What does our setting offer your child with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND)?
Knowle West Nursery School is an inclusive nursery and we aim to support all children to enable them to make the best possible progress and achieve well. We offer a broad and balanced curriculum with high quality teaching, and we are committed to practices which are attachment aware, trauma informed and relationships-led.
We are dedicated to providing high quality care and education for all children with special educational needs and disabilities. We make sure that additional needs are identified early and offer a range of provision to meet individual needs. We work with a range of professionals, including health and family services, to make sure that all children receive the support they need to develop.
Who are the best people to talk to in this setting if I am concerned about my child’s progress?
- The first point of contact would be your child’s class teacher/room leader or key person. Please approach them at any time if you have any worries about your child.
- You can also talk to the Head Teacher/SENCO, Jenny McDonald or Rachel Stoyell (Inclusion Lead).
- The teacher/room leader/key person may talk to you informally or arrange a meeting with you to discuss concerns that are identified. In addition to this ‘Parent Meetings’ to share your child’s learning and development take place at regular intervals.
What are the different types of support and learning interventions available for children with SEN and/or Disabilities in this setting?
Each child in this setting is provided with:
- High quality teaching and learning opportunities where all the adults will have the highest possible expectations for your child.
- Teaching that is based on what your child already knows, their interests and what they can do and understand.
- Differentiated ways of teaching that supports each child’s different learning styles.
- An individualised approach and/or additional support if required for a child who is not making developmental progress alongside their peers.
- Interventions through small group work and/or 1-1 working that may involve some of the following strategies depending on the child’s area of need:
- Adjustment of the environment as required.
- Use of multi-sensory resources and strategies such as Visual Timetables and Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), Makaton signs and symbols
- Preparations for changes in routines.
- Reducing complex language, especially when giving instructions to children.
- Implementation of Therapy programmes e.g. Speech and Language.
- Identifying and supporting a child’s preferred learning style.
- Cognition & Learning Needs- Small step approaches.
- Opportunities for repetition and reinforcement of developing skills.
- Adapting materials and equipment .e.g. providing tactile equipment and sensory experiences
- Physical difficulties support with self-help skills and safe movement around the nursery.
- Strategies and approaches to support children’s emotional well-being. Eg. Trauma Informed Approach, Emotion Coaching, Attachment play.
What support do we have for you as a parent of a child with SEND?
- Arrangements can be made at any time with your child’s teacher/room leader/ key person to discuss any concerns. The class teacher/room leader and/or SENCO/Inclusion Lead will also arrange to meet with you to discuss any new ideas suggested by outside agencies for your child.
- Individual plans (eg. provision plans, Support Plans) will be reviewed together and include supportive ideas for you at home.
- If your child is undergoing any further assessments, you will also be supported by the SENCO/Inclusion Lead to ensure that you fully understand the graduated response.
Specific Individual support for your child would mean:
- If your child has been supported through the systems as described above and has been identified as having a specific special educational need, their progress will be reviewed regularly.
- The whole team supporting your child will be part of this review.
- At a review, you or the school can request an Education, Health and Care Needs assessment to determine if your child needs an Education, Health Care Plan (EHCP).
- An EHCP follows a multi-agency approach. It is a way of providing support that puts children, young people and families at the centre of the assessment and planning process, to make sure that your views are not only heard but also understood. This process focuses on what is important for children and young people, i.e. what they and you want to achieve now and in the future.
- The EHCP will have long and short term goals for your child.
- It will set out what support they need and how they will receive this support.
How does additional funding work?
- If a child has been identified as needing additional support to meet their needs which is different to that which is offered through our Ordinary Available Provision, we are also able to apply for additional funding to enhance our adult ratio to enable staff to support children in different ways.
- The team who are supporting the child will make this application and the Early Years Special Educational Needs Panel will decide the appropriate level and allocation of funding using the Bristol Universal descriptors.
How will we support your child when leaving our School?
We recognise that ‘moving on’ can be difficult for a child with SEND. We also recognise the anxieties for families and we take steps to ensure that any transition is as smooth as possible. When your child is moving to another school:-
- We will contact the new school and arrange a transition meeting.
- A transition plan will be drawn up that will include visits, photos and information for the family.
- Any special arrangements and support will be put in place for you and your child.
- We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible to the receiving school.
Who are the other people providing services to children with SEND in this setting?
We currently have weekly support from our in-house Speech and Language Therapist (Anna Chimenti) through a traded contract with the school. Anna is on site at the school every Tuesday morning working with the team, children and their families, offering assessment, advice, ideas and strategies and staff training. We follow a referral process for staff to request support from Anna and this always includes parent/carer opinion and consent.
We also have access to the following outside agencies:
- Community Paediatricians
- Health Visitors
- Physiotherapy Service
- NHS Speech and Language Therapy Service
- Bristol Autism Team
- Children’s Mental Health Teams
- Portage and Inclusion Team
- Educational Psychology Service
Support for Speech, Language and Communication Skills at Knowle West Nursery School
We recognise the importance of early language development within our school community and continually invest in staff training to improve our knowledge and understanding of early communication skills and the impact on young children’s learning and development.
There is strong evidence which links early spoken language skills to children’s later literacy development and we strive to ensure that all children in our school community receive the appropriate support for speech, language and communication development if and when they need it.
Our work with other health professionals can result in referrals for NHS Speech and Language advice and assessment. However, we have identified that we need direct support here at the school to work with our children and families alongside our staff team.
As a consequence, we have developed our own integrated approach and have commissioned a traded speech and language therapist to work with us every week at the school.
Anna Chimenti is a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist who works with us every Tuesday morning.
Hi I’m Anna and I’m an Early Years Specialist Speech and Language Therapist working all over South Bristol.
I work at Knowle West every Tuesday morning.
I run staff training, help with small speech and language groups and assess children so we can plan ways together to help their talking to progress at nursery and at home.
Anna Chimenti
You can find out more about Speech and Language Therapy Services in Bristol here, as well as ways to help language development at home. There are also lots of ideas here on the BBC website.
