PRESENTATION NOTES
EARLY YEARS SUPPORT FOR LEARNINGTEAM
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO
My Team is in East Cambs and Fenland and is 1 of 3 which are part of the
Support for Learning team within Cambridgeshire County Council. The other
2 teams cover Huntingdonshire and South Cambs and Cambridge City.
We operate within a multi-agency approach, working with colleagues from
Health and Social Care to support children in the Early Years Foundation
Stage who will be aged between 0 and 5 years, and who have Special
Educational Needs and Disabilities. These needs and disabilities cover a
wide range of learning communication, social interaction, physical and
sensory difficulties.
We support parents and carers, and early years settings.
Early Years settings are:
 Pre-schools
 Local authority nurseries
 Day nurseries
 Childminders
We support all settings in receipt of government funding to ensure appropriate
structures and procedures are in place for children with SEN/D. Part of our
role is to support smooth transitions from home to preschool and from
preschool to school. These arrangements are managed by the preschool
setting.
Support for individual children is initiated by a referral. Referrals come from a
variety of sources, including early years settings, health and social care
professionals, Children’s Centres and parents/carers, using the Common
Assessment Framework (CAF) – with parent/carers signed consent.
Where appropriate, we then become part of the Team Around the Child (TAC)
and contribute to the Early Support Family Service Plan for the child.
ROLES OF THE TEAM
Our team consists of:
 Early Years Area Special Educational Needs Coordinators (Area
SENCos)
 Early Years Specialist Support Teachers (EYSST)
 Sector Support Workers
 Specialist Support Workers
 Portage Home Visitors
 Early Support Home Visitors for Social Communication Team (SCoT)
We work in partnership with parents/carers, other professionals and early
years settings to provide support to children under school age who have
additional needs, helping the child to learn in small achievable steps, building
on success.
Early Years Area SENCos support staff in early years settings, providing
advice, support and training, helping them to work together with parents/
carers.
Early Years Specialist Support Teachers (EYSST) provide specialist
support for children with significant and complex special educational needs
and disabilities (SEN/D).
They work in partnership with parents/carers, focusing on family priorities to
support the child’s learning and development, both in the home and in their
early years settings.
Specialist Support Workers are involved at the request of the Early Years
Specialist Support Teacher. They provide time-limited intensive support with
parents/carers and setting staff, to ensure a consistent approach.
Appropriate strategies are planned, and followed at home, in the setting and
at specialist groups.
Sector Support Workers provide time-limited, intensive support to help staff
in early years settings support the development of children with SEN/D.
Portage Home Visitors provide home-based developmental and learning
support alongside practical advice and guidance for families if the child is not
attending a setting for 15 hours per week.
Early Support Home Visitors for Social Communication - an initiative to
support children with significant social communication difficulties and/or a
diagnosis of autism. They work with parents and carers, primarily in the
home, for up to 5 hours per week, providing practical support and advice on
developing approaches to improve communication, play and behaviour. They
also work with staff in the child’s setting to ensure consistency of support.
As well as the specific roles I have described, all members of the team aim to
support children and families to access other local services, Children’s Centre
groups and activities for children with SEN/D which are happening in the area.
Support for Learning groups
Support for Learning groups run across the county with colleagues from
Children’s Centres, Health and Social Care. Children on the team’s caseload
can be invited as appropriate.
Within East Cambridgeshire and Fenland, groups are currently running at:
 Wisbech – Little Butterflies – Thursday am
 Wisbech – Play Together –Tuesday p.m


Ely – Playcircle – Tuesday am
Ely – Sensing Fun – Friday p.m
Bottisham – New group starting at Children’s Centre in September 2012 –
Friday am.
These groups focus on encouraging social interaction.
Contacts
Three area teams for Cambridgeshire:
East Cambs and Fenland – Christine Carr 01354 750269
Huntingdonshire –Fay Sharp 01480 373756
South Cambs and Cambridge City – Barbara Stone 01223 728152
Christine Carr
Early Years SEN Manager East Cambridgeshire and Fenland
5/7/2012