Local Offer for Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN)

LOCAL OFFER: - Rachel McMillan Nursery School and Children’s Centre Type of nursery Maintained Nursery School and Children’s Centre

Mainstream 15 hour free nursery places for 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

Additional hours may be available for SEN provision

All Greenwich maintained schools have a similar approach to meeting the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs and are supported by the Local Authority to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress in school. All schools are supported to be as inclusive as possible, with the needs of pupils with a Special Educational Need/s being met in a mainstream school wherever possible, where families want this to happen.

A. PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS/DISABILITIES/ DIFFICULTIES WITH LEARNING IN THIS NURSERY: Who are the best people to talk to in this nursery about my child’s difficulties with learning/ Special Educational Need/Disability (SEND)?

People Family Worker/Class Teacher/shelter staff team

And how can I talk to them about my child if I need to?

Nursery based information - Summary of responsibilities Your child’s Family Worker is responsible for the well being of your child as they settle in, getting them involved in all the activities on offer in the nursery. They are also responsible (with the other shelter staff) for keeping records of your child’s achievement and tracking their progress.

Initial worries should be discussed with the Family Worker who may then take any concerns to the Inclusion Leader. You can speak informally to your child’s Family Worker as you drop your child off or pick them up. If you would like a longer meeting time ask to make a separate time with your Family Worker.

The Family Worker, with the rest of the shelter staff, are responsible for: • Ensuring that your child has access to excellent teaching and that the curriculum and the learning environment is adapted to meet your child’s individual needs (also known as personalised learning.)

• Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like individual or small group support or additional support from a service like speech and language therapy). This is done in consultation with you and the nursery’s Inclusion Leader.

• Writing ‘One page profiles’ that give detail of your child’s personalised learning plan and sharing and reviewing these with you at least once each term.

• Ensuring that all staff working with your child in the nursery know about your child’s ‘One page profile’ so they can support your child to achieve the best possible progress. This may involve the use of additional staff, outside specialist help and specially planned work and resources depending on the needs of your child.

• Ensuring that the nursery’s SEN Policy is followed in their shelter and for all the children they teach with any SEN.

Inclusion Leader

The Inclusion Leader is responsible for:

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Coordinating all the support for children with special educational needs (SEN) and developing the nursery’s SEN Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs at Rachel McMillan.

Ensuring that mums, dads and carers are: • Given ample opportunity to be involved in supporting their child’s learning from the outset • Kept informed about the support their child is getting • Involved in reviewing how their child is doing • Part of planning ahead for their child.

Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into the nursery to help support your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychologist, Family Psychotherapist Updating the nursery’s SEN Record of Need (a system for ensuring all the SEN needs of children at Rachel McMillan are known) and making sure that there are excellent records of your child’s progress and needs.

Coordinating specialist support for staff at Rachel McMillan, so they can help your child (and other pupils with SEN in the nursery) achieve the best possible progress while they are here.

They are responsible for: • • •

The day to day management of all aspects of the nursery, this includes the support for children with SEN. They will give responsibility to the Inclusion Leader and shelter staff, but are still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.

They must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in the nursery relating to SEN.

If you want to discuss your child’s needs with the Inclusion Leader or Headteacher you can mention it to your child’s shelter staff or the staff in the front office who will arrange a time for you.

SEN governor

They are responsible for: • Making sure that the nursery has an up to date SEN Policy • Making sure that the nursery has appropriate provision and has made necessary adaptations to meet the needs of all children in the nursery • Making sure that the necessary support is made for any child who attends the nursery who has SEN. • Meeting regularly with the Inclusion Leader to discuss the above.

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B. HOW COULD MY CHILD GET HELP IN THIS NURSERY? : Children in the nursery will get support that is specific to their individual needs. This may be all provided by the Family Worker or shelter staff or may involve: • Other staff in the nursery • Staff who will visit the nursery from the Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need) • Specialist staff who visit from outside agencies such as the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) Service.

Types of support provided, also showing the stage of the Code of Practice (the document that schools use to plan their SEN input) children will be at when receiving this input.

What are the different types of support available for children with SEN in this nursery?

1. Family Worker/shelter staff support by providing an excellent, enabling environment, personalised activities and targeted support for children’s individual needs and interests.

What would this mean for your child?

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2. SEN Support where your child has been identified by the shelter staff /Family Worker in consultation with you as needing some extra support in the nursery.

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• 3. SEN Support, where your child has been identified by the shelter staff/Inclusion Leader or yourself as needing some extra specialist support in nursery from a

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Ensuring that all staff have the highest possible expectations for your child and all children in their class.

Ensuring that all teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand and is interested in.

Putting in place different ways of teaching so that your child is fully involved in learning.

You will have the opportunity to meet at least once a term to participate in a discussion with the shelter staff about your child’s development and needs.

