SEND - Local Offer
Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School
Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) Local Offer
WHAT IS THE LOCAL OFFER?
The Children and Families Bill (2013) outlines the government’s plans to require local authorities to publish information on services and provision across education, health and social care for children and young people aged 0 – 25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The purpose of a local offer is to enable parents and carers to see more clearly what services are available for children with SEND in their area and how to access them. The process extends to early years settings and all the information below forms our local offer and shows how we have, for many years, provided for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
How does Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School know my child needs extra help and what should I do if I think my child may have Special Educational Needs?
At Wembdon Sunshiners we treat every child as an individual and each child is allocated a key person who is responsible for your child’s development. Their role is to develop trusting sensitive relationships with families and children to enable respectful sharing of information. If you have any concerns about your child’s development, you can ask for a time when you can discuss this in private with them.
Reports from health care professionals, such as Health Visitors and Speech and Language Therapists, identify your child’s individual needs. We welcome families and professionals sharing these reports in order to plan appropriately to meet these needs. Ongoing observational assessments are made of all the children and are linked to the Development Matters ages and stages of development. This in some cases identifies individual needs. These observations will be discussed with the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator). If your child’s key person has identified a possible individual need, they will discuss this in private and plan together with you to support your child’s learning and development.
We undertake a ‘2 Year Progress Check’ which supplies parents/carers with a short, written summary of their child’s development in the 3 main prime areas:
Our SENCO will offer support and advice to your child’s key person and other staff in our setting. They will also liaise with other professionals to seek advice and support in identifying individual needs if necessary.
How will Wembdon Sunshiners support SEND children?
On starting at Wembdon Sunshiners you will be given a welcome pack which includes a ‘Getting to know you’ sheet to fill in about your child. This will help us to share information about your child’s strengths and needs. We will work with you to support your child together, listening to you and your child.
Our SENCO will explain how children’s individual needs can be met by planning support using an Individual Support Plan (ISP). Observations, assessments and evaluations all contribute towards ISPs and your child’s key person would oversee the targets on the ISP. They will identify individual needs and plan next steps, accessing additional support from other professionals where necessary. We will work in partnership with you, reviewing the ISP targets, planning new ones together, and giving you ideas to use at home to support your child.
How will Wembdon Sunshiners prepare and support my child to join the pre-school or transfer to a new setting or School?
Before your child joins the pre-school, we encourage you to visit the setting several times so that you can become acquainted with the environment. We can provide a photo book for your child to have at home to become familiar with their key person, the routine of the session and activities being offered. This gives us the chance to get to know you and your family and provides the opportunity for you to share with us details of your child’s needs and the involvement of other agencies and agree with you a consistent approach to ensure the continuity of care for your child. This can also be done in a meeting before your child starts.
We will meet with other professionals e.g. Health Care professionals to put in place transition planning/health care plan, or to seek relevant training before your child starts.
If your child should attend another setting whilst with us or leave to go to another setting, we would invite your child’s new key person/teacher and SENCO to attend sessions with your child to help them become familiar with them and to discuss your child’s strengths and needs.
We will hold a transition meeting at your convenience to plan transition for your child into their new setting or school, giving the new setting time to make necessary plans for any changes they may need to make, sharing targets on your child’s ISPs and minutes of review meetings along with any other information that may be relevant to your child.
Who can I contact for further information?
Your child’s key person is your first point of contact if you would like to discuss your child’s needs, although the Who’s Who notice board in the lobby area displays details of all staff and their roles and qualifications. We can offer advice about other professionals who will be able to support your child, such as the Health Visitors, The Children and Young People’s Therapy Services, Family Intervention Services, Inclusion Officer for our area and we can access support from the Area SENCO and Early Years Advisory Teacher with your permission.
If you wish to discuss your child’s needs prior to starting you can contact the setting and speak to either the Manager, Deputy Manager, Office Manager or the setting SENCO.
What are the responsibilities of Wembdon Sunshiners’ Committee in enabling and supporting inclusive practice?
We are a committee run pre-school mostly made up of parents whose children attend the pre-school. Our committee is responsible for enabling the Manager to create inclusive policies, ensure policies are in place and up to date, ensure staff are able to attend relevant training, ensure staff meetings take place to explore SEND and inclusion issues, ensure the environment is inclusive to all.
How will I know how my child is doing?
Assessment systems are in place such as the ‘2 Year Progress Check’, tracking grid and our online Famly App which parents have access to via their own unique password for their child, all of which are linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) ages and stages of development. Regular review meetings are held to discuss the child’s ISP targets, how families can support their child at home and to discuss the progress they are making.
