SEN-Inclusion Policy

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) – Children and Families Act 2014
The Children and Families Act 2014 has placed a requirement on local authorities to publish information on services and provision across education, health, social care and transport for children and young people (aged 0 – 25 years) with special educational needs and disabilities. This is called the Local Offer. The purpose of which is to enable parents, carers and young people to find services that 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 setting’s offer and demonstrates how we provide for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Aims:
We provide an environment in which all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), are supported to reach their full potential.
We ensure our provision is inclusive to all children with special educational needs.
We have regard for the DfE and DoHThe Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 0 – 25 years (2014).
We comply with the Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage (2017).
We comply with the Equality Act (2010).
We ensure that our inclusive admissions practice ensures equality of access and opportunity.
We are committed to working closely with parents/carers who are fully involved in all decisions that affect their child’s education.
We support parents/carers and children with special educational needs.
We work in partnership with parents/carers and other agencies in meeting individual children’s needs.
All children have a right of full access to early years education through The Early Years Foundation Stage.
All children have a right to expect to learn in a caring and considerate environment where staff and the children are all valued for their contributions.
We provide a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum for all children with special educational needs and disabilities.
We identify the specific needs of children with special educational needs and meet those needs through a range of SEN strategies.

Named Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO):
It is a requirement for all settings, who are registered for the Early Education Entitlement, to have an appointed, setting based Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator.
We designate a member of staff to be the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) and give his/her name to parents/carers.
Our setting-based SENCO is Lynne Dahl-Nielsen
Lynne has completed specific SENCO training and also attended relevant training to keep up to date on issues relating to inclusion and SEND.

Our SENCO
– Works closely with our manager and other colleagues and has responsibility for the day-to-day operation of our SEN Policy
– Co-ordinates provision for children with special educational needs within our setting
– Offers support for parents/carers
– Supports staff development
– Liaises with other professionals / agencies
– Ensures appropriate records are kept
– Assists staff in making observations and assessments
– Assists staff in planning for children with special educational needs
– Contacts our Early Years SEN Advisory Teacher at an early stage for informal advice and support
– Our Early Years SEN Advisory Teacher is Joy Nuthall
– Our Support Teacher is Sarah Upton
We ensure that the provision for children with special educational needs is the responsibility of all members of the setting

Admissions Arrangements:
We ensure that our inclusive admissions practice embraces equality of access and opportunity.
Our admissions form contains detailed sections/questions specifically on special educational needs and disabilities so that additional need/support is identified as early as possible.
We encourage parents/carers of children with particular needs to approach our SENCO for more information and discuss how their child’s needs can be met.
For a child with complex needs (physical and/or medical) a risk assessment/care plan, additional training for staff and/or specialist equipment may be required before a start date at the setting can be agreed.

Access for adults and children with a disability:
Facilities
We have wheelchair access into the building and a disabled toilet on site.
Children in wheelchairs receive additional support and may be lifted on to the toilet where necessary.

Adaptations
Reasonable adjustments/adaptations will be made, where appropriate, in accordance with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (2010).

Partnership with Parents:
 We work closely with parents/carers of children with special educational needs to create and maintain a positive partnership.
 We ensure that parents/carers are informed at all stages of the assessment, planning, provision and review of their children’s education.
 We work in partnership with parents/carers and other agencies in meeting individual children’s needs.
 We consult with parents/carers at every level of intervention.
 We discuss with parents/carers how they can support their child’s progress at home.
 We will explain procedures to parents/carers in order to develop a close working relationship.
 We provide parents/carers with information on sources of independent advice and support e.g. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS) / Independent Parental Special Education Advice www.ipsea.org.uk / Contact a Family SEN Advice Service (0808 808 3555).

Confidentiality:
 We will respect parent’s/carer’s rights to confidentiality when supporting children with special educational needs.
 We will always discuss any possible referrals to other services with parents/carers to seek their agreement before we make such referrals.
 All meetings with parents/carers other than the normal parent staff contact will take place in private.
 All our staff will need to be aware of any Individual Support Plan (ISP) targets agreed for a child as they are all likely to be involved in supporting that child. However, all staff are also aware that their knowledge of these targets is privileged information which should not be shared with anyone without the permission of either the setting Manager, SENCO or parent/carer.

Staffing and Training:
 We provide in-service training for practitioners and volunteers.
 We raise awareness of any specialism the setting has to offer (Makaton & BSL.)

Curriculum, Resources and Learning Environment:
 We provide resources (human and financial) to implement our Special Educational Needs Policy.
 Activities are planned and resources adapted and varied to meet a range of needs.

Identification and Assessment:
 We ensure that children with special educational needs are appropriately involved at all stages of the graduated approach, taking into account their levels of ability.
 We have systems in place for supporting children based on a continuous cycle of ‘assess, plan, do and review’, which is applied in increasing detail and frequency to ensure that children progress.
 We use a system for keeping records of the ‘assess, plan, do and review’ for children with special educational needs.
 We ensure that all staff are aware of the SEN Policy and the procedures for identifying, assessing and making provision for children with special educational needs.
 We undertake a progress check at the age of 2 which supplies parents/carers with a short summary of the child’s development.

