Little Acorns Pre-School

Our Local Offer

Please come & meet us, look around our setting and ask us all of your questions

 SENCo’s: Holly Ryder and Jo Richens (level 3 SEN) (Special Educational Needs Coordinators)

 What We Offer

At Little Acorns we acknowledge that all children are unique and develop at different rates. All children have strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Children learn in a variety of different ways and have their own personalities. At Little Acorns we aim to treat each child as an individual and meet their specific needs accordingly, as one of our core values is that we want every child to flourish within our care. The relationship that our staff have with all of our parents/carers are very strong and supportive. We care greatly about each child’s family and value the aspirations they have for each member. We aim to support them as a whole family unit.

Once a child registers with us, we ask for any information regarding additional needs known at that point.

Therefore, if a child comes to us with obvious additional needs, we aim to put in place as soon as possible - support, strategies and resources that will enhance that child’s learning and care with us. Our approach has always supported the whole family as well as the child.

At Little Acorns we have strong routines that we feel children benefit from and is part of the preparation for them going to school. Group rules and expectations are frequently discussed.

We have a lot of consistency within the Pre-school environment and staff use a lot of the same set phrases, so that children have clear set boundaries. However, if a child has additional needs and it is not yet appropriate for them to join in with any of the routines e.g. our more formalised whole group times, we will make adjustments to meet that child’s needs.

We use a lot of symbols and pictures to explain routines and what is happening ‘now’ and ‘next’ and ‘Timelines’, showing the set order of routines or activities.

Our Experience

Our Pre-School team are highly knowledgeable and have encountered a range of special educational needs and disabilities both here and in other settings.  This includes: hearing impairment, Complex Communication needs, dyspraxia, visual impairment, autism, ADHD, behavioural issues, speech and language needs, severe allergies, asthma and Type 1 Diabetes.

We work closely with specialists, professionals and support agencies to bring the right help, advice and guidance to children and their families.  These include: Hearing and Vision Support Services, our Local Authority Best Start in Life Advisor, Speech and Language Therapists, Health Visitors, Paediatrician, Home Start and the Early Help Hub.

For children with medical conditions, we seek out training and advice, in order to have a better understanding of how best to care for the child. In the past we have had a nurse talk to the staff team about severe allergic reactions and the use of epi-pens and been trained on medical procedures surrounding Diabetes. All staff are First Aid Trained.

Identifying Special Educational Needs

Each child has a member of staff as their Key Person, who is responsible for liaising with parents/carers and having an overall understanding and awareness of the child’s strengths and interests, learning and development.  Families are offered a home visit by the Key Worker and Manager, where a ‘One Page Child Profile’ is completed to gather information on understanding a child.

During the first 6 weeks of the Child’s time in the setting, the Key Worker and staff team care for, observe and assess them, listening to and feeding back to parents and each other at staff meetings.  We look for any areas of concern that require input and give an overall summary of what we know in a ‘Settling in & Progress Report’ at the end of the 6 weeks in an informal meeting with parents/carers.

As the child continues their journey with us, the Key Worker sends out regular ‘Quarterly Update’ learning and development summary sheets to parents/carers, which include a ‘Family Feedback Form’.

If it was felt that a child required extra support, we would keep in close communication with parents/carers regarding this and decide on ways to provide this.  Should it be felt that more targeted support is required then we write an I.E.P (Individual Education Plan) in liaison with parents/carers.  This is an action plan with target areas of support for the child, which is used and contributed to by the whole staff team.  It is reviewed regularly and strategies to use at home are also decided with the family.

We work with the setting SENCo’s, Parents/carers, Key workers and other professionals.

If we feel a child is not progressing in a particular area, despite our interventions, we will continue to talk to the parent/carer about our concerns and seek to contact appropriate help and advice.  We would continue to work together with the family and professionals to support the child’s needs. This may mean applying for additional funding to do this.

If it became appropriate, we would request the Local Education Authority to make a full Education, Health and Care assessment of the child. This would hopefully then result in them being given an Education, Health and Care Plan.

If a child were to start with us and they already had a EHCP, we would aim to adhere to the plan and meet all those needs so that the child can meet their full potential.

We aim to always keep the parents informed and are happy to speak regularly both formally or informally. We hope that as a staff team we are always friendly and approachable and that it is evident that we genuinely care about all children.

Adaptations

We put in place resources and strategies to help with children’s needs, for example in the past we installed a canopy over our whole group area to improve the acoustics.  We may adapt activities and resources, provide extra adult support (one to one) or adapt the routine.

We have a lot of space at Pre-School, with a large open-plan main room, huge gymnasium and a garden too. If necessary, we would move furniture to accommodate any needs a child has.

We really value the thoughts and advice given to us from parents/carers as we recognise them as the child’s primary carer and understand they have greater knowledge about their child, and so may know how best to support their child’s learning.

Training

Our staff undertake a range of training in learning, development and SEN Special Educational Needs and are qualified/experienced within early years care and education. They seek to continually improve, with continuous personal and professional development high on their agenda. Courses include Dingley’s Promise Inclusion training, Sensory Processing, communication and signing and understanding emotional development and trauma. They attend regular SENCo Local Area Network meetings, to stay informed of current practice and guidelines.  Staff also share this information at staff meetings, so that as a team we develop together.

Transitions

We work closely with the schools we feed into and invite reception teachers into Pre-School the term before they start school. For children with SEND we would have more contact with the school prior to them starting, to work out strategies with the reception teacher to best support the transition to school. We pass on key information including ideas about resources or strategies that have worked well for us with the child, so that a consistent approach is developed. This inevitably helps the child settle more quickly at school.

Please also read our Special Educational Needs and Disability Policy