Parents and Carers
- SEN Support in Mainstream Schools
- SEN Support in School Meetings
- Choosing a School or College
- Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessments, Plans and Reviews
- Appeals and Mediation
- Attendance and Exclusions
- Transitioning Between Schools or Settings
- Early Years
- SEND Funding
- Transport to School and College
- Preparing For Adulthood (PfA)
- Making a Complaint
- Health Needs and Education
- Elective Home Education (EHE)
- School Admissions
- Disability Discrimination
- Children's Disability Register
Early Years
This information is about the support that early years providers and maintained nurseries within schools must and should provide for children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities.
All providers of early years education, funded by the Local Authority, are required to have regard to the SEND Code of Practice. They have duties under the Equality Act 2010 not to discriminate against disabled children, and they must follow the safeguarding, welfare, learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.
It is important that settings listen to parents’ concerns and to those raised by children themselves.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
All early years children are entitled to an education that enables them to:
- achieve their best possible education and other outcomes
- become confident young children with growing ability to communicate their own views and be ready to make the transitions into compulsory education.
All early years educational providers, including pre-school playgroups, private day nurseries, childminders and maintained nurseries in school, have a duty to ensure children with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities have their needs met.
The SEND Code of Practice says maintained nursery schools must:
- use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need
- ensure that children and young people with SEN engage in the activities of the provision, alongside children who do not have SEN
- designate a teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision – the SEN co-ordinator, or SENCo.
- inform parents when they are making special educational provision for a child
- provide a report on the implementation of their SEN policy and 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 setting for disabled children and their accessibility plan, showing how they plan to improve access.
SEN support is help that is additional to, or different from, the support generally given to most other children of the same age. The purpose of SEN support is to help children achieve the outcomes or learning objectives set for them. Every setting must publish a SEN Information Report about the SEN provision they make. You can usually find this on the setting’s website, and you can also ask your child’s nursery teacher or Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) about it.
There are different types of SEND. Your child may have difficulties in one, or more areas. Early years providers may identify additional needs in the following areas:
- communication and interaction needs
- cognition and learning needs
- social, emotional and mental health needs
- sensory or physical needs.
To support identified needs, early years providers may put in extra provisions to help your child develop. SEN support can take many forms, including:
- individual care or learning promoted especially for your child with help from your child’s key person, early years practitioner, or nursery teacher
- observing your child and keeping records to assist their development and progress in cooperation with you
- helping your child to take part in daily activities and learning routines, both individually and in small groups
- encouraging your child to interact with others and have a voice, to enable them to ask questions and maybe try things they may find challenging
- promoting social skills and integration between your child, other children and adults
- supporting your child’s physical care routines like toileting, eating and dressing, whilst promoting skills for independence
seeking advice and/or extra help from outside agencies and specialists, such as early years specialist teachers, educational psychologists and therapists.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN or disabilities. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework requires settings to share children’s progress with their parents.
Sometimes you may be the first to be aware that your child has some special educational needs. If you think your child may need SEN support you should talk to your child’s key person, nursery teacher, or to the SENCo. If you are not happy about the support your child receives, you can ask to talk to the SENCo, manager or head teacher.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
Where a setting identifies a child as having SEN, they must work in partnership with parents to establish the support the child needs.
Where a setting makes special educational provision for your child, the setting should use a graduated approach based on four steps. These are:
Assess
The Early Years Practitioner works with the SENCo to assess and identify your child’s needs, so that they can provide the right support and regularly review it. They should involve you in this process and, where possible, seek your child’s views.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
Where early years assessment indicates that support from specialist services is required, it is important that children receive this as soon as possible.
Sometimes providers will seek advice from a specialist teacher or a health professional. They should talk to you about this first and seek your permission.
Plan
If the provider decides that your child needs SEN support they must tell you. The setting should agree with you the outcomes that will be set, what help and interventions will be provided and a date for progress to be reviewed by.
Do
Your child’s Early Years Practitioner, usually your child’s key person, is responsible for the work that is done with your child and works closely with you (the parents) and other staff involved, supported by the SENCo.
The setting should tell you who is responsible for the support your child receives. All those who work with your child should be made aware of the support needed. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) oversees the child’s support programme and advises on the approaches that are required.
Review
The SEND Code of Practice says:
The graduated approach is led by the setting SENCo who supports individual staff to implement the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guidance and materials to support children to reach their intended outcomes.
Early years providers review children’s progress and share a summary with parents at two points: the 2 Year Progress Check (between the ages of 24 and 36 months), and at the end of the reception year via the EYFS profile.
Children with very complex needs who have an Education, Health and Care Plan, have an annual review of this Plan.
You and your provider can look at the Local Offer to see what support is available that could help achieve your child’s overall outcomes.
The setting should review your child’s progress, and the difference that the support interventions have made, on the date agreed in the plan. You and your child should be involved in the review and in planning the next steps.
If your child has not responded to the help they were given, the review should decide what can be done next. This may include more, or different help, from other professionals in further assessment, or to support with planning the next steps in early learning.
If the early years setting has provided all the support they can, and there are still concerns about progress and development, the next step may be to ask the local authority for an EHC needs assessment.
If the setting decides to do this, they must advise you and work with you.
You can find out more about support for early years children by:
- talking to your child’s key person, SENCo, or nursery teacher
- looking at the SEN Information Report on the setting’s website
- looking at early years Ofsted reports which can be found at (www.gov.uk)
- looking at the Local Offers published by Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, detailing SEN support available to all children and young people, plus a list of early years providers and their provision made for children with SEN or disabilities
- speaking to your local Children’s Centre services for children 0–5 years
- looking at the Families Information Service offered by your local authority
- reading Chapter 5 of the SEN Code of Practice.
Questions parents could ask about childcare for young children with SEND:
Listed below are some examples of questions you might want to ask when visiting childcare providers (settings) to ensure you make the best choice for your child. It is advisable to begin the selection process early as providers operate a waiting list.
Some of these questions can be answered by looking carefully through the written information you have about the early years provision from the setting’s prospectus and website, including their policies on: special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities, their positive behaviour policy, and policies on equal opportunities and inclusion. You should also read the setting’s most recent OFSTED report, which may highlight the quality of their SEN provision on offer.
Other questions might be answered by asking parents of children already attending the setting and through discussion with the setting staff during a tour of the childcare provision.
How will settling-in visits be promoted for my child, new to being cared for by someone else?
What is in place to make sure all staff will be familiar with my child’s individual needs?
What are the ratios of staff to children generally?
Will my child have a key person, and how many other children might that key person be responsible for?
How do you support children's care routines and their learning and development needs?
How do you keep parents informed of their child's progress?
How does the setting communicate with parents and how often would I be involved in review meetings?
What is included in fees and do you offer the government’s free funded places for 2-3 and 4 year olds?
Does the setting have experience of helping children with similar needs to my child, and what training do staff have regarding SEN?
How is SEN information shared between staff that need to know details about my child?
Is it likely my child may be able to access inclusion funding to support their special educational needs in your provision?
What support is available and offered to families of children with SEN?
How would other children be helped to understand my child’s individual needs?
Are all areas of the provision accessible to my child?
What should I do if I have concerns about my child?
How is challenging behaviour managed?
Does the setting have a positive behaviour reward system?
How are children supported with transition into their next group at the setting?
Do you have your Ofsted report available for parents to read?
SEND Local Offer
The Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council SEND Local Offers are a great resource for finding events, support and activities in your area.
City Council County Council