Most children and young people in mainstream schools will have their special educational needs met through good classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching.

Early Identification of Need

In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:

• Work in partnership with parents/carers. Detailed information about a child is taken from parents when their child begins nursery.
• We have regular parent meetings and take into account any concerns raised by Parents. We pride ourselves on having an ‘open door policy’ where at any point parents can talk to staff.
• Consult and liase with external agencies. We work closely with Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy, CAMHS, Educational Psychology, Health Visitors and One Point Staff.
• Use assessment tools & materials. The nursery uses the Durham “Flying from the Start” assessment scheme and the Developmental Journal where appropriate.
• Use observations from key people and other members of the staff team.
• Use Short Notes which are shared and discussed with parents.

SEN Support

Where a pupil is identified as having a special educational need we follow a graduated approach which takes the form of cycles of “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

This means that we will: 

• Assess a child’s special educational needs through key person and SENCO observations, assessment of a child’s development and progress and through discussions with parents.
• Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes through producing a Short Note or SEN support plan outlining the additional provision that we will make. This will include agreed outcomes for the child and how these outcomes will be met.
• Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes. This could include a language support programme, individual or small group work or the use of particular resources such as PECS cards or visual prompts/timetables.
• Review the support and progress through key person and SENCO observational assessment, use of assessment schemes and discussions with parents/carers. Regular meetings and discussions will take place with parents, staff and other professionals in order that all views are sought when reviewing outcomes and setting new ones.

As part of this approach every child with SEN will have an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes & provision to meet those needs.  Parents/carers and child/YP (where appropriate) views are integral to the this process. If parents/carers have concerns they are given the highest priority and a meeting is arranged with the Headteacher, who is also the SENCO.

In evaluating SEN provision, outcomes are evaluated in relation not just to individual children but for the cohort of children as a whole. Regular monitoring of provision by the Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher ensures that all children, including children with SEND receive high quality teaching. Children with SEND access the full curriculum and provision alongside their peers. As the nursery is small, all staff are made aware of individual needs of children through staff meetings so this enables all staff to have a unified approach.

A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment The purpose of an EHCP is to make special educational provision to meet special educational needs of the child or young person, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education (SEND Code of Practice p.142). It is a legal document that describes a child or young person’s special educational, health and social care needs.that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.

For more detailed information see the Local Offer

Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN

For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.