We hold ‘Parents Evening' where you can talk to your child’s key person to see how they are progressing.
Our Open-Door policy means you are always welcome to tell us how your child is doing on a daily basis and provide ongoing 2-way communication between us.
Home-School link books are also used for this purpose where a parent/carer works and is unable to bring/collect their child from pre-school.
We send out Newsletters half termly to keep you up to date with what is happening in pre-school.
What support will there be for my child’s physical, emotional and overall well-being?
We offer ‘settling in’ sessions which will familiarise your child with the pre-school and their key person and will also enable support for your child to be discussed before they start. Care routines will be discussed including nappy changing. Personal Health Care Plans can be adopted if necessary. We can administer prescribed medicines once the appropriate form has been completed and a named member of staff will be responsible for the administering of this. If additional training is required to administer medicines, we will undertake this as necessary.
Promoting positive behaviour is important to us. We will always discuss any behavioural concerns we may have with you in order to maintain a consistent approach between home and the setting.
The safety of all our children is paramount. All our entrance and exit doors are alarmed and/or bolted and admittance is only allowed by a member of staff. Children are only allowed to leave the premises with a named and authorised person.
We undertake risk assessment on the pre-school building every day before each session starts. We also risk assess all our toys and equipment and review appropriately. Risk assessments are always undertaken for outings and short walks around the community and any events that we hold.
Activities will be adapted to ensure your child is able to interact fully with their environment and visual strategies, such as a visual timetable (what’s now/what’s next) will be used, to help them understand our routines.
What specialist services and expertise are available at, or accessed by, Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School?
All staff have accessed child development training and have experience working with the Early Years age group.
We have good links with our local Children and Family Services, Area SENCO, local Schools.
Staff have accessed specific training in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, Speech and Language, Autism, Inclusive Communication (formerly STC) and children's behaviour and continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of SEND regularly through external and online courses and in-house training.
We will work alongside the specialist services involved with your child and they are welcome to visit the pre-school. Working closely with you and your child will enable us to build stronger relationships and understand your support needs better.
What training have the staff supporting children with SEND had or are having?
Current training which has been undertaken by some or all staff at Wembdon Sunshiners includes:
Training needs are continually assessed to ensure staff are meeting the required needs and have the required knowledge and understanding to support individual children. If a child on the SEND register is entitled to the Early Years Pupil Premium a percentage of this money may be used for further staff training.
How will you help me to support my child’s learning?
As a parent/carer, you will have access to your child’s learning journal online at any time via the Famly App.
Your child’s key person or SENCO will meet with you to discuss and review their ISP, how best to support your child and give ideas for activities at home that will mirror what we do at pre-school.
If your child has specific identified needs, we will work with the team supporting your child and explain to you how we are acting on advice given by them to support your child.
We will discuss with you at drop off and collection times how your child has been doing on that particular day (or write in the Home-School Link book) which enables you to let us know about any new information we may need to have. Through the Famly App, we also have the opportunity to directly message between families and staff.
How will I be involved in discussions about and planning for my child’s education?
We encourage you to be involved from the first visits to pre-school. Your child’s strengths, needs, likes and dislikes are discussed at this time to help us make the settling in process go smoothly.
You are involved in identifying needs, information sharing, identifying targets and next steps to focus on at home and in our setting and reviewing progress toward these targets.
Your permission will always be sought before involving outside agencies.
How will the learning and development provision be matched to my child’s needs?
We will get to know your child before they start with us through ‘Stay and Play’ visits, home visits if necessary and meeting with you and other professionals who are involved. We offer a flexible settling in routine that enables you to stay with your child until we are all comfortable that your child is happy.
Ongoing observational assessments will be used as a starting point within the first weeks of starting linked to the EYFS ages and stages of development. Targets will be set on ISPs if necessary, to support the learning and development of your child. This enables planning for individual needs and learning goals.
Your child’s key person and our SENCO will work together to make sure that the environment, routines and activities support your child’s needs, and they will communicate with the rest of the staff to provide consistency and understanding within our team.
The SENCO will aim to seek additional training for staff, if appropriate, to meet your child’s needs.
How will my child be included in experiences away from the setting?
All children are welcome to attend trips. We will endeavour to include parents in the planning of visits off site to identify the strengths and needs of your child. We can prepare a photo book for your child, so they know what to expect on the visit and invite all families to join us on our trip.
We would carry out a risk assessment linked to the visit and the needs of all the children, including families and supporters prior to the trip.
We would also take along any aides or medication your child may need. All visits or trips would be planned to include all of our children.
How accessible is Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School’s environment (indoors and outdoors)?
