Ethos and management responsibilities
The management of the early years setting ensures that:
- all staff are committed to the promotion of inclusion of all children in the setting. Please see the Early Years Alliance information on inclusion and equality and the Council for Disabled Children definition of inclusion and checklist.
- all staff in the nursery are aware of their individual responsibility with respect to SEND and are aware of the key content in the relevant documents, including:
- a SEND Nursery Report has been considered, which is published online, accessible to parents, and includes information about:
- The implementation of their SEN policy
- Their arrangements for the admission of disabled children
- The steps being taken to prevent disabled children from being treated less favourably than others
- The facilities provided to enable access to the nursery for disabled children
- Their accessibility plan showing how they plan to improve access over time
- Staffordshire's Local Offer
- associated nursery policies such as Equality, SEND, Safeguarding and Behaviour are implemented and regularly reviewed.
- there is a designated, qualified SENCo in nursery who is responsible for:
- informing strategic decision making with management team
- promoting and co-ordinating SEND within the nursery
- provide support and guidance to all staff around SEND
- being one point of contact for external support services, e.g. speech and language therapists, EPs etc
- engaging parents/carers in supporting children’s development
- maintaining awareness of relevant research and policy updates in the area of SEND
- identifying the potential risk factors within the vulnerable groups in nursery.
- please see The Council for Disabled Children Toolkit for more information on the role of the SENCo.
- there is an induction procedure in place and all staff have completed statutory training in first aid, health and safety, food hygiene and safeguarding
- there is a clear process for communication and the dissemination of information regarding SEND.
- appropriate funding is identified to support SEND. This may include the Early Years Pupil Premium, DSF and other SEND funding. The SENCo is aware of these funding streams.
- there are procedures in place to make transitions as smooth as possible for children (please refer to the Transition section for more details):
- for starting nursery
- for during the day, i.e. changes during the day such as snack-time and outside play
- for moving to a new room within nursery
- for starting school
- parents/carers have been informed of the name of their child's key person, and their role was explained when their child started attending the setting.
- parents/carers are made aware of the support available in the local area by giving them details of Staffordshire's Local Offer
- encourage and support a team approach to addressing SEND. In particular:
- Promoting an ethos of positive enquiry and acceptance of difference through mutual respect and being responsive to individual needs
- Staff are given encouragement and opportunities to discuss concerns, problem solve during supervision sessions
- There are opportunities for key staff to share good practice with staff in the setting and with others from other early years providers
- The Role of the SENCo and Key Person
- Putting the child at the centre of inclusive practice
- High quality inclusive teaching and learning in the early years
- A whole setting approach to SEN support and the graduated approach
- Practitioners and parents working together to support all children
- The messages that are shared regarding toilet training, use of a dummy, transitions and eating/drinking are consistent across the setting.