What is the Local Offer?
From September 2014, all local authorities must publish in one place information about the services they expect to be available in their area for children and young people 0 – 25 who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This is known as the Local Offer. Wokingham Borough Council provides Local Offer information within the children and young people with additional needs section of the Wokingham Information Network (WIN) directory.
The development of a Local Offer is one of a number of changes to the way children and young people with SEND are supported that are part of the Children and Families Act.
Hare Hatch Montessori Nursery School
1: How does the setting identify children with additional needs or SEND?
During their time at the nursery all children:
Have a key worker who will form a link between home and nursery. We offer pre-visits and home visits according to need, recognising the importance of building effective relationships and sharing information at the earliest opportunity.
Have a record demonstrating their learning and development during their time at Hare Hatch. Parents/ carers play an important role in this sharing and contributing their own thoughts and experiences.
Effective systems are in place to observe and track each child’s needs, interests and progress. This enables staff to identify the needs of every individual child and find effective ways to move them on in their learning and develop.
2: How will I be informed / consulted about the ways in which my child is being supported?
Our aim is to build effective relationships between the home and setting. This allows for meaningful conversations to take place and to ensure that parents/carers are kept fully informed regarding their child’s learning and development. This is done by:
Regular contact, daily and ongoing.
Formal and informal conversations
An adaptable approach that recognises individual circumstances, e.g. a communication diary, phone conversations and E mail
An open door system for parents to join their child’s session and free access to their child’s learning journey.
3: How will the setting adapt the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum for my child’s needs?
Each child’s stage of development is acknowledged and taken forwards:
We encourage hands on learning
We adapt and differentiate to include each child
We seek and take the advice of other professionals to enhance our own learning and to maximise each child’s development
4: What teaching strategies does the setting use for children with additional needs or learning difficulties?
By identifying the needs of each individual child the setting employs the necessary strategies/resources to support this. Across the setting we have a sound knowledge of:
Differentiating and adapting the learning environment
Supporting language and communication needs
Makaton
Observing behaviour and implementing strategies to support
Providing sensory resources
Working closely with other professionals, including Speech and Language therapists, paediatricians, Local authority advisors and the Sensory Consortium.
The setting will access further training and seek advice in order to fully support each child and their family.
5: What additional support does the setting provide for children with additional needs or SEND?
When a child requires, for whatever reason, additional support and resources that are not catered for within the nursery’s daily routine.
We do what is necessary such as taking advice from parents and other professionals.
When necessary we access additional funding to support specialist equipment and staff ratios. We ensure relevant training is accessed if needed.
6: How will the setting monitor my childs progress and how will I be involved in this?
Observation and tracking systems ensure that each child’s learning and development is monitored during their time with us.
We regularly liaise with parents, and when necessary other professionals, to ensure individual needs are met.
Regular meetings, both informal and formal, enhance information sharing and ensure that parents/carers are kept fully informed. Where necessary, Individual Learning Plans (ILP’s) are used to set specific, achievable targets in order to support identified areas.
We involve parents at every level, valuing their knowledge and contributions.
7: How do you ensure children with additional needs or SEND can be included in the same activities as other children, including trips?
The setting gives consideration to each child’s individual needs.
Adapting our approach to ensure that the environment is as accessible and inclusive as it can be.
We take advice from other professionals in relation to accessing additional resources and training to ensure that any physical and/or medical care needs are met.
Parent’s knowledge of their child is paramount and home/settling in visits enable information to be shared. This ensures any necessary adjustments; resources and risk assessments are employed prior to the child starting.
8: How accessible is the building for children with mobility difficulties / wheelchair users?
We are a single storey building with ramp access via the garden entrance.
Room layout can be adapted to accommodate any child with mobility difficulties, such as moving tables and equipment units.
All activities are low level and accessible to all. If and when necessary we change and adapt according to individual need.
9: How will you support my childs transition to a new setting or school?
We have established good working relationships with all local schools.
All children have pre-visits to their allocated school and we invite the teachers to visit the children at nursery.
Information is shared verbally and through the child’s learning journey and transition form.
For those children who are identified as needing something different, or something more, we work closely with parents, other involved professionals and the school to put a tailored approach in place.
For example staff can be released to attend transition meetings and to join a child for school visits during their introduction and after they start.
We plan increasing adult led activities to introduce school routines such as registration, lining up, changing for PE etc…
We have specific school transition resources where children can see photos of their school and teachers, they can look at examples of school uniform and read stories related to starting school.
10: How does the setting assess the overall effectiveness of its SEN provision and how can parents / carers take part in this evaluation?
We continually reflect on the environment and our practice to ensure that all children and their families feel welcome, valued and can participate fully in the setting’s community.
We act on recommendations from specialists such as Local Authority Advisors, OfSTED, The sensory consortium, Educational Psychologists etc… sharing our reflective observations with them to ensure that every child and family has the best possible experience.
We set targets for improvement during regular staff meetings and using Local Authority audits. Communication with parents during day-to-day and more formal conversations gives them the opportunity to influence our continual reflective practice. Parents are encouraged to contribute through discussion, photos, planning sheets and reviewing identified targets etc… to ensure that we are supporting their child to their best of our ability
11: Who should I contact if I am considering registering for a place at the setting?
Prior to registration we invite families to visit the nursery to get a feel of the environment and the staff team.
Please contact:
0118 9403940 (term time only) or 01628 633240
E mail: hhmontessori@aol.com
12: What arrangements does the setting have for feedback from parents / carers, including compliments and complaints?
From the outset parents are encouraged to contribute to their child’s learning and development. This begins with information sharing during home and pre-visit meetings and continues throughout their time at the setting. We offer an open door policy that enables parents to participate in their child’s learning, and opportunities for feedback also arise during day-to-day and scheduled meetings with staff. Each term parents have further opportunity to contribute using their child’s planning sheet and we welcome pictures, photos and any other input regarding children’s family life and their experiences at home. If a parent has concerns they are encouraged to speak to a member of staff in an attempt to resolve this. We have a policy that sets out a formal complaints procedure should a parent/carer feel that this is necessary.