If you are a parent/carer who has English as an additional language, we can arrange for an external interpreter if possible. We may also involve another family member or a friend who speaks English.
We have tablets to take photos of what your child has been doing that day, as well as sharing our activities on our social media and through the Famly App.
Signs and posters around the setting are used with pictures/visual clues/IC to direct children and adults.
Accessible toilets and changing facilities are available and we have one disabled toilet. There is wheelchair access both into the building and to the outside play area and we can explain the limitations of the building and would make adaptations to existing resources to ensure all children can access them if possible.
We provide multi-sensory activities as part of our planning.
Policies are updated regularly and are available to view in our Policies folder and on Famly.
How are Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School’s resources allocated and matched to children’s special educational needs?
As a registered charity we do have limited funds, however, further funding can be applied for to support your child in our setting if required. This funding may be used for training, resources or to provide higher staffing ratios where needed. If your child is entitled to the Early Years Pupil Premium this extra money will be used to support their individual needs.
How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child will receive?
Through the observation process linked to the EYFS ages and stages of development and in discussion with you, the key person, manager and SENCO we will identify what support is required.
Extra support will be put in place if necessary, with the aim of enabling your child to become independent within their environment.
Ongoing partnerships with both you, other professionals and the setting will support the decision making process.
Our SENCO will give advice on meeting your child’s needs within our pre-school in consultation with you and other professionals where necessary and with your permission.
Our SENCO will advise you on the process of applying for extra support and the additional funding process will identify the level of need based on the evidence submitted by the setting and other professionals who are working with you and your family to support your child.
Reports from Health Care professionals and other professionals who are working with your child will be used to plan support within the setting.
The Area SENCO, the Early Years Advisory Teacher or other professionals working with our SENCO will support the decision-making process to plan targets on the ISP. The ISP will be written in partnership with you and will include how you can support your child at home.
Staff meetings within the setting will ensure all staff working with your child know your child’s strengths and needs, and how to support them.
For any more information please contact us at any time.
WEMBDON SUNSHINERS PRE-SCHOOL
Wembdon Village Hall
Homberg Way
Wembdon
Somerset
TA6 7BY
Tel. 01278 457100
Email: [email protected]
Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) Local Offer
WHAT IS THE LOCAL OFFER?
The Children and Families Bill (2013) outlines the government’s plans to require local authorities to publish information on services and provision across education, health and social care for children and young people aged 0 – 25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The purpose of a local offer is to enable parents and carers to see more clearly what services are available for children with SEND in their area and how to access them. The process extends to early years settings and all the information below forms our local offer and shows how we have, for many years, provided for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
How does Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School know my child needs extra help and what should I do if I think my child may have Special Educational Needs?
At Wembdon Sunshiners we treat every child as an individual and each child is allocated a key person who is responsible for your child’s development. Their role is to develop trusting sensitive relationships with families and children to enable respectful sharing of information. If you have any concerns about your child’s development, you can ask for a time when you can discuss this in private with them.
Reports from health care professionals, such as Health Visitors and Speech and Language Therapists, identify your child’s individual needs. We welcome families and professionals sharing these reports in order to plan appropriately to meet these needs. Ongoing observational assessments are made of all the children and are linked to the Development Matters ages and stages of development. This in some cases identifies individual needs. These observations will be discussed with the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator). If your child’s key person has identified a possible individual need, they will discuss this in private and plan together with you to support your child’s learning and development.
We undertake a ‘2 Year Progress Check’ which supplies parents/carers with a short, written summary of their child’s development in the 3 main prime areas:
- Communication and language
- Physical development, and
- Personal, social and emotional development
Our SENCO will offer support and advice to your child’s key person and other staff in our setting. They will also liaise with other professionals to seek advice and support in identifying individual needs if necessary.
How will Wembdon Sunshiners support SEND children?
On starting at Wembdon Sunshiners you will be given a welcome pack which includes a ‘Getting to know you’ sheet to fill in about your child. This will help us to share information about your child’s strengths and needs. We will work with you to support your child together, listening to you and your child.
Our SENCO will explain how children’s individual needs can be met by planning support using an Individual Support Plan (ISP). Observations, assessments and evaluations all contribute towards ISPs and your child’s key person would oversee the targets on the ISP. They will identify individual needs and plan next steps, accessing additional support from other professionals where necessary. We will work in partnership with you, reviewing the ISP targets, planning new ones together, and giving you ideas to use at home to support your child.
How will Wembdon Sunshiners prepare and support my child to join the pre-school or transfer to a new setting or School?
