Inclusion and SEND
Kidz 1st Day Nursery prides itself in supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Knowledgeable Staff
Our staff are qualified and experienced in working with children with a wide range of needs, from Autism Spectrum Disorder and behavioural disorders to deafness and complex physical conditions.
Heading our SEND support is our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCo), who is responsible for overseeing the daily SEND provision and working with the keypersons to ensure that the needs of children with SEND are met. They are available for parents if they have questions and/or concerns and work proactively with outside agencies and professionals to ensure that children with SEND and their families have access to the additional help and support to which they are entitled.
Accessible Environments
We are committed to providing accessible facilities so that all children can enjoy a fantastic nursery experience. As a result, the entire nursery is wheelchair accessible. Visual timetables are used in all groups to assist in following the routine. We have also installed a Sensory Room at the heart of the setting, designed and created with our SEND children in mind. The Sensory Room allows our children to access a quiet space in which to learn through visual, tactile and audial stimuli.
Inclusive Practice
Our commitment to inclusion means that our groups are designed from the ground up to be inclusive. Children with SEND are supported to remain in our main groups rather than in a separate group, as far as it benefits both them and their classmates. Doing so provides children with SEND an opportunity to see behaviour, speech and skills modelled by their peers. At the same time, it also promotes early opportunities to learn empathy, kindness, and inclusion for all children, which is essential as they grow up in this diverse world.
Personalised Care
Our educational programmes are designed to be tailored to each child’s need. This means that every child’s learning journey can be developed on an individual basis to maximise how we help them reach their potential. We follow the Graduated Approach to provide children the right level of support to meet their needs. Children who require a high level of support will be enrolled onto our SEND programme, which provides specialist resources and a higher staff ratio than our mainstream programme.
Multiagency Working
Where necessary, we make referrals to a range of agencies and professionals to provide specialist support for those who need it. We help to set up the initial meetings and support parents in attending appointments.
We work hard to keep parents well-informed of what happens next, what their options are, and what services are available to them. Prior to any specialists being contacted, parents’ permission is always sought first. This way, parents remain at the heart of the decision-making process.
Parents are informed of any meetings with specialists, or any observations sessions, and we encourage parents to share the progress and outcomes of any specialist appointments. As a result, a holistic view of the child’s progress may be attained, and consistent strategies can be applied.
Such provisions and agencies accessed by and through Kidz 1st Day Nursery include:
- Community Nurse
- Early Years Inclusion Support Team (EYIST)
- Educational Psychologist
- Family Support Worker
- In-House Sensory Room
- Makaton Training
- Occupational Therapist
- Paediatrician
- Peg Training
- Physiotherapist
- Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
- Play Therapist
- Portage Training
- Portage Workers
- Social Workers
- Speech and Language Therapist
- Teacher of the Deaf