Leasowe Nursery School and Family Centre

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

Information Report or SEND Offer
19.1.2016

All children are individuals and they

learn in different ways and at different

rates. (EYFS 2012)

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

achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes,
and
Become confident young children with a growing ability to
communicate their own views and ready to make the
transition into compulsory education.
(Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 0-25
years)

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 Leasowe Nursery School and Family Centre
SEND Information Report or SEND Offer

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How will you know if my son/daughter needs extra help?

All children are given a key person. They will get to know your child, their
interests, strengths and what makes them happy. They will listen to any
concerns you have. Every childs progress is monitored using a Progress
and Achievement Record. This allows us to identify any child who may be
experiencing difficulties. We will talk to you and together we can plan
appropriate activities to support your child in our setting and at home.

What should I do if I think my son/daughter may have special

educational needs?

If you have any concerns just tell us. We understand that you know your
child best. You can speak to your childs key person,
our Head teacher - Cathy Hughes, SENCo Helen Bibby, Lead Teacher -
Carrie Hankin, or Niki Burns Family Services Manager. This can be
achieved by chatting to us when you pick up or drop off your child, over
the phone or we can arrange a time mutually convenient to us all for you
to share your concerns. We always aim to make these chats as relaxed as
possible as we understand that it can be difficult sharing concerns. Using
the Code of Practice for SEND 2014, we will follow a graduated approach
to understanding how best to support your child.

How will staff support my son/daughter?

We have a number of staff supporting children with SEND. If your child

attends our day-care or our 2 year old provision, the Centres SENCO,
Helen Bibby and Family Support Manager will discuss with you and your
childs key person, your childs strengths and areas requiring support.
Then the Centres SENCo, your childs key person and yourselves will write
a person centred plan and outcomes. Your childs key person will then be
responsible for putting this into place and monitoring your childs
progress. If the key person at any time requires additional advice they can
ask our Centre SENCo, or our /SENCo Helen Bibby.

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If your child attends our Nursery (Foundation 1), your childs key person,
Lead Teacher, SENCo will meet with you to identify your childs strengths
and areas of need. Together we will write your childs person centred plan
identify agreed outcomes and strategies to support your child. These will
be implemented by your childs key person, monitored. The SENCo can
model to staff and to yourself strategies to guide your childs learning and
development. After an agreed time, we can meet together to review your
childs progress.

Our lead teacher are full time, and our SENCo works part time. These
members of staff work very closely together to ensure a consistency of
approach.

How will the curriculum be matched to my childs needs?

We first get to know your child, observe what they like to do and what
they are interested in. We also consider their learning style.

For example do they like to :

learn on the go and are very active,
watch and look at what is going on,
touch and feel,
listen to an adults voice, sing, talk as they learn,
be near an adult and enjoy the company of others
explore an activity on their own before joining others,
take their shoes and socks off as they learn, stretch out on the floor or
are they very sensory driven
or repeat and activity again and again?

We put this information together with observations we have made from

the moment they have joined us and what you have told us about their
learning and development at home. All this information is put onto a
Record of Progress and Achievement Record, which tells us what your
child strengths are and where they need support. We can then match their
learning and development needs with their learning and sensory styles.

We understand that each child develops and learns in their own time and
at their own rate. Some children will require support with speech and
language, while others may require help with learning. Some children may
require support to develop their social and emotional skills or support with
their mental health, other children will have sensory and/or physical
needs, while some children may be a combination of all of these areas of
need.

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 How will I know how my son/daughter is doing and how will you
help me to support my childs learning?

In addition to our parent and key person chats once every term, we
welcome parents chatting to us at any time in the year. For parents with
children with SEND we will have regular meetings agreed by
parents/carers and staff to discuss progress towards identified outcomes
and future plans. Once again we welcome parents of children with SEND
to chat to us at any time. If it is not convenient then we will arrange a
time that is mutually convenient. Some of our parents choose to chat to
us on a daily basis, some choose once a week, some request a daily
communication book, while others choose set meetings to share their
concerns. We recognise that every parent/carer and family is unique.

What support will there be for my son/daughters overall well

being?

