Special Education Needs

At pre-school every child is allocated a key person. Their role is to make regular observations on the child linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) ages and stages of development. These observations will help identify individual needs which the key person will discuss with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator (SENCO) and yourself and plan with you to support your child’s learning and development.

Our SENCO will offer support and advice to yourself and all staff in the setting and will also with your permission liaise with other professionals to seek advice and support in identifying individual needs if necessary. If you have any concerns regarding your child’s development you can speak to your child’s key person at any time or the SENCO.

On our registration form you will be asked to specify any Educational or Disability needs you know your child has. We will then discuss this with you before your child starts.

When you and your child starts at the pre-school you will be asked to fill in a Profile for your child and this will detail anything you feel will help us care for your child.

We will work with you, your child and the SENCO to set up an IEP (Individual Education Plan).

Observations, assessments and evaluations will contribute to your child’s IEP and your child’s key person will oversee the next steps, with the SENCO.

We will work in partnership with you, reviewing the IEP and planning new ones together and we will help give you new ideas to use at home to support your child.

With your permission we will contact outside agencies, if required, either for advice or to make a referral with any concerns. We will implement strategies and advice offered as appropriate.

Your child is a unique person. The pre-school allows them to develop and grow at their own pace, and keeps a personal Learning Story for each child recording observations of their learning. From this we can create an Individual Education Plan and this will help with physical, social and cognitive development. The planning for each session is mainly child led so the curriculum is tailored to their interests and needs. The staff will liaise with each other and yourself to make sure all observations are communicated and recorded. We will endeavour to get one to one support if your child needs this.

A strong relationship between the pre-school and our parents/carers is important to us. We work closely with all parents/carers of children including those with SEND to create and maintain a positive partnership.

Throughout your child’s time at the pre-school we support parents/carers by holding an ‘open door’ policy so that parents/carers can stay for a session or part of one with their child. We make time for a child’s key person to be available for parents/carers each day if they need to speak to them. If a member of staff is away for a session and the parent/carer wishes to speak with them then we will make sure they see the parent/carer as soon as possible on their return. If a parent/carer wishes to speak to another member of staff or manager then of course they may do so. We share the child’s Learning Story each term or more frequently on Tapestry if the parents/carers wish to add anything or see them. We hold regular open events incorporating such things as ECaT (Every Child A Talker), theme sessions, outings, sports day, beach day, etc. and these events are open to all children and their families.

Parents/Carers are also welcome to ring the pre-school at any time to speak with a staff member or manager.

We offer settling in sessions, which will help familiarise children with the setting and the staff.

During the settling in time parents/carers can get to know the child’s key person and go through their profile at the beginning of their Learning Story and discuss any support needed, toileting requirements, allergies, medication etc..

We provide plenty of opportunities for exercise, indoor and outdoor free-flow play and we have an inviting garden area.

We have a safe, secure and accessible building and a security procedure and passwords for the collection of children. We undertake risk assessments every day in the form of inside and outside checklists.

We have a positive approach to supporting behaviour. We will always discuss any behavioural concerns with you in order to maintain a consistent approach between home and the setting.

Our staff have a wealth of experience of working with children with disabilities and special needs.

We will work with parents/carers to provide resources, changing the environment to suit their child as much as possible, seek out extra training for staff for a particular child’s needs and seek out any extra help and advice from outside agencies when required.

We are trained in paediatric first aid and safeguarding procedures. Our SENCO is experienced in working with children with special educational needs and disabilities. We work closely with our Local Area Advisory Teacher and other professionals to ask advice and guidance on SEND issues. All staff are regularly kept updated on SEND policy and they access training as and when the needs are identified. We continually reflect on our practice and training is refreshed regularly.

Oasis Pre-school has access to advice and guidance from our Local Area Advisory Teacher, Development Worker, Speech and Language Therapists, Health Visitor, Children’s Centres and other outside agencies as needed.

All children and their parents/cares are invited to events with the pre-school. Events such as Sports day, farm visits are arranged so that all parents/carers can accompany their child so that they have the full responsibility of their child on that day. Staff of course will help parents/carers with any child at any time on outings but they do not have overall responsibility for that child on any outing. A mobile phone and first aid kit are always carried on any outing and a full risk assessment is always carried out.

Oasis Pre-school is run in a purpose built building in the local community and is all on ground level. We have a concrete slope at the front entrance and double doors leading into the premises and playrooms. The preschool has toilets designed for children and we have a disabled toilet with handrails and a step to use if necessary. The toilets have child height hand dryers, sinks and soap dispensers.  We will work closely with parents/carers to access any specialist equipment required and will make all reasonable adjustments to our settings layout if needed.

We offer settling in sessions as well as visits to become acquainted with the pre-school environment and the staff. We work with the parents/carers to develop a setting routine to support your child.

When joining another setting we endeavour to share the children’s development records with that setting or school. We work closely with the local school as well as other schools in the area supporting transitions. We aim to have some school uniform representing each school plus some photos of the schools to encourage the children to discuss and learn and experience for themselves the idea of involvement with the school the will attend. We also have visits from the schools teachers and the children are invited to attend a visit in addition to planned transition programmes. Any extra requirements are discussed and planned for.

We hold some resources within the setting and we are able to borrow additional resources if required. We are also able to apply for funding where possible to support individual children as required. We do have a large range of resources at the setting and the manager continually strives to keep these updated and added to.

We ensure the effectiveness of our SEND provision by collecting information from a range of sources e.g. Individual Education Plan reviews, staff and management meetings, parental and external agency’s views. This information is collated, evaluated and reviewed regularly. The Key Person, Manager and SENCO will work closely with you and other professionals to determine your child’s needs.