is likely to do so, a referral should be made immediately to local authority children’s social care. This referral can be made by any professional. Working together to safeguard children 2018

GRADUATED APPROACH

We follow the SEND Code of Practice (2015) recommendation that, in addition to the formal checks above, nurseries should adopt a graduated approach to assessment and planning, led and coordinated by a SENDCO. Good practice of working together with parents, and the observation and monitoring of children’s individual progress, will help identify any child with special educational needs or disability This graduated approach will be led and coordinated by the SENDCO and appropriate records will be kept according to the Code of Practice.

ASSESS

In identifying a child as needing SEN support, the key person, working with the SENDCO and the child’s parents, will carry out an analysis of the child’s needs. This initial assessment will be reviewed regularly to ensure that support is matched to need. Where there is little or no improvement in the child’s progress, more specialist assessment may be called for from specialist teachers or from health, social services or other agencies beyond the setting. Where professionals are not already working with the setting, the SENDCO will contact them, with the parents’ agreement.

PLAN

Where it is decided to provide SEN support, and having formally notified the parents, the key person and the SENDCO, in consultation with the parent, will agree the outcomes they are seeking, the interventions and support to be put in place, the expected impact on progress, development or behaviour, and a clear date for review. Plans will take into account the views of the child.

The support and intervention provided will be selected to meet the outcomes identified for the child, based on reliable evidence of effectiveness, and provided by practitioners with relevant skills and knowledge. Any related staff development needs should be identified and addressed. Parents will be involved in planning support and, where appropriate, in reinforcing the provision or contributing to progress at home.

The child’s key person will be responsible for working with the child on a daily basis. With support from the SENDCO, they will oversee the implementation of the intervention agreed as part of SEN support. The SENDCO will support the key person in assessing the child’s response to the action taken, in problem solving and advising on the effective implementation of support.

REVIEW

The effectiveness of the support and its impact on the child’s progress will be reviewed in line with the agreed date. The impact and quality of the support will be evaluated by the key person and the SENDCO in full consultation with the child’s parents and taking into account the child’s views. Information will be shared with parents about the impact of the support provided.

Assess - The key person works with the setting SENDCO and the child’s parents and brings together all the information, then analyses the child’s needs.
Plan - The key person and the SENDCO will agree, in consultation with the parent, the outcomes they are seeking for the child, the interventions and support to be put in place, the expected impact on progress, development and behaviour and finally a date for review.
Do - The child’s key person implements the agreed interventions or programmes
Review - On the agreed date, the key person and SENDCO working with the child’s parents, and taking into account the child’s views, will review the effectiveness of the support and the impact of the support on the child’s progress. They will then evaluate the impact and quality of support on the child.

EDUCATION AND HEALTH PLAN (EHC)

Some children and young people may require an EHC needs assessment in order to decide whether it is necessary to develop an EHC plan. The purpose of an EHC plan is to make adjustments and offer support to meet the special educational needs of the child, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education, health and social care.

The local authority will conduct the EHCP needs assessment and take into account a wide range of evidence, including

Evidence of the child’s developmental milestones and rate of progress
Information about the nature, extent and context of the child’s SEN
Evidence of the action already being taken by us as the early years provider to meet the child’s SEN
Evidence that, where progress has been made, it has only been as the result of much additional intervention and support over and above that which is usually provided
Evidence of the child’s physical, emotional and social development and health needs, drawing on relevant evidence from clinicians and other health professionals and what has been done to meet these by other agencies.
If the local authority agree to put a EHCP in place for the child in question, we will then work with the local authority and other bodies to ensure that the child receives the support they need to gain the best outcomes until they are ready to transition to Primary School.