We not only identify the learning, development, physical or sensory needs

we also care for the childs social and emotional well being. We recognise
that if a child feels safe and happy then they will learn. Your child will have
a key person who will help your child to settle and get to know them.
However all staff will be informed of your childs emotional, social and
pastoral needs and will be there to help at any point.

Whenever we support a child, we also consider the pastoral needs of the

family. We understand that each family is unique and has its own way of
working. Some families like to chat to us every day, when they drop their
children off, while others prefer to do this during more formal meetings.
We understand that if your child is happy you feel settled, but if they are
uncertain or you feel your child is not being supported this can create
anxiety for you and your family.

What training are the staff supporting my son/daughter with

SEND had or are having?

Throughout the year training for staff teams is planned. Whole staff teams
have recently had training on understanding behaviour, safeguarding,
identifying hypo and hyper glucose levels for children with diabetes, using
an Epipen for children with severe allergies, supporting children with
English as an additional language and writing plans for children with
additional needs. In addition to this staff can also identify their own
training needs and thus access a range of courses. Staff are also trained

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while working in their rooms by our SENCo on a range of issues, such as
SEND Code of Practice (2014) social and emotional development,
supporting children with social communication difficulties, language delay,
sensory disorder and using a total communication approach to engage
with children and families. Senior staff have attended training on the
SEND Code of Practice 2014 and all practitioners have had staff
development training in this area.

As we are a training centre for practitioners working with children in the

early years, a training programme is planned covering a wide range of
issues, such as child development, SEND, social communication
difficulties, emotional difficulties, language development, Downs
Syndrome, learning difficulties and exploring different areas of the early
years curriculum. Our staff can access these courses having identified
their own training needs and can attend a range of courses to ensure
continued professional development.

How will my son/daughter be included in activities outside the

classroom including school trips?

When we have planned a trip we will inform you of the venue, date and
time. We deliberately choose places which are fully inclusive in terms of
access. We will then with you, discuss any concerns you may have and the
additional resources which may be required to ensure your child can be
fully involved in the activity. We understand that when children visit new
places, for some it may not be accessibility which is important, but the
physical changes around them such as what they can see, smell, hear and
touch which can be a challenge for them to process. If this is the case we
can prepare your child, by showing photographs and talking about what
they might see and hear etc. We always invite parents/carers to join us,
but if that is not possible we will ensure your child has a member of staff
to support them when visiting somewhere new.

How accessible is your setting environment?

Our Nursery School and Family Centre is all on one level. We do have
ramps if needed to support children moving in and out. The corridors are
wide to allow for wheelchairs and/or walking frames. The childrens rooms
are spacious with carefully planned areas. Children have easy access to a
large outdoor area. Each room has toilets, potty/potty chair and changing
beds. Childrens nappies, continence pads etc can be changed in such a
way that their safety and dignity is safeguarded. We continually review
the rooms to ensure the childrens centre is an inclusive environment to

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children, parents/carers, families and visitors. However, if we need to
make any further reasonable adjustments to the learning environments to
ensure they are accessible, then this can be achieved.

How will you prepare and support my son/daughter to join your

setting or transfer to a new setting?

We understand that for any child, parents/carer and families starting a

new setting is a big step and we do not want this to be rushed. Once you
have contacted us we will discuss how you wish to proceed. Would you
like to visit us and the staff with or without your child first or have a chat
over the phone? Then we will arrange a transition meeting with yourselves
and the team involved with the care of your child. This will enable us to
find out how we can help the levels of support and resources required to
ensure your child will be happy. Once this has taken place we can then
arrange times for your child to start with us. This can take as long as you
wish. Some parents prefer to stay with their child and then gradually leave
the room for a few minutes at a time and build up slowly, while others
prefer to leave their child and return in half an hour. Staff are skilled and
confident to work in any way that meets the needs of the child,
parent/carers and family. There is no time limit; transition is shaped and
paced according to your needs.

When the child is ready to leave us to start school or attend a different

setting, then we will work closely with you and the new setting to support
transition. This may be in the form of photographs of your childs new
teacher/key person or visits by staff from the new setting etc.