Before your child joins the pre-school, we encourage you to visit the setting several times so that you can become acquainted with the environment. We can provide a photo book for your child to have at home to become familiar with their key person, the routine of the session and activities being offered. This gives us the chance to get to know you and your family and provides the opportunity for you to share with us details of your child’s needs and the involvement of other agencies and agree with you a consistent approach to ensure the continuity of care for your child. This can also be done in a meeting before your child starts.
We will meet with other professionals e.g. Health Care professionals to put in place transition planning/health care plan, or to seek relevant training before your child starts.
If your child should attend another setting whilst with us or leave to go to another setting, we would invite your child’s new key person/teacher and SENCO to attend sessions with your child to help them become familiar with them and to discuss your child’s strengths and needs.
We will hold a transition meeting at your convenience to plan transition for your child into their new setting or school, giving the new setting time to make necessary plans for any changes they may need to make, sharing targets on your child’s ISPs and minutes of review meetings along with any other information that may be relevant to your child.
Who can I contact for further information?
Your child’s key person is your first point of contact if you would like to discuss your child’s needs, although the Who’s Who notice board in the lobby area displays details of all staff and their roles and qualifications. We can offer advice about other professionals who will be able to support your child, such as the Health Visitors, The Children and Young People’s Therapy Services, Family Intervention Services, Inclusion Officer for our area and we can access support from the Area SENCO and Early Years Advisory Teacher with your permission.
If you wish to discuss your child’s needs prior to starting you can contact the setting and speak to either the Manager, Deputy Manager, Office Manager or the setting SENCO.
What are the responsibilities of Wembdon Sunshiners’ Committee in enabling and supporting inclusive practice?
We are a committee run pre-school mostly made up of parents whose children attend the pre-school. Our committee is responsible for enabling the Manager to create inclusive policies, ensure policies are in place and up to date, ensure staff are able to attend relevant training, ensure staff meetings take place to explore SEND and inclusion issues, ensure the environment is inclusive to all.
How will I know how my child is doing?
Assessment systems are in place such as the ‘2 Year Progress Check’, tracking grid and our online Famly App which parents have access to via their own unique password for their child, all of which are linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) ages and stages of development. Regular review meetings are held to discuss the child’s ISP targets, how families can support their child at home and to discuss the progress they are making.
We hold ‘Parents Evening' where you can talk to your child’s key person to see how they are progressing.
Our Open-Door policy means you are always welcome to tell us how your child is doing on a daily basis and provide ongoing 2-way communication between us.
Home-School link books are also used for this purpose where a parent/carer works and is unable to bring/collect their child from pre-school.
We send out Newsletters half termly to keep you up to date with what is happening in pre-school.
What support will there be for my child’s physical, emotional and overall well-being?
We offer ‘settling in’ sessions which will familiarise your child with the pre-school and their key person and will also enable support for your child to be discussed before they start. Care routines will be discussed including nappy changing. Personal Health Care Plans can be adopted if necessary. We can administer prescribed medicines once the appropriate form has been completed and a named member of staff will be responsible for the administering of this. If additional training is required to administer medicines, we will undertake this as necessary.
Promoting positive behaviour is important to us. We will always discuss any behavioural concerns we may have with you in order to maintain a consistent approach between home and the setting.
The safety of all our children is paramount. All our entrance and exit doors are alarmed and/or bolted and admittance is only allowed by a member of staff. Children are only allowed to leave the premises with a named and authorised person.
We undertake risk assessment on the pre-school building every day before each session starts. We also risk assess all our toys and equipment and review appropriately. Risk assessments are always undertaken for outings and short walks around the community and any events that we hold.
Activities will be adapted to ensure your child is able to interact fully with their environment and visual strategies, such as a visual timetable (what’s now/what’s next) will be used, to help them understand our routines.
What specialist services and expertise are available at, or accessed by, Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School?
All staff have accessed child development training and have experience working with the Early Years age group.
We have good links with our local Children and Family Services, Area SENCO, local Schools.
Staff have accessed specific training in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, Speech and Language, Autism, Inclusive Communication (formerly STC) and children's behaviour and continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of SEND regularly through external and online courses and in-house training.
We will work alongside the specialist services involved with your child and they are welcome to visit the pre-school. Working closely with you and your child will enable us to build stronger relationships and understand your support needs better.
What training have the staff supporting children with SEND had or are having?
Current training which has been undertaken by some or all staff at Wembdon Sunshiners includes:
- Specific SEND training (our SENCO also attends regular SENCO workshops led by the Area SENCO)
- Speech, Language and Communication
- Autism
- Behaviour Management
- Inclusive Communication (Formerly Somerset Total Communication).
