All who are involved in the running of Balliol Day Nursery, including members of staff and the committee, believe in inclusion and have a legal duty not to discriminate. We believe in valuing and celebrating the diversity of needs and abilities within our community, developing good practice and positive attitudes, and that all children have the same right to attend the nursery and to be cared for and nurtured equally. We aim to ensure that all children and adults believe that the nursery environment is both welcoming and enabling.
- Balliol Day Nursery has regard for the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice (2015) 0–5 years and follows this guidance.
- We ensure that our provision is inclusive to all children with special educational needs or disabilities and review our provision regularly, making changes where necessary and we are able. We review our provision in order to make continual improvements (such as the provision of easy-hold crayons, textured books, sensory tent, sensory bottles, treasure baskets and positive representations of people in toys and the environment.)
- We support parents and children with SEND and work in partnership with parents and other agencies in meeting individual children’s needs.
- We identify the specific needs of children with SEND and meet those needs through a range of SEND strategies.
- We seek to ensure that our thinking and practice contribute directly to an environment that values all families, staff, students and visitors, ensuring that no one feels discriminated against.
- We monitor and review our policy, practice and provision and, if necessary, make adjustments.
- OFSTED, standard 9, specifies that the registered person and staff actively promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children. We provide an environment in which all children, including those with a special educational need or disability (SEND), are supported to reach their full potential.
Procedures
- We designate a member of staff to be the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities co-ordinator (SENCO) and give her name to parents. Our SENCO is Jemma Jones and is overviewed by the Oxford’s Early Years Special Educational Inclusion Team (EYSENIT) where appropriate.
- We ensure that the provision for children with special educational needs is the responsibility of all members of staff in the setting.
- We ensure that our inclusive admissions practice ensures equality of access and opportunity.
- We use a graduated response system for identifying, assessing and responding to children’s special educational need or disability. (See graduated response procedure form.)
- Every child and relevant adult is encouraged to express any worries or concerns that they may have. We work closely with parents and carers to create and maintain a positive partnership.
- We ensure that parents are informed at all stages of the assessment, planning, provision and review of their children’s education. The progress and achievements of all children are monitored and observed on a regular basis. They are shared with parents and carers through daily contact, and individual portfolios are available at all times and are updated weekly. Meetings can also be arranged for more confidential information to be shared.
- We provide parents with information on sources of independent advice and support.
- We are committed to meeting all individual learning needs and abilities and aim to provide a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum for all children with SEND. Our daily work is regularly reviewed at the end of each day and fortnightly at staff meetings, in which children’s progress and development are considered individually.
- We monitor every child’s progress and if difficulties are highlighted, these are shared with parents. We then may construct an Individual Education Plan (IEP).
- We use a system of planning, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reviewing individual educational plans (IEPs) for children with SEND. All IEP’s are reviewed at least once a term with parents, carers and all other relevant professionals involved.
- The majority of children with SEND will continue to have their needs met within our nursery, but may need assistance from outside services.
- Following the principles and commitments of the EYFS statutory framework, and with consent from the parents, we will then construct a SPORFI form to request SEN support from the Local Educational Authorities (LEA).
- If the LEA makes the decision to assess the child for an EHC (educational health care) plan, we will work in partnership with them to ensure that relevant information is shared.
- We ensure that children with SEND are appropriately involved at all stages of the graduated response, taking into account their levels of ability.
- We use a system for keeping records of the assessment, planning, provision and review for children with special educational needs.
- We liaise with other professionals who are involved with children who have special educational needs and their families. We also share relevant information during the transition process to other settings or schools.
Our setting
- We provide resources (human and financial) to implement our Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs policy.
- Working towards equality and inclusion is a continual process. Balliol Day Nursery has a commitment to relevant staff training, with an emphasis on the identification and awareness of particular needs.
- We raise awareness of any specialism the setting has to offer; a member of staff has Early Years EAL training; and we are introducing Makaton signs for some basic words. Two members of staff have had new early years SENCO training (Jemma Jones and Victoria Lambourne — currently on maternity leave).
- We ensure the effectiveness of our special educational needs provision by collecting information from a range of sources, e.g. IEP reviews, staff and management meetings, parental and external agency’s views, inspections and complaints. This information is collated, evaluated and reviewed annually.
- We provide a complaints procedure. All complaints of discrimination will be taken seriously, without consequence for the person making the complaint or providing evidence to support.
19 November 2024