How are the resources allocated and matched to my

son/daughters needs?

We follow the graduated approach guidelines within the SEND Code of

Practice 2014. Having identified your childs learning and development
needs we can then decide the level of support required. When following a
graduated approach, it may be appropriate to continue to meet your
childs needs where activities are adapted to ensure they can access
them, or it may mean your child needs input from our SENCo Helen Bibby,
Family Support Manager Nikki Burns or Lead Teacher Carrie Hankin, to put
into place support plans using a person centred approach.

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However, if we have already provided support at this level, we may decide
with you that more specialist support is required in order to write an
additional support plan. At each stage of support, we will have identified
the level of adult support, other expertise required, teaching resources or
strategies needed to ensure your child can make progress. As a setting we
have mapped our provision for all children from high quality differentiated
teaching and learning to Education, Health and Care Plans. If you would
like to see a copy of our Provision Mapping or discuss this area further,
please contact Cathy Hughes our Head teacher

How is the decision made about what type and how much
support my son/daughter will receive?

The decisions for determining how much support is given to your child is
made through discussions with yourself, practitioners working with your
child, SENCo, Head teacher and any other professionals involved in the
care of your child. Any decision will always involve you and we will always
seek your view as we understand you know your child best. Every
package of support is shaped to the needs of the child and the resources
available, identified within our Provision Mapping for all children and those
with SEND. For example, some children will require support focusing on
language and communication, others on learning and thinking, or social,
emotional development or mental health support, or finally sensory and/or
physical needs. Of course some children will be a combination of some or
all of these areas.

Who can I contact for further information?

If you want any further information, or would like to meet the team or if
you and your child would like to visit us and join in with some of our
activities, please ring the Centre and ask to speak to Cathy Hughes Head
teacher, Helen Bibby our SENCo, or Nikki Burns Family Support Manager.
We understand that it is a big decision for you and your family, so if you
feel you need several visits or chats that is fine with us. Just take your
time.

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 What specialist services and expertise are available at or
accessed by you? Can staff get extra help from experts outside
if they need to? (eg advice and training on medical conditions)

In our centre we have access to immediate support through our Centre

SENCo Helen Bibby who has a Masters in Education with a focus on special
needs including autism and a doctorate in child development and
education. Lead teacher Carrie Hankin, who is a very experienced teacher.
Equally we have commissioned the services of a Speech and Language
Therapist who visits us at the Centre to support any children with speech,
language or communication difficulties. We also have our family support
team based at the Centre who will also available to help you and your
family.

However if both you and the team you are working with feel by following
the graduated approach (SEND Code of Practice 2014) it is time seek more
specialist support, we can access the School Readiness team (through the
Local Authoritys gateway procedure), which provides support in the form
of Portage, Autism Spectrum Condition Team, Educational Psychologist.
We also have access to the Minority and Ethnic Advisory Service if your
child has English as an additional language and through the Health Visitor
team and/or our Speech and Language Therapist, we can refer with your
permission to our Community paediatrician.

We can also access specialist health/physical/medical support such as the

Diabetes, Continence and Epilepsy nurses, and physiotherapists and
occupational therapists etc.

How will information about my child be circulated to all

members of staff and who will be responsible for that?

All the members of staff involved in the care of your child will be informed
of how best to support your child e.g. ways to help your child feel safe and
happy, understand how they behave and why, so staff can support your
child appropriately. Information is shared not only with practitioners in the
room, but other staff in the building such as midday assistants. The
sharing of information is done confidentially and so involves the
practitioners and staff who need to know. The lead person caring for your
child (e.g. lead teacher, SENCo, key person) will be responsible for this
sharing of information.

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 Where can I find more in depth information about SEND
provision at Leasowe Early Years Centre?

We have mapped out how we will support all children and those with
SEND through a process called Provision Mapping. This document is
available for you to read and discuss with a member of our team. If you
feel you would like more detailed information please ask our Head teacher
Cathy Hughes.

We hope this information helps you to plan your childs next stage of their
learning journey. If you feel we could help you, we would be very pleased
to be a part of that journey.

Thank you.

Cathy Hughes (Head teacher)

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