Policy on Identifying and providing for Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

All our children are entitled to an education that enables them to:

• achieve the best possible outcomes, and
• become confident young children with a growing ability to communicate their own views and ready to make the transition into compulsory education

 We aim to achieve this by adopting three principles that are essential to developing a more inclusive provision.

Three principles for inclusion

• Setting suitable learning challenges -  aim to give every child the opportunity to experience success in their learning and development
• Responding to childs’ diverse learning needs -  take into account the different backgrounds, experiences, interests and strengths which influence the way in which children learn when planning approaches to teaching and learning
• Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of children  - recognise that a minority of children will have particular learning and assessment requirements that will create barriers to learning if they are not addressed through special arrangements.

In making provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities our policy objectives are:

• to ensure that our duties, as set out in the Equality Act 2010, are fully met to enable children with special educational needs and disabilities to join in the normal activities of our setting along with children who do not have special educational needs;
• to identify the needs ofpupils with disabilities and/or special educational needs (SEND) as early as possible;
• to develop a partnership with parents/carers in order that their knowledge, views and experience can assist us in assessing and providing for their child
• touse our resources as efficiently and equitably as possible when assessing and meeting the special educational needs and disabilities of our children;
• toprovide a graduated approach in order to match the support to the childs' needs;
• to make reasonable adjustments to enable children with disabilities to access the whole Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
•  toensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities towards children with special educational needs and disabilities and are able to support them;
• to carry out the above promptly and with sensitivity in order to avoiddisadvantage to the children we are seeking to help.

Roles and Responsibilities

In attempting to achieve the above objectives, the Manager, SENDCo and staff will take all reasonable steps within the limit of the resources available to fulfill the requirements outlined in this policy document.

The Manager Dawn Humphries, and SENDCo Julie Crouch has overall responsibility for the day to day management of SEND in the setting. Julie will work closely with practitioners , taking account of the requirements to have regard to the SEND Code of Practice and to the EYFS framework to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with Special Educational Needs or disabilities (SEND) and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. Dawn and Julie will encourage all members of staff to participate in training to help them to meet the objectives of this policy including that the SENDCo achieves the requirements for the performance of their duties.

The setting aims to meet the needs of any child whom the parent wishes to access as long as a place is available and the admission criteria are fulfilled.  This includes children with disabilities who we anticipate might attend. No child will be refused admission solely on the grounds that s/he has SEND. 

Where a child due for admission is known to have special educational needs and/or disabilities, the SENDCo will gather appropriate information from any setting the child has been attending and from other agencies known to have been involved.  The previous setting is responsible for providing this information.

SEND Support

It is particularly important in the early years that there is no delay in making any necessary special educational provision. Delay at this stage can give rise to learning difficulty and subsequently to loss of self-esteem, frustration in learning and to behaviour difficulties. Early action to address identified needs is critical to the future progress and improved outcomes that are essential in helping the child to reach his/her full potential and prepare for adult life. 

This follows an ASSESS, PLAN, DO, REVIEW model of graduated intervention..

1. In identifying a child as needing SEND support, the key person, working with the setting SENDCo and the child’s parents, will have carried out an analysis of the child’s needs.
2. 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 Area Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator Specialist Teachers or from Health, Social Care or other agencies beyond the setting
3. Where professionals are not already working with the setting, the SENDCo will contact them, with the parents’ agreement.
4. Where it is decided to provide SEND support, and having formally notified the parents, the key person and the SENCDo will agree, in consultation with the parent, 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.
5. Plans will take into account the views of the child. The support and intervention provided should 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 will be identified and addressed.
6. Parents will be involved in planning support and, where appropriate, in reinforcing the provision or contributing to progress at home.
7. The child’s key person, remains responsible for working with the child on a daily basis. With support from the SENDCo, they will oversee the implementation of the interventions or programmes agreed as part of SEND 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
8. 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 working with the child’s parents and taking into account the child’s views. They will agree any changes to the outcomes and support for the child in light of the child’s progress and development. Parents will have clear information about the impact of the support provided and be involved in planning next steps.
9. This cycle of action will be revisited in increasing detail and with increasing frequency, to identify the best way of securing good progress. At each stage parents will be engaged with the setting, contributing their insights to assessment and planning.
10.  Intended outcomes will be decided with parents and reviewed with them, along with action taken by the setting, at agreed times.
11. The graduated approach will be led and co-ordinated by the setting SENDCo working with and supporting individual practitioners in the setting and informed by EYFS materials, the Early Years Outcomes guidance and Early Support resources.

lnclusion

We are fully committed to the principle of inclusion and the good practice, which makes it possible. Our policy, as set out in this document, will enable children with SEND to be an integral part of our setting.

Regardless of the stage children have reached all children will be given full access to the full range of activities the setting has to offer. This will be achieved by careful consideration of the needs of each child and by either modifying activities or by providing support that will help the child to participate in them. 

Involving Children and Parents/Carers

The views of parents will be sought at all stages of assessment and provision. The views of the child will be ascertained.  All communication involving decisions about a child will be recorded and dated.  Letters to parents regarding decisions about their child will have a section to be signed and returned.

Key staff will get to know the parents/carers of children with SEND and will encourage them to work with the setting in helping their child.  Parents/carers and staff at the setting can, by working together, build up a more complete picture of a child and his/her needs.  We intend that parents/carers will feel able to ask about our provision and express their concerns to us.  In return we will seek their help regarding work that they can do with their child at home.

Records will be kept of all who are parents and/or have parental responsibility for each child.  When this involves adults in more than one household we will deal directly with the parent who has day to day responsibility for the child.  We will seek to involve all parents and those who have parental responsibility in decisions about their child or young person, while appreciating sensitivities that may arise.

Parent Partnership Services

The LA has made arrangements to provide impartial information and advice on SEND matters to the parents/carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities. The overall aim of the service is to empower parents to play an active and informed role in their child's learning and development. They provide a range of useful information booklets, which are available directly from the service on their website www.havering.gov.uk/pips.  Parents/carer’s will be informed of the availability of this service, which includes access to an independent parent supporter. In Havering this is done through the Parent Partnership Co-ordinator. Details of the service and contact information is available from the Parent Partnership Service.

Transition to School

SEND support will include planning and preparing for transition, before a child moves into another setting or school. This can also include a review of the SEND support being provided or the Education, Health and Care plan. To support the transition, information will be shared by the current setting with the receiving setting or school. The current setting will agree with parents the information to be shared as part of this planning process. SENDCo will arrangea person-centred planning meeting where an action plan is drawn up.

Working with Outside Agencies

Where a child continues to make less than expected progress, despite evidence-based support and interventions that are matched to the child’s area of need, SENDCo will consider involving appropriate specialists, for example, area special educational needs and disability co-ordinators, health visitors, speech and language therapists, educational psychologists or specialist teachers, who may be able to identify effective strategies, equipment, programmes or other interventions to enable the child to make progress towards the desired learning and development outcomes. The decision to involve specialists should be taken with the child’s parents. The Manager will ensure that staff has relevant training and there are procedures in place to support the child.