The Graduated Approach as outlined in The SEND Code of Practice 0 – 25 years (2014):
Below is the SEN Support that we provide for identifying and supporting children with SEN or disabilities within our setting:
Assess
 We use initial observations and assessments from staff, information received from external resources and/or parental concern to support early identification.
 We use on-going observational assessments linked to the Early Years Outcomes/Development Matters to support early identification of needs.
Plan
 We use Individual Support Plans (ISPs) to agree targets, interventions and support for a child identified with special educational needs with a child-centred focus and outcomes underpinning and informing the content of the plan.
• The SENCO will liaise with the child’s parents/carers, together with the child and external agencies, if appropriate, in planning new ISPs.
• We encourage parents/carers to attend ISP meetings.
Do
• Key Person / Inclusion Support Worker will be responsible for working with the child on a daily basis
• Our SENCO will support and oversee implementation of the ISPs.
Review
• The SENCO will organise review meetings with parents/carers, Key Person and/or Inclusion Support Worker and external professionals to monitor progress.

Request for Statutory Assessment
 If a child is not making expected progress, we will discuss requesting a Statutory Assessment in consultation with the parents/carers and outside professionals.
 The Local Authority (LA) considers the need for a statutory assessment via the Pre School & Foundation Panel, and if appropriate a multi-disciplinary assessment will be made.
 Where the local authority decides to carry out an EHC needs assessment it will seek information from us about the child’s needs.
Education, Health & Care Plan (EHC Plan)
 EHC Plans will be reviewed at least every three to six months to ensure that provision continues to be appropriate.

Links with Support Services and other Agencies:
Agencies presently used are:
 Early Intervention Service – Early Years SEN Advisory Teacher & Early Years Specialist Practitioners
 Health Visitors
 Speech and Language Therapy Service
 Physiotherapy Service
 Occupational Therapy Service
 Local Children’s Centre Staff
 We have a knowledge of local services e.g. Family Information Service
 We work in partnership with parents and other agencies in meeting individual children’s needs.
 We liaise with other professionals involved with children with special educational needs and their families, including in connection with transfer arrangements to other settings and schools.
 We can signpost parents to other professionals that may be able to help such as health visitor, speech and language therapist, children’s centre and others.

London Borough of Hounslow Arrangements:

 We seek advice from our Early Years SEN Advisory Teacher to discuss whether referral is appropriate.
 The request is discussed with the child’s parents/carers. Once agreed, the setting will complete an Early Help Hounslow (EHH) referral and assessment form and ask the parents/carers to sign before returning form to the Early Help Hounslow Team.
 A delegated inclusion budget for SEND is provided by Hounslow Local Authority.
 The Inclusion Funding is a means of enabling settings to provide early intervention and promote inclusion by offering funding to provide additional adult support (called an Inclusion Support Worker) for children identified with special educational needs and disabilities.
 The decision to offer Inclusion Funding is made in consultation with the Early Years SEN Advisory Teacher (Early Intervention Service).
 Whether Inclusion Funding is given and the amount of hours offered will be based on the level / complexity of SEND.
 Application for the funding is discussed with parents/carers and the Early Years SEN Advisory Teacher (Early Intervention Service) makes the application.

 We have systems in place for working with other agencies through Early Help Assessment (EHA).
 It is designed for use in situations where a child and/or their family has additional needs that requires the support of more than one practitioner or more than one agency.

Transition Procedures:

 Supporting the transition of a child with additional needs from the current placement to a new placement is an important part of the work of the setting SENCO in liaison, if applicable, with the Early Years SEN Advisory Teacher.
 Successful transition for a child with additional needs means that they can be appropriately supported immediately upon starting at their new setting/school and will enable them to continue learning as effectively as possible.
Arrangements to Support Transition

 We hold a transition meeting at the setting in the term before transition takes place.
 If there has been involvement from the Early Years Advisory Team, an Early Years SEN Transition Form, containing relevant information on a child, is completed at the meeting.
 If the needs of the child have been met within the setting or there has been limited involvement from outside agencies, a Setting Transition Form for a Child with Additional Needs is completed at the meeting.
 Agreement is discussed and obtained with parents/carers.
 The Early Years SEN Transition Form or Setting Transition Form for a Child with Additional Needs, along with any relevant paperwork, is sent to next placement.
 We share all documentation such as ISPs, observations etc.
 We liaise with the child’s next placement and invite them to visit our setting to familiarise themselves with, and observe, the child and to share information in partnership with parents.

Complaints Procedure:
 We provide a complaints procedure for all children including those with special educational needs – see Making a complaint.

Monitoring the Policy:
How will you monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the policy?
 We monitor and review our policy annually.
 Management monitor and review our policy, practice and provision and, if necessary, make adjustments following an interactive discussion at a full staff meeting.
 We ensure the effectiveness of our special educational needs provision by collecting information from a range of sources e.g. action plan reviews, staff and management meetings, parental and external agency’s views, inspections and complaints. This information is collated, evaluated and reviewed annually.

Reviewed on: 10th October 2019
By Tas Ramji and Kim Ince