Manor Farm Day Nursery
Policy on assessment of, and provision for, children with Special
Educational needs – February 2011
At Manor Farm Day Nursery all adults and children are of equal worth and our aim is to enable them to
participate fully in the life and work of the Nursery regardless of origin or aptitude.
Admissions policy
The currently agreed admissions policy of the Manager makes no distinction as to children’s special
educational needs. Within the admissions policy, the aim of the Nursery is to meet the needs of the child
of any parent/carer who wishes to register at the Nursery.
In the case of children with a statement of special educational needs, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator will work closely with the LEA named officer in coming to a decision about the most appropriate
provision for the child. No child will be refused admission solely on the grounds that he/she has special
educational needs. In these circumstances the SENCO will work closely with the family to ensure a smooth
transition to nursery and will have additional consultations with parents/carers and child as necessary.
Some children will, permanently, or from time to time have a significantly greater difficulty in learning
than the majority of children their age. Some may have disabilities that prevent or hinder them from
making use of the facilities provided for our children.
We give these children individual consideration and where possible make special provision for them,
working in partnership with parents and professionals as necessary. The manager’s intention is that the
needs of all the children are identified and met as soon as possible. All children whether they have
additional needs or not, must have an equal opportunity to participate in the full curriculum of the Nursery
(including EYFS).
Everyone in the Nursery environment – Manager, staff, children and parents/carers – has a positive and
active role to play in achieving this aim:
Manager
By fulfilling their statutory duties to children with special educational needs
By securing appropriate resources
By establishing a policy which has regard to the SEN Code of Practice 2002 on the identification and
assessment of special educational needs
By participating in and enabling appropriate training for all staff
Staff
By acting on the principle that every member of staff is directly responsible for meeting the needs of all
children
By working in partnership with the Special Educational Needs co-ordinator, child, parents/carers and
other agencies
By participating in appropriate training
By regularly reviewing the child’s achievements and recording progress
1
Children
By having their wishes about their own needs regularly sought and carefully considered
By involving children, where appropriate, in implementing individual child plans (ICP)/behaviour plans
By all children treating their peers with respect
Parents/carers
Through consultation and by working in partnership with the nursery and other agencies to help meet
their child’s needs
Roles and responsibilities at Manor FarmDay Nursery
The key person in consultation with the Dedicated SENCO








Identifies that a child has special educational needs.
Gathers information from records and previous placements.
Plans for the child’s individual development.
Supports the child’s development and learning.
Supports any helpers (1:1 and other adults).
Reviews the child’s progress with parents/carers and others as necessary.
Communicates with parents.
Records the child’s progress.
Dedicated Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator: SENCO









Oversees the nursery’s special needs policy
Supports staff and advises them on how the children might meet planned learning objectives
Co-ordinates provision for children with special needs
Maintains the nursery’s special needs register and oversees the records kept by key person on all
children with special educational needs and which form part of the child’s ICP.
Liaises with and works in partnership with the parents/carers of children with special educational
needs
Contributes to the training of staff
liaise and works in partnership with other nurseries, external agencies including the Educational
Psychology Service, Early Years Specialist Support Service, Behaviour Support Service, Health
Educational Service, Hearing Impairment Service, Multicultural Education Service, Visual Impairment
Service and medical and social services and voluntary organisations.
Ensures that optimum use is made of resources and allocated funding
Organises and contributes to reviews
Manager: has overall responsibility for assuring




The management of the policy
The organisation of training for all staff
The evaluation of the effectiveness of the policy and procedures
Taking account of the demands of the SENCO and adjust working demands and / or provide salary
adjustment accordingly.
2
Facilities
All necessary resources will be acquired and where possible reasonable adaptations will be made to support
the child’s access to the curriculum and we will seek funding as appropriate and when necessary.
Staged assessment
The nursery has adopted a staged procedure and uses ‘The Graduated Response’ in the identification of
and provision for children with special educational needs.
Parents will be consulted and permission obtained prior to any outside agency being involved.
Stage 1
The child’s key person
Identifies that a child may have special educational need
Collects relevant information about the child, consulting and working with the SENCO.
Gives support to the child through appropriate differentiation.
Makes observations and keeps records
Monitors and reviews the child’s progress
Consults the child’s parents/carers and the child.
Stage 2
The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
Advises the nursery manager of any concerns that have been identified.
Works closely with the key person and records and stores any conversations with regard to the child’s
development.
With the key worker and the involvement of the parents/carers produce an ICP.
Monitors and reviews the child’s progress
Stage 3
The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator will
Contact and gain the advice of outside specialists
Involve outside specialists in the review process of the ICP
Consider whether the child meets the criteria justifying application for statutory assessment.
Stage 4
The setting with the support of outside agencies will consider the need for statutory assessment and if
appropriate, make a multi-disciplinary assessment
Stage 5
The LEA considers the need for a statement of special educational needs and if appropriate, make a
statement
3
Parent partnerships
Manor Farm Day Nursery values working in partnership with all parent/carers. We will seek to involve
parent/carers in all decisions about their children. No decision will be made about assessment or provision
without seeking the views of the parent/carers and the child. All communications involving decisions will be
recorded and confidential.
We will seek parents help in working with their child at home. Together parent/carers and key staff can
build a far more complete picture of a child and his/her needs than can be done separately.
The nursery will seek to inform and involve all parents or those who have parental responsibility in
decisions about their child.
Evaluation of success
The dedicated SENCO and manager will evaluate the success of this policy by enquiring how effectively
children with special educational needs participate in the whole curriculum and all activities.
In particular they will come to judgements about:
The views of parents/carers on the working of parent/carer partnerships
The effectiveness of the staged procedure in meeting needs
How well children with special educational needs take part in the curriculum of the nursery
How resources have been allocated to and between children with special educational needs
Details of how many statutory assessments have been made and the number of visits from specialists,
other agencies and educational psychologists
Special needs complaints procedure
If you have any complaint about the special educational needs provision for your child, or about special
educational needs provision generally, please speak to the manager or the SENCO.
Setting based dedicated SENCO
Sue Gray
4