Your child’s shelter staff will consider your child’s progress and will decide with you, the benefits of receiving additional support to help your child make the best possible progress.

This support will include the strategies listed above and also involve things like using practical strategies such as targeted 1:1 support and ‘small group’ support, choosing boards and visual timetables.

It may include putting in place specific strategies suggested by the Inclusion Leader or outside services to support your child to develop.

Your child will have been identified by yourself/Family Worker/shelter staff/Inclusion Leader as needing more specialist input, in addition to the strategies listed previously.

You may be asked to give your permission for the nursery to

Who can get this kind of support?

All children in nursery should be getting this as a part of excellent early years practice when needed.

Children will be at the initial stage of SEN support, which means they have been identified by the Family Worker, shelter staff or parents, as needing some extra support in the nursery.

Children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome just

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professional outside the nursery. This may be from: • Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need) • Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) Service.

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refer your child to a specialist professional e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist, etc. This will help the nursery and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in the nursery.

The specialist professional will want to understand your child’s needs in order to make recommendations. This may include: o Observing your child in the nursery. o Talking to you about your child’s needs o Talking to your child’s Family Worker and shelter staff

by targeted support from the Family Worker or shelter staff

The recommendations made, may include; o Making changes to the way your child is supported in shelter e.g. some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better o Support to set more specific targets which will include that professionals specific area of expertise o Group support or some individual work with an outside professional • 4. Specified Individual support for your child of more than 20 hours in nursery.

This is usually provided via an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). In partnership with yourselves as parents, this means your child will have been identified by the Family Worker/shelter staff/Inclusion Leader as needing a particularly high level of individual and/or small group teaching (more than 20 hours a week), which cannot be provided from just the resources already delegated to the nursery.

Usually, if your child requires this high level of support they may also need specialist support in the nursery from a professional outside the nursery. This may be from: • Local Authority central services such as

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You will be part of the discussion with the shelter staff and specialist professional, so that together we can discuss the best ways to support your child’s development.

The nursery (or you) can request that the Local Authority carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process and you can find more detail about this in the Local Authority based Local Offer, on the LA web site.

After the nursery or you have sent in the request to the Local Authority (with a lot of information about your child, including some from you), the Local Authority will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment After the reports have all been sent in the Local Authority will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong and that they need more than 20 hours of support in nursery to make good progress. If this is the case they will write an EHC Plan. If this is not the case, the family have a right to appeal and a meeting (a Team Around the Child or TAC) will be set up to discuss support for your child.

The EHC Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and how the support should be used and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long and short term goals

Children whose learning needs are: • Severe, complex and lifelong • Need more than 20 hours of support in nursery

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How will we support your child with identified special needs who is starting at Rachel McMillan?

the ASD Outreach Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need) Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) Service, Occupational Therapy service, Physiotherapy and/or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)

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How can I let the nursery know I am concerned about my child’s progress?

How will the nursery let me know if they have any concerns about my child’s learning?

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for your child.

An additional adult may be used to support your child, as appropriate, with whole class learning or to run individual programmes or run small groups that include your child.

You will be invited to visit the nursery for an admission meeting with your child. You can have a look around and speak to staff.

If other professionals are already working with your child, a team around the child (TAC) will be held with you to discuss your child’s needs and ensure proper provision is in place ready for your child to start.

Your child’s Family Worker will offer you a home visit and will also visit your child if they are attending another nursery e.g. ICAN We will discuss your child’s needs with you and determine if we need to arrange specialist training for your child’s Family Worker or the whole staff if necessary.

Your child will be offered an extended settling in period, if appropriate, building up their time slowly to allow them to form relationships and feel safe and secure in the nursery environment.

If your child is attending another Early Years provision, we will ensure that information and strategies are shared with us before your child starts with us.

Once your child has settled, they may be offered additional hours if, in consultation with you, the Inclusion Leader and Headteacher, this is felt to be beneficial.

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If you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to your child’s Family Worker or one of the shelter team initially.

If you continue to be concerned that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the Inclusion Leader or Headteacher If you are still not happy you can speak to the nursery’s SEN Governor.

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If there are any concerns about your child’s progress, these will be shared with you during our parent consultations or earlier if it is felt necessary.

When the Family Worker or shelter staff have raised concerns about your child’s progress, this will be shared with the Inclusion Leader. Strategies and help can be discussed which may support your child.

Each shelter team meet regularly to monitor the development of all children. The whole staff meet fortnightly to talk about the needs of the children and to share strategies that help to support the children.

If your child’s rate of development is identified as a concern, the staff will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail. o To listen to any concerns you also may have o To plan any additional support your child may receive o To discuss with you any appropriate referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning

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How is extra support allocated to children?

Who are the other people providing services to children with SEN in this nursery?