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
- Sensory Integration
Training needs are continually assessed to ensure staff are meeting the required needs and have the required knowledge and understanding to support individual children. If a child on the SEND register is entitled to the Early Years Pupil Premium a percentage of this money may be used for further staff training.
How will you help me to support my child’s learning?
As a parent/carer, you will have access to your child’s learning journal online at any time via the Famly App.
Your child’s key person or SENCO will meet with you to discuss and review their ISP, how best to support your child and give ideas for activities at home that will mirror what we do at pre-school.
If your child has specific identified needs, we will work with the team supporting your child and explain to you how we are acting on advice given by them to support your child.
We will discuss with you at drop off and collection times how your child has been doing on that particular day (or write in the Home-School Link book) which enables you to let us know about any new information we may need to have. Through the Famly App, we also have the opportunity to directly message between families and staff.
How will I be involved in discussions about and planning for my child’s education?
We encourage you to be involved from the first visits to pre-school. Your child’s strengths, needs, likes and dislikes are discussed at this time to help us make the settling in process go smoothly.
You are involved in identifying needs, information sharing, identifying targets and next steps to focus on at home and in our setting and reviewing progress toward these targets.
Your permission will always be sought before involving outside agencies.
How will the learning and development provision be matched to my child’s needs?
We will get to know your child before they start with us through ‘Stay and Play’ visits, home visits if necessary and meeting with you and other professionals who are involved. We offer a flexible settling in routine that enables you to stay with your child until we are all comfortable that your child is happy.
Ongoing observational assessments will be used as a starting point within the first weeks of starting linked to the EYFS ages and stages of development. Targets will be set on ISPs if necessary, to support the learning and development of your child. This enables planning for individual needs and learning goals.
Your child’s key person and our SENCO will work together to make sure that the environment, routines and activities support your child’s needs, and they will communicate with the rest of the staff to provide consistency and understanding within our team.
The SENCO will aim to seek additional training for staff, if appropriate, to meet your child’s needs.
How will my child be included in experiences away from the setting?
All children are welcome to attend trips. We will endeavour to include parents in the planning of visits off site to identify the strengths and needs of your child. We can prepare a photo book for your child, so they know what to expect on the visit and invite all families to join us on our trip.
We would carry out a risk assessment linked to the visit and the needs of all the children, including families and supporters prior to the trip.
We would also take along any aides or medication your child may need. All visits or trips would be planned to include all of our children.
How accessible is Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School’s environment (indoors and outdoors)?
If you are a parent/carer who has English as an additional language, we can arrange for an external interpreter if possible. We may also involve another family member or a friend who speaks English.
We have tablets to take photos of what your child has been doing that day, as well as sharing our activities on our social media and through the Famly App.
Signs and posters around the setting are used with pictures/visual clues/IC to direct children and adults.
Accessible toilets and changing facilities are available and we have one disabled toilet. There is wheelchair access both into the building and to the outside play area and we can explain the limitations of the building and would make adaptations to existing resources to ensure all children can access them if possible.
We provide multi-sensory activities as part of our planning.
Policies are updated regularly and are available to view in our Policies folder and on Famly.
How are Wembdon Sunshiners Pre-School’s resources allocated and matched to children’s special educational needs?
As a registered charity we do have limited funds, however, further funding can be applied for to support your child in our setting if required. This funding may be used for training, resources or to provide higher staffing ratios where needed. If your child is entitled to the Early Years Pupil Premium this extra money will be used to support their individual needs.
How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child will receive?
Through the observation process linked to the EYFS ages and stages of development and in discussion with you, the key person, manager and SENCO we will identify what support is required.
Extra support will be put in place if necessary, with the aim of enabling your child to become independent within their environment.
Ongoing partnerships with both you, other professionals and the setting will support the decision making process.
Our SENCO will give advice on meeting your child’s needs within our pre-school in consultation with you and other professionals where necessary and with your permission.
Our SENCO will advise you on the process of applying for extra support and the additional funding process will identify the level of need based on the evidence submitted by the setting and other professionals who are working with you and your family to support your child.
Reports from Health Care professionals and other professionals who are working with your child will be used to plan support within the setting.
The Area SENCO, the Early Years Advisory Teacher or other professionals working with our SENCO will support the decision-making process to plan targets on the ISP. The ISP will be written in partnership with you and will include how you can support your child at home.
Staff meetings within the setting will ensure all staff working with your child know your child’s strengths and needs, and how to support them.
For any more information please contact us at any time.
WEMBDON SUNSHINERS PRE-SCHOOL
Wembdon Village Hall
Homberg Way
Wembdon
Somerset
TA6 7BY
Tel. 01278 457100
Email: [email protected]
