Inclusion in our nursery means:
- Having high expectations and aspirations for every child
- Being alert to the needs of those who need the most support to achieve well
- Creating a culture in which every child belongs, feels safe, welcomed, and valued
- All children have access to high-quality education, taught by experienced staff with high ambition who strive to develop every child’s potential
- Staff working effectively in partnership with parents/carers and other agencies to secure the best possible outcomes
- Working to identify and remove barriers which impact on participation and learning.
When we are discussing inclusion, we identify children who are:
- Eligible for EYPP
- Who have an additional need (SEND)
- Children known/previously known to children’s social care through:
– Child in Need/ Child Protection
– Child in Care/ Previously Child in Care (CiC/PCiC)
And work together to plan for those children to ensure they can be able to achieve their full potential
EYPP
Some nursery age children are eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium. When claimed, this is allocated to the nursery as a ‘pot of funding’ which can be used to support a child whilst they are in nursery.
The allocation is £1 per hour (up to 15 hours per week), which equates to £570 over the full year. Within the Federation we use this money in a range of ways including:
Paying towards a staff member to provide an intervention like: Early Talk Boost.
Having some dedicated time with an adult to help them focus on tasks and ensure targeted support is being implemented.
Paying towards external support such as Music Therapy, if we, as a nursery, feel this would benefit your children and their development.
Paying towards some extra sessions within the nursery week, if we, as a nursery, feel this would benefit your child and their development.
Purchasing equipment to meet the needs of identified children.
Please see the full EYPP report
SEND – children with additional needs
Nursery age children can present with a range of needs, which might require additional support or specific interventions; we aim to put appropriate provision in place to ensure all children’s needs are met.
We work closely with children and their families to decide how best to provide support.
We liaise with other professionals including Early Support, Health Visitors, Speech Therapists, Educational Psychologists, and Physiotherapists to assess individual needs, put targeted support in place and to review progress.
Our trained and qualified staff includes teachers, keyworkers, and teaching assistants, who are experienced in supporting children with a range of needs, including putting targeted interventions in place.
Staff work with our qualified SENCo to identify needs, create individual plans, make any required adaptations, and monitor progress.
When children are moving on, we liaise with families and other schools and settings to ensure the best transition can be made. This will include sharing knowledge and information, arranging visits and meetings with school staff, and visits to the next setting. Sometimes children have a series of planned visits with nursery staff supporting them before they leave nursery.
Our SENCo’s role is to:
- Identify and Assess: The SENCo works closely with nursery staff to identify children who may have special educational needs or disabilities. This can involve observing and assessing the child’s developmental levels. Information will be gathered from parents and other professionals to enable an understanding of each child’s needs.
- Develop Individual Plans: Once a child’s needs are identified, the SENCo will collaborate with others to help create bespoke, individual target plans that outline specific support and interventions required for the child.
- Support Staff: The SENCo provides guidance and training to teachers and support staff on how to effectively support children with SEND. This includes sharing best practices and strategies for inclusive teaching.
- Liaise with Parents and External Agencies: The SENCo, along with keyworkers, serves as a point of contact for parents regarding their child’s needs and progress. They also collaborate with external agencies to ensure necessary support is provided for a child and their family.
- Monitor Progress: The SENCo regularly reviews the progress of children with identified SEND, adjusting support and interventions as necessary to ensure that all children are making progress.
- Complete Required Assessments and Reviews: The SENCo ensures EHAs and EHCPs are completed, and statutory processes are carried out, including annual reviews.
- Access Funding and Resources: The SENCo supports families to access supportive funding and resources, such as, DLA and ensures that funding for nursery children, including SENIF and DAF, is requested and reviewed.
- Teach and Resource: The SENCo can act as another member of staff in the nurseries who can teach children and advise about providing resources that will support inclusion and progress.
- Support Governance: The SENCo meets and informs the governing body about any matters relating to special educational needs and inclusion, including current levels of need, provision that is in place and required training.
More useful information can be found at Ican
Children Known/Previously known to Children’s Social Care
Child in Need/Child Protection
Children known and supported by social care will have outcomes as set out in a Child in need/ Child protection plan.
The designated safeguarding lead will attend the meetings, provide updates, and work with professionals and parents to support the child to have a positive start in life.
Staff will be aware of who is being supported; however, any other details are on a need-to-know basis
Child in Care/Previously Child in Care (CiC/PCiC)
Some children who attend nursery are not living with their birth parents and are under the local authority’s responsibility.
Those children are identified to us by the virtual school, and we will work with them to write ePeP’s. The plans produced are shared with the appropriate staff, and the outcomes are known by everyone. We are given £190 per term (for as long as they are CiC/PCiC) to provide resources/training for staff to support the outcomes set at the ePeP. This might be used in a range of ways, according to individual need, for example, for buying seeds and gardening tools to use at the allotment, Makaton training to support a child who has limited speech and language; music therapy sessions to support behaviour needs based around trauma.