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The school budget, received from the government through Royal Greenwich LA, includes money for supporting children with SEN. The Headteacher decides on the budget for Special Educational Needs in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of the needs of the children in the nursery.

• The Headteacher and the Inclusion Leader discuss all the information they have about SEN in the nursery, including o the children getting extra support already o the children needing extra support o the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected.

And they decide what resources/training and support is needed.

• All resources, training and support are reviewed regularly and changes made as needed.

• Mums, Dads or Carers will be a full part of any discussion about any extra support available or being allocated to their child.

A. Directly funded by the nursery

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Paid for centrally by the Local Authority but delivered in nursery

C. Provided and paid for by the Health Service (Oxleas NHS Trust) and delivered across the borough.

How are the adults in nursery helped to work with children with an SEN and what training do they have?

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How will we measure the progress of your child in nursery? And how will I know about this?

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Speech and Language Therapy (SALT). Additional input to provide a higher level of service to the nursery.

CAMHs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) – consultations with a Family Psychotherapist.

Social Communication Worker Autism Outreach Service CAMHS Educational Psychology Service Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing needs Speech and Language Therapy (provided by Health but paid for by the Local Authority).

Occupational Therapy Physiotherapy Professional training for nursery staff to deliver medical interventions

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Community Nurse Health Visitor services

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The Inclusion Leader’s job is to support all the shelter staff in planning for children with SEN. The nursery has regular whole staff training on SEN issues such as ASD, behaviour and speech and language etc.

Individual staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class e.g. from the ASD Outreach service and Sensory service.

Whole staff meetings are regularly held to share strategies, knowledge and experience to ensure consistency of approach to children with SEN. Your child’s progress is continually monitored by their Family Worker and shelter staff.

Their progress is reviewed every term by their Family Worker alongside the other staff through observation and assessment.

Your child’s progress is also tracked against the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) framework.

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What support do we have for you as a parent of child with an SEN?

Termly parent consultations will be held with you and your child’s Family Worker. Extra meetings can be planned as necessary.

The Inclusion Leader will also attend parent consultations or review meetings for some children as needed.

Children receiving ‘SEN Support’ will have a plan, which will be reviewed with your involvement, every term and the plan for the next term made.

The progress of children with an EHC Plan is formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education including mums, dads and carers.

The Inclusion Leader with the shelter staff will also check that your child is making good progress within the additional support they may get from other professionals.

Individual meetings can be requested by mums, dads or carers at any time to discuss their children’s progress.

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We would like you to talk to your child’s Family Worker and shelter staff regularly so we know what your child is doing at home and so we can tell you about what we are doing in the nursery. We hope this will make sure that we are doing similar things to support your child both at home and nursery and can share what is working in both places.

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The Inclusion Leader (or Headteacher) are always happy to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns or worries you may have.

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All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you, with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report or phone call. The Inclusion Leader will also arrange to meet with you to discuss any new assessments and ideas suggested by outside agencies for your child.

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The ‘One Page Profile’ will be reviewed with your involvement each term.

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A home/nursery contact book may be used to support communication with you, if this has been agreed to be useful for you and your child, if your child attends Extended Day.

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Mums, dads or carers will be sign-posted to appropriate supportive services i.e. SEN parent support groups, Early Birds Course (ASD outreach), Consultations with CAMHS and EP Services.

In addition: If you child is undergoing statutory assessment you will also be supported by the Royal Greenwich Children’s Services SEN Team, including Parent Partnership. They will ensure that you fully understand the process.

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How have we made this nursery physically accessible to children with SEN?

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How will we support your child when they are leaving this nursery OR moving on to another shelter?

Each child’s needs are assessed individually and adaptations made if possible i.e. lowering tables/providing support chairs in shelters.

The nursery is accessible to children with physical disability.

The majority of the nursery is on one level and there are ramps to support access.

Three parts of the nursery are accessed by steps and all children are supported to access these spaces with appropriate aids if necessary We ensure that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.

The nursery has 2 accessible toilets.

Please see the ‘Access Policy’ on the website.

We recognise that ‘moving on’ can be difficult for a child with SEN and take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.

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When your child is moving to another nursery or school: o We will contact the new nursery’s Inclusion Leader and ensure they know about any special arrangements or support that needs to be made for your child. o We will make sure that all our records about your child are passed on as soon as possible. If appropriate this will include a ‘Communication Passport’, which gives specific details of how to support your child. o If your child would be helped by a ‘Transition photo book’ to support them to understand moving on, then it will be made for them. o Where possible your child will visit their new nursery on several occasions with their Family Worker o In most cases staff from the new school will visit your child in this nursery before they start. o In some cases, a transition meeting will be held with mums, dads or carers and all professionals involved including the receiving school’s Inclusion Leader to pass on information and to make transition arrangements.

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